The XML Activity will continue work on the Extensible Markup Language and related specifications. Its primary work products will be new and revised specifications and notes on relevant topics. Over the two years of this chartered period, the XML Activity will continue current work on XML itself and the closely-related specifications, as well as Efficient XML Interchange, SML, XProc, XQuery, XSLT, XSL-FO, and Schema 1.1. Several Working Groups are expecting to complete their work in the next 18 months and to move to maintenance mode and then possible close completely. No major new areas of work are introduced in this proposal.
W3C, as the home of XML, carries responsibility for the core family of XML specifications. The original vision of XML was relatively straightforward: capture structured information in a form that maximized its reusability across a wide range of contexts and technologies, by freeing it as far as possible from ties to the circumstances in which it was created.
XML is enormously successful as a markup language for documents and data, and is becoming assumed to be part of systems and products. It is used in a wide variety of domains: text, graphic, protocol, voice, music, math, programming, user interface, and many more. You will find XML technologies today in automobiles, aircraft, mobile 'phones, televisions and video recorders, cameras, printers, portable media players, and in many more places, hidden under the surface. With XML, W3C has provided the infrastructure for information.
If XML has become infrastructure, most XML-related work is now at the application level, and the core work is diminishing. With this Activity Proposal, the XML Activity does not take on significant new work, but we will assess during this period whether to move standardization work further up the stack to encourage more interoperability and to increase industry participation.
No new Working Groups are being proposed as part of this activity proposal.
The Activity will also support coordination efforts:
It is proposed that the XML Activity last through the end of January 2011. See also the summary of the XML Activity table below for details per Working Group.
The resources required include:
The individual Working Group charters indicate the exact amount of Team Contact resources. Approximately 1.9 FTE of Team resources are currently allocated to this Activity, divided between three people. Three of the Working Groups in this Activity (XProc, SML and EXI) are expected to complete their primary work during this chartered period, and will then go into maintenance mode, using fewer resources. The XML Plenary Interest Group is reserved as a placeholder for outreach activity, and will initially be inactive.
| Group | Chair | Team Contact | Charter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Efficient XML Interchange Working Group | Michael Cokus, Takuki Kamiya | Carine Bournez, Liam Quin | Chartered until 31 January 2010 |
| Service Modeling Language Working Group | Pratul Dublish, John Arwe | Henry Thompson, Liam Quin | Chartered until 31 December 2009 |
| XML Processing Working Group | Norman Walsh | Henry Thompson, Liam Quin | Chartered until 31 Jan 2010 |
| XML Coordination Group | Paul Grosso | Liam Quin | Chartered until 31 January 2011 |
| XML Core Working Group | Paul Grosso, Norman Walsh | Henry Thompson, Liam Quin | Chartered until 31 January 2011 |
| XML Plenary Interest Group | Liam Quin | Liam Quin | Chartered until 31 January 2011 |
| XML Query Working Group | Jim Melton | Liam Quin | Chartered until 31 January 2011 |
| XML Schema Working Group and IG | David Ezell | Henry Thompson | Chartered until 31 January 2011 |
| XSL Working Group (XSLT and XSL-FO) | Sharon Adler | Carine Bournez, Liam Quin | Chartered until 31 January 2011 |