ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 N0123
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34
Information Technology
Document Description and Processing Languages
TITLE: |
SC34 Response to JTC1 N 5985, on establishment of Special
Group for Strategic Planning |
SOURCE: |
|
PROJECT: |
All SC34 projects |
PROJECT EDITOR: |
All SC34 editors |
STATUS: |
|
ACTION: |
For information |
DATE: |
2 December 1999 |
DISTRIBUTION: |
SC34 and Liaisons |
REFER TO: |
86, A Contribution on the
Publication of JTC1 Standards (JTC1 N5938) |
SUPERSEDES: |
|
REPLY TO: |
Dr. James David Mason
(ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 Chairman)
SAIC
Information Technology Services
Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant
Bldg. 9113, M.S. 8208
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-8208 U.S.A.
Telephone: +1 423 574-6973
Facsimile: +1 423 574-18964
Network: masonjd@ornl.gov
http://www.ornl.gov/sgml/sc34/
ftp://ftp.ornl.gov/pub/sgml/sc34/
Ms. Marisa Peacock, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34 Secretariat
American National Standards Institute
11 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
Tel: +1 212 642 4976
Fax: +1 212 840 2298
Email: mpeacock@ansi.org |
SC34 Response to JTC1 N 5985, on establishment of Special Group for
Strategic Planning
SC34 is glad that JTC1 is examining its viability into the next century.
SC34 is quite aware of the difficulty of competing in an environment in which
most of the attention and productive activity has already been transferred to
consortia like the W3C. Perhaps if JTC1 wants to emulate the success of the
consortia, it should emulate some of their better and more public spirited
operating procedures. Whatever JTC1 does, it should retain its vital concern
for due process and open discussion. SC34 suggests that JTC1 consider the
following:
- JTC1 should facilitate and encourage development of standards in
electronic mode, from initial proposal, through discussion, writing, and
voting, to final publication, without holding any meetings. In an electronic
process, some of the current extended ballot periods could be greatly
shortened, perhaps to a few days at prespecified intervals. The only
organization needed is a project coordinator and/or editor, a Web site, and an
electronic mail redistributor (operating such ad hoc electronic services might,
of course, be a function of existing secretariats).
- JTC1 should make all its standards and technical reports at all
official levels, including the final approved level, available on the Web, at
no cost to the reader. The IT industry has come to expect such distribution
from the example set by the IETF and W3C. In the electronic mode of
development, discussion papers and drafts on which there is still little
consensus could still, as in the W3C, be restricted to active participants.
Distribution of hard media, including paper and disks, might still be a source
for cost recovery by the national bodies. To replace other income from selling
copies of standards, national bodies might consider offering validation and
certification services.
- JTC1 should consider changing its membership requirements to facilitate
direct participation of individuals and organizations, including consortia.
Costs could be assessed on a sliding scale, with minimal costs to individuals,
increasing according to the participant's ability to pay. The role of national
bodies in organizing membership might be reexamined, now that there is no
longer a need to spread across many organizations the distribution of vast
quantites of paper.
- JTC1 should make direct overtures to consortia to develop more
effective ways of joint operations, including joint projects and joint
"branding" of standards.
- JTC1 should consider further flattening of its structure. The most
recent reengineering eliminated several SCs and reassigned some projects at a
higher level (as in the case of SC34), but the overall vertical structure is
still similar to what JTC1 inherited from TC97 and is not necessary in all
cases. JTC1 might consider in some cases having a structure, like that of the
W3C, that reflects closely the actual projects and groups of projects. In such
a structure, project teams can be formed rapidly and then disbanded when
projects are finished or rolled up into higher-level groups when projects enter
maintenance mode.
SC34 hopes that the examination in this strategic-planning effort will
not turn into another extended "reengineering" effort: there is no
longer time to move at the leisurely pace that formerly characterized
organizational processes. If JTC1 wishes to remain relevant to the IT industry,
it needs act quickly, by early in the year 2000.