Minutes

September 12th Meeting

Attendees:: John Rice, Atlis,jdrice@access.digex.com; Bruce Bauman, DoD, btbauma@cs.umbc.edu ,; Larry Larson, PTO, larson@uspto.gov; Bob Carter, EBT,rec@ebt.com; Brian Storeide, SAIC,storeidb@amsec.com; John Harvey, ECC,jharvey@eccnet.com; Don Reynolds, ManTech,reynolds@mantech-wva.com; David Miller, ManTech,dmiller@gslink.com; Michele DiGiovami, SAICMicheleDiGiovami@saic.com; Martin Falmlen, Tracor,martin_falmlen@sptc.nesea2400.navy.mil; Debbie Durbin, Tracor; Greg Griffin, SAIC, gregory.l.griffin@cpmx.saic.com; Rick Klobuchar, SAIC,klobuchr@amsec.com; Robert Wagner, Atlisrwagner@laser.net; Laurie Robertson, SAIC,Laurie.L.Robertson@cpmx.saic.com; Betty Harvey, SoftQuadharvey@eccnet.com

Introductions and Interest:
The meeting started with everyone introducing themselves and giving a brief synopsis of what they are doing with SGML and some of their concerns. It was evident from this discussion that there is a real need for the community to communicate and exchange experiences with SGML tools. The need to integrate authoring, publishing and presentation tools is needed.
General Discussion:
Rick Klobuchar recommended that we contact other agencies who are doing work in SGML and invite them to future meetings. The Agencies that were cited are:
- FDA,
- NRC,
- DOE,
- DMA,
- CIA
Martin Falmlen said he had a need to take documents from Class 1 (paper manuals) all the way to Class 5 IETM's. He wants an authoring environment and tools that will allow him to migrate the whole spectrum of classes. Someone suggested that he contact Harry Felsen at NAVSEA because Harry has been doing work in this area.
Don Reynolds said that ManTech is working on migrating a Mid Browser on the WWW.
There was a general consensus that it would be a good idea to have a listing of SGML Web Pages available as a resource, as well as associated information. Betty Harvey volunteered to put together a page and make it available. She also volunteered to allow feedback to this page in order to keep it continuously up-to-date. Rick Klobuchar said that a great Web site for standards information is at NIST, http://nii.nist.gov.
Some of the areas of interest that were mentioned and discussed at some length were:
- SGML and Math (which tagset to use)
- Tables
- SGML and CDROM
- Microsoft Word SGML Authoring Tool (Assistant)
- FOSI and DSSSL. Bob Carter stated that the DSSSLite Standard had been voted on and approved. However, the DSSSL standard is still being negotiated. Don Reynolds said that Mantech had a contract to look at the future of FOSI's, DSSSL and 28001. Rick Klobuchar said that the ISG EPC is looking at FOSI's and changes are being made. He will send a pointer to the EPC exploder address around.
- There was mention and good reviews of a new graphics conversion/browser product available called CADLeaf. Bob Carter said that it is available from the http://www.ct.ebt.com Web Site.
- HyTime. There was a good deal of discussion on the HyTime standard and who is currently using it. John Rice said the Durand and DeRosa book "Making Hypermedia Work" is very good. Don Reynolds said that the HyTime references in the original MIL-D-87269 were incorrect but that the guidance given in the Navy's Implementation Guide are correct. The Navy is also using HyTime linking in their MID (Metafile for Interactive Documents).
- Martin Falmlen asked if there are any SGML tools that will work like Grammatik, i.e., give the recommended reading level, word counts, etc. No one knew of any products. A few suggestions were thrown out that maybe some of the natural language tools could be used to acquire this functionality.
Topics for Future Meetings:
- EBT Demonstration - October Meeting
- John Junod - MID
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Report on SGML Tools - Rick Klobuchar will contact them about speaking at the next meeting.
- Bob Barlow was on vacation but offered to give mini-tutorials before meetings in the future. There were several people who were interested and we will put these on the agenda according to Bob's availability.
Next Meeting:
It was the consensus of the group that it would be advantageous to have the SGML Users Group meet on a monthly basis. Thursday evenings seemed to be the best night for everyone. The next meeting is October 19th at 7:00 p.m. at the SAIC building in MClean, Virginia. Conference Room yet to be determined.

FEEDBACK

Washington Area SGML User Group attendees (or interested parties)! In order to ensure that the minutes are reflected correctly, please add and additions, corrections, clarifications in the form below and I will see that the minutes get amended. Thanks for your cooperation!

Betty Harvey