From rinehuls@Radix.Net Wed Feb 3 22:23:31 1999 Received: from mail1.radix.net (mail1.radix.net [209.48.224.31]) by dkuug.dk (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id WAA27994; Wed, 3 Feb 1999 22:23:30 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from rinehuls@Radix.Net) Received: from saltmine.radix.net (saltmine.radix.net [209.48.224.40]) by mail1.radix.net (8.9.1/8.9.1) with SMTP id QAA10516; Wed, 3 Feb 1999 16:23:30 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 16:23:29 -0500 (EST) From: William Rinehuls To: sc22docs@dkuug.dk cc: keld simonsen Subject: SC22 N2880 - SC22 Chairman's Report from January 1999 JTC 1 Plenary Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII ______________________ beginning of title page ______________________ ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces Secretariat: U.S.A. (ANSI) ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 N2880 TITLE: SC22 Chairman's Report on the ISO/IEC JTC 1 Plenary Meeting and SC22 Chairmen's Forum, January 25-29, 1999 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil DATE ASSIGNED: 1999-02-02 BACKWARD POINTER: N/A DOCUMENT TYPE: Chairman's Report PROJECT NUMBER: N/A STATUS: N/A ACTION IDENTIFIER: FYI DUE DATE: N/A DISTRIBUTION: Text CROSS REFERENCE: N/A DISTRIBUTION FORM: Open Address reply to: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Secretariat William C. Rinehuls 8457 Rushing Creek Court Springfield, VA 22153 USA Telephone: +1 (703) 912-9680 Fax: +1 (703) 912-2973 email: rinehuls@radix.net _______________ end of title page; beginning of report _______________ 2 February 1999 To: SC22 National Bodies and Working Group Conveners Subject: JTC1 Plenary and SC Chairmen's Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 25-29 January 1999 I would like to report to you on the results of the JTC1 Plenary meeting and the Subcommittee Chairmen's Forum immediately preceding it in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the period 25-29 January 1999. At the JTC1 Plenary, a number of topics of interest to SC22 were dis- cussed, as follows: * Agenda items specifically mentioning SC22. - JTC1 approved the SC22 request to place ISO/IEC 11404:1996 on the World Wide Web. In the past, this request would have been forwarded to ITTF for approval by ISO and IEC. However, JTC1 now has the authority to approve requests for certain types of documents without further approval by ISO and IEC. (See below for further information on this authority.) - The agenda included a subitem under the Technical Direction on Cultural and Linguistic Adaptability and User Interfaces (CLAUI) for a Business Plan from SC22/WG20. As no separate Business Plan was submitted by WG20, this prompted a discussion of whether one was required in such a case. It was agreed that, in the future, a separate business plan will not be required from WG20, since WG20 is already covered in the SC22 Business Plan, but that any WG20 issues regarding the CLAUI Technical Direction should be included in the SC22 Business Plan. I also note that each TD that incorporates more than one subgroup of JTC1 is required to produce an overall Business Plan for that TD. No such Business Plan covering the CLAUI TD was produced for this plenary. I would certainly think that WG20 should cooperate in the production of any future CLAUI TD Business Plan when asked to do so. - I presented an overview of the Business Plan for the Technical Direction on Programming Languages and Software Interfaces, which of course is identical to the SC22 Business Plan. Each SC Chairman was given five minutes for a presentation at the plenary. * Document Availability on the WWW. ISO and IEC approved a two year extension to the trial period during which draft documents, up to but not including the DIS stage, could be made freely available in electronic form, as requested by JTC1 at the last plenary. Keith Brannon (ITTF) reported that ISO has also agreed with a JTC1 request to give JTC1 the authority to approve certain types of documents for free availability on the World Wide Web. These document types include: - Standards relating to Metafiles and Reference Models, and Amendments and Revisions relating to them; - Standards that are merely references (pointers) to other documents, e.g., developed outside JTC1; - Standards for which authorized identical documents are freely available in electronic format elsewhere; - Technical Reports type 1, 2 and 3; - Technical Corrigenda. Mr. Brannon further reported that the IEC had not yet acted on the request but should do so soon. * JTC1 Implementation of Information Technology. Due to the resignation of Clyde Camp from this position, JTC1 has appointed a new Implementing Information Technology Rapporteur, Frank Farance. Mr. Farance will also serve as the JTC1 representative to the ISO/IEC/ITU IT Strategies Implementation Group (ITSIG). Keld Simonsen will serve as JTC1 representative on several ITSIG project teams. * PAS Process. JTC1 decided that the PAS (Publicly Available Specifications) process has met with an acceptable degreee of success and resolved to make it a normal part of JTC1 operations. A revised PAS Management Guide (JTC1 N 5746) was approved; we will distribute it as an SC22 document when received. The JTC1 Directives will be updated to reflect the revised PAS Management Guide. JTC1 also adopted a transition plan for use of the revised rules. * Normative Referencing of Specifications Other than International Standards. The two JTC1 documents with guidelines on this subject (JTC1 N 4046 and N 4047, which we distributed as SC22 N 2122 and N 2123 and are on our Standing Document list) were adopted for a trial period ending July 1998, after which the applicability and usefulness of these guidelines was to be evaluated. In Rio, JTC1 extended the trial period though the next plenary meeting in November 1999 and took steps to evaluate the guidelines. We will be asked to report on our use of the guidelines and provide comments on their applicability and usefulness. The SC22 Secretariat will distribute a separate document with this request after we receive the specific request from JTC1. * Cultural and Linguistic Considerations. As a result of recommendations from the CLAUI Technical Direction Ad Hoc meeting, the JTC1 NP form will be modified to ask that any known requirements for cultural and linguistic adaptability be specified. A bullet on this subject will also be added in the JTC1 Directives in the section on purpose and justification of an NP (clause 6.2.1.6). * Metrics of JTC1 Accomplishments. Regarding the reporting of accomplishments in our Business Plans, in addition to numerical counts of documents approved, NBs and SCs are being requested to provide contributions detailing methods of measuring the effectiveness of JTC1 accomplishments, e.g., press releases, implementations using JTC1 standards. JTC1 would like contributions to also provide suggestions for other metrics to indicate JTC1's effectiveness. * Strategic Planning Input. JTC1 requested its NBs and SCs to provide contributions regarding the future strategic orientation for JTC1. Topics may include any changes to working methods "however radical or provocative." * JTC1 Organizational Structure. A number of organizational matters were addressed as follows: - SC1, Vocabulary, was disbanded as there were no responses to the call for a Secretariat; - The Registration Authority Rapporteur Group was disbanded and responsibility assigned to the JTC1 Secretariat; - The Global Information Infrastructure Rapporteur Group was disbanded as its work program has been completed. - JTC1 decided to continue the use of business teams where appropriate. * JTC1 Meeting Schedule. JTC1 decided to schedule plenaries on an annual basis instead of the current nominal 9-month schedule. Beginning in November 1999, plenaries will be held annually in early November. This should work well with our usual SC22 meeting schedule. If we meet by mid-September, there will be adequate time for SC22 input to be forwarded to JTC1 for consideration at its plenary. * JTC1 Web Site. The JTC1 web site has been substantially reorganized and has an improved "new look." Be sure to see it at www.jtc1.org/. One feature is a "What's New" hot link. SCs are asked to provide items that might be relevant for this feature. If you have any items that you believe appropriate for this, please send them to the SC22 Secretariat for forwarding to JTC1. * Press Release. A press release will be issued concerning the accomplishments of this plenary. It will be posted to the JTC1 web site. * Document Deadline for next JTC1 Plenary in Seoul, Korea. JTC1 established a firm deadline of October 1 by which documents must be received by the JTC1 Secretariat in order to be placed on the agenda of the next JTC1 plenary. This means that we will have no more than one week after completion of our SC22 plenary in Berlin for submission of any items that require JTC1 attention. * JTC1 Chairmen's Forum. Beginning with the next JTC1 plenary in November 1999, it was decided to discontinue the Chairmen's Forum. Instead, the focus of the plenary will be modified to permit more participation by the SC Chairmen to highlight the technical work of JTC1 and encourage more discussion and interaction among SCs and National Bodies at the plenary. The agenda will be reordered to address Technical Directions and SC Chairman reports at the beginning of the plenary. At the SC Chairmen's Forum immediately preceding this JTC1 plenary, one item of discussion was the schedule of articles for the ISO Bulletin. You will recall that I wrote an article, with your help, about SC22 that was published in the November 1996 issue. Articles have continued to appear on JTC1 subjects on a regular basis. JTC1 is continuing to look for articles on interesting subjects that demonstrate the important standardization work undertaken and accomplished within JTC1. If you have any suggestions on topics, or would like to contribute an article, please contact me and I will investigate the subject with JTC1 and ISO. Another agenda item at the SC Chairmen's Forum was electronic collaboration. I reported from the last plenary thatJTC1 is encouraging all SCs to experiment with electronic collaboration packages and to report their experiences to the January 1999 JTC1 plenary. No SCs had any experiences to report at this time. Robert H. Follett Chairman ____________________ end of SC22 N2880 ________________________________