V1 is the U.S. National Standards Body to ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34, Document Description and Processing Languages, which supports international standards development for the description and processing of compound and hypermedia documents. Specifically this includes:
The V1 webpage is located at: http://www.incits.org/tc_home/v1.htm.
A list of the projects of V1 can be found at: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/ppurnell/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/OLK1C/www.incits.org/tc_home/v1sd4.htm. The projects with the most activity by V1 include Topic Maps and Document Schema Definition Language (DSDL).
All work in V1 is done at the international level in ISO/IEC SC 34, Information technology Document Description and Processing Languages.
V1 has six active members and work is continuing on attracting new members.
V1 has continued to hold teleconferences before each working group or plenary meeting of SC34 to develop positions for the meetings and to transact other V1 business.
V1 has participated actively in the work of JTC1 SC34/WG1, Markup Languages (Relax-NG and related standards) as well as JTC1 SC34/WG3, Information Association (Topic Maps).
While Arnold Winkler was the SBB liason, there was discussion of the development of a voting systems for technical committees that would make the voting process easier for members of technical committees and assist in making that voting process a matter of public record. A voting system that would assist members in tracking open ballots and related information as well as making the voting process more transparent would make V1 more visible to potential members and members of the public.
In addition to regular membership activities, short biographies of V1 members are being gathered for posting to the V1 website. It is hoped that greater visibility for current members will enhance the sense of benefit from V1 membership as well as help to attract new members.
Adequate resources are only available in SC 34 for work on SGML and related standards, particularly HyTime and its derivative, Topic Maps. The highest level of activity is in the area of Topic Maps, followed closely by Document Schema Definition Languages. (V1 participants are primarily interested in this area.)
Although SC 34 is a small SC, it feels it is successful at least in part from leveraging its liaisons with organizations like the W3C and OASIS where some of the former V1, and consequently SC 34, members are now active and continuing work in the same standards areas.
All work is performed with representatives of the SC 34 membership, but V1 has held teleconferences to determine the US position for SC 34 meetings.
V1 will be represented during 2005-2006 at the SC 34 meetings, caucusing as the U.S. national body when necessary. The following meetings are planned for 2005-2006:
These meetings continue to be scheduled in conjunction with the XML conferences sponsored by the IDEAlliance. This allows more people in the XML industry to participate in SC 34 standards development (through ISUG and OASIS). Also, the WGs generally meet along with the SC 34 to encourage cooperation among projects.
There is one anticipated departure from the practice of holding SC 34 plenary meetings with conferences sponsored by IDEAlliance. Discussion are underway to determine if it would be fesible to hold the Spring 2006 meeting in Seoul, South Korea. Although represented to be an international organization, SC 34 meetings in recent years have occurred only in the United States and Europe. Delegates from Asia have long traveled to those meetings and if the Spring 2006 SC 34 meeting take place in Seoul, it will mark a step towards making SC 34 international in practice as well as in name.
Teleconferences before each plenary and working group meeting in SC 34 to develop the US position and to further the work of V1 will continue to be sponsored by the Society of Biblical Literature.
V1’s liaison works through that of SC 34. Most of the V1 members are active in two organizations that very closely involve the user community:
a. V1 Officers
In SC 34, the following V1 members serve as officers:
JTC1/SC 34 Chair Dr. James D. Mason, Y12 National Security Complex
b. V1 Members
The current level of participation for the year 2005 consists of six members.
The V1 membership list.
The topic maps standard is slowing gaining greater visibility in the wider technology community. In the last six (6) months, the Chair of V1 has participated in interviews that appeared in Wired Online and Computer (a publication of the IEEE) on topic maps. Discussions of possible memebership in V1 are ongoing with several groups, including on major information vendor. Should it come to pass that the discussions with the information vendor result in a V1 membership, that will be an important step in rebuilding V1 to levels seen during the development of SGML.
Adoption and use of topic maps and DSDL (the other major effort within SC 34, will do more to drive membership in V1 than any other factor. Should INCITS take the lead in adopting both of those technologies within its operations, that would be a positive sign to the technology sector that these technologies are mature and worthy of their consideration.
Neither V1 nor SC 34 collects any funds.