UPGRADE: Vol. VI, Issue no. 1, February 2005 (XML Today)

Presentation
The World Is Tree-shaped [HTML] [PDF: 3 pages, 161 KB]
(Includes a list of References about XML on The Web for those interested in knowing more about matters related to XML.)
Carlos Delgado-Kloos and Charles McCathieNevile - Guest Editors
Abstract: The guest editors present the monograph and briefly introduce the papers it consists of.

SVG: An Alternative For Web and Mobile Graphics [PDF: 6 pages, 309 KB]
Marcos Fernández-Marín, Ricardo Olanda-Rodríguez, and Sergio Casas-Yrurzum
Abstract: SVG, or Scalable Vector Graphics, is a W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) initiative aimed at defining a standard vector graphics format to be used within the XML (eXtensible Markup Language) framework. This initiative has opened up a debate in a key aspect of the WWW (World Wide Web): The attractiveness and graphic quality of web pages, which nowadays is in the hands of Macromedia Flash, thought there are some people who would like that stranglehold broken in favour of SVG. However, SVG is not only a format for creating attractive graphics at a low transmission cost, but it can also be a vehicle for unity and interchange in the world of vector graphics formats. Due to its links with XML it can also be used as a graphics platform for mobile devices with graphics capabilities, such as the latest generation of mobile telephony terminals and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants)

RDF for XMLers [PDF: 6 pages, 209 KB]
Charles McCathieNevile
Abstract: This article describes the main features and uses of RDF (Resource Description Framework), with special reference to what it has in common with and what differentiates it from other types of XML (eXtensible Markup Language).

Carlos Delgado-Kloos got his degree in Telecommunications Engineering at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain, in 1978, and a PhD in Computer Science at the Technische Universität München, Germany, in 1986. He is currently a full professor at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain, where he also holds the positions of Director of the Department of Telematics Engineering, Director of the Master in e-commerce, and Director of the Nokia Chair. His current interests include design languages and techniques for hardware and software systems based on formal methods, as well as Internet based applications such as electronic publishing, tele-education and e-commerce. He has led many projects with European, national (Spanish Ministry) and bilateral (Spanish-German and Spanish-French) funding; among them it is worth mentioning the E-LANE e-learning project, coordinated by him. He has published over 120articles in national and international conferences and journals, and has also written one book and co-edited four more. He holds or has held various positions in national and international bodies such as: vice-president of the Spanish CEPIS society ATI (Asociación de Técnicos de Informática), vice-president of IFIP TC 10, secretary of IFIP WG 10.5, editor of the Springer journal ‘Formal Aspects of Computing’, deputy Director of Telecommunication Engineering at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, and manager of the National Programme for Information and Communication Technologies at the Spanish Ministry for Science and Research. He has been a programme committee member or chair at more than 70 conferences and workshops, including vice-programme chair for the IFIP’92 World Computer Congress and programme chair for DATE 2002, Telecom I+D 2003, EduTech2004 and EUNICE2005. He belongs to several professional associations in Spain and abroad, ATI being one of them, and has published several papers in Novática, ATI’s journal on whose Editorial Board he has served, and in UPGRADE. <cdk AT it DOT uc3m DOT es>

Charles McCathieNevile is a graduate of mediaeval history from Melbourne University, Australia, who has also studied chemistry, biology and a number of dead languages. Since 1998 he has worked for the Web Consortium (W3C) in the domains of Technology and Society and Web Accessibility Initiative. Before joining W3C he worked for Sunrise Research in Melbourne on accessibility and the internationalization of web contents, as well as on other projects related to educational uses of programming and the Web. In W3C, he has been the editor of Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, and he is currently the editor of XML Accessibility Guidelines, as well as being more linked to Semantic Web development activities. In Spain he is vice president of the SIDAR Foundation (Seminario Iberoamericano sobre Discapacidad y Accesibilidad en la Red – or Ibero-American Seminar on Disability and Accessibility on the Net) in which he also collaborates as an adviser in the expert group and as a representative of the foundation in EuroAccessibility. <charles AT w3 DOT org>

UPENET (UPGRADE European NETwork) [PDF: 18 pages, 359 KB]

ICT Profession
ICT Competences and Certifications Observatory: An Integration Experience
Graziano Dragoni, Chiara Francalanci, Clementina Marinoni, and Paola Tarantini

This paper was first published, in its original Italian version, under the title “Osservatorio Su Competenze E Certificazioni ICT”, by Mondo Digitale (issue no. 12, December 2004, pp. 29-43). Mondo Digitale, a founding member of UPENET (UPGRADE European NETwok), is the digital journal of the CEPIS Italian Society AICA (Associazione Italiana per l'Informatica ed il Calcolo Automatico).

Abstract: In the last few years, European ‘Recommendations’ have emphasized the important role of education in improving qualification levels of the working force. The job market has become more flexible in both defining and classifying the whole range of professional figures that best let job applications and offers meet. AICA (Associazione Italiana per l’Informatica ed il Calcolo Automatico), Federcomin (Italian National Federation of Companies in the Telecommunications, Radio, Television and Informatics Industries), and Fondazione Politecnico (Milano, Italy) intend to produce an integrate and critical study concerning ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) compe-tences as emerged at a national and international scale. A reference framework is meant to be delivered to the socio-economical system. Moreover, a computerized tool is going to be brought forth. ICT processes, technologies, organizational and managerial outlines can thus be automatically classified. This article shows the results of the research done so far. The comparative model proposed in this paper has beenobtained by mapping the European and Italian procedures, trying to integrate their peculiarities.

IT Certification Programmes
ECDL Certification Programmes in Austria - Success through IT Competency
Rupert Lemmel-Seedorf
This paper will be published by OCG Journal.OCG Journal, a founding member of UPENET (UPGRADE European NETwok), is the bimonthly journal and magazine of the Austrian CEPIS society OCG (Österreichische Computer Gesellschaft).

Abstract: The ECDL European Computer Driving Licence ® initiative, promoted by CEPIS (Council of European Professional Informatics Societies, <http://www.cepis.org>) offers end users the chance to follow programmes in the information and communication technology area and to have the acquired skills certified. More than 115,000 persons have already seized this opportunity in Austria and above 4,000,000 in the whole world. This paper reviews the main features of ECDL and its implementation in Austria.

History of Informatics
Why Information Security Governance Is Essential in Today’s Corporate World
Vernon Poole and Kevin Hayes
This paper was first published, in English, by Pliroforiki (issue no. 10, December 2004, pp. 31-36). Pliroforiki, ("Informatics" in Greek), a founding member of UPENET (UPGRADE European NETwok), is a journal published, in Greek or English, by the Cyprus CEPIS society CCS (Cyprus Computer Society).

Abstract: Information Security Governance will be a crucial element in the development of Information Assurance in 2005 – starting from Risk Management through to Information Security Governance, deploying ISO/IEC 17799 as the framework model. This detailed article assists organisations in what they need to do.

1 Introduction

The Editorial Boards of UPGRADE and Novática have asked us to write a new monograph on the subject of XML (eXtensible Markup Language). Given that both journals have already published monographs on the same subject on a prior occasion, in August 2002 to be precise (1), two questions arise: What has happened since then? Is XML still an attractive subject?

In the previous monograph we mentioned that a search on Amazon for books about XML gave 359 hits; in November 2004 the same search produced more than 5,000 hits. And if we take Google as a gauge how important something us, entering the term XML will produce today 120,000,000 pages (while for SGML, Standard Generalized Markup Language, and Fortran we ‘only’ get around 5,000,000 pages). We can say without fear of contradiction that XML has had a major impact in the last few years and will continue to do so.

So, is there any point in producing another monograph about XML at this stage in the game? Or should we be writing monographs on more specific subjects, such as Web services, the semantic Web, etc.? While a monograph on the latter subject would make a lot of sense (and, in fact, Novática and UPGRADE are planning to devote a monograph to the semantic Web this year), it is still a useful and interesting exercise to take a general look at some of the fundamental aspects of XML. XML is a relatively recent technology, in spite of the fact that time seems to run faster in the Internet era, and there is still scope for it to evolve and mature.

Moving ahead, below we present the articles making up this monograph, grouped according to their subject matter.

2 General Overview of XML

The monograph kicks off with four articles which give a general overview of XML. The first article ("Variations on XML", written by the first named of the two guest editors of this monograph, Carlos Delgado-Kloos) is a brief reflection on the syntax and characteristics of XML as a data structure definition language. XML grew up out of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), which comes from the world of publishing and arose out of the need to mark up documents. But there are also a great many other programming languages which can be used to define data structures. How do they relate to one another? This brief article aims to explain the new concepts of XML in terms of other better known ones, while providing an introduction a XML for those readers of Novática and UPGRADE for whom this language is new. In this way we aim to make this monograph self contained.

The second one comes from the Spanish branch of W3C (World Wide Web Consortium, <http://w3c.org>, <http://w3c.es>). Under the title "Architecture at W3C", José-Manuel Alonso-Cienfuegos, Encarnación Quesada-Ruiz and Carlos Iglesias-Moro explain how the consortium is structured into activities and groups, and how the work on XML fits into that scheme.

The third article ("The Role of XML Technologies on The New Web", written by Gregorio Martín-Quetglás and Eduardo Carrillo-Zambrano, of the Universidad de Valencia, Spain) introduces the reader to the jumble of acronyms that have sprung up around XML. A great many languages have emerged in response to various problems and this article aims to present them in a digestible form.

Rounding up the first section of introductory articles is the edited transcription of the keynote speech delivered by one of the best known specialists in this subject, Edd Dumbill , at the XML Europe 2004 conference (now XTech conference) in Amsterdam. In this article, entitled "The State of XML", the conference chair presents the current state of XML and the way he sees XML evolving.

3 Articles about Specific XML Applications

Moving on to the section of articles on specific subjects, perhaps the best way to present them is by using the figure describing the Web architecture of tomorrow provided by W3C (which is also used by Martín-Quetglás and Carrillo-Zambrano as a linchpin in their article).

If we look at the figure, above the XML platform we can see four areas, horizontally applicable across all domains of application. These are: Interaction, Web Security, Semantic Web, and Web Services. Also, to the right of these, other (vertical) applications can be placed, applicable to specific domains. In this monograph we have included one article for each of the horizontal areas plus one applicable to a specific domain.

XML Platform

Interaction is covered in an article by Marcos Fernández-Marín, Ricardo Olanda-Rodríguez and Sergio Casas Yrurzum entitled "SVG: An Alternative For Web and Mobile Graphics". SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics, <http://w3.org/Graphics/SVG/>) is the vector graphics format promoted by W3C. As a result of being based on geometrical objects rather than raster techniques, graphics are rendered clearly and sharply on devices of any size. Version SVG 1.1 has reached recommendation level (standard) and version SVG 1.2 is currently being worked on.

On the subject of Security, we have included the article "XML and Digital Rights Management over The Internet", by Isabel Gallego-Fernández and Jaime Delgado-Mercè. In this article they take a look at XML applications proposed for the expression of digital rights and associated rights data dictionaries. This article by no means exhausts the growing field of XML related security; in fact, an extensive list of references in this field is available at <http://www.nue.et-inf.uni-siegen.de/%7Egeuer-pollmann/xml_security.html>. To mention just a few these include: XML Encryption, <http://www.w3.org/Encryption/2001/>, for the encryption of documents or parts of documents; XML Key Management, <http://www.w3.org/2001/XKMS/>, for key management; XML Signature, <http://www.w3.org/Signature/>, for the representation of digital signatures.

The next article is by the second named author of this presentation, Charles McCathieNevile, and is a paper on the subject of the Semantic Web entitled "RDF for XMLers". This article provides an introduction to RDF (Resource Description Framework), upon which the Semantic Web is based, just as the original Web was based on HTML (HyperText Markup Language). Reference is also made to Dublin Core (DC), a metadata vocabulary, and it should be noted that the international Dublin Core conference (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, <http://www. dublincore.org>) is to be held in Spain this year, <http://dc2005.uc3m.es>.

The last of the horizontal approaches in our diagram, Web Services, is included in an article presenting Web Services as a distributed computing paradigm. Under the title "Web Services: Standards Based Distributed Computing", it was written by Francisco Curbera, a researcher at IBM who has authored several Web service specifications. He therefore has first hand knowledge of the development that has been carried out in this area and is able to place the related jargon in its proper context.
To close this monograph, we have chosen an article entitled "Libraries and Information Systems Need XML/RDF... but Do They Know It?" which refers to the application of XML to a specific domain. Eva-María Méndez-Rodríguez, from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain, gives her views on the role XML plays in the world of library and information science.

4 Conclusion

In the previous monograph we compared XML with ASCII and we said that, given the importance of the two technologies in their respective times and environments, XML was the ASCII of the 21st century. In spite of its simplicity, or perhaps precisely because of it, ASCII represented an enormous step forward on the path towards the interoperability of IT systems. But ASCII could only provide a flat-world view. And with such a view there are certain things you can do and understand with ease and other things that are more difficult. Humankind took a giant step forward when we realised that the Earth was not flat, but round. Suddenly, certain experiences were more readily explicable than they had been under the previous model. Similarly, XML opens up a whole world of possibilities that would be much more difficult to achieve with ASCII.

Now the world is no longer flat; it is tree-shaped…

Translation by Steve Turpin

Notes
1 In Novática the monograph appeared in issue number 158 (July/August 2002), available at <http://www.ati.es/novatica/2002/158/nv158sum.html>, while in UPGRADE it can be accessed, in English, at <http://www.upgrade-cepis.org/issues/2002/4/upgrade-vIII-4.html>).

References about XML on The Web

In addition to the numerous references included in this presentation and in the articles making up this monograph, we would also draw your attention to the following ones available on the Internet.

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

The W3C Consortium, which has just celebrated its tenth birthday, is obviously the place to start: <http://www.w3.org/2004/09/W3C10.html>. Their web page at <http://www.w3.org o http://www.w3c.org> is the main source of information regarding the specifications they define.
There is a section devoted to XML <http://www.w3.org/XML/>.

Other sources

Outside the Consortium, the best and most up to date collection of information about XML and SGML is to be found on Robin Cover’s site at <http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/> or http://xml. cover pages.org/>. It contains a collection of introductory articles to XML, <http://xml. coverpages.org/xmlIntro.html>, and a large collection of XML related resources <http://xml.coverpages.org/xml.html>.

Another interesting reference is <http://kensall.com/bigpicture/>, which contains graphical representations of a great many XML specifications with links to relevant websites.

If you want to learn interactively about different aspects of the XML family (and other Web-based technologies) we would recommend that you visit the W3Schools websites at <http://www.w3schools.com/> and ZVON <http://www.zvon.org/>.

Obviously there are a great many more references on the Web referring to XML (in general <http://www. xml.com>, <http://www.xml.org, http://www. topxml.com/>, etc. and from IT companies, such as <http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/>, <http://java.sun.com/xml/>, <http://www.ibm.com/developer works/xml>). If you want to reach the most up to date references, we recommend that you get ‘googling’ <http://www.google.com/search?q=xml>.