swdwg-charter 17.1 KB

Raw Blame History Permalink

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
       "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
  <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
  <title>Semantic Web Deployment Working Group Charter</title>
  <link href="/StyleSheets/base.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
  <link href="/2001/sw/swstyle" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
  <style type="text/css">
    .status {background-color: #E1E1E1; color: #000000}
  </style>
</head>

<body xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<p><a href="http://www.w3.org/"><img height="48" alt="W3C"
src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/w3c_home.gif" width="72" /></a> <a
href="http://www.w3.org/TandS/" accesskey="D"><img
src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/tands" width="212" height="48"
alt="Technology and Society Domain" /></a> <a href="/2001/sw/"><img
src="/2001/sw/sw" alt="The Semantic Web Home Page" /></a></p>

<h1>Semantic Web Deployment Working Group (SWDWG) Charter</h1>

<p>The Semantic Web Deployment Working Group (SWDWG) provides consensus-based
guidance in the form of <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2005/10/Process-20051014/tr.html#Reports">W3C
Technical Reports</a> on issues of practical RDF development and deployment
practices in the areas of publishing vocabularies, OWL usage, and integrating
RDF with HTML documents.</p>

<h2>Contents</h2>
<ul class="toc">
  <li><a href="#sec1">1. Scope</a></li>
  <li><a href="#sec2">2. Deliverables and Schedule</a></li>
  <li><a href="#sec3">3. Relationship with Other Activities</a>
    <ul class="toc">
      <li><a href="#sec31">3.1 W3C activities</a></li>
      <li><a href="#sec32">3.2 External groups</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#sec4">4. Membership, Meetings, and Logistics</a>
    <ul class="toc">
      <li><a href="#sec41">4.1 Email communication</a></li>
      <li><a href="#sec42">4.2 Group home page</a></li>
      <li><a href="#sec43">4.3 Telephone meetings</a></li>
      <li><a href="#sec44">4.4 Face-to-face meetings</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#sec5">5. Resources</a>
    <ul class="toc">
      <li><a href="#sec51">5.1 Working Group participation</a></li>
      <li><a href="#sec52">5.2 W3C team involvement</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#sec6">6. Patent Policy</a></li>
</ul>
<hr />

<h2><a name="sec1" id="sec1">1. Scope</a></h2>

<p>The objective of the Semantic Web Deployment Working Group (SWDWG) is to
develop "how to" guidelines that assist users of the Semantic Web in
publishing data and vocabularies that describe data in the Semantic Web. Some
of these guidelines will be published as Working Group Notes and others will
be Recommendation-track documents.</p>

<p>This Working Group is intended to capitalize on work already done both
within W3C and outside W3C. In particular, SWDWG takes as it starting point
work started in the <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/OEP/">OEP</a>, <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2004/03/thes-tf/mission">PORT</a>, <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/VM/">VM</a>, and <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/HTML/">HTML</a> Task Forces of
the <a href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/">Semantic Web Best
Practices and Deployment Working Group</a> (SWBPD).</p>

<p>Domain experts produce ontologies, thesauri, and vocabularies for
incorporation into the Semantic Web. Though these works are domain-specific,
questions arise that are common to each of these efforts on how to take best
advantage of the Semantic Web technologies to deploy these works. There are
interactions with principles of Web architecture that have evolved since the
initial deployment of the Semantic Web and were sometimes overlooked by the
early adopters. The established pattern of emulating existing RDF schemas or
OWL ontologies can therefore lead to propagating unfavorable practices. There
are deployment questions in practical use of OWL that arise repeatedly as new
communities investigate how to employ Semantic Web tools. Questions such as
how in practice to use OWL to achieve semantic integration across different
agents, services, and applications; how to identify multiple versions of a
vocabulary; how to manage the contents of the namespace document(s), and
more.</p>

<p>The Simple Knowledge Organisation System (<a
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/swbp-skos-core-spec">SKOS</a>) was developed as
part of the <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/Europe/reports/thes/">SWAD-Europe Thesaurus
Activity</a> and subsequently taken up by SWBPD to provide guidelines on
porting thesauri to the Semantic Web. SKOS has proven useful in describing
the basic structure and content of concept schemes such as thesauri,
classification schemes, subject heading lists, taxonomies, 'folksonomies',
and other types of controlled vocabularies. SKOS has come to have a
sufficiently important role to the community that it merits the rigorous
review of the W3C Recommendation Track process. Some SKOS concepts interact
with similar features of OWL and those interactions need to be explained in
the context of practical deployment considerations.</p>

<p>The SWDWG will continue the work of the previous SWBPD Working Group to
produce guidelines and an RDF vocabulary (SKOS) for transforming an existing
vocabulary representation into an RDF/OWL representation. The Working Group
will also produce guidelines for the most appropriate use of Web protocols to
make these representations available in a manner consistent with the work of
the W3C Technical Architecture Group. A starting point for this work is the
"<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/swbp-vocab-pub/">Best Practice Recipes for
Publishing RDF Vocabularies</a>" Working Draft produced by SWBPD.</p>

<p>The SWDWG is chartered to produce additional Working Group Notes on
ontology engineering practices appropriate to the deployment of RDF Schema
and OWL. These may include, at the discretion of the Working Group
participants, further work on <a
href="http://www.isi.edu/~pan/SWBP/time-ontology-note/time-ontology-note.html">time</a>,
<a
href="http://www.isi.edu/~pan/SWBP/time-zone-note/time-zone-note.html">timezone</a>,
and units of measure ontologies in OWL that were started in the <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/OEP/">OEP task force</a> of the
SWBPD Working Group. Specific 'horizontal' vocabularies other than those
listed above are outside the scope of this charter.</p>

<p>Finally, the SWDWG is chartered to complete the collaboration with the W3C
HTML Activity to specify a W3C Recommendation on incorporating RDF semantics
directly into HTML documents. While the expected W3C Recommendation may
involve changes to the specification of HTML and is therefore the
responsibility of the HTML Activity, practical deployment guidelines within
the Semantic Web are the responsibility of SWDWG. The Working Group is tasked
to consider two options to meeting requirements it will write in the first 6
weeks of work. The first option is to use <a
href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-modularization/">XHTML Modularization
1.1</a> to specify an RDF Semantics module that can be combined with existing
W3C XHTML 1.1 modules. The second option is to identify, in close cooperation
with the HTML Working Group, changes to XHTML Modularization 1.1 or to other
HTML specifications that would lead to an improved technical solution
(hereafter called "RDFa") over option 1 and provide requirements to the HTML
Working Group against which it can evaluate those suggested changes. The
Requirements and Use Cases on Incorporating RDF Semantics Into XHTML Working
Draft [to be written in the first 6 weeks] will guide the selection of option
1, option 2, or some combination thereof. The Requirements and Use Cases will
include an explanation of how these technologies compare to related efforts
such as microformats.</p>

<h2><a name="sec2" id="sec2">2. Deliverables and Schedule</a></h2>

<p>The Semantic Web Deployment Working Group is chartered to produce the
following documents:</p>
<ol>
  <li>A W3C Recommendation for the <a
    href="http://www.w3.org/TR/swbp-skos-core-spec/">Simple Knowledge
    Organisation System</a> (SKOS).</li>
  <li>A W3C Technical Report (Working Group Note or Recommendation) on best
    practice recipes for publishing RDF vocabularies and OWL ontologies using
    Web protocols. This deliverable specifies the most appropriate means to
    use HTTP to access RDF schemas and OWL ontologies that are consistent
    with <a
    href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-webarch-20041215/">Architecture of
    the World Wide Web</a> (plus subsequent <a
    href="http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/findings">TAG findings</a>) and allow
    for multiple representations (e.g. RDF/XML and HTML) of the vocabulary
    description.</li>
  <li>A W3C Technical Report (Working Group Note or Recommendation) providing
    guidelines for authors of RDF schemas and OWL ontologies on principles of
    good practice for publishing such schemas and ontologies including use of
    namespaces, change management, and versioning.</li>
  <li>A W3C Technical Report (Working Group Note or Recommendation) on using
    OWL to achieve semantic integration across applications.</li>
  <li>A W3C Technical Report (Working Group Note or Recommendation)
    specifying how to incorporate RDF semantics into HTML documents.</li>
</ol>

<p>This Working Group is chartered through April 30, 2008.</p>
<ul>
  <li>start+1 month: updated RDFa (incorporating RDF semantics into HTML)
    Primer Working Draft</li>
  <li>start+6 weeks: Working Draft on "Requirements and Use Cases on
    Incorporating RDF Semantics Into XHTML"</li>
  <li>start+2 months: updated Working Draft on Best Practice Recipes for
    Publishing RDF Vocabularies</li>
  <li>start+2 months: First Working Draft on RDFa as an XHTML 1.1 module</li>
  <li>start+3 months: document (as a Working Group Note) the requirements
    that SKOS is intended to meet</li>
  <li>start+3 months: (updated) Working Draft on the use of OWL to achieve
    semantic integration</li>
  <li>start+4 months: updated SKOS Working Draft</li>
  <li>start+5 months: First Principles of Good Practice for Managing RDF
    Schemas and OWL Ontologies Working Draft</li>
  <li>start+5 months: updated RDFa Primer Working Draft</li>
  <li>start+5 months: Last Call Working Draft on RDFa as an XHTML 1.1
  module</li>
  <li>start+6 months: "Recipes" Last Call Working Draft</li>
  <li>start+6 months: Semantic Integration with OWL Note complete</li>
  <li>start+8 months: updated SKOS Working Draft</li>
  <li>start+12 months: SKOS Last Call Working Draft</li>
  <li>start+14 months: "Principles for Managing" Last Call Working Draft</li>
  <li>start+14 months: SKOS Candidate Recommendation</li>
  <li>start+16 months: "Principles for Managing" Note complete</li>
  <li>start+17 months: SKOS Proposed Recommendation</li>
  <li>start+20 months: close</li>
</ul>

<h2><a name="sec3" id="sec3">3. Relationship with Other Activities</a></h2>

<h3><a name="sec31" id="sec31">3.1 W3C-related activities</a></h3>
<ul>
  <li>The <a href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/interest/">Semantic Web Interest
    Group</a></li>
  <li>The <a href="http://www.w3.org/2005/rules/wg">Rule Interchange
    Format</a> Working Group, particularly with respect to the <a
    href="http://www.w3.org/TR/swbp-n-aryRelations">expression of n-ary
    relations</a></li>
  <li>The <a href="http://www.w3.org/2005/10/swap3/activity#educomm">Semantic
    Web Education and Communication</a> Working Group</li>
  <li>The HTML Working Group, for work on incorporating RDF data directly in
    HTML documents</li>
  <li>The <a href="http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/">Technical Architecture
    Group</a>, particularly with respect to <a
    href="http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/issues.html?type=1#namespaceDocument-8">namespaceDocument-8</a>,
    <a
    href="http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/issues.html#XMLVersioning-41">xmlVersioning-41</a>,
    and <a
    href="http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/issues.html#nameSpaceState-48">nameSpaceState-48</a></li>
  <li>The <a
    href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-xml-versioning/">"XML
    Versioning" mailing list</a> (see <a
    href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-xml-versioning/2005May/0000.html">purpose</a>)</li>
  <li>The <a href="http://www.w3.org/International/">Internationalization
    Activity</a> for addressing language issues in ontologies</li>
</ul>

<h3><a name="sec32" id="sec32">3.2 External groups</a></h3>
<ul>
  <li><a href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-esw-thes/">ESW
    Thesaurus mailing list</a> for coordination with the SKOS community</li>
  <li><a
    href="http://www.iso.org/iso/en/stdsdevelopment/tc/tclist/TechnicalCommitteeDetailPage.TechnicalCommitteeDetail?COMMID=5393">ISO
    TC37/4</a> for coordination with the SKOS developments</li>
</ul>

<h2><a name="sec4" id="sec4">4. Membership, Meetings, and Logistics</a></h2>

<p>Group membership follows section <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2005/10/Process-20051014/groups.html#group-participation">6.2.1
Working Group and Interest Group Participation Requirements</a> of the W3C
Process and is not further constrained.</p>

<p>Participation is expected to consume approximately one half day per week
of each Working Group participant's time, including weekly remote
meetings.</p>

<p>All proceedings of the Working Group (mail archives, telecon minutes,
face-to-face minutes) are available to the public using a mailing list,
public-swd-wg@w3.org, and its associated Web archive. The Working Group
telecons and face-to-face meetings are not themselves public meetings.</p>

<p>If the Working Group chooses to establish task forces to work in parallel,
Working Group participants are not obligated to participate in every task
force, however the Working Group as a whole is responsible for the output of
each task force. Task force participants are expected to participate in all
Working Group face-to-face meetings and telecons.</p>

<h3><a name="sec41" id="sec41">4.1 Email communication</a></h3>

<p>The mailing list for group communication is public-swd-wg@w3.org with a
publicly readable archive.</p>

<h3><a name="sec42" id="sec42">4.2 Group home page</a></h3>

<p>The Working Group will have a home page that records the history of the
group, provides access to the archives, meeting minutes, updated schedule of
deliverables, membership list, and relevant documents and resources. The page
will be available to the public and will be maintained by the chair in
collaboration with the W3C team contact.</p>

<h3><a name="sec43" id="sec43">4.3 Telephone meetings</a></h3>

<p>The Working Group will hold teleconferences on a regular schedule as
agreed by the Working Group participants but at least every two weeks.
Participation in teleconferences is limited to Working Group working group
members. The Chair may, at his/her discretion, invite guest experts to attend
particular phone conferences. An IRC channel will be used to supplement
teleconferences.</p>

<p>Meeting records should be made available within two days of each telephone
meeting.</p>

<h3><a name="sec44" id="sec44">4.4 Face-to-face meetings</a></h3>

<p>The Working Group may schedule face-to-face meetings according to <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2005/10/Process-20051014/policies.html#GeneralMeetings">W3C
meeting notice requirements</a>. Participation in face-to-face meetings is
limited to Working Group members and observers invited by the Chair.
Observers may take part in decision-making at the discretion of the Chair.</p>

<h2><a name="sec5" id="sec5">5. Resources</a></h2>

<h3><a name="sec51" id="sec51">5.1 Working Group participation</a></h3>

<p>To be successful, we expect to have between 8 and 20 active participants
for the duration of this Working Group. We also expect a large public review
group that will participate in the mailing list discussions.</p>

<h3><a name="sec52" id="sec52">5.2 W3C team involvement</a></h3>

<p>The W3C Team expects to allocate the equivalent of 20% of a full-time
person to this work for the duration of this working group. This time
includes the Team Contact effort as well as additional participation.</p>

<h2><a name="sec6" id="sec6">6. Patent Policy</a></h2>

<p>This Working Group operates under the <a
href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/">W3C Patent
Policy</a> (5 February 2004 Version). To promote the widest adoption of Web
standards, W3C seeks to issue Recommendations that can be implemented,
according to this policy, on a Royalty-Free basis.</p>
<hr />

<p class="copyright"><a
href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#Copyright">Copyright</a>
©1994-2006 <a href="http://www.w3.org/"><acronym
title="World Wide Web Consortium">W3C</acronym></a><sup>®</sup> (<a
href="http://www.csail.mit.edu/"><acronym
title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology">MIT</acronym></a>, <a
href="http://www.ercim.org/"><acronym
title="European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics">ERCIM</acronym></a>,
<a href="http://www.keio.ac.jp/">Keio</a>), All Rights Reserved. W3C <a
href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#Legal_Disclaimer">liability</a>,
<a
href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ipr-notice#W3C_Trademarks">trademark</a>
and <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-documents">document
use</a> rules apply.</p>
<hr />
</body>
</html>