All,
FYI.
[email protected] wrote:
==== Rob's Friendly Message from the OASIS ODF TC ====
I'd like to make a quick note that OASIS OpenDocument Format 1.2 is now
out for public review, through September 6th.
The announcement is here:
http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/tc-announce/201007/msg00004.html
Of particular interest should be the RDFa and RDF/XML support introduced
in ODF 1.2.
As you may know, an ODF document is ZIP package containing multiple
resources, typically including at least a content.xml (the contents and
structure of a document) and a styles.xml (the style definitions). You
can think of these as analogues to an HTML and CSS file.
ODF 1.2 defines a subset of RDFa for use in annotating elements in
content.xml and styles.xml: @about, @property, @datatype and @content. We
call this "in-content metadata". This subset was chosen based on
implementor feedback on what would be easiest to integrate into existing
word processors.
We also support RDF/XML, where this metadata is stored as a separate XML
doc in the ZIP file.
The core specification of this is in ODF 1.2 Part 1, section 4.2. That
would be page 100 in this PDF:
http://docs.oasis-open.org/office/v1.2/cd05/OpenDocument-v1.2-cd05-part1.pdf
Also note Chapter 6 of ODF 1.3 Part 3:
http://docs.oasis-open.org/office/v1.2/cd05/OpenDocument-v1.2-cd05-part3.pdf
Note also that we'll also soon be starting up on "ODF-Next" planning. That
would be the place to sync up with RDFa 1.1, etc. But if anyone does have
comments on the support that we do have already in ODF 1.2, such comments
are more than welcome, and can be submitted to the OASIS ODF TC via the
process described here:
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/comments/index.php?wg_abbrev=office
==== Rob's Personal Observations ====
On the implementation front, I'd point to KOffice as a good example of
some interesting initial work, where they use RDF/XML to store FOAF and
iCal info in ODF documents. A blog post/video on what they did is here:
http://monkeyiq.blogspot.com/2010/01/koffice-rdf-who-what-when-where.html
OpenOffice.org exposes RDF programmatically, as described here:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/DevGuide/OfficeDev/RDF_metadata
One should be able to implement specific uses cases by writing an
OpenOffice plugin.
I'd expect that other OO-derived editors (Symphony, GoOO, etc.) would also
be able to build upon that support.
I think we have enough in ODF now to do some interesting things. But the
next step is for the implementors to take. All the other enhancements in
ODF 1.2 came at the behest of implementors who often had already
implemented a particular feature. In other words implementation lead
specification. RDFa and RDF/XML were different, in that they were added
more on speculation, that surely this stuff is important, and having a
strong metadata link between office documents and web documents will be
critical in the future. The formats may be different, but there should be
one interoperable world of linked metadata. We now need to figure out
what works best in practice, what works in terms of an end-user editing
experience, what works for accessibility, etc.
Also, I think we need some killer applications of metadata in the office
editor world. Many customers have a fear of metadata. They have been
frightened by data leakage news stories and think that metadata is
something that you should always strip and remove from your documents, at
all costs. We need to demonstrate the compelling value of metadata that
makes them overcome their initial reluctance. Show them a good hybrid web
pages/ documents mashup and I think the scales will fall from their eyes.
Regards,
Rob Weir
Co-Chair, OASIS ODF TC
--
Regards,
Kingsley Idehen
President & CEO
OpenLink Software
Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
Twitter/Identi.ca: kidehen
