Hi Michael, On 12 May 2009, at 07:22, Michael Hucka wrote:
Hello there, I hope this is not too off-topic -- I'm new to this group and still am trying to get a sense for what it's about.
The way to figure out it's formal scope is to read the charter: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/HCLSIGCharter
Those of us working on SBML (the Systems Biology Markup Language -- see http://sbml.org) would like to pursue standards-body recognition of SBML. Would this (HCLSIG) be an appropriate group within which to pursue that goal?
If by "pursue" you mean, "Produce, though the direct workings of this group, a W3C recommendation (without a recharter)" then then answer is simple, "No".
However, you could make a W3C member submission of the SBML documents with a recommendation that the W3C standardize it. Activities in this group could help build consensus around SBML (and around SBML being standardized by the W3C).
If not, what alternative(s) would people recommend?
Well, given that standardization is a costly endeavor, I'd ask about the motivations and expected benefits for moving development into a standards body, per se.n There are lots of different sorts of standards body and lots of different reasons for pursuing standardization.
Cheers, Bijan.
