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August 2005 Newsletter
From the Executive Director
Standards development is an international activity and one of the privileges of participating in international standards development is visiting and working with members from other countries. I am writing my contribution to this newsletter from Warsaw, Poland where Dr. Radack and I are participating in the ISO/TC 37 meeting on terminology at the Polish Institute for Standards (PKN). I visited Poland over twenty years ago when I was working on the IPTC standards for tagging the wire services messages used by the international media. The change in Poland is nothing short of spectacular. I wondered what the Minister of Communication who addressed the IPTC meeting would have thought of such a vibrant community where my cell phone instantly connects to the local network. My guide book states “85% of the Warsaw buildings were destroyed and 800,000 people – more than half the prewar population – perished. (For comparison, the total military casualties for U.S. Forces in WWII was 400,000, for UK forces 280,000).” These are staggering numbers and while the restoration of the city was complete when I visited twenty years ago, it was not the fabric of the city that impressed me the most this time but rather the obvious charm and enthusiasm of the Polish people combined with a sense of economic revival that is truly an inspiration. Dr. Radack and I were able to accept a gracious invitation to visit the Polish codification bureau of the Ministry of Defense and we were able to see first hand the commitment to training in NATO catalog and technical leadership in eCommerce, we look forward to working with them closely in the future.
As we continue to work on the development of the eOTD we are reminded not only of the incredible generosity of the members of NATO but also of the critical nature of the eOTD as a free open technical dictionary. In a globally connected economy there is growing awareness of the importance of unambiguous communication not only across platforms and applications but between end users. As the power of the internet – the primary tool for global communication – continues to grow, it is matched by increasingly well-funded and sophisticated efforts to use it to “manage” mind share or revenue share. I experienced first-hand an early attempt by an organization many of us hold in high regard, to use a global standard to create a global internet tax. Apparently this was the second such attempt by the organization and it appears that their ambition in this regard has not been diminished. It seems that a new business model for terminology is being developed by a number of institutions and commercial organizations and I am beginning to feel more and more like David the giant slayer. At least I have history on my side.
This new business model is focused not only on every commercial transaction, but on insertion into the fundamental exchange of information itself. Essentially it consists of creating terminology tolls where, for a modest fee, you can resolve a term to its definition. Understandably this model is anathema to the army of standards developers who, while they are most commonly funded by either their companies or their government, volunteer inordinate amounts of their personal time to create documents designed to help others. Publishing standards is a rapidly evolving business with rapidly decreasing costs associated with electronic distribution, but it is generally understood and accepted that there is a cost associated with the collection, editing and distribution of standards so it is reasonable to expect to have to pay for the documents. Standards however also contain terminology, and it is this terminology that is being looked at by organizations outside the standards organizations themselves as a means of creating the ultimate tax, a tax on communication, beyond the physical electrical connection through to the ability to communicate itself.
The mission of ECCMA is to ensure that the eOTD, an open dictionary of technical concepts, remains permanently in the public domain. Beyond our friends at NATO, we have found a new ally in the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Representatives of the Institute have recognized the important role that the eOTD can play in assisting standards developers in the harmonization of terminology and also in the promotion of standards. ECCMA has joined the Institute as a member and will be adding terminology provided by ANSI to the eOTD. This new development will mean that in searching for a term in the eOTD you will be provided with the NATO definition but also with definitions found in relevant U.S., ISO or IEC standards. The definitions will be accompanied by a reference to the source standard and a hyperlink that will allow you to order the standard from ANSI if you need to do so.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter Benson
Executive Director, ECCMA
New Staff Member at ECCMA
Peter Benson, ECCMA
Robin Hamilton has joined the ECCMA team to assist with project management and our membership expansion initiative. Hired as a Program Coordinator, Robin will utilize her 20 years of business experience in global sales operations and process/project coordination to address our many growing association needs. Robin is near completion of her B.A. in Global Studies from the Pennsylvania State University and has recently returned from Mexico City where she studied International Relations in the Masters of Arts program at Alliant International University.
We welcome Robin to the ECCMA team and wish her great success with the association. Robin would welcome your questions and suggestions regarding membership or possible newsletter article submissions at robin.hamilton@eccma.org.
ECCMA Membership
Robin Hamilton, ECCMA
During the remainder of 2005 ECCMA will begin additional strategic outreach to individuals and corporations who have already demonstrated interest in our eOTD content by downloading our publicly available data or who are prime candidates to enjoy the many benefits of ECCMA membership. Our goal is to increase ECCMA member volume and subsequently strengthen our revenue stream from the value-added services and content we offer.
Please contact robin.hamilton@eccma.org if you are aware of any non-members that would benefit from our many membership components.
ECCMA Research Lab at Lehigh University
Donald Hillman, Lehigh University
The ECCMA Research Laboratory is a facility of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Its role is to perform research and development activities relevant to the ECCMA mission. These activities encompass database research, Semantic Web development, ontology development, search engine studies, data modeling, and software construction, as well as the integration of cataloging into the educational curriculum. Specific activities this summer include working with ECCMA staff to develop “white papers” submitted in response to a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) of the Defense Logistics Information Research (DLIR) agency concerning long-range, high-risk issues in logistics and supply chain management. Most of these issues have been encountered in the work that ECCMA has been performing for the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) for the last few years. Resolution of these problems will be a key factor in the future adoption of the ECCMA Open Technical Dictionary (eOTD).
A related activity concerned the development of a procedure for constructing names to be used in the eOTD. Current names are based on those used in the NATO Codification System (NCS). These names are not suitable for computer processing. The recommended procedure allows names to be constructed from a headword that designates an object of reference and modifiers that make the reference more specific. The structure of a name developed in this fashion will greatly simplify computer processing. The adoption of the naming procedure is likely to be proposed as part of the ISO 22745 standard for an Open Technical Dictionary.
An ongoing activity of the ECCMA Research Laboratory is the proposed integration of cataloging in the educational curriculum at Lehigh. This could be accomplished by including the requirements of cataloging in the use of computer-aided design and manufacturing systems. The PACE (Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education) Program at Lehigh promotes the use of advanced CAD/CAM tools in the classroom. ECCMA is engaged in a project to incorporate eOTD data in STEP (Standard for the Exchange of Product Data) files. The ECCMA Research Laboratory would like to leverage this experience into the education of next generation product designers in an attempt to bridge the gap between product design and cataloging.
ECCMA members are welcome to suggest research areas that are of interest. Please forward suggestions to the Secretariat or directly to Donald Hillman at donald.hillman@eccma.org.
ISO/TC 37/SC 1-4 Annual Plenary Meeting
Gerald Radack, Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC)
I am writing from the ISO/TC 37 meeting in Warsaw, Poland. This is my first TC 37 meeting and I feel as if I am drinking from a fire hose. I am impressed by the energy and vitality of the group, the depth of knowledge and experience that the experts possess, the professionalism displayed, and the sheer amount of material being standardized.
As a result of discussions with TC 37 terminology experts, I will be proposing that significant changes be made to ISO 22745 Part 12. While the eOTD will always preserve the link to the existing NATO terminology, the purpose of ISO 22745 Part 12 is to provide rules and guidelines for creating new terms and definitions. The title of Part 12 has been changed to: "Naming and Identification of Concepts." The term "concept name" has been changed to "term" for alignment with ISO 704, "Terminology Work — Principles and Methods." More importantly, the prescribed format for concept names is very close to the normal English noun phrase. For example "landing-gear torque collar" would be the 22745-12 compliant term attached to the same concept which now has the NATO term, "COLLAR:TORQUE;LANDING GEAR." A study performed by Lehigh University highlighted inherent ambiguities in the basic-name-colon-qualifier format, and in order to resolve these ambiguities I have included a deviation from the normal syntax of English noun phrases to allow the use of square brackets for word grouping. For example: "DIPHTHERIA AND TETANUS TOXOIDS AND PERTUSSIS VACCINE:ADSORBED;MODIFIED" could be written as "modified adsorbed [[diphtheria and tetanus toxoids] and pertussis] vaccine" under the new rules.
These changes are expected to enable better integration with ISO, IEC, ANSI and other terminology standards. The eOTD core model allows any number of terms to be associated with a concept. The new rules are only mandatory for the "preferred term" associated with a concept and ECCMA will of course attach NCS Approved Item Names and Master Requirement Code names in their current form to the eOTD concept identifiers.
In a future version of Part 12, we may be able to make use of "annotation frameworks" being developed by ISO/TC 37/SC4 to code the semantics of concept names in an unambiguous XML format.
Anyone interested in reviewing Part 12 or Part 11, "Rules and Guidelines for the Formulation of Definitions of Dictionary Elements," is invited to contact me at radack@ctc.com.
Next Generation eCommerce Unveiled at NATO Conference
ECCMA Press Release
As the World Wide Web moves inexorably from HTML to XML, NATO is using its 10th International Symposium on Codification in Edinburgh, Scotland to unveil the conversion of its tried and tested cataloging system into an open technical dictionary for coding semantic content. The dictionary is a collection of coded language independent metadata tags used to encode descriptions of individuals, organizations, locations, and goods and services in XML, a new standard descriptive language that holds the key to unlocking the next generation of the Internet and electronic commerce.
Website designers who have proven to be the enablers of the World Wide Web revolution will be able to see first hand just how easy it is to create standardized catalogs in XML that can be posted to websites alongside more traditional content.
Just as the World Wide Web and the Internet itself was made possible by the adoption of simple standard “tags” there is a new open technical dictionary based on the NATO codification system that allows designers to apply standard tags to a catalog. The difference is that the tags do not identify data representations (e.g., font, color, position) as in HTML but the meaning of the data itself. Based on a $3 billion investment over 50 years, the ECCMA Open Technical Dictionary (eOTD) is a public domain dictionary that is designed to be used to create unambiguous language independent descriptions.
Take a minute to look at the following example:
Decoding the XML is a simple matter of looking up the concept identifiers in the ECCMA Open Technical Dictionary (eOTD). The dictionary supports multiple languages, definitions and pictures too; all you need to build an unambiguous description.
0161-1-02-027375="PRODUCT NUMBER"
0161-1-02-023822="NOMINAL THREAD DIAMETER"
0161-1-05-000798="INCHES"
0161-1-02-010200="WIDTH ACROSS FLATS"
0161-1-02-010196="WIDTH ACROSS CORNERS"
0161-1-02-004968="HEAD HEIGHT"
0161-1-02-027376="COUNT PER PACK"
0161-1-02-027378="PACK PRICE
0161-1-08-000168="US DOLLAR"
0161-1-02-004968="HEAD HEIGHT": A measurement from the bottom to the top of the head, in distinction from depth.
The key is that all descriptive concepts are given unique public domain identifiers and these are stored in an open dictionary. The dictionary is an international cooperative effort led by NATO but open to industry and standards organizations. ECCMA and NATO are committed to supporting web designers and providing them with the necessary information that will allow them to add eOTD-coded XML catalogs to their customer’s websites and build high performance search applications with a minimum of training. Of course, there is also the assurance that the encoding and decoding content which uses the eOTD will always remain in the public domain.
To encourage the adoption of the eOTD as a common descriptive language, members of NATO have funded the development of open source cataloging and advance search tools as well as tools that allow the integration of cataloging into design. These tools will be on display at the 10th International NATO Symposium on Codification being held this year in Edinburgh Scotland from October 10th through the 13th.
NATO and ECCMA have developed a special one day program for web designers focused on building eOTD-coded XML catalogs. The program includes a detailed look at the eOTD and XML formats as well as implementation examples that demonstrate how catalog data in XML can be integrated into the Product Life Cycle Support and CAD systems used by leading manufacturers.
Commenting on the conference program, Peter Benson, the Executive Director of ECCMA, said: “The Symposium provides a unique opportunity for website designers to get a close look at the ECCMA Open Technical Dictionary (eOTD). The eOTD is intrinsically simple to implement yet has the power to revolutionize electronic commerce. The eOTD represents a unique tool for website designers looking to create web catalogs that can be readily searched by the new generation of search engines.”
Commenting on the inclusion of the eOTD in the Symposium program, George Bond, the Chair of the Symposium Organizing Committee, said: “Accurate descriptions are key elements in all aspects of supply chain management and are a major part of NATO’s logistics information systems. The use of a common descriptive language by suppliers and manufacturers in their web catalogs will improve the quality and reduce the cost of the integration and validation of their information, and as a result will make suppliers and manufacturers more visible to Defense Department buyers.”
10th International Symposium on Codification October 10-13, 2005 Edinburgh, Scotland
Piotr Piotrkowski, NAMSA Secretary AC/135
The NATO Group of National Directors on Codification (Allied Committee 135) will hold the 10th International Symposium on NATO Codification at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), United Kingdom, from October 10th-13th. With the theme entitled, “Codification - the DNA of Modern Logistics,” the Symposium will portray and explore the key role of NATO Codification in supporting an effective Supply Chain. This Symposium will commence with a keynote speech by NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment, Mr. Marshall Billingslea. Mr. Billingslea will open the programme of more than 60 presentations, workshops, seminars and exhibitions that will examine all cutting-edge developments in the Logistics world including International Standards, Interoperability, Obsolescence, Lifecycle Management, Asset Tracking and Visibility, Logistics Transformation, and the increasing role of Data Quality in modern Logistics.
Access to this prestigious event is available from only £435 for the full conference or £180 for day rates. The detailed Symposium programme accompanied with online registration is available at: http://www.codification2005.com
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