OASIS Launches DITA XML.org Focus Area; New Web Site Enables Community to Share Information on DITA Publishing Standard

Business Wire, March 22, 2006

BOSTON -- The OASIS international standards consortium today introduced the DITA XML.org Focus Area (http://dita.xml.org). The new site serves as the community gathering place and information resource for the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), an approved OASIS Standard that builds content reuse into the authoring process.

"Interest in DITA is tremendous right now, and there is strong support in the community for a resource to share information," noted Don Day of IBM, chair of the OASIS DITA Technical Committee. "The DITA XML.org Focus Area combines the free expression of a wiki with stable background materials on the standard, as well as organized community postings on topical issues. Novices, experienced implementors, providers of DITA-compliant products and services, local user group members, those interested in advancing the standard -- everyone will be able to make use of the site."

All DITA XML.org Focus Area pages are accessible by the public, and users are encouraged to contribute content. The site features three main sections:

--DITA Knowledge Base, which provides a technical and educational background on the standard, as compiled by the site's Editorial Board;

--DITA Today, which serves as a community bulletin board and directory where readers share news, events, product listings, services, case studies, testimonials, and recommendations on other useful resources; and

--DITA Wiki, which enables the public to dynamically collaborate on documents and add new pages to the site.

XML.org also supports blogs and forums to encourage open discussions on issues of interest to the DITA community. It serves as an access point to related information on the OASIS-hosted Cover Pages (http://xml.coverpages.org), a comprehensive public resource for information on XML and related technical standards for the structured information community. The Focus Area also supplements and references the official OASIS DITA Technical Committee pages, which are devoted to documenting the development of the standard.

Creation and oversight of content for the DITA XML.org Focus Area is provided by the site's Editorial Board, which includes: Don Day and Michael Priestly of IBM; Bruce Esrig of Lucent Technologies; Kay Ethier; JoAnn Hackos and Jen Linton of Comtech Services; Scott Prentice of Leximation; and Jerry Silver of Blast Radius.

Funding for the Focus Area is provided by Adobe, Blast Radius, Comtech, Innodata Isogen, PTC, and Vasont.

Support for the DITA XML.org Focus Area

Adobe

"Adobe FrameMaker's DITA support and Adobe's own internal use of DITA to develop our product help content in the Adobe Creative Suite and Adobe Digital Audio and Video products is a direct result of the work from OASIS. Adobe is honored to be associated with the new DITA XML.org Focus Area and pledges our continued support for the DITA OASIS Standard," said Michael Hu of Adobe.

Blast Radius

"The DITA Focus Area is another example of the strong momentum behind DITA," said Robert Miller, Vice President of Marketing, Blast Radius. "For the first time, the grass roots collaboration around an XML documentation standard can come together in an active online community sharing best practices and providing authoritative information on the use of this important technology. As a leading vendor of DITA-based solutions, Blast Radius welcomes the Focus Area and looks forward to its role in educating users about DITA."

Comtech

"Comtech Services is pleased to support the development of the DITA XML.org Focus Area. This new site promises to provide a superior resource for building a DITA information repository. It also provides a forum for DITA users and prospective users to build a community of practice," said JoAnn T. Hackos, PhD, Comtech President.

PTC

"PTC is proud to be a sponsor of the DITA XML.org Focus Area," said PG Bartlett, vice president product management for Arbortext, PTC. "We have high expectations for the widespread implementation and use of DITA and believe this site will be a valuable resource of information for organizations that want to utilize DITA to simplify XML-based technical document publishing."

Vasont

"For anyone who wants to find out what DITA is all about, the DITA XML.org Focus Area is an excellent resource. It centralizes important information about DITA, lists upcoming events, and allows for collaboration among DITA users. This is the premiere DITA knowledge base, and Vasont Systems is proud to be a sponsor of this resource," said Suzanne Mescan, Vice President of Marketing, Vasont Systems.

About OASIS:

OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. The consortium produces open standards for Web services, security, e-business, and standardization efforts in the public sector and for application-specific markets. Founded in 1993, OASIS has more than 5,000 participants representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries. Approved OASIS Standards include AVDL, CAP, DITA, DocBook, DSML, ebXML CPPA, ebXML Messaging, ebXML Registry, EML, OpenDocument, SAML, SPML, UBL, UDDI, WSDM, WS-Reliability, WSRP, WS-Security, XACML, XCBF, and XML Catalogs. http://www.oasis-open.org