*************************************************************** ****************** WELCOME TO SGML NEWSWIRE ******************* *************************************************************** * * * To subscribe, send mail to sgmlinfo@avalanche.com * * * * (Please pass along to interested colleagues) * * * *************************************************************** WE'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE =========================== The last posting -- the "SGML Professionals" ad from the New York Times -- may have given some subscribers a false impression. While SGML does owe a lot to the Department of Defense's CALS (Computer-aided Acquisition and Logistic Support) program, adoption of SGML has carried far beyond the Defense community. If SGML had not made significant inroads into the computer industry per se, many of those subscribed here (and you *are* many, by the way) would have little interest in SGML. Major computer companies that have either adopted the standard or have been very vocal in supporting it include: Adobe, Frame, Interleaf, Lotus, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, Silicon Graphics and WordPerfect. Hard news from several of these will be announced at the Seybold conference in Boston next week. SGML IN CONTEXT =============== The following is an attempt to situate the significance of SGML within a more global context than that in which it is often perceived. While the final sentence is fairly promotional (though perfectly true), the rest of this stands independent of any particular organization's proprietary interests. Feedback on these ideas is more than welcome. 1) Business in the New Economy In the "new economy," business is driven not by predictable regularities but by pivotal exceptions. These exceptions are dealt with through propositions, perspectives, insight, innovation, conversation, consensus and similar modes of understanding and channels of communication. This information differs radically from the cut-and-dried facts and figures that a company could depend on in more stable times (see, e.g., Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb, 93, "What's So New About the New Economy?"). 2) The Value of Documentary Information Such information is naturally communicated not as fixed-field data, but as documents. Documents support the social mediation required to arrive at new knowledge and to apply it to the work of the company. Documents come in a wide array of types, from e-mail to proposals to "groupware" output. 3) The Problem Managing documents -- creating, distributing, retrieving and re-using them in new contexts -- has not only been hampered, but often prevented, by the proprietary obstacles imposed by differing hardware architectures, operating systems and application-specific file formats. While documentary information has become increasingly critical over the last two decades, these restrictions have only gotten worse. Companies attempting to reengineer their cultures and organizational structures -- Jack Welch's goal of "boundarylessness" for GE forms a good example -- often find that the worst impediment to such needed change can be their own information systems. 4) The Solution The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) is the only serious candidate solution on the near horizon; it's status as an international standard and its widespread adoption by many industries are complementary proofs of this fact. SGML is an enabling technology that can help companies to leverage the knowledge that already exists within their organizations, but which is Balkanized to the point of being unusable across functions, departments and divisions. SGML can remove these artificial boundaries that prevent knowledge from flowing to the parts of the organization where it is most needed, *when* it is most needed. This mapping of cultural goals to technology is far more effective than forcing corporate culture to fit itself to the often unnatural fit provided by proprietary information technologies. 5) The Conversion Experience Before the benefits of this methodology can be reaped -- before real document management systems can even be properly designed -- corporate information must be transformed into SGML. This task requires the ability to analyze document collections and to convert their structural elements into the markup defined by the SGML standard. It also requires careful preservation of the original documents' content and structure, as well as enrichment of the information wherever possible. Because Avalanche software tools -- FastTAG and the SGML Hammer -- address these requirements specifically, they can help companies to take advantage of critical information resources that are nearly unmanageable today. ************************************************************** * SGML NEWSWIRE LIST MANAGER * * * * Linda Turner * * Corporate Communications * * Avalanche * * 947 Walnut Street * * Boulder, CO 80302 * * sgmlinfo@avalanche.com * * linda@avalanche.com * * Vox: (303) 449-5032 * * Fax: (303) 449-3246 * **************************************************************