Delivering the word—integrating publications technologies

Abstract

The panelists will provide a concise overview describing the role of the Standard Document Markup Metalanguage in modern integrated, automated publication processing systems. The Metalanguage is being developed concurrently within the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Task Group X3J6.1 and the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) Working Group TC97/SC/18/WG8. The main thrust of the Metalanguage is to allow documents to be created by an author in a form which allows interchange across a broad range of dissimilar processing systems or devices. All types of documents may be handled, including office documents, books and journals, and technical documentation. These documents may be generated in any sector—academic, commercial, governmental, or industrial. The rationale for the basic premise of the Standard Document Markup Metalanguage—separation of form and content—will be established. The application of the logical (editorial) structure of a document will be shown. Structure designation is accomplished with explicit, unambiguous, and simple markup codes for each editorial element included in a given document. The process by which the generation of multiple, different output product forms (e.g., photocomposed pages, databases, online documentation, videotex, etc.) from the same coded source file will be described. The panelists will also discuss how the standard may be implemented in various environments.