xml-dev - RE: The failure to communicate XML - and its costs to e-business

[Michael Brennan <Michael_Brennan@Allegis.com>]

> From: Simon St.Laurent [mailto:simonstl@simonstl.com]
> [...]
> I'm pushing people toward Common XML core as a foundation:
> http://www.simonstl.com/articles/cxmlspec.txt

I've found that to be very useful. I view it as a sort of distilled
experience and expertise -- guidance to new generations of XML developers on
avoiding some pain, from those who have already dealt with the pain.

I also found the threads on this list regarding best practices with
XML-Schema to be quite valuable. Keep this stuff coming!

> Yep.  Giving people a map to the specs they might need 
> someday seems wiser
> than teaching them the details.

That's essential, but it has to come from the perspective of a particular
use of XML technology. It can't come from a general perspective on XML
techologies. Right now, we are still deep in the hype curve and the focus is
too much on the technology without any clear differentiation (XML is
revolutionizing "this" and XML is revolutionizing "that"...).

I think many folks coming to this technology feel daunted and frustrated
because they know there is stuff related to what they are doing, but when
they join this list or go to xml.org or xml.com or w3.org to try to learn
"XML", they become overwhelmed. The immediate response is frustration and
complaints about the loss of simplicity. Many on this list get defensive
about it, but I think this is a very human and understandable reaction.

I feel for people who are just starting to approach these technologies. I
think many on this list don't really have a good sense of what a challenge
it can be for someone just to figure out which of the specs are relevant to
their needs. On the other hand, those who complain about fragmentation and
the loss of simplicitly don't have a good grasp of the breadth of problems
being solved by it all. It all gets lumped together as "XML", when it is
really a rich plethora of solutions to varied problems that happen to share
XML as a common foundation.

One approach to handling this is for individual organizations that are
trying to leverage XML to pay greater attention to internal education and
mentorship. In most of my previous occupations, I've seen this to be
something that is consistently underemphasized or ignored. You see new
people all of the time struggling and repeating the same pain that others
before them have struggled with. At my current employer, this has become a
big focus. I'm working with others to provide a roadmap and tutorials for
folks so they know what to focus on and don't get overwhelmed. There's a
strong emphasis on mentorship here, too. That makes a big difference. Most
"e-businesses" could afford to put a little more resources into educating
their own people.

> And yes, I do see some 'real' RDF work out there.

I'd be very interested in hearing from folks on this list about real world
implementations of RDF that they can share -- especially any novel
applications other than putting the ubiquitously-mentioned Dublin Core
metadata in documents. I'm fascinated by RDF but have had a hard time
finding implementations that can make tangible in people's minds the
potential and significance of RDF.