Draft roadmap for new work items

Since the UWA WG started we have made good progress with work items 
carried over from the Device Independence WG:

   DIAL v1 - updated Working Draft
   DISelect/XAF - both the Candidate Recommendation
   DCCI - re-entered Last Call with revised spec
   CC/PP 2.0 - Last Call

At the Dublin face to face we agreed to initiate new work items as 
envisaged in the Charter, but so far there has been little progress. 
To get us started, I would like to devote telecon time to a detailed 
consideration of particular work items and would like to get a 
feeling for whether when to start this, given the fact that many of 
us will be taking time off during August.

Here is a summary of the proposed work items:

  * Remote Events for XML (REX) version 2:

The Web API WG has concluded its work on REX v1 and we are chartered 
to pick this up and move it forward. The basic idea is to enable 
remote user interfaces via a means to exchange events between an 
XML-based UI and the application it controls. This is valuable for 
devices with a limited native UI, or for situations where remote 
control is needed.

The intention for REX v2 is to define an extensible framework for 
serializing events and to provide a serialization for DOM3 events. 
My suggestion is to do this as two Working Drafts. The first would 
define the rex and event elements and the semantics for their 
attributes. The second would define the XML serialization for DOM3 
events. I propose to draft initial versions of these for review in 
early September. If you would like to help with the preparation of 
these please let me know.

  * Resource binding interface

This is intended to provide a means for web application clients to 
bind to local or remote resources and expose them as part of the 
DCCI. Examples include the camera built into a phone, the geographic 
location, or real world sensors and effectors such as lighting and 
heating controls. The specification would cover the interface for 
the binding request, and events that signal success or failure.

You can see some of the some of the implications for work on access 
control in my post to the public UWA list:

  http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-uwa/2007Jun/0003.html

The intention is to decouple the specification of the binding 
interface from work on access control mechanisms. If you follow the 
above link you will see that I believe that there is considerable 
potential for exploiting the power of the Semantic Web as a means to 
represent both resource descriptions and access control policies, 
along with associated trust, identity, privacy and security 
considerations. There are likely to be synergies with the recently 
formed POWDER working group as well as the Web Security Context 
working group.

The next step is to write up a first cut at a working draft that 
covers the use cases, requirements and context, as well as the 
interface itself. If you would like to help with this, please let me 
know.

  * Fleshing out the DCCI

The Last Call review period for the DCCI ends soon and we should 
then be able to move it swiftly to Candidate Recommendation status. 
The next step will be to flesh out the DCCI with work on specific 
properties and their associated interfaces. Rhys has been focusing 
on an ontology for properties of specific importance to content 
adaptation and I am hoping we can publish the initial draft for that 
in the near future.

I would also like to see work on defining interfaces for access to a 
range of device capabilities such as an integrated camera, and the 
means to get and set levels for audio input and output. At the face 
to face we also discussed the possibility of work on a simple 
interface for exposing device location to web applications. We also 
talked about the possibility of work on remote capabilities such as 
a means to expose a networked printer within a web application, and 
the opportunities for collaborating with external groups such as the 
PUCC.

This work directly complements to work on resource binding. The next 
step will be to write up some kind of discussion paper on which to 
base plans for further work.  If you would like to help with this, 
please let me know.

  * Policy based layout and behavior

DIAL essentially focuses on device independent markup for web pages, 
leaving a gap for work on standards that cover how to adapt the 
markup, style sheets, scripts and other resources to suit particular 
delivery contexts. The Charter optimistically called for a first 
public working draft in September 2007. Who would like to volunteer 
to make a stab at use cases and requirements? What about Member 
contributions based upon existing proprietary solutions?

  * Intent based events

This is awaiting further coordination with WAI-PF and the XHTML2 
working groups, and looks like a good topic for discussion at the 
Technical Plenary.

I propose to discuss the roadmap and particular milestones in next 
week's telecon and will send out an agenda either tomorrow or early 
next week.

  Dave Raggett <dsr@w3.org> http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett

Received on Thursday, 26 July 2007 17:23:54 UTC