From : < : < robert_weir@us.ibm.com



To : RDFa WG < : RDFa WG < public-rdfa-wg@w3.org

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==== Rob's Friendly Message from the OASIS ODF TC ==== I'd like to make a quick note that OASIS OpenDocument Format 1.2 is now out for public review, through September 6th. The announcement is here: http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/tc-announce/201007/msg00004.html Of particular interest should be the RDFa and RDF/XML support introduced in ODF 1.2. As you may know, an ODF document is ZIP package containing multiple resources, typically including at least a content.xml (the contents and structure of a document) and a styles.xml (the style definitions). You can think of these as analogues to an HTML and CSS file. ODF 1.2 defines a subset of RDFa for use in annotating elements in content.xml and styles.xml: @about, @property, @datatype and @content. We call this "in-content metadata". This subset was chosen based on implementor feedback on what would be easiest to integrate into existing word processors. We also support RDF/XML, where this metadata is stored as a separate XML doc in the ZIP file. The core specification of this is in ODF 1.2 Part 1, section 4.2. That would be page 100 in this PDF: http://docs.oasis-open.org/office/v1.2/cd05/OpenDocument-v1.2-cd05-part1.pdf Also note Chapter 6 of ODF 1.3 Part 3: http://docs.oasis-open.org/office/v1.2/cd05/OpenDocument-v1.2-cd05-part3.pdf Note also that we'll also soon be starting up on "ODF-Next" planning. That would be the place to sync up with RDFa 1.1, etc. But if anyone does have comments on the support that we do have already in ODF 1.2, such comments are more than welcome, and can be submitted to the OASIS ODF TC via the process described here: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/comments/index.php?wg_abbrev=office ==== Rob's Personal Observations ==== On the implementation front, I'd point to KOffice as a good example of some interesting initial work, where they use RDF/XML to store FOAF and iCal info in ODF documents. A blog post/video on what they did is here: http://monkeyiq.blogspot.com/2010/01/koffice-rdf-who-what-when-where.html OpenOffice.org exposes RDF programmatically, as described here: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/DevGuide/OfficeDev/RDF_metadata One should be able to implement specific uses cases by writing an OpenOffice plugin. I'd expect that other OO-derived editors (Symphony, GoOO, etc.) would also be able to build upon that support. I think we have enough in ODF now to do some interesting things. But the next step is for the implementors to take. All the other enhancements in ODF 1.2 came at the behest of implementors who often had already implemented a particular feature. In other words implementation lead specification. RDFa and RDF/XML were different, in that they were added more on speculation, that surely this stuff is important, and having a strong metadata link between office documents and web documents will be critical in the future. The formats may be different, but there should be one interoperable world of linked metadata. We now need to figure out what works best in practice, what works in terms of an end-user editing experience, what works for accessibility, etc. Also, I think we need some killer applications of metadata in the office editor world. Many customers have a fear of metadata. They have been frightened by data leakage news stories and think that metadata is something that you should always strip and remove from your documents, at all costs. We need to demonstrate the compelling value of metadata that makes them overcome their initial reluctance. Show them a good hybrid web pages/ documents mashup and I think the scales will fall from their eyes. Regards, Rob Weir Co-Chair, OASIS ODF TC