Re: Another XML effort underway

[Doug Loss <dloss@csrlink.net>]

Timothy Wilson wrote:
> 
> He was very interested
> and informed me that there is another group interested in developing an
> XML standard for educational data exchange. The group is called the
> Schools Interoperability Framework. Their webpage is at
> http://www.schoolsinterop.org/
> 
> Bruno, are you aware of this group? I haven't had a chance to look at
> their stuff in detail, but obviously this is worth a look.
> 
I also looked at their site quickly.  I suspect that to actually find
out more about it (what I saw was fairly vague about just what they're
doing) you'd have to register as a participant.  It all sounded a lot
like the IMS project, heavy on bureaucracy and discussion, light on
actual product.  The phrase, "elephant laboring mightily to bring forth
a mouse," comes to mind.  As you say it's worth a look, but I suspect
that we'll have actual running code realizing their goals before they
finish defining and re-reexamining their purpose and "roadmap."

Bruno's work has gone from a standing start to being more useful than
the IMS stuff already, I think.  I don't see SIF as changing that. 
Bruno, we are all in your debt.  I'd like to urge anyone who has any
educational software (particularly for Linux) to check with Bruno and
see how to use EDUML to communicate with other packages.  And I have two
specific requests.  Bruno and Dan Moore, is the EDUML DTD up to date
with the latest version and if not could it be made so?  Steve Tonnesen,
I'd particularly like to see your K12AccountAdmin be made compliant with
EDUML.  That would give us a big step up in the admin software area, I
think.

-- 
Doug Loss                 A life spent making mistakes is not only
Data Network Coordinator  more honorable, but more useful than a
Bloomsburg University     life spent doing nothing.
dloss@bloomu.edu                G. B. Shaw