XML, CM, and KM KMWorld 2001 Thursday November 1, 2001 Darlene Fichter Data Library Coordinator University of Saskatchewan Libraries Frank Cervone Assistant.

XML, CM, and KM KMWorld 2001

Thursday November 1, 2001

Darlene FichterData Library Coordinator

University of Saskatchewan Libraries

Frank CervoneAssistant University Librarian for Information Technology

Northwestern University

Agenda

What is XML? What does it offer? What are some of the weaknesses? Trends in XML, CM, and KM

Why XML?

A critical component of KM involves knowledge representation and codification

To support knowledge activities, computers must have access to structured collections of information and sets of inference rules that they can use to conduct automated reasoning

What is XML?

Structured data interchange– A common syntax for expressing structure in data

Designed to account for “unstructured” data– Documents

Inherently conveys meaning/structure Content and process separate from structure Delivered via standard text files

XML Example – Rich Site Summary

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!DOCTYPE rss PUBLIC "-//Netscape Communications//DTD RSS 0.91//EN" "http://my.netscape.com/publish/ formats/rss-0.91.dtd">

<rss version="0.91" encoding= "ISO_8859-1">

<channel> <title>book news</title> <link>http://www.test.com</link> <description>Book news - headlines from around the web, refreshed every 15

minutes</description> <language>en-us</language></channel>

Headlines

<item> <title>

'Author Unknown' by Don Foster

</title><link>

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2001/10/30/pbacks/index.html </link><description>

Salon Nov 1 2001 6:51AM </description>

</item>

XML is open

Open standards NOT proprietary Platform neutral, license-free and widely

supported Influenced by a number of standards

organization Agreement on a number of core standards in

the XML family

XML strengths

Flexible– Make collaborative information exchange simpler

Less expensive implementation– Light-weight software modules

Separates content from processing Easily internationalized

– Full Unicode support Enables complex information retrieval

XML is flexible

Very flexible – you can define your own languages, vocabulary, and metadata

Easily extended by adding additional elements (fields) and attributes

Data description can be sent with the data

XML enables less expensive implementation

Implementation tools are modularized– XML browser can be implemented in less than 200K– HTML browser > 4MB to 80 MB

Standard syntax makes processing easier and therefore less expensive

– Simple implementation of “validity checking”

Lower cost– Allow small and medium-sized organizations to participate in

data exchange initiatives

XML separates content from process

Doesn’t impose a particular manner for processing

Doesn’t impose constraints on how to handle information

Same data can be used in web page, hand held device through simple “transformations”– “loosely coupled”– “future proof”

XML is easily internationalized

Unicode standard supports a wide range of languages and scripts

– Latin (Western and Eastern European, non-western languages)– Greek– Cyrillic– Hebrew– Arabic– Armenian– Georgian– Thai– Lao– Hangul (Korean)– Ideographs (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)– Hiragana and Katakana (Japanese)– Cherokee– Khmer– Ethiopian

XML enables complex information retrieval

Supports encoding of metadata through both standardized and constructed tag sets

XML downsides

Space, processor, and bandwidth hog Just a document syntax, not a full-fledged

programming language Doesn’t work for binary data Is a regression from centralized and efficient

databanks Specifications are not complete

XML – just one part of the puzzle

XML and content management

CM systems repositories use XML for tagging and storing information

CM systems use XML as a standard protocol for integration with other applications

XML is invisible to the information creator– XML markup created as the information is captured

Emerging Standards For KM

XTM OPML RFML FLBC

Industry specific standards:

•Legal

•Publishing

•Scientific research

XTM: Topic Maps

Topic maps are a new ISO standard for describing knowledge structures and associating them with information resources

Used to organize information into knowledge bases

“GPS” for information http://www.topicmaps.org/xtm/index.html

“A book without an index is like a country without a map”

OPML

Outline Processor Markup Language– Outline-structured information

Used for data the is easily browsed and editable– Specifications– Legal briefs– Product plans– Presentations– Screenplays– Directories

RFML

Relational-functional markup language Used to define relationship and functions

among data elements– Tables within relational databases– Relational views

FLBC

Formal Language for Business Communication– Automated communication – Conversation management– Dialog management– Based on speech act theory

Formally defined message types Broad range of message types Defined in terms of intentions Clear delineation between message type and content

XML in Use

Portals Content management & syndication Content management: industry sector Integration Analytical/decision making Search and retrieval Visualization

Questions