 Freedom of Information Conference 2000
What is XML and Why Should You Care?
B. Tommie Usdin
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.
Abstract
Extensible Markup Language (XML) has burst onto the text processing scene
with a bang, and is widely hailed as the solution to all interchange and
information retrieval problems. While many of these claims are unrealistic,
XML is a widely supported data format that was designed for re-use and
interchange, which makes it a useful tool in addressing the problems of
information interchange, retrieval, longevity, and re-use. XML is an relatively
new standard, originally designed for text interchange on the World Wide
Web and now in use for multi-media publishing, data interchange, electronic
commerce and transaction interchange, and application-to-application communication.
XML-tagged data can provide high precision searching in Web environments
and allow users to interchange reuseable text over the Internet. This
brief introduction to XML will include an overview of the parts of an
XML-based publishing application, the basic concepts underlying XML, and
predictions on the future of XML.
B. Tommie
Usdin is President of Mulberry Technologies, Inc., a consultancy specializing
in SGML and XML. Ms. Usdin has been working with SGML since 1985 and has
been a supporter of XML since 1996. She will co-chair GCA's Extreme Markup
Language conference in August 2000 and is co-editor of "Markup Languages:
THeory & Practice" published by the MIT Press. Ms. Usdin has developed
DTDs and XML/SGML application frameworks for applications in government
and industry. Projects include reference materials in medicine, science,
engineering, and law; semiconductor documentation; historical and archival
materials. Distribution formats have included print books and journals,
and both web-based and media based electronic publications.
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