OK, this is a related theme to what we are doing with DMware.

I wanted to run some things by you about that, also because I am working with AIIM now to see what we will have at AIIM 2001 (in NYC at the very end of April and first days of May).

1.      I want to promote, gather, and provide (if necessary) practical tools and tips for people using WebDAV and learning how to apply it in their DM situations.  The obvious thing to start with, because it is available for so many to play with, is Web Folders, of course.

2.      The key thing is for people to know what is available and what there is to confirm operation, what one can expect at a minimum, what happens in more general cases.  There just seems to be missing information for users to bridge the gap between what they already have and knowing ways to use it for Document and Records Management, etc.  It is about practice and experience and how to deal with what works easily and what it takes to go beyond that.

3.      One thing I am getting rumblings about is that "interoperability" as practiced isn't enough for what users really want, which is some kind of coherent plug-and-play capability.  I have contacts in Europe that say there is renewed interest in DMA because other solutions have fallen short.  I don't know more than that but I am going to find out what I can.

4.      So, if "interoperability" as used technically is not what users are expecting, we need to look at what it takes to provide "coherence."  Property registration mechanisms and discovery mechanisms would seem to be a contribution in that space, as well as ways of confirming the particular operability and functionality of particular interoperable components. 

It looks like AIIM will support an user-centric approach at standards/practices for bridging the gap around achievement of interoperability and satisfaction of information-management requirements, whether documents, records, or other materials.  I don't know if they are geared into process (re-)engineering and configuration management, but they are poised for it.  Product data management is comprehended.  AIIM is not interested in getting into the certification business -- it is too hard.  But NIST might be doing something around conformance or confirmation testing.

So we may find that there is a common interest in these themes.

For now, the property registration work is a good entry. 

And surfacing easy DAV practices and providing some sort of guide to them on DMware seems like a handy first stage too.

I'll keep you posted.

-- Dennis

[ ... ]

-----Original Message-----
From: w3c-dist-auth-request@w3.org
[mailto:w3c-dist-auth-request@w3.org]On Behalf Of Jim Whitehead
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2001 10:09
To: WebDAV WG
Subject: RE: DAV conformance tests


Accidentally caught by the spam filter -- I've added Karl Best to the
accept2 list, so future emails from him will not be caught.

- Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: Karl Best [mailto:karl.best@oasis-open.org]
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2001 8:14 AM
To: Jacob Smullyan; Norbert Mikula; 'Erik Hatcher'; dav-dev@lyra.org;
w3c-dist-auth@w3.org
Cc: Karl
Subject: [Moderator Action] RE: DAV conformance tests


OASIS currently has a number of technical committees (TCs) working on
conformance testing, though none of them are working specifically on DAV.
One committee, Interoperability Conformance, is creating guidelines for the
development of conformance tests. (See
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/committees.shtml for a list of the
current OASIS TCs.)

OASIS would be happy to host a new TC to work on conformance testing for
DAV. The process for creating a new TC is quite simple, and essentially only
requires the sponsorship of three representatives of OASIS member
organizations. (See http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/process.shtml for
the OASIS TC process.) I would be happy to work with any interested parties
to get this set up.

</karl>
============================================================
Karl F. Best
OASIS - Director, Technical Operations
978.667.5115 x206
karl.best@oasis-open.org  http://www.oasis-open.org


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jacob Smullyan [mailto:jacob.smullyan@starmedia.net]
> Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2001 1:00 PM
> To: Norbert Mikula; 'Erik Hatcher'; 'dav-dev@lyra.org';
> 'w3c-dist-auth@w3.org'
> Cc: 'karl.best@oasis-open.org'
> Subject: RE: DAV conformance tests
>
>
> Sounds like a fine idea, and as the Skunkdav developer, I'd be
> glad to help in
> any way I can.    The client library is very easy to script with
> J(P)ython -- I
> refer you to the jpython test script which you may find at:
>
> http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/skunkdav/org/skunk/dav/client/test.py?rev=1.11&content-type=text/x-cvsweb->markup&cvsroot=skunkdav
>
> Jacob Smullyan
> jacob.smullyan@starmedia.net
>
> On Thu, 04 Jan 2001, Norbert Mikula wrote:
> >
> > Erik, OASIS has a long history of developing conformance tests. I copy
> > this
> > e-mail to Karl Best of OASIS who can provide you with all the details.
> > I would suggest we all work together on this.
> >
> > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> >
> > Norbert H. Mikula | Chief Technology Officer
> >
> > 600 108th Avenue NE | Suite 900 | Bellevue WA  98004
> >       T 425.974.4118 | F 425.637.1192 | C 425.681.3685
> >             norbert@datachannel.com
> > w w w . d a t a c h a n n e l . c om
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Erik Hatcher [ mailto:ehatcher@running-start.com
> > <mailto:ehatcher@running-start.com> ]
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2001 7:38 PM
> > To: dav-dev@lyra.org; w3c-dist-auth@w3.org
> > Subject: DAV conformance tests
> >
> >
> > Surely folks are doing some kind of spec. conformance tests against
> > their
> > DAV servers.   How did you do it?
> >
> > Has anyone fleshed these tests out into something available for others
> > to
> > use to test against their servers as well?
> >
> > What about developing some kind of test suite using SkunkDAV code to
> > control
> > it?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >     Erik
> >
> >
>
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