[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] OASIS individual memberships
I hope this posting is seen as appropriate to XML-Dev, which seems to have the highest concentration of OASIS members (and potential members) around. Given the rate at which standards are developed, discussed, and occasionally whacked on this list, the opportunity to join a standards organization and its implications seems an appropriate topic of discussion. (If it's not, just don't buy me a beer at the next conference, okay?) OASIS (the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) has created a new category of membership, individual membership ($250/year). The press release is at http://www.oasis-open.org/html/membership_opens.html. While I loudly applaud their move to open their ranks to a larger body of members, which will hopefully bring them some new perspectives, I'm also having a hard time deciding whether it's worth my spending $250. I already spend $91/year for my ACM membership, and mostly get a magazine, an email alias, and what I call my 'union card' for that cash. Deciding whether to spend $250 entails a bit more than just liking the organization. It's not clear to me what benefits I'd get from becoming an OASIS member. I'll start with the list from the site: (http://www.oasis-open.org/html/members.htm) >Attendance at members-only events Which include? It looks like there's a summer workshop August 11-13 in Montreal, but is there any way to find out what that involves/provides? >Participation in technical discussion groups and subcommittee working groups. The only committees appear to be XML Conformance, Registry and Repository, and DocBook. While I've offered to work on two of these, paying $250 so I can do additional work doesn't seem especially sensible. >Participation in marketing discussion groups and subcommittee working groups. I can't find any information about this in the public areas of the site. >Basic developer repository services. Meaning... Web site hosting? DTD hosting? This could have many different meanings. >Ability to submit, review, and distribute OASIS white papers, case studies, and other educational materials. Maybe this is useful, though I already 'submit' my articles to the public via a reasonably well-traveled Web site. >Vote on candidates for OASIS Board of Directors Good. >Access to all OASIS' technical committee output before it is made public. How much output is there really? OASIS seems like a good idea, but it's not clear how much it really _does_. >Member discounts at exhibitions and conferences (where offered) This would be nice, but (where offered) doesn't promise a whole lot. The next few items seem to reiterate the committee possibilities already mentioned, though they mention some additional committees: >Involvement in the OASIS XML.org Registry and Repository technical committee >Participation in the ongoing development of the OASIS XML Conformance Suite to insure product interoperability. >Opportunity to influence the standard for XML-based interchange of tabular data by providing input for the OASIS XML Table Model Technical Resolutoion. >Promotion of the open exchange of graphics by taking part in the work of CGM Open. >Influence on future directions of documentation markup by taking part in the maintenance of the DocBook DTD I'm not trying to knock OASIS - I'd just like more information on what exactly the benefits are. I'd especially welcome a public response, as it might provide some good public relations for an organization that seems to be trying to build a large base of support. If the benefits are significant enough, I hope that many members of XML-Dev will take up this new opportunity and join the organization. Simon St.Laurent XML: A Primer / Building XML Applications Inside XML DTDs: Scientific and Technical Sharing Bandwidth / Cookies http://www.simonstl.com xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i... Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ and on CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; (un)subscribe xml-dev To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; subscribe xml-dev-digest List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...)
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