[jats-list] Press Release: NISO Launches New Project to Develop XML Standard for Producing Standards Documents

["Nettie Lagace nlagace@xxxxxxxx" <jats-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

NISO Launches New Project to Develop XML Standard for Producing Standards
Documents

Interested participants from digital publishing and standards development and
management organizations are encouraged to contact NISO.

Baltimore, MD b August 5, 2015 b The National Information Standards
Organization (NISO) voting members have approved a new project to standardize
the ISO Standard Tag Set (ISOSTS) in line with JATS (ANSI/NISO Z39.96-2012
JATS: Journal Article Tag Suite) for application by standards development
organizations (SDOs) and use in the standards ecosystem. In the process of
formalizing ISO STSba variant of JATSbas an ANSI/NISO standard, this new
NISO initiative, NISO STS, will support input from many organizations that
have begun to use it in their own publication production processes.

bThere are currently several DTDs used for tagging standard-type information
based on JATS and a number of other independently developed DTDs. This
variation impedes interoperability across standards and inhibits collaboration
between our organizations,b states Robert Wheeler, Director, Publishing
Technologies, ASME, one of the project proposers. bISOSTS is one of these
JATS derivatives, created in 2011 by ISO, the International Organization for
Standardization. The DTD and documentation have been openly available and used
by a number of ISO members. It will be beneficial to all standards
stakeholders to have the standards community collectively contribute to this
new standard based on ISOSTS.b

bIt is important that as related specifications evolve they remain
synchronized,b explains B. Tommie Usdin, President of Mulberry Technologies,
Inc., co-chair of the NISO JATS Standing Committee, and vice-chair of the NISO
Board of Directors.  bCreating an official relationship between ISOSTS and
JATS will ensure that standards are interoperable and compatible with a wide
variety of other technical documentation. This will reduce costs for standards
creation and help streamline standards dissemination.b

bThere are many benefits to moving this work forward within NISO,b adds
Todd Carpenter, Executive Director of NISO. bThis initiative can align
ISOSTS with JATS under a single maintenance structure and ensure compatibility
between this and potentially other bflavorsb of the tag suites.  NISO is
pleased that this work, based on an ANSI/NISO standard, will be supported by
so many standards organizations. It will improve the future of standards
publishing and ultimately aid standardsb end users.b

Participation in the new NISO STS initiative is encouraged from those familiar
with standards production, publishing systems and XML. Familiarity with JATS
is also helpful. Individuals interested in participating on this working group
should contact Nettie Lagace (nlagace@xxxxxxxx).

About the National Information Standards Organization (NISO)
NISO fosters the development and maintenance of standards that facilitate the
creation, persistent management, and effective interchange of information so
that it can be trusted for use in research and learning. To fulfill this
mission, NISO engages libraries, publishers, information aggregators, and
other organizations that support learning, research, and scholarship through
the creation, organization, management, and curation of knowledge. NISO works
with intersecting communities of interest and across the entire lifecycle of
an information standard. NISO is a not-for-profit association accredited by
the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). More information about NISO
is available on its website: http://www.niso.org.

For More Information, Contact:
Nettie Lagace
NISO
Phone: 301-654-2512
nlagace@xxxxxxxx