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XML and the e-GIF

Paul Miller

Interoperability FocusUK Office for Library & Information Networking (UKOLN)

P.Miller@ukoln.ac.uk http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/

UKOLN is funded by Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Further and Higher Education Funding Councils, as well as by project funding from JISC and the EU. UKOLN also receives support from the Universities of Bath and Hull where staff are based.

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Some context…

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UK Government

• 100% of government services available online by 2005• e–Envoy ensures compliance• Focus upon services• Focus upon the citizen• Focus upon the Joined Up approach• Recognition of multi–channel architecture

• UK currently eighth globally, but strong belief that the framework now established will serve to support 1st class services.

See www.accenture.com/xd/xd.asp?it=enWeb&xd=Industries\Government\gove_study.xml

See www.accenture.com/xd/xd.asp?it=enWeb&xd=Industries\Government\gove_study.xml

See www.e-envoy.gov.uk/See www.e-envoy.gov.uk/

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Focus on services

• Deliver services to the citizen• Services rather than resources

– ‘transactional’ web sites

• Not just about finding documents on a web site

• Change of address pilot now (quietly!) live;–https://www.addressingthechange.com–www.ihavemoved.com/–www.simplymove.co.uk/.

See www.iagchampions.gov.uk/portals/address.pdfSee www.iagchampions.gov.uk/portals/address.pdf

See www.gateway.gov.uk/See www.gateway.gov.uk/

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Focus on the Citizen

• Move away from the ‘silo mentality’• Citizens need/want access

to information/services/resources– These exist in different parts of local and

national government, organised according to internal needs or procedures, and packaged according to particular house styles and conventions

– None of which helps the citizen who just wants a new wheely bin

See www.ukonline.gov.uk/See www.ukonline.gov.uk/

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Recognise a multi–channel future

• The web is not the only game in town…• Mobile phones/ WAP/ 3G• PDAs• Digital TV• Telephone call centres• One stop shop drop–in centres• High street information kiosks• The Post Office• Banks• Traditional access mechanisms

• So… create content once for largely automated repackaging and repurposing• XML Schema/ XSL, etc… .

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The e–GIF

• e–Government Interoperability Framework• Technical standards and policies at the heart

of e–Government• Conformance is mandatory across the Public

Sector• Adoption of Internet and Web standards across

government• XML/XSL, plus government–specific schemas

• Change of Address service, for example, utilises XML Schemas to pass details between participants.

See www.govtalk.gov.uk/See www.govtalk.gov.uk/

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Metadata Framework

• Mandates the Dublin Core• Some elements are made mandatory• Probably adds Audience from AGLS, plus UK

elements Disposal, Location, Preservation• Endorses many of the recently approved DC

Qualifiers• Framework formally announced in Parliament

last week...• Detail to follow

• All will become mandatory.

See www.govtalk.gov.uk/egif/home.htmlSee www.govtalk.gov.uk/egif/home.html

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Some terms…

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What is HTML ?

• HyperText Markup Language• World Wide Web Consortium

recommendation (currently at version 4.01)• Simplified subset of SGML for use on Web• Widely deployed and understood• Difficult to extend• Supported by major vendors, mostly• Technically superseded by XHTML now….

See www.w3.org/MarkUp/See www.w3.org/MarkUp/

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HTML Features

• Easy to create• MS Word, etc.

• Permissive<p><UL><li>Blah…</p>

</ul>

• Occasionally ambiguous

• Case Insensitive.

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What is XML ?

• eXtensible Markup Language• World Wide Web Consortium

recommendation• Simplified subset of SGML for use on Web• Addresses HTML’s lack of evolvability• Easily extended• Supported by major vendors• Increasingly used as a transfer syntax, but

capable of far more….

See www.w3.org/XML/See www.w3.org/XML/

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XML Features

• Extensible• Stricter than HTML on some rules

• Therefore less ambiguous

• Case Sensitive• Notions of ‘well–formed’ and ‘valid’

• A well formed document obeys the rules of XML

• A valid document further obeys the constraints of an associated DTD or equivalent.

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What is XHTML ?

• XHTML 1.0• An expression of HTML 4.01 in XML• The current W3C recommendation for

creating web documents

• XHTML 1.1• A strict expression of HTML 4.01 in

XML– Layout tagging removed altogether– Constructed in a modular fashion

• Currently a W3C proposal.

See www.w3.org/MarkUp/See www.w3.org/MarkUp/

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XHTML Features

…which apply to other applications of XML, such as XML Schemas…

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XHTML Features

• Tags and values are case sensitive<P>Blah… </P>

<P>Blah… </p>

<p>Blah… </p>

• All different. Only one is correct.

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XHTML Features

• All tags must nest<p>here is a paragraph containing <em>emphasis.</p></em>

<p>here is a paragraph containing <em>emphasis.</em></p>

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XHTML Features

• All tags must close<p>here is a paragraph.

<p>here is a paragraph.</p>

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XHTML Features

• Attribute values must be quoted<img src=image.gif alt=Some explanatory text>

<img src=“image.gif” alt=“Some explanatory text” />

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XHTML Features

• Empty elements must close, too<br>

<br></br>

<br />

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What is XML Schema?

• World Wide Web Consortium Recommendation (as of 2 May 2001)

• Provides a means for defining the structure, content and semantics of XML documents

• Used to build applications– Entries can be constrained, and even

partially processed– Processors receiving data know what to

expect, and how to handle it.

See www.w3.org/XML/Schema/See www.w3.org/XML/Schema/

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A Schema

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An ‘instance document’

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XML Schema & Government

• Part of the e–GIF

• Increasingly used to control, enable and manage transactions on the Citizen’s Portal, Government Gateway, etc.

• Also used to control, enable and manage interchange between government systems.

See www.govtalk.gov.uk/schema/home.htmlSee www.govtalk.gov.uk/schema/home.html

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A change of address

• Change of Address service includes XML Schemas• Addresses BS7666 compliant

– Defined as a separate Schema

• Enables numerous public sector departments to be informed of changed addresses in a machine–processable fashion…

– …even if some departments can’t action the data in that way yet.

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Conclusion

• XML Schemas are an increasing part of the e–GIF• XML Schema is a key plank in building

transactional, XML–based websites• XML Schema enables data interchange

with much–reduced ambiguity• HailStorm seems to use XML Schema,

too…– But is it a Microsoft flavour, or the real thing?

See www.microsoft.com/net/hailstorm.aspSee www.microsoft.com/net/hailstorm.asp