I was thinking about a post topic when I noticed it was XML’s 10th birthday, which makes it also SGML’s 20th birthday. I’d been involved with SGML since 1989 (when it was a toddler). By 1994, I had several staff who would help to conceive XML, then participate in its gestation, labor, delivery, and upbringing. We [were | are] all expert practitioners who helped companies adopt SGML (XML) and other markups to optimize their information flow and economy. Back then what we did seemed a lot like “re-engineering documentation”. Now, we know that it’s really one pillar of “knowledge management”. Knowledge management is one key part of knowledge ecologies and knowledge economies. I’ll get more in to that thread soon. In the interim, here is an interesting paper at ….“Technical Context and Cultural Consequences of XML”, by Sharon Adler and others. Please come back after you’ve read it!

Category: General