W3C Workshop on Web Device Independent Authoring

Position Statements and Papers

As at 29 September 2000: 51 registrants, 19 position papers



Participants are listed in alphabetical order. Links are provided to local copies of position papers under the name of the participant(s), and to the original URI if on the web.

Marc Abrams - Universal Interface Technologies, Inc.

Device-Independent Authoring with UIML
[URI: http://dev1.universalit.com/docs/W3CDevIndAuthoringAbrams.html]

Rafiul Ahad - Oracle

Oracle develops and markets a wireless internet platform called iAS Wireless Edition (Portal-to-Go). This product supports device independent content authoring. We would be interested in presenting a paper in this workshop regarding the issues surrounding content adaptation for mobile devices.

Sundos Al-Qaisi - ELATT

I am studying at the moment and interested in attending

Daniel Austin - Ask Jeeves Inc

(not now able to attend)
As the web moves toward a more heterogenous environment for user agents, strategies and techniques for providing web content to these user agents must be developed. At Ask Jeeves, we are working steadily toward developing device-independent authoring based on XML. Along the way we've faced many challenges and difficulties, and we are interested in sharing what we've learned, and learning from others following the same path.

Mike Barta - Microsoft

MSDN has a vested interest in the directions and standards developed in this space. As media and access modes proliferate, and the reach of these media extends, it becomes critical to publish to a neutral format to allow for device independence, differing user ableness, and content focus. Device independence is a principal concern for content development and deployment as we focus on delivering information that is timely, relevant, and highly available. I have three main areas of interest regarding device independence: 1. Layout and Independence: Is it enough to abstract the data layer, e.g. XFORM, from the presentation or are there gains to be had with aggregation of layout? Is this within the domain of device independence?
2. Host Capabilities: How can the device, or user, specific capabilities and limitations be leveraged without writing device aware code?
3. Interactivity: Many initiatives include state markup, e.g. voiceXML, how does the device independence effort relate to codifying these markup efforts and extending them to the multimedia space.

Kynn Bartlett - Edapta, Inc.

Edapta Position Paper
[URI: http://www.edapta.com/kynn/devind.html]
Edapta enables web sites to intelligently morph to meet the needs of varied users and access methods.

Stephane Boyera - W3C

Working on wap and wap implementation

Nick Braithwaite - GlobalLiaison

We are currently seeking funding for a project that falls under the Information Societies Technologies 2000 Workprogramme. Our aim is to provide an intelligent system that would provide innovative support to a networked community of blind musicians. Through the integration of vxml technology and advanced knowledge management tools we can facilitate information sharing within that community. More details available on request.

Jeff Carpena - LaMode

Ralph Case - IBM

Position paper for the W3C/WAP Workshop on the Web Device Independent Authoring

Wendy Chisholm - W3C

As a co-editor of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 and the upcoming revision, I want to ensure that WCAG is usable and applicable to any authoring environment. Strategies for making Web content accessible for  people with disabilities should not conflict with making content usable on a mobile device, television, telephone, etc. Rather, strategies for the variousenvironments should complement each other. I look forward to discussing thesynergy of the various device, situation, and user needs as well as the differences.

Philip Daniels - KPMG

I am an e-commerce lawyer - feel be able to complement discussions.

Daniel Dardailler - W3C

I'm the chair

Steve Devo - AGENCY.COM

As VP of Advanced Technology here at AGENCY.COM I have been involved in many cross channel solutions over the last couple of years. To this end I am interested in imparting our hard earned experience in building and architecting these solutions. Further I am keen to understand and is possible affect the standards being constructed/proposed. Out of interested I have been involved (architectural design) with the following multi-channel projects:- BA SMS services, Mviva WAP portal/web site, Gameplay cross channel sales system, Irish Multichannel content management systems, several further projects I am not able to directly name, but are under construction. My particular interests are in the architecture and nature of content storage. This includes the possibilities for content decomposition into fundamental elements for subsequent reconstruction into XML representations for specific channel devices.

Nicholas Epperson - Verifone/HP

I run the Architecture Council for Verifone/HP and am responsible for setting our technology directions and architecture for end-to-end payment solutions. We are actively moving into the mobile and internet e-commerce areas using most of the new emerging technologies. I am attending this seminar as our W3C member (Dave Ezell) can't make it and I'm quite familiar with the material and am investigating methods for bringing content to mobile payment terminals, phones, etc. It is my job to guide the different product lines within Verifone to utilize a common architecture/technology.

Alamgir Farouk - Nokia

Annotating Content for Device Feature Utilization
[URI: http://homepages.go.com/~alamgirfarouk/ContentAdaptationPositionPaper.htm]

Ed Fermor - Scenario

We as a company want to be able to recognise standardisation on the WWW.

Peter Ferne - ATG

Interest statement for W3C Workshop on Web Device Independent Authoring
[URI: http://people.atg.com/~pferne/w3c/diw/interest-statement.html]

Max Froumentin - W3C/INRIA

As XSL team contact, my interest is in applications of XSL (and XSLT in particular) in device independence authoring.

Roger Gimson - HP

Four Principles for Device-Independent Publishing
I would like to understand the needs of authors and publishers for cross-media delivery. I believe standards and tools can be developed to make it easier to create and adapt content for delivery across a wide range of web devices. In particular, I would like to correlate the requirements expressed by the different publishing communities with different potential solutions to achieving greater device-independence, especially using server-side adaptation. I submitted a position paper "Four Principles for Device-Independent Publishing" when the workshop was initially planned in June.

Vidhya Gholkar - Argo Interactive

I am in the research group at Argo Interactive. My research has been directed towards how mark up languages for mobile device languages are being used and how the different devices format and present different content. I have done an extensive analysis of devices and web pages meant for mobile applications and so have a very good understanding of device differences and content adaptation issues. I hope that this work will be useful in defining workable guidelines, standards and tools for [automatic] content adaptation. I am also working with Steve Wells (Nokia) on a WAP Forum Market Requirements Document for Content Adaption tools - the aim being to create a framework that allows applications to be adapted to different devices [the draft will be available to the W3C workshop]. Furthermore, I am familiar, through my manager's involvment, with the work of the the Open Group's Mobile Management Forum. This group is also looking at similar content adaptation issues. I hope that we can reduce duplication and work together to produce a standard that will help developers.

Guido Grassel - Nokia

Requirements of Multimedia WAP Mobile Phones

Katie Haritos-Shea - NTIS US Dept. of Commerce

I am an active member of the W3C's WAI WCAG Working Group. We hope to have our Face2Face in Bristol directly following this workshop. The information and ideas that reveil themselves at this Device Independence Workshop will greatly impact the issues for our WCAG meeting. At this point I respectfully request to be an observer, if that is possible.

Sean Hayes - Microsoft

Developing TV Applications using Internet Technology
I am the Microsoft representative in the DVB and SMPTE groups developing interactive content for television based on W3C standards. These standards are likely to appear in future Microsoft products, and similar standards (e.g. ATVEF) already appear in Microsoft products. Microsofts goal is for such content to be accessible to a wide range of devices, and to encourage interoperability between different standards.

Marianne Hickey - Hewlett-Packard

HP is an active member of the W3C Voice Browser Working Group, which has been developing requirements and specifications for a Speech Interface Framework. Within the working group, Marianne Hickey leads the multimodal dialog team. Multimodal browsers allow users to interact with an application via a combination of modalities, for instance, speech recognition and synthesis, displays, keypads and pointing devices. Speech as an input modality is natural and can be very efficient - for example, on a device with a small display and keypad, speech can bypass multiple layers of menus. On the other hand, a display is often a good way of presenting information to the user - output which is long-winded when rendered as speech can be quickly browsed on a display. Mobile access to the internet would benefit tremendously from dynamic multimodal interfaces, where the user interacts via the most appropriate combination of modalities and devices at any given time. With this dynamic multimodal browsing, devices and modalities need to be brought into and removed  from a user's interaction session without loss of state. For example, an interaction may start out as voice-only over a phone; when a display is needed (e.g. a wall mounted display), this can be brought into the session; later, it might be removed from the session and the voice dialog continues. I would like the workshop to address the authoring of dialogs for use on different platforms, with different modalities available and with different user preferences. My potential contributions can be based on any of the following: 1) summary of the work of the multimodal team within the W3C Voice Browsing Working Group; 2) HP Labs work on extending voice mark-up for multimodality; 3) HP Labs work on dynamic multimodal systems.

Peter Hilton - Logica

I work as a 'tool user and implementer' - a software designer and developer for Logica, an independent systems integration and software development company. Our main requirement for device-independent authoring is for platform-independent web applications and publishing, although we also have a significant amount of business in developing e-Commerce mobile internet applications.
I would like to workshop to consider the problems of applying W3C standards to commercial software development, and authoring standards-compliant content in particular. Ideally, the workshop would also discuss software tools for device-independent authoring.
During the workshop I expect to improve my understanding of both this subject, and the nature of the W3C's activities. I expect that the workshop's outcome will be that each of the groups involved will know more about what the other groups are, and should be, working on.
I expect to be able to contribute a perspective from outside the standards process, of being adirect user of the standards. In particular I can contribute to discussion about the difficulties of implementing standards such as HTML and CSS in practice.

Bob Hopgood - W3C

My main interest is making vector graphics easy to write and be accessible on the Web. SVG is at too low a level for it to be made accessible. By describing the semantics of the graphics distinct from the styling there might be some hope at making graphics accessible. See http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/NOTE-WebSchematics-19980331/ and http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/NOTE-drawml-19981203.html for what we have in mind

Ian Jacobs - W3C

Hello, As an editor of the three WAI Guidelines, I am interested in device independence as a primary theme in accessibility.

Marshall Jansen - HTML Writers Guild

(not now able to attend)
WDAI Workshop Position Paper
[URI: http://www.hwg.org/working/marshall/wdai.html]

Kazuhiro Kitagawa - W3C/Keio

My interrests are the single authroing in the area of devaice indpendent authoring. The final goal of single authoring is delivering the document in variosu format(ex., WAP, ML for TV) from one HTML contents. W3C should seek the way to achieve this goal. In addtion, W3C should also prvoide the engineering guidelines to the contents creater, vendors and etc, which descirbes the use of the W3C standards from the engineering points of view.

Charles Kohl - Context Media

(not now able to attend)
Position Paper for W3C Workshop on Web Device Independent Authoring

Amir Kolsky - MobileSpear

Will be provided later

Adrian Lincoln - Vodafone Multimedia

Vodafone Multimedia is involved with delivering content to mobile devices. It is our interest to be involved with the evolution of standards that could make life easier for both our suppliers and us.

William Loughborough - Smith-Kettlewell Institute

Semantics & Universal Design
[URI: http://dicomp.pair.com/pospap.htm]

Stephane Maes - IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

Position paper for the W3C/WAP Workshop on the Web Device Independent Authoring
My research interests and professional responsibilities include speech, multi-channel and multi-modal user interfaces, technologies, middleware and development environments. My core specialty is in speech technologies: conversational engines and algorithms (speech recognition, speaker recognition, natural language technologies and dialog management). I have several years of technical expertise in the domains directly addressed by the W3C/WAP workshops on the multi-modal web and on device-independent authoring. I believe that I can contribute and significantly guide the directions, requirements and next steps that will be discussed.

Bennett Marks - Nokia

Content adaptation is one logical approach to the authoring dilemma that was discussed in the previous WAP-W3C workshop on multi-modal content. The WAP Forum is beginning to face the realities of this issue, and providing solutions is a requirement if the wireless marketplace is to be viewed as a single large market, rather than a fragmented set of little markets.

Charles McCathieNevile - W3C

I am an editor and W3C staff contact ofr the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines, and meber of the ther WAi guidelines owrking groups. I have a particular interest in device-independent authoring especially in multimedia areas, and in using a wider range of authoring devices. I find a lot of common ground in requirements for accessibiity, internationalisation, and alternative web technology such as mobile devices.

Sebastian Nykopp - Satama Interactive

Position Paper on Web Device Independent Authoring

Hidetaka Ohto - W3C/Panasonic

My area of interest is how to apply Web technologies for home appliances such as mobile devices, TV sets. Therefore I am interested in the convergence between WAP and W3C. Especially,I would like to make clear the similarities and differences between them, and find out the more generic solutions as much as possible.

Dave Pawson - RNIB

Multi-media presentation (static as apposed to server based) using XML as the document masters.

Toni Penttinen - Ericsson

We hope that the workshop will enable us to achieve an understanding of the requirements of this future environment when it comes to the handling of converged information.

Tom Pereira - Julia Schofield Consultants Ltd

E-service accessibility
[URI: http://www.jscuk.com/PositionPaper.htm]

Dave Raggett - W3C/HP

I am interested in the role of plans and story-boarding as the basis for authoring applications. Device independent authoring is perhaps a misnomer. It may be better to focus on the different roles authors play when creating applications. For instance, a word-smith (a journalist) creating raw text. An editor/director pulling the project together. A designer working on the graphical look and feel. A hacker who does the technical magic to write the scripts etc. that interface the application to the back-end application database. Authoring systems can substitute for some of these roles, e.g. with Wizards based on canned designs. Overall, though, different classes of devices will necessitate different design approaches to avoid a lowest common denominator solution, which in anycase, will fail to meet end-user needs.

Gregory Rosmeita - representing ATRC

Accessibility, and Separating Form from Content (by Joseph Scheuhammer, Adaptive Technology Resource Centre).
[URI: http://www.utoronto.ca/atrc/reference/staff/scheuhammer/musings/FormContent/AccessFormContent.html]

Miles Sabin - InterX Technology

InterX Technology Position Paper
InterX Technology has developed a web application server, one of its core strengths being the ability to dynamically generate, style and deliver content in a variety of formats in order to satisfy the display capabilities of a wide range of devices. We anticipate an increasing need on the part of our customers to efficiently and intelligently make their content available to both existing and future devices.

Nevertheless, whilst our technology is perfectly capable of delivering content to devices of many kinds, we are suspicious of the term "device independent authoring". We believe it is necessary to address the production cycle as a whole, from workflow to authoring through content management and the ultimate delivery of pages.

Lisa Seeman - Special Needs

My interest is in seeing the development of guidelines that can optimize the benefits of the web for the educationally challenged and persons with learning disability. It is our believe that the web could prove a blessing to Peaple with LD or a curse. If it helps them finally access information that has been inaccessible to them it will prove a blessing, but if the web is less accessible then it will just served to widen the divide between the learning disabled person and society. A clear structure can be aided with the use colors and images. Although these must remain accessible without these enhansements. Chat rooms and feed back form could include a spell checker. A homonym checker is also an excellent addition. I am happy to provide script that increase font size and alter contrasts and colors.

Cynthia Shelly - What U Want, Inc.

Position paper.

Ruud Siebelink - Alcatel Bell

Towards a profile driven service authoring and adaptation platform

Paul Smethers - Phone.com

WAP Application Usability in GSM Markets
I'm the expert for Phone.com regarding WAP deployments World-Wide, but especially the issues of consumer adoption and multiple device compatibilty for develop applications, whichcurrently are having problems in Europe due to different presentation layers on different browsers. I can readily speak on the state of this in WAP if needed, including an overview of the problem and why it exists in Europe and why it doesn't exist in other countries. I bring the customer viewpoint more than the technical viewpoint (although I'm technical by training and understand the archetectural issues well). I hope to see this conference begin the convergence process on understanding why and how this problem became and how to solve it with today's and future technologies. We need to begin to understand how to build mark-up languages and tools that continue to ignore that different devices have significantly different constraints (screens/input methodologies) and how to build standards that understand and compensate for this without penalizing the developer or the end-user.

Claus Thøgersen - Center for Blind and Visually Impaired Students

At our center we are involved in the accessability work in an expert group established by the Statens Information (they are responsible for the Danish information policies at the national level) to assist them in creating and maintaining web accessability guidelines. We are also involved in a number of other projects, and we find it very important to be able to uptain accurate knowledge about the topics that will be discussed on this conference, because though much is said on the topics very few have actual information or experience in this field.

David Thompson - The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

The GDBA beleive it should be aware of developments in this field and has set aside funds to actively support technology projects, that,in future could enhance the mobility and communication of blind and partially sighted people. www.gdba.org.uk (Research & Grants).

Jacco van Ossenbruggen - CWI

Device Independent Multimedia Authoring
[URI: http://www.cwi.nl/~media/position-papers/device_independent_authoring.html]

Matt Volpi - Nokia Wireless Software Solutions

I am attending this conference to represent the WAP Forum SRC (as a proxy for co-chair Steve Wells), as well as to participate and learn about device-independence authoring with respect to one of the products I manage which is specifically targeted at helping to reduce the challenges developers face due to multiple device types.

Jon C.S. Wu - Philips Research East Asia

A Framework for Web Content Adaptation
Interested in content adaptation for multi-modal Web/WAP pages concerning terminal capabilities, user preference, and user context.

Guilio Zicchi - Scenario Developments

We are web developers with an interest in breaking technologies such as WAP devices and set top boxes.