Friday July 28, 2006

ODF v1.1 committee specification available for public review

The OASIS Open Document Technical Committee has been working on version 1.1 of the Open Document Format specification, which in large measure is focused on addressing the accessibility concerns raised by the accessibility subcommittee. Today OASIS has announced the public review of the Open Document Format v1.1 specification (you can view the PDF version of the specification as well). The 60-day review period runs from 27 July 2006 through 25 September 2006.

This marks a significant milestone in the development of the Open Document Format standard - open and public review of an update to the open ODF file format, whose updates (primarily for accessibility) were themselves developed openly with the input from experts in accessibility technology including multiple individuals with a variety of disabilities. To my knowledge the only similarly open process for a file format - and specifically explicitly open to people with disabilities and experts in accessibility technology - is that of the World Wide Web and the Web Accessibility Initiative. Certainly no other office document file format has had this level of public openness, nor this level of participation by individuals with disabilities and experts in accessibility technology.

And that open process continues. All interested parties are warmly invited to review this public draft v1.1 specification, and to share their comments. Comments for this (and all OASIS ODF documents) should be sent by following the instructions at: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/comments/index.php?wg_abbrev=office. And further, all such comments can be viewed by the public, at: http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/office-comment/.

After this 60-day public review, all of the comments received will be reviewed. There may then be a second draft published, incorporating changes in response to those comments and a second - shorter - public review period. And when the OASIS and the ODF Technical Committee is satisfied, it will be put forward as ODF version 1.1. If all goes on schedule, this will happen before the year is out. (2006-07-28 15:30:57.0) Permalink