Standardistas and accessibilitistas: This call to action via 456 Berea St concerns a disturbing direction the next HTML specification is heading in. Roger Johansson writes:

What is currently going on in the W3C HTML Working Group is very disappointing and something I never expected to see when I joined it. I was naive enough to think that everybody joining the HTML WG would be doing so out of a desire to improve the Web. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case […]

In Roger's opinion, if nothing is done, "the next version of HTML will do nothing to improve the Web," and conscientious designers will be "better off sticking to HTML 4.01 Strict."

So, if you have an interest in improving the accessibility of HTML, want more semantic and less presentational markup, and are good at arguing your case, apply for HTML Working Group membership by following the instructions for joining the HTML Working Group. Do it now.

The Open Geospatial Consortium^® [OGC] recently became a member of the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C], a standards organization that develops interoperable technologies [specifications, guidelines, software, and tools] to lead the Web to its full potential.

The OGC is participating in a W3C incubator activity focusing on semantic geospatial issues. W3C Incubator Activities facilitate rapid development, on a time scale of a year or less, of new Web-related concepts. The semantic geospatial activity or Geospatial XG is sponsored by W3C members OGC, SRI International, University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute [USC ISI], Stanford University and Oracle and is chaired by Traverse Technology's Joshua Lieberman.

As an initial goal the Geospatial XG is working to develop a W3C "Note" based on GeoRSS version 1. This will result in a W3C Web page describing GeoRSS in the context of both W3C standards such as XML, HTML, and OWL; and OGC's relevant work, such as the OGC Abstract Specifications and Geography Markup Language [GML].

The OGC and the W3C seek to collaboratively add geospatial functionality to the emerging Semantic Web in a manner that is consistent with existing and future OGC standards. OGC standards are the product of a successful 12-year open, international, and consensus-driven effort to overcome obstacles to geospatial interoperability.

Interested parties are invited to participate in the Geospatial XG public mailing list. OGC's members are also invited to provide input on W3C issues via the OGC W3C Liaison, Raj Singh.

The OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 335 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS^® Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. The specifications empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications.

[ an interesting article in this month's adaptive path newsletter on tagging. we couldn't find the article or newsletter anywhere on their site, so we took the liberty of reproducing it in its entirety here. ]

Tagging vs. Cataloging: What It's All About by Chiara Fox

Tags have taken the internet by storm. Where once the question was "what are they," now all people want to know is whether a given site offers them. But what are the actual benefits of tags? What motivates millions of Flickr, del.icio.us and blog users to add tags to their photos and posts? And what is it about tags and tagging that gets information architects and user experience professionals so excited?

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