m

HypermedialTime-based
D o c u m e n t Struc:turing Language
he computer and telecom- ment contains data consisting of exam-
munications industries have ples of markup (for example, an
made enormous progress in S G M L document about SGML).
communications technology stan- The proposed standard "HyTime"
dardization in recent years. One Hypermedia/Time-based Document
effect of good communications tech- Structuring Language ( I S O / I E C
nology is that people can concentrate Draft International Standard (DIS)
on the information being communi- 10744), built on the Standard Gener-
cated. More and more people are alized M a r k u p Language (SGML;
realizing, however, that being able I S O / I E C International Standards
to send and receive files containing (IS) 8879-1986), is designed to make
information is not enough. all this possible. By using S G M L /
It is desirable that all digital HyTime, all kinds of documents can
documents explicitly indicate in a package their information content
standard way what kind of notation using standard "markup." This
is used in them. When an electronic markup provides information about
document is created, its author the structure and notation(s) of the
should be able to incorporate active document in a way that is under-
references to other on-line documents standable or interpretable by any
("hyperlinks"l), regardless of the application that has been provided
heterogeneity of their notations. In other words, there with an appropriate data importation facility. The
should be a standard way to make "information about "structured" character of such documents will also
information" interoperable. Such a standard should, make them amenable to nonsequential browsing,
a m o n g other things: querying, access and version control, and maintenance
over very long time spans.
• provide a standard way to express the fact that any
number of data objects in any number of different nota-
The WOrld Of Structured
tions are related in some way or for some reason. 2
Documents
• provide a standard way to express the way in which The majority of the information stored by h u m a n
any n u m b e r of data objects in any n u m b e r of dif- civilization is for perception by h u m a n beings? Most of
ferent notations are intended to be rendered for human that information is fully formatted for immediate and
perception in space, in time, or in both space and time? direct perception, and stored on printed pages. Some
One method of incorporating information about the of it is fully formatted, but still requires the use of some
information contained in a document is to use "markup ''4 mechanism to render it perceivable. In this category
consisting mainly of "start tags" and "end tags" that are such items as magnetically recorded plain A S C I I
respectively precede and follow each logical portion of text files, PostScript files, digital video and sound
a document. Tags must be specially punctuated so that recordings, etc. The rest of the information is stored
the markup can be identified as markup when the docu- unformatted, but in such a way that is convenient to
ment is parsed, and it can be processed separately from format, perform, or otherwise render for direct percep-
the data which it surrounds. Obviously, the rules for speci- tion by h u m a n beings; databases and structured
fying the punctuation that distinguishes markup from documents fall into the latter category.
data must be powerful enough to ensure that the markup Structured documents are so named because the hierar-
and the data cannot be confused even when a given docu- chical and sequential structure of the various kinds of

Steven R. New¢omb, Neill A. Kipp, and Victoria 1'. N e w ¢ o m b

COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM/November 1991/Voi.34, No.ll 67

 • iv-a
information they contain is made ex- d o c u m e n t is: "Show me the authors industry in its own right, very dis-
plicit by identifying tags. Each tag and titles o f the documents whose tinct from the h a r d w a r e and sys-
associates a "generic identifier ' ' L chapter titles contain both 'napo- tems industries, and in need o f a
the n a m e of the kind of thing being leon' and either 'frosting' or way to protect its p r o d u c t invest-
tagged (e.g., "subsection")--with the 'icing.'" ments from losing value as a result
d a t a surrounded by a start tag and Communities o f interest can o f changes in h a r d w a r e technology.
end tag of the same generic identifier. agree on a set o f generic tags for O n e remarkable feature of
Generic tags bear a superficial their documents, and they can H y T i m e is its ability to accommo-
resemblance to the e m b e d d e d for- thereby immunize their documents date and s u p p o r t musical informa-
matting codes used by virtually all against the obsolescence of their tion in a fashion that will allow such
text-processing applications, in that formatting systems, and at the same information to be completely inte-
they occur mixed in with data, they time maximize the availability o f grated with o t h e r kinds o f informa-
can affect the way the data are for- the information they have collec- tion: to share the same scheduling
matted, and they do not a p p e a r in tively created. Moreover, the infor- facilities, to be hyperlinkable, etc.
the formatted document. A n exam- mation in generically tagged docu- Without a deliberate design effort
ple o f an e m b e d d e d formatting ments remains available for uses toward a holistic h y p e r m e d i a struc-
code is one which causes the text on totally unforeseen when the docu- turing language, the representa-
the following line to be centered, m e n t was created. A community o f tional needs o f whole areas o f
e.g., .oe in an nroff document. We interest can f u r t h e r agree about the h u m a n endeavor, such as music,
might use such an e m b e d d e d in- contexts in which each generis may could be unintentionally p r e v e n t e d
struction to center the title of an appear, e.g., "no chapter titles may from participating fully in o u r in-
article. However, generic tags and a p p e a r within any paragraph." T h e creasingly information-driven civi-
formatting codes are philosophi- a g r e e m e n t can f u r t h e r elaborate lization. It seems unlikely that a
cally in different universes. T h e each generis with a list o f allowable single-industry-driven de facto stan-
generic tags in structured docu- attributes a n d attribute v a l u e s - - d a r d would be capable o f incorpo-
ments do not have the effect o f as- information about a p a r a g r a p h , for rating facilities that would meet the
sociating some particular format- example, which is not part o f the
content o f that p a r a g r a p h . IThe word hyperlink is deliberately used in this
ting instruction with some data. article instead of the more familiar bypertext
T h a t is, in the case of data tagged as jargon link because the word link has a special
Why should there be a structuring meaning in SGML. In SGML, a link is a con-
a title, '.no particular formatting in- language for multimedia and struct used to associate special processing in-
struction is implied; the tags merely hypermedia documents? structions with portions of a document; it has
identify the title as a title. How a People share c o m m o n languages nothing to do with hypertext.
title is to be formatted is entirely a because they need to communicate 2This is accomplished by the document loca-
matter to be decided when the doc- with one another. A c o m m o n struc- tion address module and the hyperlink mod-
ule of HyTime.
u m e n t is formatted. turing language for h y p e r m e d i a
A formatting application for a documents is n e e d e d in o r d e r to SThis is accomplished by HyTime's finite co-
ordinate space (FCS) module, including two
generically tagged d o c u m e n t can be p e r m i t h u m a n communications in FCS submodules, the event projection mod-
driven by a "style s h e e t " - - a table this relatively new combination o f ule and the object modification module.
that associates a set o f formatting media, given that the computing 4Markup is so named because of its resem-
instructions with each generic iden- environments we create for our- blance to the markings that editors make on
drafts of paper documents.
tifier, i[n the case o f print docu- selves are now and will probably
ments, title, for example, may be always be heterogeneous. 5Comparatively little information is stored in
a form intended solely for machine process-
associated with "boldface, 14-point, HyTime's design reflects the ing, e.g., as a succession of predicate calculus
centered text" and p a r a g r a p h with view that all multimedia and hyper- statements, or as an image of a neural net-
work.
"Roman, 10-point, ragged right." I f text technologies, all graphics tech-
a d o c u m e n t is tagged generically, it nologies, all audio technologies, 6The phrase generic identifier is SGML jargon.
It emphasizes the idea that the identifier is
is generally unnecessary for anyone etc., regardless o f whether or not used to say what kind of thing is being identi-
to edit it in o r d e r to r e f o r m a t it ac- they are proprietary, should be al- fied. It would be just as valid (but not in keep-
ing with tradition) to say structural identifier,
cording to a different style. All that lowed to compete with one another thus emphasizing the importance of context
is necessary is to use a different in a m a r k e t environment which is of the kind of object being identified.
style sheet with the formatting ap- technically able to accommodate 7Nroffis a venerable text-processing program,
plication, s any combination o f them in any in- usually supplied with Unix-based computer
Generic tagging offers another formation product. It also reflects a systems.
even m o r e significant benefit: col- conviction that "software" (in the 8The SGML "link" feature (which, as noted
lections of generically tagged docu- broadest sense that includes such previously, has nothing whatsoever to do with
ments can be queried like data- things as movies, recordings, hyperlinking) does provide an explicit way to
associate formatting instructions with the in-
bases. An example o f such a games, databases, news, etc.) is an formation contained in SGML documents.

68 November 1991/Vol.34,No.I1/COMMUNICATIONSOF T H E A C M
needs o f as many h u m a n communi-
ties o f endeavor as a committee-
developed public standard would.
(Although it is often said that a
camel is a committee's idea o f a
horse, there are many people who
need camels for situations in which
horses cannot function.)

Who is HyTJme for?

I f there is one industry for which
H y T i m e was created, it is the digital
information publishing industry,
which now comprises a variety o f
industries that used to be compara-
tively unrelated, and which now
stand to benefit by participating in
each others' markets. By using
HyTime, information products can
incorporate one a n o t h e r by refer-
ence, and many companies can be-
come value-added vendors o f the
products o f other companies. In
some sense, the digital information
industry takes part in all industry.
H y T i m e can be used as a means of
integrating the information man-
agement o f a diverse enterprise, so
that, for example, innovative ideas,
their sources, and the obstacles
those ideas have to overcome can be
identified and tracked, despite the
fact that different d e p a r t m e n t s use
different machinery and different
software. H y T i m e can be used to or data notations. H y T i m e does always be p r o d u c e d by their own
facilitate concurrent engineering provide s t a n d a r d ways o f p e r f o r m - m a n a g e m e n t software, but there is
and o t h e r forms o f collaborative ing tasks many documents have to no way to guarantee that such re-
research, because it can make the do, such as referring to portions o f ports can be used as direct input to
documentation and data o f all the themselves and o f other docu- the general contractor's manage-
teams assimilable by all the other ments. T h e r e is nothing to be lost m e n t software. It is not necessary to
teams without requiring anyone to due to the existence o f a standard reinvent clocks, Gantt charts, man-
give u p his o r her existing software for making such references, and agement algorithms, or project
investments. Obviously, a H y T i m e - there is much for everyone to gain. m a n a g e m e n t software in o r d e r to
compliant i m p o r t / e x p o r t facility H y T i m e merely standardizes cer- allow the interchange o f time de-
will have to be a d d e d to each soft- tain rules for creating certain syn- pendency data. It is only necessary
ware system before this can hap- tactical productions used to express to agree about how to express an
pen. certain kinds o f things. T h e rules abstract time dependency. H y T i m e
are designed to be very general, contains a set o f agreements about
What HyTime IS Not, and What It Is very extensible, and very unlikely to how abstract time dependencies
Care has been taken in HyTime's interfere with competitive p r o d u c t (and o t h e r abstract dependencies
design to standardize only those differentiation in any way. based on measurement) can be ex-
aspects o f h y p e r d o c u m e n t repre- Without H y T i m e , there is cur- pressed. T h e s e agreements were
sentation whose standardization rently no standard way to r e p r e s e n t reached by consensus o f the indus-
will improve the business climate abstract time dependencies. For tries involved in the standard-
for all competing information ven- example, in the case o f plans m a d e making process.
dors. No provision has been m a d e in connection with large construc- Without HyTime, there is cur-
for standardizing user interfaces o r tion projects, progress reports from rently no standard way to express
user interactions, query languages, subcontractors of large projects can the fact that some n u m b e r o f other-

COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM/November 1991/Vol.34, No.ll 69

 -- I
U
h

wise unrelated data objects are re- text, or multimedia edit decision data objects are related. H y T i m e
lated or connected in some abstract lists in order to allow the inter- contains a set of agreements about
or exogenous fashion, i.e., no way change of hyperlinks. It is only nec- how hyperlinks can be expressed.
to express a hyperlink. It is not nec- essary to agree about how to ex- Again, these agreements were
essary to reinvent footnotes, hyper- press in documents the fact that reached by consensus of the indus-
tries involved in the standard-
making process.

HyTime and the Content Data Model Definitions

(¢DM) for Revisable Interactive T h e following definitions apply to
terms used in this article:
Electronic Technical Manual (IETM)
• a m u l t i m e d i a d o c u m e n t is a parcel of
Databases . . . . . . .

information i n t e n d e d for h u m a n
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has been working to de- perception that uses one or more
velop technology and document architecture for revisable data- media in addition to written
bases in support of Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals words and graphics. T h e presen-
(IETM:;) as replacements for paper technical manuals for logistic
tation of the added media may
support of military equipment [241. To hold costs down, to immu-
nize IETM databases from obsolescence of presentation and que- occupy time, space, or both.
rying systems, and to allow the information to be available on a • a hypertext d o c u m e n t is a parcel of
wide range of different types of machines (from mainframes to written and graphic information
CD-ROM belt packs for use in the field), the DoD needs a standarcl i n t e n d e d for h u m a n perception,
way to represent its technical data. These data include a large which can be explored a n d pre-
number of cross references, access conditions, conditional sented in a variety of sequences,
branchings, possible equipment configurations, etc.; IETMs are using a set of traversable connec-
hypertexts. With a hypertext standard in hand, the DoD can make tions usually called "links" (in this
compliance w i t h that standard a condition of its documentation article, "hyperlinks" to avoid con-
contracts w i t h its hardware and software suppliers.
fusion).
ThE~SGML document type definition of IETM database docu-
• a hypermedia d o c u m e n t is a multi-
ments is called the Content Data Model (CDM) !15i. The designers
of thee C;DM chose to base its hyperlinking and document address- media d o c u m e n t with hyperlinks.
ing ~lcilities on HyTime. HyTime was adopted for a number of rea- T h e construction a n d traversal of
sons, including the following: hyperlinks in hypermedia docu-
• Cross Referencing ments poses special problems,
A strong cross-referencing facility was needed. In the course of since it should be possible to link
repairing a Piece of equipment, a technician may need t o consult to some point with a video object,
a large number of documents, and/or many different parts of for example.
each document. • a time-based document is a docu-
• Conditional Branching
m e n t which specifies one or more
TO identify a technical problem with a piece of equipment, a
technician generally performs a number of tests, on the basis of time schedules to which its ren-
which a diagnosis is made and a repair procedure is prescribed. dering is m e a n t to conform, e.g.,
The manual must outline each step of the testing and repair pro- musical scores, animation
cedure, and there must be a specific series of steps to be taken storyboards, plays, and business
for each possible problem. The CDM ern ploys HyTime hyperlinks to presentations.
represent the possible branchings. • a space-based d o c u m e n t is a docu-
• Multiple Hierarchies m e n t which specifies a two- or
HyTime can be used to impose an alternative structural hierar- three-dimensional finite coordi-
chy upon a read-only document, by creating a set of hyperlinks in
nate space, a n d which specifies
another document. This feature was regarded as highly desirable
the relative positions at which the
due to the large number of anticipated CDM applications uses,
and the enormous amount of "legacy data" involved. objects contained in the docu-
• References to Multimedia Objects m e n t are to be rendered. Exam-
M~lny IETM documents will have to contain multimedia objects, ples include displays on com-
including motion videos demonstrating inspection and repair pro- puter screens comprising blocks
cedures, audible spoken instructions, etc. HyTime's standardiza- of text, graphics, a n d icons with
tion of references to digital multimedia Objects in all notations "screen real estate" allocated to
will greatly lessen the difficulty and cost of preparing IETM docu- each b l o c k - - p l a n s for stage sets
men,ts for presentation on various platforms and for use in vari- which allocate space on the stage
ous contexts.
for each property; etc.
• H y T i m e is a proposed standard

70 November 1991/Vol.34, No.ll/COMMUNICATIONS OFT H E ACM

 language for representing the the province of the renderer, or the a more flexible and abstract scheme
structure of multimedia, hyper- creator of "style sheet" information. was developed, in which each
text, hypermedia, time- and H y T i m e allows an author to control H y T i m e GI became a "HyTime
space-based documents. 9 the rendition by expressing pro- architectural f o r m " - - e a c h GI be-
HyTime is a collection of abstract cessing instructions as integral parts came a fixed value of a I-I3grlme at-
semantic constructs associated of the work. 1° tribute. It then became possible to
with syntactic conventions. It al- consider each H y T i m e architec-
lows h y p e r d o c u m e n t interoper- HyTime's " A r c h i t e c t u r a l F o r m s " tural form an object class, identifi-
ability to the m a x i m u m extent Architecture o f SGML Documents able by the value of its H y T i m e at-
possible without standardizing T h e architecture of an SGML doc- tribute. By including the HyTime
multimedia objects, their nota- u m e n t is expressed in its Document attribute and conforming to the
tions, their modifiers, the effects Type Definition (DTD). T h e syntax model for a particular H y T i m e ar-
of those modifiers on them, or is expressed as a set of elements, chitectural form, d o c u m e n t archi-
the semantics of link types, and each with its own generic identifier tects can create limitless n u m b e r s of
without requiring existing docu- ("tag"), an optional set of attributes subclasses of each such H y T i m e
ments to be recast in order to and attribute data types, and a class. 13 Using the H y T i m e Archi-
make their contents linkable by "content m o d e l " - - a BNF-like pro- tectural Forms, a DTD can be cre-
H y T i m e documents. HyTime- duction stating what sort of data (or ated which incorporates only those
compliant documents can allow other elements, recursively) can be semantics of H y T i m e that are
HyTime-cognizant software to placed inside each element. For needed (see Figure 1).
browse, render, format, and example, a book element may con-
query them even if that software tain several section elements, a sec- HyTIme's Modules
is not able to u n d e r s t a n d or tion element several paragraph ele- H y T i m e is designed to be used
r e n d e r its multimedia objects. I f ments, a n d so on, until the terminal modularly (see Figure 2). Only
the notation of an object is u n i n - recursive element contains charac- those portions of H y T i m e which
terpretable because no interpret- ter text. T h e d o c u m e n t architect are appropriate to a given docu-
ing system is locally available for has complete control over all these m e n t or application need be sup-
it, the r e n d e r i n g can still incorpo- features. 11 ported. A H y T i m e d o c u m e n t may
rate some form of b l a n k n e s s - - only be a multimedia document, or
darkness, silence, or an appropri- Early versions o f H y T i m e it may only be a hypertext docu-
ate error message--so that the Early versions of H y T i m e were in- ment, or it may only be a time-
space and time relationships of tended to be included verbatim as
the r e n d e r e d and u n r e n d e r a b l e an SGML public text entity l~ into 9HyTime'srepresentationof timeand spaceis
objects is preserved. another, more application-specific the same for both the time and space mea-
surement domains,and it can be extended to
DTD. Each of the early H y T i m e any other measurementdomain. Any mani-
elements came with its own seman- fold, combiningany measurabledomainson
HyTIme Syntax and Semantics any number of axes (e.g., seconds, meters,
Essential Information vs. tics (documented not only within moles, lumens, grams, dollars) is represent-
Rendering Instructions the DTD, but also in the appropri- able as a HyTimeFiniteCoordinateSpace. Of
ate ANSI and/or ISO/IEC stan- course, the usefulnessof some of the possible
When a definition of a d o c u m e n t combinationsis probablygreater than that of
type is created, a distinction is made dard), its own attribute list (which others.
between information and render- could be added to, but not usually
subtracted from), and its own ge- I°Rendering instructions are given in
ing instructions. This can be a rela- HyTime batons and wands. See subsections:
tively straightforward distinction in neric identifier (GI). T h e GI of "EventProjectionModule"and "ObjectModi-
each element could not be fication Module."
the case of many types of tradi-
tional print media documents, c h a n g e d - - i t was the means by lilt should be noted that SGMLonly stand-
which it would be recognized as a ardizes the metasyntax of an SGML docu-
where all the data consist of print- ment. It does not standardize the syntax--
able words and punctuation. I n the H y T i m e element by a HyTime- that is what a DTD does--and it does not pro-
case of multimedia, hypermedia, compliant application. Ultimately, vide any way to expressor enforcethe seman-
the committee a b a n d o n e d the idea tics of an element,eventhough the document
and time-based documents such as architect may have some very specificseman-
music, simulations, and process that H y T i m e should be a DTD, tic in mind. The only way for a document
models, the distinction is much less because such a scheme had the ef- architect to express the semanticsof each ele-
ment and attribute withinthe DTD itselfis to
clear. I n such documents, the ren- fect of legislating GIs, thus reduc- insertappropriatelydelimitedcommentsin it.
dering of the information is often ing the expressive power of SGML. Ignored by SGML parsers, such comments
indicate the intent of the architect only to
critical to its understanding. Only human readers, thus helping document au-
the author or composer can know Architectural Forms as Object thors to use a DTD appropriately.
what r e n d e r i n g information is es- Classes 12Seethe sidebaron SGMLfor an explanation
sential and what should be left as Instead of making H y T i m e a DTD, of the term SGML entity.

COMMUNICATIONSOFTHEACM/November1991/Vo1.34,No.ll 71
 • Wa
based or space-based document, or
it m a y b e a n y c o m b i n a t i o n o f t h e
foregoing.
The primary modules support
b a s i c utility f u n c t i o n s ( t h e b a s e
module), the indication of segments
of information, wherever they may
be, (the location address module),
t h e e x p r e s s i o n o f h y p e r m e d i a links,
a n c h o r s , L4 a n d w e b s x5 ( t h e h y p e r -
link module), and the specification
of space and time relationships (the
f i n i t e c o o r d i n a t e s p a c e (FCS) m o d -
ule). T w o a d d i t i o n a l m o d u l e s c a n
be added to the finite coordinate
space module: the event projection
module and the object modification
m o d u l e . T h e l a t t e r a r e u s e d to
specify the rendition of HyTime
documents. The base module must
always be supported by any
HyTime-compliant system. In ad-
dition, under most circumstances,
at l e a s t o n e o f t h e o t h e r m o d u l e s
m u s t also b e s u p p o r t e d in o r d e r to : use(
take advantage of HyTime's stan- end
dard semantics. ana

Base Module
T h e b a s e m o d u l e (see F i g u r e 3) in-

lSThe SGML mechanism used to implement

the notion of architectural form is the
#g£XED attribute value data type. When an
element is defined in a DTD as a subclass of a
given HyTime architectural form, that ele- fill!flies
ment definition is provided with an attribute
list containing an attribute named I-l.b'Ttmo,
whose value is fixed as the name of the
HyTime architectural form to which the ele- SGML DOCUMENT
ment conforms. This has the effect of perma-
nently setting the value of the HyTime attri-
bute to the specified value, in all instances of PROLOG
that element. The document architect must
make the attribute list (and, in some cases, the DTD
content model) of any HyTime element con-
form in all ways to the HyTime architectural DECLARATIONS data file
form named as the fixed value of the HyTime
attribute. ENTITY name=
14Anchor is well-established hypertext jargon local data file address
meaning ,either (1) a section of data which is
designated as an end of some hyperlink, or (2) ,,,- NOTATION name=
a section of data which might be designated as local in terpreter address i: ¸¸¸/i

an end o:["some hyperlink. In HyTime par-

lance, anchor has only the first definition, and
the phrase document location is used instead of
anchor to describe the data indicated by any i!i iii iii il i ~

document location address element, when- DOCUMENT CONTENT

ever there is no implication that the indicated
information constitutes a link end.
- ENTITY reference
15Web is hypertext jargon meaning "a set of
links." It is sometimes useful to create a docu-
ment containing nothing but hyperlinks. As-
suming there is some reason for all the links SGML D o c u m e n t on t h e LOCal File System
to occur in the same document, the document
might well be termed a web.

72 November 1991/Vol.34, No.ll/GOMMUNIGATIONSO F THE ACM

 cludes facilities that underlie the
File System.") SGML also allows references to exterr facilities o f other modules or that
which process the data in an entity. Declarations of are (sometimes optionally) available
notations are used to associate interpreting system regardless o f which of the other
a C compiler, or a Digital Video Interactive presenta
modules are supported. The base
with entities containing information notated in a fa
may not be parsable as SGML. module includes:
Important as the SGML entity management facilit3 • hyperdocument management facili-
ordinary text flies, it Is even more important In mul ties, required for all other
hypermedia documents comprising many files in m~
HyTime facilities: SGML itself,
verse notations. Porting such documents from one
sentation system to another should not compromis
with all its inherent representa-
Integrity, and proper use of SGML can guarantee th; tional and document manage-
ment conveniences.
Why use SGML? There are a number of reasons why # HyTime identification facilities,
and private enterprises have turned wholeheartedl~ which permit the replacement of
document methodology as a general solution for tr HyTime-specific identifiers with
tion-handling problems. user-defined identifiers. These
Information whose only format is an explicit expr, required facilities allow name col-
abstract structure is maximally available and recycla lisions, however unlikely they
documents are amenable to certain very general kif
may be, to be corrected without
ing, Including querying and browsing. That means t
compromising the integrity of
kindS of applications can be used with the entire cc
documents. Furthermore, it is unnecessary to devel any document or application.
software for each DTD. All SGML documents can be • means for specifying application-
single validating parser which need only determine defined expressions, called
given document conforms to a given document ty~ xenoforms, in such a way as to
Prevalidatlng documents before formatting them r( identify the notation used. This is
tlng applications of a significant burden of error ch a required facility. Xenoforms
many causes of formatter failure can be avoided w i are combined with other HyTime
proofing the formatter. architectural forms, wherever
they were felt to be useful, and/or
Who Uses SGML?
where there was little point in
CALS. Perhaps the single most economically signiflc;
of SGML today is the U.S. Department of Defense's ( providing a standard means of
aided Acquisition and LOgistic SUpport (CALS) Initiati expression.
CALS, many defense contractors (including aircraft • coordinate addressing facility which
facturers) are required to supply all technical and allows the dimension(s) and posi-
information about their products In SGML form. Stn tions of events, etc., to be sched-
ment technology is used to avoid reformatting cos1 uled, and allows document loca-
time comes to convert its paper maintenance mant tions to be addressed by position.
form, to be delivered as "Interactive Electronic Tecr This facility is required when
to military technicians on "Portable Maintenance AI coordinate location addressing
(see the sldebar, "HyTime and the Content Data MO
The DoD also plans to use the same technical data i
(see subsection "Addressing by
that, for example, a query about the applications of Position") and/or the finite coor-
sembly, or about the service procedures involving t dinate space module (see section
some part, can be made. "Finite Coordinate Space (FCS)
Module") is supported.
Other Users of SGML. There are many nondefense ar • optional means for specifying activity-
SGML, Including the proceedings of the European P, tracking policies. HyTime's loca-
Oxford English DiCtionary, the Text Encoding Initlati~ tion address and hyperlink mod-
dented academic effort involving the SGML coding ( ules are designed to allow literally
dOus amount of literature), and at least one scholar anything to become an end o f a
CD-ROM-based bible. SGML is being studied and app
hyperlink. While it is desirable,
ans and scholars serving several scientific discipline
various medical fields (e.g., pharmacology, patient r necessary, and technically possi-
agement, biochemistry). SGML Is enthusiastically em ble to allow such linking, hyper-
air transportation Industry. In general, the attractlw links to real-world objects are
as a representation tool for a particular body of Inf~ subject to a kind o f entropic deg-
creases as that body of information becomes more radation, because the linked-to
complex, important, and long-lived. information is subject to change.
As a practical matter, it is impos-

• OMMUNI•ATIONS OF THE A•M/November 1991/Vol,34, No.ll 73

 ' H • V'-
I

sible either to prevent such deg- tions a m o n g d o c u m e n t owners policy" element. T h e activity-
radation or to a d a p t to it in a and editors, and users, creators, tracking policy element can asso-
timely fashion without the coop- anthologizers, etc. ciate policies with any combina-
eration o f the owner and/or edi- tion o f the following activities
tor of each linked-to document. Any element in an SGML docu- with respect to the element: (1)
HyTi:me mitigates this problem m e n t can have an "activity-track- creating, (2) modifying, (3) link-
(and others) by providing a stan- ing" attribute, which functions as ing, (4) accessing, and (5) delet-
d a r d ,Nay to establish communica- a pointer to an "activity-tracking ing. For each activity, there can
be a policy expressed in a
xenoform.
T h e activity-reporting facility
can be used by the a u t h o r o f a
d o c u m e n t containing a hyperlink
to inform the owner o f the
linked-to d o c u m e n t o f the exis-
tence o f the link, and to request
notification in the event that the
d o c u m e n t (or element, e t c . ) i s
revised. It could be used by an
a p p r o p r i a t e l y e q u i p p e d commu-
nications system to d e t e r m i n e
who should be billed and who
should receive the royalty in cases
where a link is traversed to infor-
mation for which there is an ac-
cess charge. T h e applications o f
activity r e p o r t i n g in collaborative
research endeavors are many.
T h e y can be used as a means o f
collecting opinions, approvals,
comments, a n d links to o t h e r rel-
"! '2", '-"...."..
............
+:',.-,. . evant material. T h e access policy
A HyTIme-compllant document type definition (DTD) Is created using
HyTIme architectural forms. Although like any other SGML DTD, It con- can be used for security pur-
slsts of user-defined elements and attribute lists, some of these ele- poses, to withhold information
ments and attribute lists must conform to HyTIme architectural forms, from u n a u t h o r i z e d persons, and/
which may be combined and/or embelllshecl as needed. or to r e p o r t each access. Access
r e p o r t i n g can also be used to de-
velop information about the use-
fulness o f the document, and
whether it is being used as its au-
thor intended.
other optional basic utilities in-
t e n d e d to provide syntactically
economical means o f declaring
default attribute values and defi-
nition tables.

Location Address Module

SGML provides a simple way to
refer to particular elements in the
same document, using its "unique
identifier" facility. A n identifier
(#ID) attribute data type can be
used to provide any instance o f an
'-: ...... --.:--- --.-.-: .... ;- - -i .......
element with a n a m e unique to that
HyTIme's modules. Connecting lines slope downward to dependent instance. T h e uniqueness o f the
modules. identifier is g u a r a n t e e d only within

74 N o v e m b e r 1991/Vol.34, No.ll/COMMUNICATIONS OF THE AC:M

the c u r r e n t local document. There-
fore, each d o c u m e n t is said to have
its own "name space." Addressing is
accomplished in this case by using
an "identifier reference" (#IDREF)
attribute data type, the value o f
which is the same as the value o f the
# I D - t y p e attribute that appears on
some other element within the
same d o c u m e n t (i.e., the same
name space).
In addition to allowing unique
identifiers to be associated with ele-
ments, SGML provides a way to
name "entities" (files) and to associ-
ate convenient identifiers ("entity
names") with their addresses on any
given c o m p u t e r system or network.
These entity names are also guar-
anteed to be unique within a given
document.
Using the SGML #1D-#1DREF
mechanism alone, it is possible to
r e p r e s e n t the addresses o f hyper-
text link endpoints in a standard
fashion without the extensions pro- universe by their position in that
vided by the H y T i m e location ad- HyTIme's base module universe. HyTime's universes are
dress module. 16 However, the use- b o u n d e d areas, which are mea-
fulness of the #ID-#IDREF tion it contains to "resolve" the ad- sured in countable atoms called
addressing m e t h o d is limited: only dress, i.e., to recover the informa- quanta. (This is discussed in m o r e
the contents o f entire elements tion pointed at by the address detail in "Finite Coordinate Space
within the same local d o c u m e n t can element. Address elements can be (FCS) Module.")
be addressed, and then only when cfiained and aggregated according All forms o f position addressing
those elements are provided with to the nature and complexity o f the employ the same "quantum-count"
unique identifiers. H y T i m e ex- addressing job. specification scheme used for a va-
tends SGML's reference capability H y T i m e supports three kinds o f riety o f purposes t h r o u g h o u t the
to accommodate those cases in addressing: (1) by name, (2) by po- H y T i m e standard. T h e dimen-
which no unique identifier for an sition in a coordinate space, and (3) sion(s) and position o f the indicated
information object exists in the by semantic construct. (See Figure location are specified by counting
local document's name space. 4.) from the beginning o r end o f a co-
H y T i m e provides location address ordinate axis, or by reference to
(i.e., pointer) architectural forms, Addressing by N a m e some o t h e r location already speci-
which have unique local identifiers, HyTime's named location address ar- fied on that axis. A dimension spec-
and which contain the information chitectural form provides a way to ification may be defined in terms
n e e d e d to accomplish the task o f address n a m e d SGML entities and relative to some other existing di-
locating the data. uniquely identified SGML elements mension specification.
When a hyperdocument author in external SGML documents. It
wishes to refer to an object which sets forth the information an appli- • String location addresses allow the
does not have a unique identifier in cation will need to locate the file, to specification o f substrings. T h e
the local name space, that a u t h o r establish a parsing context accord- substring is defined by specifying
can create a location address ele- ing to the a p p r o p r i a t e prolog, and that the quanta are "bit combina-
ment which pairs the object in ques- to retrieve the n a m e d element or tions" (e.g., A S C I I characters),
tion with a unique local identifier. entity. and then by giving values resolv-
A H y T i m e - c o n f o r m i n g application able to a starting position and a
will recognize the identified ele- Addressing by Position r u n length on the p a r e n t string.
ment as an address element, and it H y T i m e allows addressing o f ob- • Token location addresses are like
will know how to use the informa- jects in some arbitrary measurable string location addresses, except

COMMUNICATION8 OF THE ACM/November 1991/Vol.34, No.ll 75

 H

location )
address
module
space I

location named

list
semantic )
location

class

-~ielmlll t . . . . . . . . . . . .
HyTIme'$ location address module. Basically, there are three kinds of addressing: by position (coordinate
location), by semantic construct (semantic location), and by name (namespace location). Support of features
In Italics; Is optional.

that the quantum is some data location address element pro- SGML. For example, one can
combination defined as a token, vides a way for a portion of the imagine an expression in some
e.g., a word in a natural language object to be identified when the application-specific query lan-
delimited by whitespace. object's notation is unknown, or guage for extracting objects from
• A tree location address allows a por- when only the rendition, and not data objects notated in some ap-
tion of a hierarchy to be identi- the source notation, is available to plication-specific page descrip-
fied by specifying target levels by the author. Obviously, it would tion language, to the following
counting levels from the root, often be preferable to use a nota- effect: "Please give me only the
and then by specifying siblings, tion-specific location address, if third polygon from the left. 'q7
counting on the chosen level(s) possible, because greater specific-
from left to right. T h e quantum ity would usually be possible. Hyperlink Module
is a node. T h e r e are five kinds of hyperlink
• Path i!ocation addresses allow a por- Addressing by Semantic defined by HyTime, which were
tion of a hierarchy to be identi- Construct designed to meet most general as
fied by specifying terminal nodes, HyTime provides two architectural well as some specialized hyperlink-
counting left to right (thus estab- forms which allow semantic ad- ing needs: independent link (ilink),
lishing a unique path or paths), dressing: property link (plink), contextual link
and then specifying a range of (clink), aggregate location link (ag-
• An attribute location address points
nodes, counting from the root to glink), and spanlink (see Figure 5).
to the value of an SGML attribute
the leaf on those unique paths. Since each of these is an architec-
by attribute name; alternatively it
Again, the quantum is a node. tural form, a limitless n u m b e r of
may point to a generic identifier.
• FCS location addresses (discussed in different hyperlink elements, each
"Finite Coordinate Space (FCS) • Notation-specific location addresses with its own semantics, may be de-
Module"), allow the specification allow a subset of the data con-
of a portion of a media object, tained in some larger data object 16There are several implementations o f
such as a photograph, by impos- to be identified in a fashion which SGML-based hypertext systems using the
ing a Finite Coordinate Space on requires the use of a system capa- SGML # I D - # I D I ~ F mechanism, a n d at least
some are commercially available.
some actual or hypothetical ren- ble of interpreting the data. Nei-
dition of the object, and then by ther the data nor the expression lVNotations used to address SGML docu-
ments, such as DSSSL addresses or S F Q L
identifying the desired portion as used to extract the subset of those queries, could also be used as notation-
a region of that FCS. T h e FCS data need be interpretable as specific location addresses.

76 November 1991/Vol.34,No.ll/COMMUNICATIONSOF THE A C M

fined for any n u m b e r of applica- appear to be undivided by any (see Figures 6 and 7).
tions. intervening SGML markup. As
an example, a spanlink can be Finite Coordinate Space (FCS)
• Independent links (ilinks), the most
used when it is necessary to pro- Module
general-purpose hyperlink archi-
vide a read-only d o c u m e n t with I n HyTime, an object is ultimately
tectural form, can have any n u m -
what amounts to m a r k u p that any sort of information at all. A n
ber of link ends. Link ends may
conforms to a DTD other than object may consist of xenoform no-
point to anchors directly, using
the one originally used. is tation data; such as digital video
the ordinary SGML #ID-
and/or audio, a graphic object, a
#1DREF method, and they may
Finite Coordinate Space (FCS) program 1° or script, etc. 2° A n ob-
also point to them indirectly, by Module ject may also be character text data;
using the # I D - # I D R E F method T h e finite coordinate space (FCS)
to point to location-addressing
module provides for the scheduling 18Spanlink could be used, for example, to
elements, which contain more of objects. Optional projection and apply versification markup to an SGML-
elaborate addressing information represented Shakespeareanplay,in whichthe
modification modules, for which original markup ignores versification and
(see previous subsection "Loca- the FCS module is corequisite, pro- only identifiesthe speeches in terms of which
tion Address Module"). HyTime vide mechanisms for controlling or actors are supposed to say them. Without
also provides a way to specify spanlink, it would be very inconvenientto
guiding the rendition of scheduled mark up verses that run across speaker
which link ends are ends from boundaries.
documents (or parts of documents)
which a traversal can be initiated,
and which are ends from which a
r e t u r n can be made. Each link
end can be associated with an
"end term," which could be some
text or an icon to be displayed as
a user-selectable "button" which
may be "pressed" by a user to ini-
tiate traversal of the hyperlink.
• Property links (plinks) always have
just two link ends, and their pur-
pose is to associate a property
(i.e., an attribute name and value)
with an element. Plinks are useful
when a property cannot be associ-
ated with the element in the nor-
mal way (e.g., in cases of elements
of read-only documents).
• Contextual links (clinks) always
have two link ends, and one of pro..unl| m.._.
them is the clink's own location in Hyperllnk module
the document. Clink is the only
form of hyperlink whose own lo-
cation is assigned a specific mean-
ing by HyTime. Clinks could be
used in text for footnote refer-
ences, or, for example, in the
context of an FCS event schedule
(see "Finite Coordinate Space
(FCS) Module") to link an event
or event group with something
else.
• Aggregate location links (agglinks)
link multiple locations together in
such a way that they are treated
as a single aggregate location.
• Span links (spanlinks) allow the PlGU|III 6.
parsed information contained in Finite Coordinate Space (FCS) modules. BOth eventproJectionand ob-
contiguous SGML elements to Ject modification are optional dependent modules.

COMMUNICATIONS OF THE A C M / N o v e m b e r 1991/Vol,34, No.ll 7

 H ' W'i
I

such data may or may not be par- real m e a s u r e m e n t units, such as rate at which virtual units of time
sable as SGML. loaves o f bread, is variable in some (musical beats) are converted into
ObjeclLs in a H y T i m e finite coor- application-defined fashion. real time. Batons are schedules of
dinate space occur in that space as T h e r e is no constraint u p o n ap- proscopes in the same way that
the content o f events; an event is a plication developers to use only the evscheds are schedules o f events.
nominal conceptual b o u n d i n g box m e a s u r e m e n t granules mentioned T h e content o f a proscope is called
for an object. Each event has a set in the H y T i m e standard. a projector; the relationship be-
o f dimension specifications (like An FCS may contain any n u m b e r tween proscope and projector is
those used in location addressing by o f event schedules (evscheds), and similar to the relationship between
position) that specify its position each event schedule may contain event and object. As with the ob-
and extent on the coordinate axes any n u m b e r o f events. How the jects contained in events, H y T i m e
o f the finite coordinate space in events are organized on event may or may not u n d e r s t a n d a given
which the event schedule (ovsched) schedules, a n d how the event projector. I f a projector is in a for-
containing the event appears. schedules themselves are orga- eign notation, a H y T i m e engine
I n ca,;e an object is not readily nized, is left to the discretion o f may have to ask the application to
r e n d e r a b l e within the b o u n d i n g application designers. work out the location and extent o f
box o f its event, H y T i m e provides a the projected events. However, cer-
way to express alternative extent Event Projection Module
tain commonplace kinds o f projec-
reconciliation strategies. T h e event projection module's fa-
tion, such as projection by constant
Positions and extents o f events in cilities are used to specify how the
ratio, can be expressed in H y T i m e .
an FCS are specified in terms ap- positions and extents o f events in
p r o p r i a t e to the FCS. Every FCS one FCS (the "source FCS") are to
Object Modification M o d u l e
establishes a specific m e a s u r e m e n t be m a p p e d onto a n o t h e r (the "tar-
T h e object modification m o d u l e
domain, and a reference unit is de- get F C S " - - s e e Figure 8). For exam-
provides a way to specify the or-
fined for each o f its axes. All di- ple, a source FCS o f two dimensions
derly application o f object modifi-
mension specifications are m a d e might be a large mosaic o f square
ers (see Figure 8) a n d combinations
using quanta that are fractions or events, each nominally correspond-
o f object modifiers. A w a n d is a
multiples of the reference unit. ing to a square meter o f the state o f
schedule o f m o d s o o p e s in the same
New Jersey. (For purposes o f this
For example, a d o c u m e n t archi- way that a b a t o n is a schedule o f
example, we will ignore the fact
tect may choose the Syst~me Inter- prosoopes. A modscope expresses
that o u r planet is spherical.) In the
national (SI) meter to be a refer- the range o f the effect o f the modi-
source FCS, each event has a spe-
ence unit, a n d use millimeters, for fier it contains in terms o f the
cific position and extent which is
dimension specification. source FCS. Objects or parts o f ob-
described in terms o f m e a s u r e m e n t jects in events occupying the same
H y T i m e is p r o v i d e d with many
granules called meters from the ori-
declarations o f dimensional quanta region in the source FCS as that
gin o f the FCS. Each event contains
based on the SI meter and the SI occupied by a given modscope will
an application-defined object which
second. Some prosaic examples in- be affected by the modifier occur-
describes that particular plot o f
clude:
land. I f we wish to r e n d e r a m a p o f
[gSuch a program could be used to mediate
New Jersey, a simple projector, user interaction, for example.
• a centimeter is ~0 o f a meter
(e.g., 10,000 "meter" granules in
• an inch is 2.54 centimeters (an 2°Objects are not always entirely uninterpret-
the source FCS to one "centimeter"
international standard value, not able by HyTime. An object can also be a re-
granule in the target FCS), could cursive finite coordinate space element, for
an approximation) example.
have its effect over the entire
t a minute is 60 seconds
source FCS, or different p r o s o o p e s 2XThe missing o is not a spelling error. While
• a millisecond is 1#00 o f a second SGML is capable of handling identifiers of
could be used to bring different
any length, the "Reference Concrete Syntax"
In addition to quanta of real projectrs 2~ to bear on certain parts defined by ISO 8879-1986 allows a m a x i m u m
m e a s u r e m e n t (e.g., second, inch), o f the state, to allow m o r e (or less) of only eight characters for each identifier.
H y T i m e allows the declaration o f detail to be shown for specific areas. Since the Reference Concrete Syntax consti-
tutes the m i n i m u m set of requirements which
virtual m e a s u r e m e n t domains with T h e target FCS constitutes a "ren- all SGML systems must meet, all HyTime
quanta defined in terms o f units o f dering, ''22 o r particular r e n d e r e d identifiers have been limited to eight charac-
virtual time and virtual space. Virtual ters for the sake of minimally conforming
instance o f the source F C S - - f o r parsers. However, if conforming to the Refer-
m e a s u r e m e n t units are "figures o f instance, an e x p l o d e d view o f At- ence Concrete Syntax is not required, an al-
merit" in much the same way that lantic City. A schedule o f p r o s - ternative concrete syntax can be declared.
dollars are: they mean something copes is called a b a t o n . T h e baton 2~Actually, a HyTime engine does not
with re,;pect to themselves (two dol- appellation is a m e t a p h o r for the "render" anything. It only creates application-
internal data structures which are intended t o
lars are worth twice as much as baton o f an orchestra conductor; an allow applications to render an FCS in some
one), but their rate o f exchange to orchestra conductor determines the application-specific fashion.

78 November 1991/Vo1.34,No.ll/COMMUNICATIONSOFT H E A C M
ring in that modscope. Perhaps the
most important difference between specifying specifying
event projection and object modifi- scheduling scope scope
cation, at least as far as implement- objects In of object of event
events: modifiers: projectors:
ers of HyTime are concerned, is
that HyTime does far less to stand- EVSCHED WAND BATON
ardize the semantics of object modi-
fication than it does to standardize
the semantics of event projection.
Schedules of object modifiers are
(somewhat whimsically) called event modscope
I proscope
wands because, while batons trans-
form scheduled events (constructs
fully defined by HyTime), wands
act on the objects within events, and
neither the semantics of modifiers
nor objects are defined by
HyTime. 2a The modification of
objects has no impact on the posi-
tion or extent of the events in which
they occur.

HyTlme D o c u m e n t - P r o c e s s i n g Three kinds of schedules are used In finite coordinate spaces.

MOdel ~vsehe~s contain e~e~ts, whiCh contain objects. ]~re,,tS define the
HyTime is designed to help appli- position and extent of occurrences of objectS. If the object modlflca-
tlon module Is supported, w a ~ s may be used. They contain
cations developers avoid duplica- •-o~seo]~es which In turn contain ,,,o~-~e~s. The positions and extents
tion of effort, and to minimize the of mo~LsCOl)es define the areas of the finite coordinate space to be
difficulty and complexity of making governed by the -,o~U~ets they contain. Finally, If the event projec-
their applications conform to the tion module Is supported, batons may be used; they contain ]~osco]~es
which In turn contain ]~zoJe~rS. The positions and extents of
standard. It is anticipated that l~o=copes define the areas of the finite coorcllnate space to be gov-
"HyTime engines" will be used by emed by the ]~zoJe~s they contain.
systems integrators and applica-
tions developers, who will incorpo-
rate them into their applications.
The conventional HyTime pro-
cessing model puts the application
in control of everything that hap-
pens. When it is time to process the iiiii
HyTime document, the application
calls the HyTime engine, which in ii~iil;i !i i!!ili!i!!iliiii)i!ii!i
!ii!i!i!i
turn calls the SGML parser. As it is
parsing the document, the parser ;!ii~i!;!i!i~i iiii!!iii!i!i!iji!!i!]iiii!i
informs the HyTime engine about
everything that it encounters. 24
!~:!'i~::!~i!i:!,i:i::;!)iii:;!'ii:::~)ve~i:iiiiiiii)i~ili) ))))
)))))))))))
)))))
))))
))))));))))));)));))))

While this is going on, the HyTime

engine does two things:
• The engine passes the entire out-
))))::;)66i66
)i6))))));)] ;))L);))))))II)))))))));;L~))~)~i
))))))})
)))})
~)k)))L)))))I
)))))))))

)))))))):)))i))):));i)))i))))):))!):)))j)))))J))!i)i)))!)i)ii))):))i
put of the document back to the
application. The application uses
this information as it sees fit, and );:))
it may ignore it entirely.

~STherefore, HyTime "understands" batons

quite well, but wands are magic.

~4There is no standard regarding the format

of the output of an SGML parser. The nature Rendering In HyTIme: As an event Is rendered, the object It contains
of that output is an aspect of SGML technol- may be affected by a modifier, and Its position and extent may be al-
ogy which is left open for vendor competition. tered by a projector.

COMMUNICATIONSOF THE ACM/November 1991/Vo1.34, No.ll 7~

•i l U l l U l l l L and it evolved out of at least one world of structured document rep-
HyTIme document processing predecessor system, Hebrew chant, resentation, concepts from the hy-
model which is far older. Even (and per- permedia world, and certain no-
haps especially) today, there is tions about the specification of
• The engine creates an engine-
probably nothing more compli- rendering intentions borrowed
internal data structure based on
cated and demanding than produc- from the music world, HyTime is
the HyTime-specific information
ing a live musical comedy with an nothing more or less than a set of
arriving from the parser.
orchestra, lighting, special effects, expressive mechanisms designed to
After the document has been and an array o f potentially conflict- allow the publishing industry to
parsed, the application may query ing personalities and artistic agen- create and deliver more intricate,
the HyTime engine in various ways. das. Military people may disagree more interactive, and more valu-
T h e engine assumes responsibility and claim that producing a musical able documents while reducing the
for determining where things are comedy is almost trivially easy com- risk of early obsolescence and loss
on FCS schedules, for resolving pared with waging a military cam- of investment.
document location elements to the paign. NASA people might claim We nourish the hope that, by
data they indicate, etc. that nothing at all can compare with making information more easily
Although HyTime was devel- building a space vehicle and accessible and organizable, and by
oped with the aforementioned pro- launching it successfully. We live in making it practical for purveyors of
cessing model in mind, there is cer- an extremely complex civilization, multimedia information to address
tainly no reason why other and in all three cases (musical com- the entire marketplace with a single
processing models would not be edy, military campaign, and space well-honed and well-maintained
more useful u n d e r some circum- mission), the problems are actually document, HyTime will have a sal-
stances. HyTime is only a set of quite similar, though the stakes dif- utary effect on the quality of
mechanisms, not a religion. fer considerably. They are all con- h u m a n life. This hope seems realis-
cerned with making all the right tic, considering the effect that glo-
Conclusion things happen at all the right times, bal telecommunications is already
To some, it seems incongruous that despite the large n u m b e r of people having on the global political and
something as general as HyTime and systems involved, and the com- economic climate, and considering
should be derived from an activity plexity of the interdependencies the magnitude of the improvement
intended to result in a Standard involved in the enterprise. Civiliza- in communications that a standard
Music Description Language. To tion itself can be seen as an inven- such as HyTime can facilitate.
others it seems natural, necessary, tion whose mother is the necessity
and entirely correct. Musicians for predictable outcomes despite Acknowledgments
have been dealing with the prob- unpredictable circumstances. Un- T h e following persons have each
lems inherent in synchronization predictable circumstances require made especially significant contri-
and reaL-time rendering of complex contingency plans and the ability to butions to the effort to make SMDL
documents for a long time. Indeed, execute the correct course of action and HyTime a reality: Salim Abi-
Western music notation, as we when the time comes (i.e., a "late Ezzi, Larry Austin, Steven V.
know it today, has been continu- binding" capability). Bertsche, Carsten Bormann, Gar-
ously evolving for over 1,000 years, A fusion of concepts from the rett Bowles, Rita Brennan, Len

~O November 1991/Vo1.34, No.ll/GOMMUNICATION$OFTHE AGM

Bullard, Bryan Caporlette, Phil 5. Bullard, L., Price, H., Schoolfield, Dexter hypertext reference model.
Cooke, William W. Davis Jr., F r a n k B., Harlow, R., Domingue, D., X3V1.8M/90-14.
Dwyer, Marion L. Elledge, Edward Knox, E. and Laffin, M. Beyond the 17. Johnson, E. Non-musical applica-
Book Metaphor: Conceptsfor Designing tions for the Hypermedia/Time-
A. Fox, A n d e r s Franz6n, Len Galla-
and Implementing Integrated Product based structuring language
gher, Robert Glidden, Ron Gorow, (HyTime). X3V1.8M/90-63.
Development Environments and Digital
Dorothy Gross, Dave Gunning, 18. Kipp, N. A document formatter for
Technical Information Services. Obtain
Ralph David Hill, Craig Harris, from Bruce Schoolfield, GE Air- the standard music description lan-
Eitaro Kawaguchi, Yushi Komachi, craft Engines, One Neumann Way guage. X3V 1.8M/90-46.
Francis Kretz, Brian D. Markey, MD F126, Cincinnati, OH 45215- 19. Kretz, F. Coded representation of
Alan Marsden, Charles Mead, Ber- 6301. multimedia and hypermedia infor-
n a r d Mont-Reynaud, AI Nelson, 6. Chamberlin, D.D. and Goldfarb, mation. X3V1.8M/90-59.
Carlton F. Neville, T i m Oren, C.F. Graphic applications of the 20. Markey, B.D. Emerging hyper-
Roger Price, Victor Riley, Lloyd standard generalized markup lan- media standards: Hypermedia mar-
guage (SGML). Comput. Graph. 11, ketplace prepares for HyTime and
Rutledge, N o r m a n Scharpf, Elea-
4, 1987. MHEG. USENIX Summer 1991
nor Selfridge-Field, Donald Sloan, (June 10-14, Nashville, Tenn.).
7. Coombs, J.H., Renear, A.H. and
A n d y Spicely, Alan D. Talbot, Jack 21. Markey, B.D. Multimedia and hy-
DeRose, S.J. Markup systems and
A. Taylor, H u g h A. Tucker, L u d o the future of scholarly text process- permedia standardization, a report
Van Vooren, Kim Walls, J e r o m e ing. Commun. ACM 30, 11 (Nov., from the ad hoc Study Group on
Wenker, and Wayne T. Wilner. T h e 1987). Multimedia Standardization to the
authors regret that space does not 8. Document Style Semantics and Specifi- ISO/IEC's JTC1 TAG. X3V1.8M/
permit recognition o f many other cation Language (DSSSL). ISO/IEC 90-73.
individuals who have contributed to Draft International Standard 22. Newcomb, S.R. Standard music
the H y T i m e and SMDL work. 10179. 1991: International Organi- description language. 1EEE Comput.
Because o f his intellectual lead- zation for Standardization and In- 24, 8 (Aug. 1991).
ership, effort, commitment, and ternational Electrotechnical Com- 23. Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
mission, UDC 681.3.06:519.767. Hypertext bibliography. Apr. 1990.
sheer tenacity, the contributions o f
9. Dykiel, R. Technical requirements X3V1.8M/90-57.
X3V1.8M chair and ISO/IEC DIS for ODA/Hypermedia. ESPRIT 24. Rainey, S.C., Jorgensen, E.L., and
10744 editor, Charles F. Goldfarb project. PODA2, Bull S.A. Fuller, J.J. Proposed Draft Military
(IBM A l m a d e n Research Center) X3V1.8M/91-2. Specification for Revisable Data
are especially and gratefully ac- 10. Engelbart, D.C. Knowledge-domain Base for Support of Interactive
knowledged. interoperability and an open hyper- Electronic Technical Manuals
document system. In CSCW 90 Pro- (IETMs). David Taylor Research
CR Categories and Subject Descrip- ceedings of the ACM. Available from Center, Bethesda, MD 20084-5000.
tors: H.1.0 [Information Systems]: Bootstrap Project, Stanford Univer- DTRC-90/027 (July 1990).
Models and Principles--General; H.3.1 sity. Doc. (AUGMENT, 132082). 25. Riley, V.A. An interchange format
[Information Systems]: Content Analy- 11. Goldfarb, C.F. The SGML Handbook. for hypertext systems: The Inter-
sis and Indexing--Indexing methods Oxford University Press, 1990. media Model. X3V1.8M/90-5.
General Terms: Standardization 12. Goldfarb, C.F., Newcomb, S.R., 26. Rosenberg, J. Managing time in
Additional Key Words and Phrases: Sloan, D. and Talbot, A.D. ANSI multimedia. Panel presentation,
HyTime, SGML Project X3.542-D, Standard Music SIGGRAPH '91, Las Vegas, 91/08/
Description Language (SMDL). 02. (This will presumably be avail-
References and Bibliography X3V1.8M/SD-8 (now ISO/IEC CD able on videotape or transcribed
Note: Documents described as 10743). from ACM SIGGRAPH soon. Call
X3V1.8M/nn-nn can be obtained from 13. Goldfarb, C.F., and Newcomb, S.R. J. Rosenberg at Bellcore, 445 South
the Computer Music Association (see ANSI Project X3.749-D, Hypermedia/ St., Rm. MRE-2D-292, Box 1910,
Appendix II, final paragraph). Time-based Document Structuring Lan- Morristown, N.J. 07961-1910).
1. ANSI X3V1.8M. Document regis- guage (HyTime). X3V1.8M/SD-7 27. Samuel, R.L., III, Ed. User require-
ter. X3V1.8M/SD-2. (now ISO/1EC DIS 10744). ments for hypermedia. X3V1.8M/
2. ANSI X3V1.8M. General informa- 14. Graphic Communications Associa- 90-44.
tion about the X3V1.8M music in tion (GCA). The SGML Source Guide: 28. Stetina, M. CALS Industry Stan-
information processing standards systems, software, service, consultants, dards Working Group (ISWG)
(MIPS) Committee. X3V 1.8M/SD-0. seminars, and resources. (A loose-leaf Meeting, 9-11 April 1991. Unisys
3. ANSI X3V1.8M. Participants and binder publication updated quar- Corporation, 12010 Sunrise Valley
officers. X3V1.8M/SD-3. terly.) Drive, Reston, VA 22091.
4. Bertsche, S.V. Hypermedia/time- 15. Gunning, D. Content Data Model
based document (HyTime) and (CDM). Armstrong Laboratory, Air About the Authors:
standard music description lan- Force Systems Command, Wright- STEVEN R. NEWCOMB is vice chair of
guage (SMDL) user needs and Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, the ANSI X3V 1.8M committee (since its
functional specification. X3V1.8M/ Ohio 45433-6503. inception in 1986), coeditor (with
SD-6. 16. Halasz, F.G., and Schwartz, M. The Charles F. Goldfarb) of the HyTime

COMMUNICATIONS OFTHE ACM/November 1991/Vo1.34, No.ll 81

standard, associate director of the Flor- kinds of information needed by en- HyTime was applying the timing
ida State University Center for Music gravers of common music notation mechanisms to spatial (and other)
Research, and president of Tech- (beam these notes together, slur those measurement domains, so as to allow
noTeacher, Inc. He has spoken on notes together, this is an A-sharp half the description, prescription, and ren-
HyTime a.t many SGML-oriented and note, etc.). Thus the study group's dition of finite coordinate spaces of
report envisions something like a fu- four (or more) dimensions. HyTime's
other conferences, including CD-ROM
sion of the kinds of information pres- roots in SMDL are still evident; a
'90 and SIGGRAPH '91. ent in a time-stamped Musical Instru- schedule of "proscopes" is still called a
ment Digital Interface (MIDI) data "baton," for example.
NEILL KIIPP is a computer scientist at stream with the kinds of information HyTime was "progressed" (as stan-
TechnoTeacher, Inc. His master's de- present in a music manuscript. A sub- dards jargon puts it) to the Draft In-
gree project at the Florida State Univer- group of X3V1.8, the MIPS commit- ternational Standard (DIS) phase on
sity Computer Science Department was tee was dubbed "X3V1.8M" (M for August 22, 1991, by a unanimous vote
the first p:rototype implementation of a music), and it held its first meeting in authorized by ISO/IEC JTC1/SC18/
Standard Music Description Language July, 1986. Since then, X3V1.8M WG8. At this writing, the DIS version
meetings have been held three or four of HyTime is expected to be published
parser, fbrmatter, and synthesizer
times per calendar year, at various lo- in October 1991. The earliest possible
driver on the NeXT platform. cations in the United States. date on which it can be made an Inter-
In keeping with the U.S. legal re- national Standard will be at the April
V I C T O R I A T. NEWCOMB is a techni- quirements which must be met by all 1992 meeting of WG8, which is ex-
cal consultant at TechnoTeacher, Inc. standards activities, all X3V1.8M pected to take place in Denmark. In
She designs many of the teaching mate- meetings are open to the public--both the meantime, however, as a Draft In-
rials used by TechnoTeacher instructors to those who simply wish to observe ternational Standard, references to
at HyTime tutorial sessions. Authors' and to those who wish to participate. HyTime can be included in other ISO
Present Address: All three authors can The 68 participants of record in the standards.
MIPS committee represent industrial,
be reached at TechnoTeacher, Inc.,
artistic, military, academic, and per-
1810 High Road, Tallahassee, FL sonal interests, including large and
32303-4408. Internet: {srn,neiU,vtn} small business concerns. Software de- APPENDIX II.
@cmr.fsu.edu. velopers, hardware manufacturers, Por
publishers, librarians, composers,
musicians, dramatists, actors, dancers, more information
military people, and academic re-
APPENDIX I. searchers have attended and have Special interest Group on
been represented at MIPS committee Hyllme
HyTIme's meetings. Several frequently revised The SGML Users' Group Special In-
Provenance "standing documents," including an terest Group on Hypertext and Multi-
extensive register of documents con- media (SGML SIGhyper) maintains a
HyTime was originally developed by tributed to and considered by the library of documents relevant to
the American National Standards In- committee, a list of participants, an HyTime. Printed documents, includ-
stitute's (.ANSI) X3V1.8M committee, inventory of user requirements, and, ing copies of the ISO/IEC DIS 10744,
whose oriiginal mission was to create a of course, the proposed HyTime and examples of the use of HyTime, a di-
Standard Music Description Language SMDL standards themselves, have rectory of parties interested in
(ANSI Project X3.542-D). X3VI is the always been and continue to be avail- HyTime, and a newsletter, are all
ANSI technical committee responsible able to the public for scrutiny and mailed to SGML SIGhyper members
for standards in information process- comment. automatically as they become avail-
ing systems for office and publishing Around 1989, it became clear that able. Annual membership dues vary
purposes. X3V1.8 is the task group of much of the development work done from $75 to $170, depending on the
X3V1 concerned with languages for by the MIPS committee had a large set type of membership and the cost of
text processing and interchange. of natural applications outside the postage. For more information, con-
Chaired by William W. Davis of music sphere, and several of those tact the authors at the address pro-
Teleprim, Inc., X3V1.8 is the focus of applications, including hypertext and vided at the end of this article.
U.S. participation in the ISO/IEC pro- multimedia, were "coming of age" and In addition, some documents rele-
cess that has resulted in the SGML In- in need of a set of basic standard rep- vant to HyTime are available via anon-
ternational Standard, the HyTime resentations. Accordingly, the com- ymous FTP from the University of
Draft International Standard, and the mittee was granted an additional proj- Oslo, thanks to the efforts of Erik
Standard Music Description Language ect number by ANSI (X3.749-D), and Naggum, the Vice Chairman of SGML
Committee Draft, among others. HyTime was created by removing the SIGhyper. The FTP address in Oslo is
In 1985 X3V1 convened a study music-specific mechanisms from the "ftp.ifi.uio.no" (129.240.88.1), direc-
group whose purpose was to consider SMDL design, and by making SMDL a tory "SIGhyper." All new documents
the scope and mission of a proposed specific application of HyTime, which are announced in the USENET group
Music in Information Processing Stan- reconstitutes the music language by comp.text.sgml as they become avail-
dards (MIPS) committee. The study adding back in the music-specific able via FTP. An alternative FTP
group's report says that, if developed, mechanisms. HyTime has undergone source is at Florida State University in
a Standard Music Description Lan- several major revisions and consider- Tailahassee, Florida, "mailer.cc.fsu.
guage (SMDL) should be able to con- able refinement and generalization edu" (128.186.6.103), directory pub/
vey both the specific kinds of informa- since its removal from SMDL, but the sgml. Also available at both of the
tion that performers generate (play relationship between HyTime and above Internet nodes is the A R C
this pitch this loud at this millisecond SMDL remains the same today. A S G M L public-domain SGML parser,
with this timbre, etc.), and the specific major step in the generalization of which is written in C, and which was

82 OFTHEACM
November1991/Vol.34,No.ll/COMMUNI~kTIONS
 originally donated through the SGML X 3 V 1 . 8 M p r o c e s s e s b y r e p o r t s in t h e t h e c o m m i t t e e ' s w o r k a t its a n n u a l I n -
U s e r s ' G r o u p via t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f (TAG) newsletter (GCA cosponsors ternational Computer Music Confer-
Exeter. this p u b l i c a t i o n ) , by h o s t i n g c o m m i t - ence (ICMC). In addition, the ICMA
tee meetings, and by arranging pres- m a k e s m o s t o f t h e d o c u m e n t s l i s t e d in
e n t a t i o n s a n d d i s c u s s i o n s r e l e v a n t to t h e d o c u m e n t r e g i s t e r a v a i l a b l e to t h e
ANSI X3VI.8M Secretariats t h e c o m m i t t e e ' s w o r k a t its r e g u l a r p u b l i c o n a c o s t - p e r - p a g e basis. C o n -
Because of the interdisciplinary na- TechDoc, SGML, International tact T h e International Computer
ture of the committee's work, there Markup, and other conferences and M u s i c A s s o c i a t i o n , L a r r y A u s t i n , Pres-
are two X3V1.8M Secretariats. Both tutorials. In addition, the GCA distrib- i d e n t , P.O. B o x 1634, S a n F r a n c i s c o ,
Secretariats maintain awareness of the u t e s t h e c o m m i t t e e ' s d o c u m e n t s to t h e C A 9 4 1 0 1 - 1 6 3 4 (tel.: (817) 5 6 6 - 2 2 3 5 ;
committee's activities among the mem- p a r t i c i p a n t s o f r e c o r d p r i o r to e a c h I n t e r n e t : c m a @ d e p t . c s c i . u n t . e d u ) , r,I
b e r s o f t h e c o m m u n i t i e s t h e y serve. X3V1.8M meeting. For more infor-
B o t h solicit a n d f o r m u l a t e u s e r re- m a t i o n , c o n t a c t M a r i o n E l l e d g e , Vice
quirements, both conduct workshops President, Information Technologies,
a n d m e e t i n g s , w h e r e t h e y solicit f e e d - Graphic Communications Association, Permission to copy without fee all or part of
b a c k o n t h e t e c h n i c a l issues c o n f r o n t - 100 D a i n g e r f i e l d R o a d , A l e x a n d r i a , this material is granted provided that the
ing the committee, both publish infor- V A 2 2 3 1 4 (tel.: (703) 5 1 9 - 8 1 6 0 ; fax: copies are not m a d e or distributed for direct
mation about the work of the (703) 5 4 8 - 2 8 6 7 ) . commercial advantage, the A C M copyright
c o m m i t t e e in t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e p u b l i c a - The International Computer Music notice and the title of the publication and its
t i o n s , a n d e a c h h a s a d i s t i n c t r o l e in Association (ICMA) serves the music date appear, and notice is given that copying
the distribution of committee docu- c o m m u n i t y ' s i n t e r e s t in t h e I S O / I E C is by permission of the Association for
ments. D I S 10744, C D 10743, a n d A N S I C o m p u t i n g Machinery. To copy otherwise, or
The Graphic Communications As- X 3 V 1 . S M p r o c e s s e s b y r e p o r t s in its to republish, requires a fee a n d / o r specific
s o c i a t i o n ( G C A ) [14] s e r v e s t h e p u b - n e w s l e t t e r , Array, b y h o s t i n g c o m m i t - permission.
l i s h i n g c o m m u n i t y ' s i n t e r e s t in t h e tee m e e t i n g s , a n d b y a r r a n g i n g p r e s -
ISO/IEC DIS 10744 a n d ANSI e n t a t i o n s a n d d i s c u s s i o n s r e l e v a n t to © ACM 0002-0782/91/1100-067 $1.50

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COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM/November 1991/Vo1.34,No.ll 83