Federal CASIC Workshop
Washington, D.C., Feb. 27 - Mar. 1, 2001

1. Introduction to XML

• What is XML?
  • Literal meaning (Extensible Markup Language)
    • A language (more like a grammar or structure)
    • For markup
    • Extensible (unlike HTML)

  • But really much more
    • Covers an expanding set of related technologies

  • Note, however:
    • XML is written as ASCII text - legible by humans
    • But really meant to be written and read by computers
    • Humans should NOT ordinarily write XML files directly

• Why XML is Important
  • Simplifies transmission of data
  • Portable data - between applications
  • Only data - separate from format or presentation

• Some XML Basics
  • Short XML example
  • Basic XML syntax
  • Some ways that XML is different from HTML

• DTDs and Schemas
  • Purpose: Define the meaning of XML tags
  • Advantages of a Schema over a DTD

2. XML-Related Technology

• XSL - Extensible Stylesheet Language
  • Purpose and how it works

  • Simple example (Converts XML data documentation to HTML)
    • Example of an XSL stylesheet
    • Output from the XSL transformation into HTML
    • Viewing the HTML result

• XForms
  • XForms goals
  • Short XForms example
  • Some new features
  • Possible CASIC applications

3. XML Applications for Survey Research and Related Areas

• Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) - for datasets
• TADEQ - for instrument documentation
• Triple-S
• Tabs-ML
• IVR - VoiceXML
• Computerized training/testing
• XML-based CAI engines
• System-neutral questionnaires - The AskML Project
  • Reasons for system-neutral questionnaires
  • Overall view of XML-based CAI (diagram)
  • The AskML Project

4. Next Steps

• Next steps to take

For more information:

• XML-related Documents
  • XML Home Page http://www.w3c.org/XML
  • XSL Home Page http://www.w3c.org/Style/XSL
  • XForms Working Draft http://www.w3.org/TR/xforms
  • XML Commercial Page http://www.xml.com

• Survey Research and Related Applications

  • Survey Questionnaire Standards
    • The AskML Project (OpenSurvey): http://www.opensurvey.org
    • IQML Project: http://www.epros.ed.ac.uk/iqml
    • Raosoft Open Electronic Forms Standard: http://www.raosoft.com/xml/oefs.html

  • Data Documentation
    • DDI Project: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/DDI
    • Nesstar: http://www.nesstar.org
    • SDA: http://sda.berkeley.edu/DDI
    • Triple-S: http://www.triple-s.org
    • TabsML (OpenSurvey): http://www.opensurvey.org

  • Instrument Documentation:
    • TADEQ (for Blaise): http://neon.vb.cbs.nl/rsm/tadeq
    • IDOC (for CASES): http://sda.berkeley.edu/idoc

  • Various Topics
    • VoiceXML: http://www.voicexml.org
    • Computerized training - imsproject: http://www.imsproject.org
    • Computerized training - ieee: http://ltsc.ieee.org/wg10/index.html

• Standards Organizations
  • OASIS: http://www.oasis-open.org
  • Metanet: http://www.epros.ed.ac.uk/metanet
  • OMG Paris April2001 XML conference: http://adm.omg.org/paris.htm
  • Association for Survey Computing: http://www.asc.org.uk