This working meeting will bring together participants in a range of standards organisations and communities to look at the future for interoperability standards in the education sector. The key topic for consideration is the relationship between specifications developed in informal communities and formal standards organisations and industry consortia. The meeting will also seek to explore the role of informal specification communities in rapidly developing, implementing and testing specifications in an open process before submission to more formal, possibly closed, standards bodies.

This meeting is aimed at people who are engaged as active participants in standards development (whether in a formal or informal process) or in formulating policy around interoperability. Delegates are invited to submit a brief position paper, no more than two pages long, to Scott Wilson at scott.bradley.wilson@gmail.com by Wednesday 6th January. Position papers should focus on thoughts or opinions on the experience of developing both formal and informal specifications and standards, working with standards bodies and potential ways forward to achieve interoperability. These papers will be circulated to participants prior to the meeting and will help to identify common ground, with the aim of producing a statement of purpose or roadmap for the future.

If successful this meeting may be the first in a series of events looking at future interoperability strategy and the role of specifications and standards.

The event will be co-located with the CEN Workshop on Learning Technologies being held on the 11th January 2010 at the University of Bolton. Venue and agenda details