I was talking to a lawyer friend of mine, telling him how law offices/firms promote inefficiency because each firm holds on to it’s IP (intellectual property) like it’s gold. This IP is organized as a document repository (bunch of word docs) that are used as templates for whatever deal or situation the lawyer is working on. I was stressing that these documents should be shared so that any firm/lawyer is strengthened with working copy and each firm does not have to re-invent those wheels. There should be a base that anyone can pull from, even me if I choose to represent myself.

Well, it seems there is exactly such a thing in the world of law. A central group (will find out the name) that works to enhance “the body of law”. So any lawyer can pull from it and become familiar with it.

So my point is, in order to create the BSDP (Berkeley Standard Distribution for Publishing :P ), you need a centralized working group on it. Not 12 different groups working to solve nearly same problem but instead creating their own non-standard non-distribution (think lawyers hoarding templates “IP”). In the end all the lawyers are weakened if the “body of law” is not strengthened. I know it’s all very abstract.

One good example of a working group is the w3c.org which works on defining specs. Implementation is left to the vendors, those who build technology to support a spec, MS, Apple, etc. Nowadays spec writing has become a thing of the past and replaced with release early/often type of software cycle, with more client input instead. But spec for the purposes of defining a new technology, like with HTML5, has been successful. And tech vendors realize there needs to
be a standard, otherwise everyone’s job is harder.

But remember that before an HTML spec was completed there was already a couple browsers out there happily rendering html and interpreting javascript. Each creating some special set of tricks that it supported. I think we are in the Mosaic (one of the first web browsers) age of web publishing. A spec hasn’t been written yet. I know I’m comparing apples and oranges here and oversimplifying, but remember I’m a techie (mostly), so that’s my viewpoint.

Not sure where to go from here other than to keep talking to my lawyer friend. I do have a project in the oven with news21, I’ll include a basic screenshot of the “content types” and “web services” that I see as vital to any web publishing organization. I am also planning, not sure if it’s feasible, to release the news21 CMS as an open source project. Not sure when it will be done, probably next year. But the more abstract idea of creating a working group to work on a spec of what needs to be supported is more valuable, but you need industry backing and it takes alot more work than building a CMS. Keeping the bigger picture in mind and abstracting a bit is a start though.