XML for Recipes, Weather, and Music

Over the past two years W3C, ISO and OASIS were not the only groups developing XML standards.  Many interesting, and sometimes surprising vertical industry groups are getting into the act.  These groups see that XML can be a most useful way to make their data standards function in the Web environment.  In this article, we will take quick look at some new XML vocabularies.

Recipe Markup Language

RecipeML is an XML vocabulary for representing recipes . RecipeML is designed to facilitate the transfer of recipes around the Web. RecipeML was originally developed by FormatData and was originally known as DESSERT, (Document Encoding and Structuring Specification for Electronic Recipe Transfer).  Today others in the food industry have joined FormatData to develop RecipeML.   This XML vocabulary addresses the requirements of individuals, restaurants, food manufacturers and both electronic and print publishers to use the language to store, exchange, and publish recipe content.  The ultimate goal is to make it easy to transfer ingredients from recipes directly to the consumer's shopping list. With this technology on a hand-held computing device like a PDA or Web-enabled phone, the 'heroic mom' can make better use of her shopping time.

You can learn more about RecipeML or to participate visit the RecipeML web site.

Weather Markup Language

WeatherML (Weather Mark-up Language) is a global standard protocol for weather derivatives deal description data. It is designed to enable efficient electronic processing of weather trades, allowing compatibility between systems, reducing trading costs and operational risks.  WeatherML will be XML-based and designed to be broadly compatible with other XML data standards initiatives, such as FpML (Financial products Markup Language). XML-based protocols allow data to be presented in a format that incorporates business terminology and is readable by both computers and people. The goal of WeatherML is to enable weather systems to communicate seamlessly with each other, both within and across organizations.

WeatherML will be coordinated by Weather Risk Advisory, an independent consulting and software company specializing in weather derivatives. WeatherML will be developed in conjunction with a group of key organizations in the global weather derivatives market. The development of WeatherML is a natural consequence of the weather market's growing maturity, as participants are realizing that it is time for common standards to be adopted.

Music Markup Language

MusicXML is an XML Vocabulary designed to represent musical scores, specifically common western musical notation from the 17th century onwards. It is designed as an interchange format for notation, analysis, retrieval, and performance applications.  MusicXML is based on the MuseData and Humdrum formats. Humdrum explicitly represents the two-dimensional nature of musical scores by a 2-D layout notation. 

You can learn more about MusicXML and the open standards organization that is developing it at www.musicxml.org.

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