Microformats Wiki - User contributions [en]

media-chapters

2006-06-24T22:46:51Z

Enric:

= Media Chapters =

Problem statement: There is a need to label sections of time within a media file. These can show a running order for a show, or the different sections and scenes within a dramtic play. The term used by both DVDs and QuickTime for this is 'chapters' so we are borrowing that name.

== See also ==
*[[media-chapters-examples]]
** Text commenting into video location:
*** [http://click.tv/ Click.tv]
*** [http://www.mobvcasting.com/wp/?p=244 video comments plugin]
** Video commenting into video location:
*** [http://www.joshpaul.com/blog/?p=157 video comments]
video comments plugin
*[[media-chapters-formats]]
*[[media-chapters-brainstorming]]

media-chapters

2006-06-24T22:42:20Z

Enric:

= Media Chapters =

Problem statement: There is a need to label sections of time within a media file. These can show a running order for a show, or the different sections and scenes within a dramtic play. Teh term used by both DVDs and QuickTime for this is 'chapters' so we are borrowing that name.

== See also ==
*[[media-chapters-examples]]
** Text commenting into video location:
*** [http://click.tv/ Click.tv]
*** [http://www.mobvcasting.com/wp/?p=244 video comments plugin]
** Video commenting into video location:
*** [http://www.joshpaul.com/blog/?p=157 video comments]
video comments plugin
*[[media-chapters-formats]]
*[[media-chapters-brainstorming]]

media-chapters

2006-06-24T22:30:59Z

Enric:

= Media Chapters =

Problem statement: There is a need to label sections of time within a media file. These can show a running order for a show, or the different sections and scenes within a dramtic play. Teh term used by both DVDs and QuickTime for this is 'chapters' so we are borrowing that name.

== See also ==
*[[media-chapters-examples]]
** Text commenting into video location:
*** [http://click.tv/ Click.tv]
*** [http://www.mobvcasting.com/wp/?p=244 video comments plugin]
*[[media-chapters-formats]]
*[[media-chapters-brainstorming]]

media-chapters

2006-06-24T20:03:52Z

Enric:

media-info-examples

2006-06-16T02:11:48Z

Enric: /* Individual publishing of video */

= Media Info Examples =

== Contributors ==

* [http://tantek.com/log/ Tantek Çelik]
* [http://joshkinberg.com/blog/ Joshua Kinberg]
* [http://napsterization.org/stories/ Mary Hodder]
* [http://onlisareinsradar.com/ Lisa Rein]
* [[User:ChrisMessina | ChrisMessina]]
* [[User:RodBegbie | RodBegbie]]

== Introduction ==

Examples of what people actually publish on the Web when discussing, linking to, referring to media. This is focused predominantly on time based media such as audio and video, but may consider aspects of static media as well such as still images.

== Emphasis on Practical, Simple, and Minimal ==

Since all previous known attempts at this problem area have ended up quite complex and over-designed, this attempt will place simplicity and minimalism first and foremost.

Thus for now, this document is deliberately restricted to examples that are:
* ''Actual'' examples in practice on the Web '''with URLs''' to the originals (note, all *-examples pages should be like this, but previous attempts at documenting media info examples have mostly ignored this requirement, and thus it is necessary to be explicit).
* Representative of ''very common'' publishing behavior on the Web. This focus on common, representative examples is essential. If possible, include an estimate of the number of similar examples. E.g. ~10k.
* Simple and minimalist. As simple as possible. Go read [http://microformats.org/wiki/microformats#the_microformats_principles the microformats principles] right now before proceeding any further.

Any examples added which do not conform to these requirements will be deleted.

Any generic analysis will also be deleted. Analysis before examples is premature. Once there are sufficient media-info-examples, and hopefully a simple/clean listing of [[media-info-formats]], we'll hopefully start a [[media-info-brainstorming]] page to do aggregate analysis of the examples.

== Table of Contents ==

__TOC__

== Real World Examples ==

=== Overall Notes About Examples ===
These examples are organized into a short list of top level media categories, in the hopes that it will be easier to determine if there are media specific publishing behaviors, in addition to common behaviors across multiple types of media. Some may be subcategorized and distinguished by whether it was published by an individual publisher or a service:
* Audio (Speech, Music)
* Video
* Photos

The numbers after some of the examples' descriptions are based on numbers found pulling in media records at Dabble. Others may have higher numbers and would be encouraged to restate them if that's true.

=== Audio ===
==== Speech ====
Publication of audio speeches on blogs is often called "podcasting". In essence though, it is simply audio speech publishing. Quotes of audio files are beginning to appear, and publishers are putting up files with links to other audio files they've quoted from. Most audio appears to often have the same base elements as video and photos, with the exception of quotes.

===== Individual Publishing of Speech =====

* [http://www.microformats.org/blog/2005/09/30/web-essentials-audio/ Microformats: Web Essentials Audio]
** Appears to be composed of:
*** title/summary of the recording
*** clickable hyperlink to the recording (MP3)
** Contextual:
*** (primary) speaker is indicated in nearby text

* [http://www.thechrispirilloshow.com/help/20060119_chuck_cummins_on_windows_vista_interface_design.phtml Chris Pirillo podcast]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, media URL(s), description or summary, categories/tags underneath what is viewable, and date. +10k

* [http://yukelzon.blogspot.com/2006/01/podcasts.html Reflog's Random Thoughts podcast]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, description or summary, creator, tags and publish time and date. +10k records.

* [http://www.evilgeniuschronicles.org/wordpress/2006/01/12/egc-clambake-for-january-12-2006/ Evil Genius Chronicles podcast]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, description or summary, quotes URLs and descriptions, licence, creator, tags and publish time and date. +10k records.

* [http://www(dot)bizbyjake.com/2006/01/how-are-you-doing.html media published from a blog, Jake Steinfeld's Audio Blog] NOTE: this record had trouble because mediawiki blocks any DOTbiz domains and so while this domain coincidentally has a DOTbizbyjake.com name that is not a TLD, it was still blocked in the loading of the page with this example. So please adjust the URL manually and then visit the site.
** This example has a Title, Html URL, media URL, creator and publish time and date. +10k records.

==== Music ====
* [http://www.somesongs.com/ somesongs]
** Has song title (linked to more info), artist (linked to more info), play link (to mp3), and rating

* [http://www.bradsucks.net/music/ Brad Sucks » music]
** Has album title, song title, separate link to more info, inline flash player, and play link (to mp3)

* [http://www.scottandrew.com/music/ Scott Andrew - lo-fi acoustic pop superhero! > music >]
** Has album title, song title, album artwork, streaming link (to m3u), and play link (to mp3)

* [http://magnatune.com/genres/rock/ Magnatune]
** Has artist (linked to more info), artist description, album title (linked to more info), lofi streaming link (to m3u), hifi streaming link (to m3u), link to more info, link to license info, link to purchase info.

* [http://www.songfight.org/ SONG FIGHT!]
** Has theme, artist/play link (to mp3).

* [http://www.yes.com/ Yes.com]
** Music played in last hour ([http://www.yes.com/lookup.php?s=WERS example])
*** Flash page with track play time, artist, title, cover art. Affiliate linked to iTunes music store.
** Top 100 Chart ([http://www.yes.com/top100.php?s=WXKS example])
*** HTML page with chart position, last week's chart position, artist, title (affiliate link to iTunes music store)

* [http://www.hearingdouble.co.uk/dumb/index2.html Portishead Remixed]
** Whole page is for one album (a mash-up remix of a Portishead album). Has Album Track Number and Title (linked to mp3) and Remixer's name, plus cover art. Also a link to the BitTorrent download of the whole album.

* MySpace (examples: [http://myspace.com/theradioknives] [http://www.myspace.com/singsinguk] [http://www.myspace.com/arcticmonkeys])
** Artist pages containing embedded flash players. Song title starts song playing on embedded player. Download link optionally links to mp3.
** Link to artist's homepage, band members, influences, biography.

=== Video ===
Publication of video on blogs often goes by "videoblogging", "vlogging", "VODcasting", or "video podcasting". The typical process involves publishing a direct link to the video file within the blog entry. The blog entry can, but does not have to, include an embedded video player. Many videos include a thumbnail jpg which is clickable to the media object and player. Some video includes links to those other source videos, photos and audio that have been quoted. Most videos have the same base elements as photos and audio, with the exception of quotes.

==== Individual publishing of video ====

* [http://FreeVlog.org FreeVlog]: the most popular tutorial on the web describing the videoblogging process by combining free tools and services (Blogger, OurMedia/Internet Archive, FeedBurner).
** According to this process, a videoblog entry contains:
*** Direct link to the video file
*** Clickable thumbnail image/screen capture of the video
*** Contextual information about the video (title, description, etc) is usually contained in the surrounding blog entry

* [http://joshkinberg.com/popupmaker Video Pop Up Maker]
** This example based on the process taught at [http://FreeVlog.org FreeVlog] generates code to create a dynamic pop up window with embedded video player. The reasons for this are enumerated [http://www.unmediated.org/archives/2005/10/easily_create_p.php here]

* [http://ryanedit.blogspot.com/2006/01/light-water-music-2.html Ryanne's Video Blog]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, media URL, thumbnail url, description or summary, creator, and publish time. +50k

* [http://www.prototypen.com/blog/vjblog/archives/001244.html Artificial Eye: fALks world news view 05|07|11 video post]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, media URL, thumbnail url, description or summary, creator, quotes URLs and description, and publish time. +10k (quotes +5k)

* [http://www.itsjerrytime.com/ It's JerryTime! - episodic video content]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, media URL, thumbnail url and creator. +10k records.

* [http://www.bottomunion.com/blog/ Bottom Union combined video + text blog]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, media URL, thumbnail URL, description or summary, creator, tags and publish time and date. +5k blogs

* [http://kitchenarts.blogspot.com/ KitchenArts instructional/marketing video blog]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, media URL, thumbnail URL, description or summary, creator, and publish time and date. +5k blogs

* [http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2005/12/06.html#a1348 Jon Udell's Weblog: Greasemonkeying Google Videomedia - blog post with quoting of video via greasemonkey plugin]. This example *may* be better suited to a study from the perspective of a citation.
** This example has a Title, Html URL, media URL, description or summary, creator, quote URLs and description, license and publish time. >100 records but is climbing rapidly.

* [http://rocketboom.com/vlog/ Rocketboom daily with amanda congdon - daily video posting in a blog-like format, with quoting of video, audio photos]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, media URL, description or summary, creator, quote URLs and description, license and publish time. This example also "auto-plays", that is, starts playing the video in the normal browser/HTML view upon loading of the page. +20k

==== Service publishing of video ====

* [http://blip.tv/ blip.tv - video blogging, podcasting and sharing service]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, media URL, thumbnail URL, description or summary, license, creator, tags and upload time. +1m across all hosters. +10k records.

* [http://youtube.com/ YouTube - Broadcast Yourself - video hosting and sharing service]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, thumbnail URL, description or summary, license, creator, tags and upload time. +1m across all hosters. +15k records.

* [http://mefeedia.com/ Mefeedia] - Mefeedia is the best place to find free videoblogs or video podcasts.
** This example has a Title, Html URL, thumbnail URL, thumbnail title, media type overlay icon, creator.

* [http://vimeo.com/ Vimeo] - The Flickr of Video
** This example has a Title, thumbnail (class=moduleClipThumb), thumbnail URL, Html URL, creator.

* [http://DailyMotion.com/ DailyMotion] - Watch, publish, share
** This example has a thumbnail (class=category_minilist_item_video_preview_image), with an Html URL, thumbnail URL, certain info (class=category_minilist_infos), title (class=category_minilist_item_title), href to country tag (with image icon with class=category_minilist_item_flag, image title set to country name).

=== Photos ===
* A few photos online have region annotation and quoting. But as tools are developed that are usable for mass publishers, this will likely increase.
* Many videos have thumbnails that are jpgs.
* Many videos use pictures and therefore the pictures themselves are quotes from the video.
* Most photos have the same elements as videos and audio, with the exception of quotes.

==== Individual Publishing of Photos ====
* [http://blog.bouckenooghe.com/2005/09/01/em6-a-est-fache-avec-le-centimetre/ Blog A Brac » E=m6 a est fâché avec le centimètre - photo with annotated screen-caps]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, media URL, description or summary, creator, quotes and descriptions, tags/categories, and publish date and time. +200 across all individually blogged photos.
* [http://scribbling.net/projects/fotonotesrolloverviewer/fotonotesplugin.php?p=helicopterovernyc.jpg Scribbling.net implementation of Fotonotes Plugin demonstrating the fotonotes annotation tool for photos]
** This example has media url, quotes and descriptions, creator. +200 across all individually blogged photos.

* For more work along the lines of 2d annotations, please see (and add to) [[photo-note-examples]].

==== Service publishing of photos ====

* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/500hats/50282408/ Flickr - Photo Sharing instance of a photo.]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, media URL, description or summary, quotes URLs and descriptions, licence, tags, upload time, playlist (set), license, creator, and other capture data. +millions across all hosters. +millions of records.

* [http://www.webshots.com/search?query=san+francisco&new=1&source=search_results_top Webshots - Search results, gallery view.]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, creator, licence, Premium/Standard access.

* [http://www.webshots.com/g/32/579-sh/25695.html Webshots - Single photo view.]
** This example has a Title, Html URL, creator, licence, link to creator's other photos. Three alternate download sizes, link to buy a print. Link to add as favorite. Link to next, previous photos in collection. Photo belongs to generic category (no tags). Links to related photo searches.

== Notes on Existing Practices ==

Mary Hodder:
* We are finding as we look at thousands of user generated media records, that all have titles, creator, at least a default licensing, most have tags whose functionality is made available through the hosting service (the richer the media, the more likely tagging goes toward 100%), Html and media URLs, thumbnail URLs, publishing date, and about 25% have quoting information of some sort (quotes of video or audio, and region quotes of photos).
* Tags apparently appear at the upload point on 61% of photos in Flickr, and within a short period, 80+% have tags. 12% of users in Flickr apparently tag photos other than their own.

== Next Steps ==
# Add more real-world, simple, minimal examples.
# Research and organize existing/previous [[media-info-formats]], with a focus on formats for publishing '''common''', '''user-visible''' media information.
# Start [[media-info-brainstorming]] based on examples.

== See Also ==
* [[media-metadata-examples]] - previous attempt to catalog and organize top down metadata systems generated by engineers and committees, as examples of elements, and includes formats which should be in a separate page. Useful as a source of research but this microformat needs to embrace the bottomup ways users are publishing photos, video and audio online.

irc

2006-06-13T20:33:58Z

Enric: /* People on irc */

__NOTOC__
= Microformats IRC =

We have an IRC channel, [irc://irc.freenode.net#microformats #microformats on the freenode network].

There's typically someone there at any point during the day, though there isn't always active discussion. Sometimes, though this is the best place to discuss issues that need lots of back and forth discussion.

== People on irc ==
A list of IRC regulars and their normal timezones. (winter/summer)

* [[User:Amette|amette]] (+1000)
* [[User:B.K._DeLong|bkdelong]] (-0500/-0400)
* [[User:Ben Ward|BenWard]] (+0000)
* [[User:BenjaminCarlyle|BenjaminCarlyle]] (+1000)
* [[User:Boneill|boneill]] (+0000)
* [[User:Brian|briansuda]] (-0600/-0500)
* [[User:ColinDDevroe|cdevroe]] (-0500/-0600)
* [[User:Cgriego|cgriego]] (-0600/-0500)
* [[User:ChrisCasciano|pnhChris]] (-0500/-0400)
* [[User:ChrisMessina|factoryjoe]] (-0800/-0700)
* [[User:ChristopherStJohn|cks]] (-0600/-0500)
* [[User:DanC|DanC]] (-0600/-0500)
** office hours: Wednesday afternoons, America/Chicago time
* [[User:Dave Cardwell|davecardwell]] (+0000)
* [[User:DimitriGlazkov|dglazkov]] (-0600/-0500)
* [[User:EdwardOConnor|hober]] (-0800/-0700)
* [[User:Enric|enric]] (-0800/-0700)
* [[User:Evan|evanpro]] (-0500)
* [[User:Fil|Fil]] (+0200)
* [[User:Grantbow|Grantbow]] (-0800/-0700)
* [[User:Hlb|hlb]] (+0800-0700)
* [[User:IanHickson|Hixie]] (-0800/-0700)
* [[User:Izo|IZO]]
* [[User:JoeGregorio|jcgregorio]]
* [[User:Jonathan_Arkell|jonnay]] (-0700/0600)
* [[User:Keri Henare|kerihenare]] (+1200)
* [http://epeus.blogspot.com/ KevinMarks] (-0800/-0700)
* [[User:Mark Mansour|Mark Mansour]] (+1100)
* [[User:neuro|neuro`]]
* [[User:Remi|Remi]] (-0500/-0400)
* [[User:RobertBachmann|RobertBachmann]] (+0100/+0200)
** Office hours: Wednesday, 18:00-20:00 UTC
* [[User:RyanKing|kingryan]] (-0800/-0700)
** [http://theryanking.com/blog/archives/2006/04/19/office-hours/ Office hours]: Wednesday, 21:00 UTC
* [[User:Dana Benson|Snowden]] (-0800/-0700)
* [[User:Steve Ganz|SteveGanz]] (-0800/-0700)
* [[User:Tantek|Tantek]] (-0800/-0700)
* [[User:Dan Kubb|dkubb]] (-0800/-0700)
* [[User:Ed Summers|edsu]] (-0500/-0400)
* [[User:Smackman|Steve Farrell]] (-0800/-0700)
* [[User:Enric|Enric]] (-0800/-0700)

=== Greetings ===
To display a brief description of who you are each time you join the channel, you can create a definition for your username. To do so pass the <tt>?def</tt> command using something like the following convention (be brief):

<code>?def jdoe is John Doe and can be found online at <nowiki>http://www.jdoewebsite.com</nowiki></code>

More information about using JiBot commands can be found on the [http://joi.ito.com/joiwiki/JiBot jibot website]

=== bots ===

* [[mfbot]]
* [[mflogbot]]
* [http://joi.ito.com/joiwiki/JiBot jibot]

== Logs ==

Available here: http://rbach.priv.at/Microformats-IRC/

== IRC meetups ==

The idea of having IRC meetups (that is, a set time for meeting on IRC) has been suggested by [[User:RyanKing|Ryan King]], as it appears to work well for the WordPress community and may help us from time-to-time. As of yet, there are no plans to have meetups, though.

process

2006-03-08T18:11:14Z

Enric: /* Propose a Microformat */

=So you wanna develop a new microformat?=

__TOC__

==Why?==
There must be a problem to be solved. No problem, no microformat.

Once you've found your 'problem,' ask yourself: 'is there a simpler problem here?' If so, let's solve that problem first. We want to deal with the simplest problems first and only then build up to more complex problems.

Also, search around on the web. Chances are that someone else has encountered the same problem as you. If you still believe that you have an unsolved problem, post something to the [http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microformats-discuss/ microformats-discuss] mailing list or any other public channel (see http://microformats.org/discuss/) We want to involve all interested parties in the discussion. Start the discussion '''BEFORE''' you start creating any pages on the wiki. We're not using the wiki as a general "scratch pad". If you can't summarize the problem you are trying to solve in a short email, and feel like you need a long document, you're probably trying to solve too big of a problem - see previous paragraph.

==Document Current Behavior==
Document current human behavior. Remember, we're [http://ifindkarma.typepad.com/relax/2004/12/microformats.html paving the cowpaths]- before you do that you have to ''find'' the cowpaths. Your [[examples]] should be a collection of real world sites and pages which are publishing the kind of data you wish to structure with a microformat. From those pages and sites, you should extract markup examples and the schemas implied therein, and provide analysis.

This collection of examples should be public, preferably on a wiki because there's no way you can do it by yourself (no matter how many of you there are). The [[reviews-formats]] page is a good example of research done before the creation of a microformat. Before developing [[hreview]], the collaborators went out, documented current practices around reviews on web sites, and provided some analysis of the schemas implied therein.

It's quite possible during this step that you'll find someone else who has dealt with the problem you're addressing. Perhaps even solved it. Do your best to open a dialog with others who have encountered the same problem. We don't want to build walls between competing communities - we want people to work together to develop a good solution which will cover the majority of cases.

==Propose a Microformat==
Actually, '''DON'T!!!'''

There are other things to try before developing a microformat. First, ask yourself these questions:

# Is there a standard element in XHTML that would work?
# Is there a compound of XHTML elements that would work?
# Ok, if the answer to the above two is 'no,' we can talk about a microformat.

For more details on semantic XHTML, examples of using XHTML elements, and constructing XHTML compounds, see [http://tantek.com/presentations/2005/03/elementsofxhtml/ The Elements of Meaningful XHTML].

First you should observe [[microformats#the_microformats_principles|the microformats principles]]

After you understand the principes, ask yourself: "are there any well established, interoperably implemented standards we can look at which address this problem?" For example, hCard and hCalendar were built on top of the IETF standards for vCard and iCal, respectively, both of which are widely interoperably implemented. The developers of those standards had already spent many years in standards committees arguing about and developing the schemas. Better to leverage all the hard work that others have done before you, than to go off as a solo cowboy inventor, and waste time repeating all their mistakes. It's also much easier to start from a well established schema, and map into into XHTML than to develop a new schema.

Remember, microformats should be designed for humans first and machines second. Here are few questions that may help you decide if you really need a microformat for the problem you are trying to solve:

# If I looked at this microformat in a browser that didn't support CSS or had CSS turned off, would it still be human readable?
# Is this format's elements stylable with CSS?

If the proposed format doesn't pass these two things, it's not likely to gain much acceptance. Remember: ''humans first, machines second''.

== Iterate ==
After proposing a microformat, you'll likely get a lot of feedback from others interested in microformats. The proposal needs to be iterated and adapted. Microformat development should be collaborative and communtiy based.

Here's an ASCII-art flow diagram:
<pre>
DIAGRAM:
problem statement---->research/discussion---->proposal/draft---->standard
^________________V ^___________________V ^______________V
</pre>

Note that each stage involves iteration. That iteration consists of discussion and feedback and may result in major changes. Do not be afraid to make major changes and please don't get too attached to any particular solutions.

=== Pages to consider creating ===

A pattern has emerged from successful microformat development efforts of several specific kinds of wiki pages being created, in a particular order (though not always).

After a specific problem area (*) has been determined (principle 1), consider creating and filling out the following pages for it. If your'e unable to come up with material for the pages, then you should probably reconsider whether or not the problem is worth (or ready for) solving.

# *-examples. Find examples on today's web of the the type of content you think needs a microformat. Document them with URLs. Document the implicit schemas that the content examples imply. This is the action that helps follow principle 3, design for humans first, machines second ... adapt to current behaviors and usage patterns.
# *-formats. Find widely adopted interoperable current data formats and standards that attempt to or have attempted to solve the problem previously. Document their explicit schemas. This is necessary prerequisite for following through with principle 4, reuse building blocks from widely adopted standards.
# *-brainstorming. Use the current real-world web examples and their implicit schemas to determine an 80/20 as-simple-as-possible (principle 2) generic schema to represent their data. Yes, this means you will explicitly ''omit'' some features of some use cases, or perhaps entire use cases which are more edge-cases than representative of larger, aggregate/macro behaviors. See which existing microformats can be reused as building blocks (principle 5, modularity). Use those existing data formats and schemas as a [[existing-classes|source of names]] for the fields (principle 4). Consider how would you embed this microformat in other formats (also principle 5, embeddability). With an 80/20 schema, and a source of field names, write up one or more straw proposals for a microformat. Make sure the straw proposals encourage the decentralized distribution of data (principle 6). At this point, you may want to also consider a naming section, where various names for the microformat can be considered.
# **. When it seems like there is some amount of consensus around one of the straw proposals for a microformat(**), write it up as a separate wiki page as a draft specification.
# **-faq. There will likely be common questions about the new microformat which can/should be answered in an FAQ page.
# **-issues. Folks may also raise issues about the microformat which aren't immediately addressable. An issues document helps serves to capture these issues, who raised them, and when, so that folks working on the microformat can be sure to go through and thoroughly answer them.
# **-implementations. Eventually there may be too many implementations of a microformat to document them in an informative section at the end of the specification, thus the list deserves its own page.

=== Moving from Stage to Stage ===

These stages of development are mirrored on the main page where microformats are divided into "Exploratory Discussions", "Drafts", and "Specifications". How do microformats move from one stage to the other? To help answer this question, it's probably useful to write up a set of desiderata for each stage.

==== Exploratory Discussions ====

You need a problem, and you need to attempt to state it. You should do it on this wiki using current items under exploratory discussion as a guide. Then send a note to the microformats-discuss list to get the attention of others who are interested in microformats. This is probably a good chance to pull in people from outside the current microformats community who may also be experiencing the same issue.

Feedback will probably range the gamut. Others may challenge your problem statement, the need for a microformat, concur, or add. All constructive feedback is good.

As a result of feedback, you may decide to abort your microformat idea or substantially modify it. One thing you want to be sure to do at this stage is to avoid [[reinvented-wheels|reinventing the wheel]]. Are there elemental microformats you can reuse as building blocks? Doing this will save you effort and help you get implemented later because implementers will have less work to do.

However, do not be cowed from moving forward just because some people object. If you can find a group of people you respect who feel your idea has merit and, perhaps most importantly, are willing to continue working with you on getting it in shape, proceed.

==== Drafts ====

Here, you need to write what is essentially a specification, but with the idea that it could change a lot. Again, this needs to go in the wiki, and you should send a note to microformats-discuss to alert people that something new has happened. Don't hesitate to continue trying to pull in feedback from relevant resources outside the community. Drafts need to include at least the following:

* Statements regarding the fact that you will not patent and are adopting appropriate copyright as illustrated by current drafts.
* An XMDP stating attribute values. You may want to place this on a separate wiki page and link to it. In that case use the naming convention *-profile, e.g. [[hcard-profile]].
* Examples from current practice that show how the microformat would be used. Keep an eye out for how the microformat is actually improving things. If it's not, that might be an indication that you either need to abandon or change a lot.
* References that back up your design decisions for the microformat. To the extent possible, you do not want to invent things from whole cloth.
* A list of implementations (if any).
* An issues section for people to feed back to you with detailed objections.

==== Specifications ====

You will usually need at least one iteration to get past the draft stage. By the time something becomes a specification, it should be stable so that developers can pick it up and write to it. This in turn implies that there are at least a couple of implementations.

Before moving to the specifications section, drop a note to microformats-discuss and wait a day or two for major objections. If none are forthcoming, move the microformat to the specifications area. This move will wake up any sleeping editors, and they may raise an objection and move you back to draft. If you have followed the process, now is the time to pin them down. At this juncture, any remaining issues should be easy to resolve.

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2006-01-20T06:55:10Z

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