As I understand what you are saying, you're not interested in attempt
to turn existing FAQ ASCII free-form chaos into some other standards?
Because, we should make the distinction that *every* standard is, in a
sense, `ASCII' text. Maybe we should call the current chaotic version
the `free form ASCII FAQ'. Again, let me suggest that I firmly believe
in the distant future there *will* be a standard UFF (Universal FAQ
Format), and the `free form ASCII' version will be derived from that.
People that think that machine-readable versions should be derivable
>from their free-form FAQs are being unfair, want it both ways (e.g. the
benefits of no work), and have it backwards -- the slick ASCII versions
are to be derivable from the hierarchical, or machine-readable standards.
Let me make another suggestion. I have mentioned this before, but one
way to bridge the gap from the current free-form FAQ chaos to a UFF is
to encourage authors to write converters for their own favorite unique
format. That is, everyone commits to getting to UFF one way or another,
either converting their existing versions to it, or writing the FAQ in
UFF to begin with (the eventual standard). It seems to me that many
current FAQs, while `free-form', are not `chaotic' but actually
`consistent' such that an author could make their own conversion tool
to UFF without too much hassle. IMHO Mr. Fine's efforts at Ohio to
convert existing FAQs into a hypertextable format are actually a good
start at getting to a UFF.
Finally, let me point out an outstanding example of what I am talking
about. The individual J.December at decembj@rpi.edu has put together a
list of Computer Mediate Communications resources and generates a
ASCII-readable version from a sort of mini-database. Because he is
consistent and has a language, he could trivially convert his database
of information to any UFF that came along. This is from his FTP site:
FILES
=====
Anonymous ftp Host: ftp.rpi.edu; Directory: pub/communications/
File Explanation
-------------------- ------------------------------------------------
internet-cmc.readme this file
internet-cmc.dat the `raw data' file for other internet-cmc files,
tagged according to the KEY, described below.
internet-cmc a human-readable (wide column) version which can be
manipulated or reformatted using Unix scripts;
some scripts are suggested in this file itself.
internet-cmc.txt a human-readable version which stays in 80-columns;
useful for reading as static text (printed or
online), but not as useful for scanning and
reformatting as internet-cmc
internet-cmc.tex the LaTeX version (source)
internet-cmc.ps.Z the compressed PostScript version
internet-cmc.html the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) version
Thanks to Kevin Hughes (kevinh@pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu)
for developing an early version of the software to
convert internet-cmc.dat to internet-cmc.html.
Link to this file with the URL:
ftp://ftp.rpi.edu/pub/communications/internet-cmc.html
internet-cmc.dvi the device-independent (binary) version
internet-cmc.gif The graphics image that I use in the .html
version.
internet-cmc.bib This is a selected listing of items related to
Computer-Mediated Communication, the Internet,
and network information infrastructure and use.
The source code for translating internet-cmc.dat into its various
formats is available on request.
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