Creating data exchange standards with XML: a waste?

This position paper presents a proposition concerning the relationship between XML and data interchange standards. The basic premise is that it is a waste of a good flexible technology to use it for the purposes of creating, or re-creating, fixed standards. The argument draws its inspiration from developments in the business world where the shift has been from the mass production of identical units to the production of customised and essentially unique artefacts. This general shift is highlighted by one particular industrial sector where this form of production has been the dominant paradigm throughout its history: the construction industry. This is the largest industrial sector in the world but suffers from poor IT uptake. The fragmented nature of the industry does not lend itself to the adoption of repetitive and fixed technologies. Rather it requires flexible technologies. XML is a key example. The paper thus argues that XML is ideally, suited to the new business paradigm of mass customisation. It does not deny the necessity for standards-they will always be required. But XML is concerned with the quick and easy creation of metadata rather than establishing fixed and standardised metadata structures