The most important attribute of the MatML development effort was the inclusion of a broad range of input from the materials community. These individuals and groups represented private industry, government laboratories, universities, standards organizations, and professional societies.

Two people deserve special mention in the development process:

Ed Begley for his vision and technical expertise in helping to create MatML
Gil Kaufman for his faith and perseverance in the value of MatML

MatML Development Timetable

2005

Three groups are continuing the development and promotion of MatML. Overall guidance is provided by the MatML Coordination Committee. Development and maintenance of the MatML markup language is the mission of the MatML Schema Development Working Group. Standardization efforts are carried out by the OASIS Standardization Working Group.

2003-2004

In 2003 MatML Version 3.0 was registered with XML.org. The guidance of the development and evaluation of MatML was taken on by the MatML Coordination Committee chaired by Gil Kaufman, replacing the NIST Steering Committee responsible for the initial commercial exploitation of MatML. New working groups on schema development and OASIS standardization were formed. The MatML web site was hosted by Automation Creations Inc. In May of 2004 Version 3.1 of the MatML schema was completed by the Schema Development Working Group, with additional minor revisions completed by October 2004. ASM International began hosting the MatML web site.

2002

After the Workshop on the Technical and Strategic Future of MatML, a steering committee chaired by Gil Kaufman and supported by NIST was formed to coordinate testing activities and to address strategic issues related to the commercialization of MatML. NIST created and hosted the MatML.org web site.

1999-2001

MatML efforts were initiated and coordinated by NIST with Ed Begley as the Project Leader. A working group was established to delineate the scope and specifications for the new language from which MatML was developed. On April 28, 2000, an initial working draft of the language, Annotated MatML DTD Version 1.0 (MatML 1.0), was released for comment. In response to working group feedback, a second version of MatML, Annotated MatML DTD Version 2.0 (MatML 2.0), was released on 29 March 2001. A few months later, on 26-27 June 2001, the Workshop on the Technical and Strategic Future of MatML was hosted by NIST during which open discussions were held to tabulated specific issues that required further technical refinement of the language. MatML 3.0 Schema (MatML 3.0) is an enhancement of MatML 2.0 that addresses the technical issues identified during the workshop.

The MatML Workshop Report summarizes the international workshop held at NIST June 26-27, 2001 to address the technical and strategic future of MatML, an application of XML for materials property data.