# Presentation: 016831

## Web Publishing on DVD: Repurposing Federal Data in XML

- Brand Niemann
- Tax Analysts
- bniemann@tax.org

## Overview

- 1. Background
- 1.1 Charles Goldfarb
- 1.2 Tax Analysts
- 1.3 Tax Analysts Federal Research Library
- 2. Process
- 2.1 Pilot Project to Product
- 2.2 Document Sources, Editing, and Size
- 2.3 The Move to XML
- 2.4 Folio-to-XML Conversion
- 2.5 Tools
- 2.6 DVD Technology
- 3. Product Preview Demonstration

## 1.1 Charles Goldfarb

- Charles Goldfarb’s early profession was as a Tax Attorney.  He created the ability to understand the complexity of tax legalease (e.g., Internal Revenue Code) using a new mark-up language, SGML, the predecessor of XML.

## 1.2 Tax Analysts

**   ****Tax Analysts** is a nonprofit organization founded in 1970.  Publications are our principal means of rendering public service. These publications provide forums for discussion of a wide variety of tax ideas. By facilitating discussion, we seek to encourage development of fiscal systems that are fair, simple, and economically efficient.

## 1.2 Tax Analysts

**  ****Tax Analysts** is also dedicated to providing timely and comprehensive information to tax professionals at a reasonable cost. We publish daily, weekly, and monthly print publications to keep tax professionals informed about current tax developments at the state, federal and international level.

## 1.3 Tax Analysts Federal Research Library

- A main CD-ROM that links to three additional CD-ROM’s for more comprehensive information.
- Current Web version that uses Lotus Domino to deliver equivalent information in HTML.

## 2.1 Pilot Project to Product

- Began a year ago as the principal developer of a new product based on XML.
- A month ago that the product was given the go ahead for our clients in September.
- Demonstrated to the American Bar Association Meeting in Washington, DC, in early May.
- The IRS is interested in buying its repurposed content back from us!

## 2.2 Document Sources, Editing, and Size

- All documents originate with the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury.
- Every document goes through our expert editorial process to create a summary, linking to other documents, and the organization and aggregation with other documents which adds value to our document collections.
- Most of our document collections are very large:
- IRS Letter Rulings: 110,000 documents.
- Court Opinions Reference I and II: 45,000 documents and more.

## 2.3 The Move to XML

- Tax Analysts has used Nextpage’s CD-ROM publishing software, Folio Views, for 10 years.
- Folio Views uses an SGML-like proprietary markup language.
- NextPage’s new LivePublish product is Web-based and uses XML and HTML.
- Tax Analysts wanted to take advantage of the benefits of XML and LivePublish.
- Thus, it was necessary to migrate from the Folio Views markup format to XML.

## 2.4 Folio-to-XML Conversion

- Folio Flat File XML(v1) HTML (v4.0)
- The conversion to XML uses a DTD.
- The conversion to HTML uses XSLT and CSS.
- The conversion is fast!
- See next slide.

## 2.4 Folio-to-XML Conversion

## 2.4 Folio-to-XML Conversion

- XML preserves relationships in Folio Flat file:
- Document formatting preserved.
- Leveling and table of contents preserved.
- Fielding preserved.
- Linking preserved.
- See next slide.

## 2.4 Folio-to-XML Conversion

## 2.5 Tools

- Omnimark v5.0 was used for conversion from Folio Flat file to XML.
- Michael Kay’s Saxon 6.4.3 was used for conversion from XML to HTML.
- Saxon requires the Java compiler (V 1.1.4).

## 2.5 Tools

## 2.6 DVD Technology

- The document collections total about 2 Gigabytes.
- Many of our CD-ROM user’s have or will have newer PCs with DVD readers.
- A single DVD is easier and cheaper to master and distribute than multiple CD-ROMs.

## 3.1 Product Preview Demonstration

- Features:
- New interface.
- Links.
- Searches, saved searches, and multiple database searches.
- Other.

## 3.2 Product Preview Demonstration

## 3.3 Product Preview Demonstration

## 3.4 Product Preview Demonstration

## 3.5 Product Preview Demonstration

## 3.6 Product Preview Demonstration