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What''s your government doing with XML? With the advent of XML authoring tools, it''s more than you might think.

Article Excerpt
Popular wisdom dictates that governments are slow to adopt anything new, especially when it comes to new technologies. But If you look closely, you might find something unexpected.

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Across the U.S. and around the world, governments are integrating XML into their workflow. From legislation creation, to Web portals, to intra-department data integration, XML is having a dramatic impact on government workflows. In fact, you may already be using some form of XML-based government service.

Government departments have been working on XML adoption strategies for some time, and in some government corners the process is nearly complete. The U.S. House of Representatives, for example, is currently close to drafting all its introduced bills in XML.

This article will take a closer look at the use of XML for government legislation--an accelerating segment of XML adoption within state and federal governments. It will also examine the history, workflow, and tools being used to spur this rapid adoption.

The Need for XML for Government Legislation

To understand how XML is becoming a preferred format for legislation, it is helpful to consider the history of legislation creation. In the U.S. government, the history of structured documents starts with the Government Printing Office (GPO). For decades, the GPO has been responsible for producing paper versions of a massive variety and high volume of government documents. The documents the GPO produces are critical because paper hard copies are still the document of record (or the golden master, as is said in the software industry).

Fifty years ago, when the GPO started to print documents,...