Tonya R. Gaylord
Leadership
Ms. Gaylord has been actively working with XML, SGML, and other markup languages since 1997. Since joining Mulberry Technologies, Inc., she has assisted in the preparation for Balisage: The Markup Conference and, previously, Extreme Markup Languages®, Markup Technologies, and other SGML/XML conferences. Her conference participation has included teaching technical tutorials, as well as managing the conference proceedings and on-site logistics.
Skills
Document Analysis and DTD Development - Ms. Gaylord has partnered in Document Analysis (information analysis and design) teams, taking part in on-site analysis sessions, constructing XML DTDs, and preparing detailed analysis and change reports. She has also participated in the analysis and modification of a number of XML and SGML tag sets for clients including the federal government (legislative branch), commercial publishers, a manufacturer in the high technology sector, and numerous professional associations. This work has included DTD modification and testing, documentation and quality assurance, and Tag Library development.
Since 2003, Mulberry has been working with the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), a center of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), to create and maintain the NLM Journal Archiving and Interchange Tag Suite (JATS). A technical standard published by the National Information Standards Organization (ANSI/NISO Z39.96-2015 ) since 2012 with version 1.1 published in 2015, the JATS Suite consists of Tag Sets for Archiving, Publishing, and Authoring journal article content. In support of the JATS Tag Suite group, Ms. Gaylord has written and maintained much of the Tag Suite documentation for all of the Tag Suite’s Tag Libraries.
The JATS Tag Sets are sufficiently general to describe technical journals in any field and thus have been widely adopted by archives, libraries, and publishers. As part of Mulberry’s consulting and support services to users of these Tag Sets, Ms. Gaylord has assisted in creating customized subsets (and supersets) of the Tag Sets and customized versions of Tag Set documentation for publishers. This documentation has included a publisher’s in-house practices, excluded structures the publisher doesn’t use, and used the publisher’s content for all examples.
Building upon the work of JATS and an ISO (International Organization for Standardization) precursor, the standards community began work on a “standard for standards” to define a suite of XML elements and attributes that describes the full-text content and metadata of standards. The idea underlying this work was to create a common format to preserve standards’ intellectual content irrespective of the form in which such content is originally published Mulberry has been actively involved in the work on this standard, known as NISO STS, which was published in October 2017 (ANSI/NISO Z39.102-2017). Similarly to her work on JATS, Ms. Gaylord has participated fully in the creation of documentation for the standard’s two implementations, the Interchange Tag Set and the Extended Tag Set, for inclusion as non-normative NISO STS Supporting Materials (NISO STS Version 1.0: Tag Library).
Other notable projects have included an IV&V (Independent Validation and Verification) for a global publisher of scientific and technical reference materials who wanted a consistent architecture for cross-product searching and increased interoperability. A proposed “baseline” document model was evaluated for conformity to company guidelines as well as a qualitative analysis of the model’s use of XML conventions, modularity, and supporting documentation.
For another project, Ms. Gaylord performed a QA (Quality Assessment) for text conversion of a health-related publication for use in an electronic repository. Structural integrity, linkage, and table conversions were evaluated, as was conformity with the DTD and client’s conversion guidelines. Other work has involved electronic repositories for large publishers integrating multiple operating companies, a scientific journal for both web and electronic applications, and a pharmaceutical reference work designed for both print and electronic applications, as well as a medical reference system with an interactive web component and the reorganization of a long-standing scientific book.
SGML Conversions - For a commercial publisher of legal reference material, she performed subject analysis of state laws and regulations for use in an SGML retrieval system; in so doing, she analyzed and tagged content using SGML techniques in preparation for data conversion.
Training - Ms. Gaylord has taught “directed” XML and SGML literacy courses – instruction using clients’ own DTDs and document instances – to typographers and to production personnel of a major publisher. Following an introduction to generic markup concepts, students received training on XML (or SGML, as appropriate) syntax, with emphasis on reading element content models and understanding attributes and parameter entities. The hands-on portion of courses concluded with students tagging document instances received from client, using both a text editor and an XML editor.
In addition, Ms. Gaylord has provided training on XML and XSLT to programmers and documentation specialists.
Implementation Support - Ms. Gaylord has provided clients with technical assistance pertaining to DTD modification and documentation issues.
For a publisher of legal treatises, she reviewed and assisted in the development of layout specifications for use with SGML editing software.
As part of marketing activities within the legal profession, Ms. Gaylord performed quality assurance in an information dissemination environment. In addition to authoring materials on environmental and toxic tort issues, she has performed subject editing, copy editing, and book design for various publishing efforts.
Other - Utilizing her legal training, Ms. Gaylord has worked with a variety of contracts and agreements, including non-disclosure and partnership agreements, and has researched issues pertaining to trademarks and licensing.
Employment History
SGML/XML Analyst, Mulberry Technologies, Inc. - 1999 to present. Mulberry Technologies is a consultancy specializing in SGML and XML design and training, particularly Document (information) Analysis and DTD development.
SGML Documentation Specialist, Mulberry Technologies, Inc. - 1997 to 1999.
Independent Contractor to the The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. - 1996 to 1997. The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. is a private publisher of specialty legal publications in the areas of business, environment, health care, labor, and tax. Those publications are tagged in SGML for delivery in CD-ROM, online and print forms.
Various Positions in the Legal Profession, including Associate, Mott & Associates, Inc. - 1987 to 1996. The positions involved increasing responsibility and specialization in the environmental law field, including litigating environmental claims, attending congressional hearings, and monitoring environmental treaties, federal and state legislation, and agency rulemaking activities.
Staff Assistant, U.S. Senator John C. Danforth - 1985 to 1987. A senior Senator from Missouri, Senator Danforth was actively involved in congressional legislation pertaining to the foreign trade, agriculture, commerce, and transportation.
Education
Georgetown University Law Center, Juris Doctor, 1990
University of Kentucky, M.A. International Development Affairs, 1982
Eastern Kentucky University, B.A. English, 1980