Black Mesa Technologies LLC

Black Mesa Technologies LLC is a small consulting and contract-work firm focused on information management using descriptive markup technologies. Organized as a limited liability company under the laws of the state of New Mexico, it is led by its principal, C. M. Sperberg-McQueen, a well-known figure in the XML and markup community. The company offers consulting, training, and freelance contract work in areas related to XML and other descriptive markup technologies. The firm's areas of expertise include the design, development, and maintenance of XML and SGML vocabularies; XSLT stylesheets and transformations; schemas written in DTD notation, XSD 1.0, XSD 1.1, or other languages; XQuery applications; techniques for handling overlapping structures and other recalcitrant phenomena in XML or non-XML markup systems; and the use of descriptive markup to help preserve cultural heritage materials and make them more readily accessible. Black Mesa Technologies operates primarily as a vehicle for the professional activities of its principal. Sperberg-McQueen has been a member of the technical staff at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) from 1998 to 2009, where he served in several roles including chair of the W3C XML Coordination Group, staff contact for the XML Schema Working Group and co-editor of the XSD 1.1 specification, and staff contact for the XSL Working Group and the Service Modeling Language (SML) Working Group. He is also co-chair of Balisage: The Markup Conference and co-editor of the journal Markup Languages: Theory & Practice. The company maintains a website at blackmesatech.com, which is itself maintained in XML with HTML pages generated by XSLT stylesheets. The site provides tools, blog posts, mailing lists, slides, and resources related to XQuery and XForms. Black Mesa Technologies serves clients who need expert assistance with markup-based information management, including cultural heritage institutions and other organizations working with complex textual or documentary materials.

Black Mesa Technologies LLC is a limited liability company organized under the laws of the state of New Mexico. Its principal, C. M. Sperberg-McQueen, is a long-time participant in the international markup community. From 1998 to 2009, Sperberg-McQueen was a member of the technical staff at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), where he held several key roles: member and later chair of the W3C XML Coordination Group; member and staff contact of the W3C XML Schema Working Group and co-editor of the XSD 1.1 specification; member and staff contact of the XSL Working Group; and member and alternate staff contact of the Service Modeling Language (SML) Working Group. He has also been co-chair of Balisage: The Markup Conference, held annually (formerly in Montréal, now in Bethesda, Maryland), and co-editor, with B. Tommie Usdin of Mulberry Technologies, of Markup Languages: Theory & Practice, a peer-reviewed journal published by MIT Press. Additionally, he co-coordinated the Model Editions Partnership with David Chesnutt, a research project funded by the U.S. National Historical Publications and Records Commission to build prototypes of historical documentary editions in electronic form using TEI markup. Through Black Mesa Technologies, Sperberg-McQueen offers consulting, training, and contract work in areas related to XML and other descriptive markup technologies. The company's expertise spans the design, development, and maintenance of XML and SGML vocabularies; XSLT stylesheets and transformations; schemas in DTD notation, XSD 1.0, XSD 1.1, or other languages; XQuery applications; techniques for handling overlapping structures and other recalcitrant phenomena in XML or non-XML markup systems; and the use of descriptive markup to preserve cultural heritage materials and improve accessibility. The company's website, maintained in XML with HTML generated by XSLT stylesheets, provides tools, blog posts, mailing lists, slides, and resources on XQuery and XForms. As of the site's last update noted in the evidence (26 October 2016), the company continued to operate as a vehicle for its principal's professional activities.

• 2016

  Black Mesa Technologies LLC website last updated (as noted in evidence).

• 2009

  Sperberg-McQueen leaves the W3C after serving in multiple roles including XML Coordination Group chair and XSD 1.1 co-editor.

• 1998

  C. M. Sperberg-McQueen joins the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) technical staff.

A boutique consultancy offering deep expertise in XML, SGML, and related standards, led by a globally recognized markup specialist.

• XML and SGML vocabulary design and maintenance

  Design, development, and maintenance of XML and SGML vocabularies.

• XSLT stylesheets and transformations

  Creation of XSLT stylesheets and transformations.

• Schema development (DTD, XSD 1.0, XSD 1.1)

  Schemas written in DTD notation, XSD 1.0, XSD 1.1, or other languages.

• XQuery applications

  Development of XQuery applications.

• Overlapping structures handling

  Techniques for handling overlapping structures and other recalcitrant phenomena in XML or non-XML markup systems.

• Cultural heritage markup

  Use of descriptive markup to help preserve cultural heritage materials and make them more readily accessible.

1. 1Black Mesa Technologies LLC homepageblackmesatech.com
2. 2C. M. Sperberg-McQueen Home Pageblackmesatech.com
3. 3About Black Mesablackmesatech.com
4. 4Wikidata entry for Black Mesa Technologies LLCwikidata.org