WebMath: About iMath - a short history

[Stephen M. Hunt]

iMath is modeled after the W3C as a participatory consortium.  It is
currently owned by the staff of iMath.  Affiliates are also able to take a
proprietary interest in iMath.  We would like the affiliates to be the
long-term owners of the consortium.  Any institution can affiliate and we
plan to open up individual affiliation.

iMath was founded on the principle that math (fonts and presentation syntax
and tools, transport protocols, computation and visualization syntax and
engines) should not be proprietary.  Math is the most universal of all
languages.  iMath is seeking to make open math infrastructure universally
available.

Many of us have worked with the proprietary math vendors.  We became
involved with these vendors primarily because of our interest in enhancing
math use and math education through their tools.  We left because we felt
that they would never be able to deliver a solution that would universally
benefit math, and because we thought we could see a way in which this could
be accomplished.

The solutions developed by the math vendors started at academic institutions
and the significant algorithms they use continue to be developed and evolved
by the academic community.

A proprietary math vendor casts the open math into a closed and proprietary
package.  The result is strange syntaxes, black box computation engines,
proprietary protocols and limited interfaces.  It is impossible for any
single vendor to meet the diverse needs of math users.  The vendor becomes a
bottleneck and stumbling block.

iMath works on design of open math specifications and reference
implementations.  We add math to existing open languages in a uniform and
consistent way.  We evolve the open frameworks to support math.  Our
implementations are free and open source to those who agree to maintain
interoperability - the formal process through which this happens is
affiliation.

We began in May 1999 and have made good progress over the last year with all
the key technologies now in place.  We are very pleased at the positive
response and support we receive from those math users that have engaged
iMath.

If you have any questions or would like iMath to visit your institution to
hold a free iMath workshop, please do email me or the group as appropriate.

Regards

Steve

Dr Stephen M. Hunt
Director
Internet Math Consortium
steve at imath.org
http://www.imath.org

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