Markup Languages: Theory & Practice 1.1 (1999): 1–6 1998 The MIT Press Commentary and Opinion Welcome to Markup Languages: Theory & Practice C. M. Sperberg-McQueen University of Illinois at Chicago Computer Center M/ C 135 1940 West Taylor Street Chicago, IL 60612-7352 US A TEL +1 312/413-0317 FAX +1 312/996-6834 EMAIL cmsmcq@uic.edu B. Tommie Usdin President Mulberry Technologies, Inc. 17 West Jefferson Street, Suite 207 Ro c kville , MD 20850 US A TEL +1 301/315-9631 FAX +1 301/315-8285 EMAIL btusdin@mulberrytech.com WEB http:/ / www.mulberrytech.com The editors of the journal describe why they and the publisher decided to start the journal, and what they hope it will accomplish. When embarking on such an uncertain project as the creation of a new journal in what is not exactly a recognized academic field — a print journal, no less, for the discussion of systems for electronic text markup — it is difficult to avoid the temptation to explain the rationale and goals of the journal. We have neither avoided nor attempted to resist that temptation, and this essay is the result of our surrender to it. Why a new journal, on this subject matter, now? In the past few years, the steady trickle of work on the theory and practice of marking up texts for machine processing has become a stream, and then a river, and now looks likely to take on torrential proportions. Generic markup, especially in the form of HTML, has become ubiquitous — or, at least, about as widespread as the Internet itself: though not quite truly ubiquitous even in the most highly developed countries, the Net and HTML are much more widespread