Last October UK based The Content Group announced that it will be working on a "Publicly Available Specification" (PAS) for ECM. What readers may want to note is that according to Wikipedia, "The PAS requires less consensus-building than an ISO, European or British Standard and offers the sponsor more control over how the content is developed."

While some in the press speculated that the 2007 announcement was just a way for The Content Group to gain publicity for a moment, even if they're correct, that moment hasn't passed. An August 7, 2008 CMS Wire Press Release states that The Content Group is working with British Standards Institute (BSI), the UK's National Standards Body, and partnering with Alan Pelz-Sharpe, a principal with CMS Watch, and Bharat Mistry of Bloor Research.  to continue the effort.

Other members of the panel include: 

• Ben Richmond, founder and CEO of The Content Group
• Doug Miles, Managing Director, AIIM
• Alan Shipman, BSI Committee Chairman, IDT/1
• Marc Fresco, EDM & ERM Consulting Services Director, Serco
• Adrian McGrath, Principal Solution Architect and Solution Manager for ECM, LogicaCMG
• Richard Erskine, EMEA Strategy and Consulting Manager, EMC Documentum
• Lee Shepstone, Chief Technology Officer, Vignette
• Paul Finnis, Assistant Vice President Records and Information Management EMEA Region, Credit Suisse
• Stuart Murray, Head of Finance & Information, KMI Plus
• Roger Wyer, Information Systems Manager, Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council

With that being said, perhaps other ECM Industry vendors such as Alfresco, Oracle ECM, Microsoft Sharepoint, Opentext and others would like to have a say. And perhaps some ECM technology consumers such as GlaxoSmithKline and British Petroleum would like one too. Maybe "The Content Group" should set up a Wiki for interested contributors. Speak up now, so you're less likely to complain later.