Information Accessibility Institute

Profile

Makoto Murata

Visiting Professor, Higashi Nippon International University
Representative Member, Information Accessibility Institute LLC

Overview

Makoto Murata has long been active in the fields of document processing, electronic publishing, information accessibility, and international standardization. Since the early days of XML, he has been involved in the research, standardization, and implementation of international technologies underlying web documents, electronic publishing, and office documents, including XML, RELAX NG, OOXML, and EPUB. As a member of the W3C XML Working Group, he participated in the standardization of XML itself and became internationally known for his research on XML schema languages. He later worked on the internationalization of EPUB 3, the international maintenance of OOXML, Japanese typography, and EPUB accessibility. He is currently promoting information accessibility in electronic publishing and computer-based testing (CBT). His research publications have been widely cited internationally and continue to have lasting impact.

Education

B.Sc. in Science, Kyoto University, 1982
Ph.D. in Engineering, University of Tsukuba, 2006

Areas of Expertise

  • XML
  • Information Accessibility
  • EPUB
  • CBT (QTI)
  • OOXML
  • Japanese Typography

International Standardization Activities

Makoto Murata was the only non-Western member of the W3C XML Working Group that standardized XML, and he played an internationally leading role in the standardization of XML schema languages. He also led the internationalization of EPUB 3 within IDPF as the leader of the internationalization sub-group.

  • Chair-Elect, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34
  • Convenor, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34/WG 4 (OOXML)
  • Former Member, W3C XML Working Group
  • Former Leader, IDPF EPUB 3 Internationalization Subgroup
  • Former Project Editor, RELAX NG
  • Former Project Editor, NVDL
  • Former Chair, Technical Committee of the DAISY Consortium of Japan

Major Research Achievements

Representative Papers

Taxonomy of XML Schema Languages using Formal Language Theory

Murata, M., Lee, D., Mani, M., Kawaguchi, K.
ACM Transactions on Internet Technology, 2005

  • Google Scholar citations: more than 700
  • Journal Impact Factor: approximately 3
  • A widely referenced paper that systematically classified XML schema languages using formal language theory. ACM Transactions is a globally respected journal series in the field of information technology.

XML Access Control Using Static Analysis

Murata, M., Tozawa, A., Kudo, M.
ACM Transactions on Information and System Security, 2006

  • Google Scholar citations: more than 250
  • Journal Impact Factor: approximately 4
  • A paper proposing a method for access control of XML documents using static analysis. This paper was also published in an ACM Transactions journal.

Extended Path Expressions of XML

Murata, M.
ACM Principles of Database Systems (PODS), 2001

  • Google Scholar citations: more than 100
  • A theoretical study on XML query languages. ACM PODS is one of the top international conferences in the database field.

Citation Metrics

  • More than 1,600 citations on Google Scholar, with an h-index of 16. He is a researcher whose work has continued to be referenced internationally in the fields of XML and document technologies.
  • ACM Digital Library:
    • Citation count: 435
    • Average citations per paper: 54

Major Awards

  • Makoto Murata. JEPA Electronic Publishing Award (Special Individual Award), 2011
    (Technical Lead for the Japanese EPUB Extension Specification)
  • Makoto Murata. Director-General Award, Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, 2008
  • Makoto Murata, Kohsuke Kawaguchi. Explanatory Paper Award, Japan Society for Software Science and Technology, 2007
  • Makoto Murata. International Standardization Award, Information Processing Society of Japan, 2006
  • Makoto Murata, Masayuki Hiyama, Yuji Komachi, Kento Tamura. IPSJ Achievement Award for Contributions to the Development and Dissemination of XML, 2006
  • Makoto Murata. Internet Conference ‘98 Paper Award,
    “XML Document Transformation and Schema Transformation Using Context Conditions and Patterns”, 1998