IMA's functional goals include standards and specifications to advance virtual worlds, virtual reality, and synthetic environments through research and development. A portion of our software policy was published when we launched - our general coding and documentation topics. Today, we published a more comprehensive document called Infinite Metaverse Alliance Architecture Framework (IMAAF). But what is an Architecture Framework? 

The ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010 Conceptual Model of Architecture Description defines the term architecture framework as: "An architecture framework establishes a common practice for creating, interpreting, analyzing and using architecture descriptions within a particular domain of application or stakeholder community." This is similar to what some of us view as a specification but it's actually a software engineering tool to be used by the CIO to guide the work of developers with common terminology so that stakeholders can also plan and budget with an understanding of data structures and usage.

Because IMA is an international research foundation, being standards compliant is essential. From a software development perspective, the most stringent international specification associated with architecture frameworks is the International Defence Enterprise Architecture Specification for data exchange also known as IDEAS. Within the US, the Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DoDAF) is the most stringent and is compliant with IDEAS. For these reasons, we simplified (from these) what we believe is applicable to virtual worlds software in the IMAAF. This is only the beginning of our work to bring standards and specifications to the virtual worlds community in our software projects. When new software projects begin, our CIO Myron Curtis will work with developers to align with the IMAAF. For developers, you can begin reviewing it here at your leisure.