[bookshare-discuss] FW: E-Book Standards
- From: "Gerald Hovas" <GeraldHovas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2006 16:20:58 -0500
People,
In case you missed it, Cindy W. posted an article on the Bookshare-Discuss
list about new E-Book standards and asked what affect the new standard would
have on Bookshare. Here is Jim's reply. BTW, for those of you who don't
already know who Jim is, he's the CEO of Benetech which is the nonprofit
organization which created and maintains Bookshare.
Thanks for the prompt reply, Jim.
Gerald
_____
From: Jim Fruchterman [mailto:Jim.F@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Saturday, July 15, 2006 4:14 PM
To: Gerald Hovas
Cc: Janice Carter; Jennifer Sutton; Cindy Wentz
Subject: E-Book Standards
Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Gerald. I'm not on this list, so
it would be great if you forwarded on my answer to Cindy's question.
Jennifer Sutton is most on top of this specific project, since she's been
part of it. And of course, George Kerscher of the DAISY Consortium is part
of this work as well. Our main interest in being involved is to ensure that
the next version of the Open ebook standard is more accessible, since that
can only benefit Bookshare.org and our users. My feeling is that if all
books were perfectly accessible electronically through mainstream channels,
that would be absolutely the best thing for people with print related
disabilities. However, I don't think this one standard change is anything
more than a slight evolutionary step, and we're trying to ensure it's
forward and not backward!
To go a little further, one additional thing that tends to make ebooks
inaccessible is not so much the underlying format, but the nature of the
digital rights management solution on the specific platform. That's
especially true when the underlying format is an XML text-based format,
which is quite accessible and which is the case in the format being
discussed below, as opposed to a visual rendering format like Adobe's PDF.
Of course, we're working on all of these things. For example, we're
starting to work with Adobe to make it easier for publishers to spit out
high quality accessible DAISY out of Adobe book publishing products. Our
long range goal is to steadily increase the percentage of our new books that
come directly from publishers, and the better they can make the books, the
better the reading experience will be!
Jim Fruchterman
_____
From: Cindy Wentz [mailto:cindy2u@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, July 14, 2006 8:39 PM
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] E-Book Standards
Can anyone interpret the meaning of this article? Would it make Bookshare
obsolete? Would it make many many more books accessible through speech?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Nicholas Bogaty
Executive Director
International Digital Publishing Forum
212-924-9081
Industry Adopts eBook Standards
Wide Industry Implementation Planned for IDPF's New Standards for
Digital Publications
New York, NY (June 20th, 2006) - Major software companies and device
manufacturers have announced plans to support new electronic book
standards developed within the International Digital Publishing Forum
(IDPF). The companies will support these standards in their next
generation software and devices, alleviating many of the previous file
interoperability and production issues affecting the eBook industry
and its customers.
The standards are created by two groups within the International
Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), the trade and standards organization
for the digital book industry. The IDPF has previously developed the
already widely adopted Open eBook Publication Structure (OEBPS)
standard. The two groups are the Unified OEBPS Container Format
Working Group and the OEBPS Working Group.
Garth Conboy, President of eBook Technologies, Inc, and co-Chair of
both working groups, commented, "This is a very exciting time for the
industry - vigorous standards setting and adoption efforts are under
way, new technologies, products and companies are entering the market,
and these factors as well as innovative marketing and searching will
drive increased digital content availability."
Emerging Digital Publication Standards
The Container Format working group is set to release a container
format to allow publishers to release only a single standard file into
their sales and distribution channels instead of the multiple
proprietary files that they currently produce. The new ZIP-based
proposed standard, OEBPS Container Format (OCF), is an extension of
the packaging format defined by the OpenDocument OASIS Standard
(ISO/IEC 26300).
"Adobe has been very pleased with the rapid progress within IDPF
towards creating an open and neutral container format", said Bill
McCoy, GM ePublishing, Adobe Systems, Inc. "An open packaging
technology clearly has applicability across multiple areas of our
solutions, including eReading systems, and we look forward to working
with industry participants to finalize this community-developed
standard in the coming months".
The container format is expected to be submitted to the IDPF for
official approval in the next several weeks. A draft specification is
publicly available at:
http://www.idpf.org/doc_library/informationaldocs/ocf10-20060612.pdf
In the second specification, the OEBPS Working Group is developing the
next generation of OEBPS to improve this XML-based standard as both a
production and a final delivery format for digital publications. The
effort will focus on detailed control of content rendering, navigation
and accessibility, and alignment with other standards efforts.
Software & Device Implementation
At the IDPF Connected & Mobile 2006 conference in May, Adobe Systems
demonstrated a forthcoming thin-client application for reading-centric
secured content, codenamed "Twist", that will support OEBPS-based and
PDF content. Also, eBook Technologies, Inc. featured an application
built on the OEBPS Container Format (OCF) at the conference.
Other reading application companies also voiced support for the
upcoming specifications:
"Mobipocket has been a great supporter of open standards in the eBook
world since the OEBPS creation. We are excited about this new
initiative, which is the right way to go to make this market
mainstream. We plan to fully support this new standard in our product
line," said Thierry Brethes, CEO & co-founder of Mobipocket.com, an
Amazon.com company.
"OSoft intends to support the new OEBPS standards with the upcoming
release of dotReader," said Mark Carey, CEO of OSoft.com, an open
source document company. "The enhancements to the standards will
improve accessibility and be more publisher and consumer friendly. Of
particular interest to publishers is the standardization of a master
e-book format which will greatly improve document workflow and reduce
e-book publishing costs."
"Motricity's vision is to increase the adoption and consumption of
premium mobile data such as ebooks," said Elizabeth Mackey (Vice
President and General Manager of eReader/Motricity). "We fully
support open standards and access as the cornerstones of IDPF's
efforts as we believe it's exemplary of the type of collaborative
process that will build mainstream awareness and further the
independence and productivity of the mobile lifestyle."
Hardware companies also voiced implementation plans. iRex
Technologies' VP Marketing and Business Development Willem Endhoven
stated, "iRex Technologies will support the development of these
standards as it will accelerate the momentum in electronic reading.
We believe that consumers will benefit from a more harmonized, open
system approach and simplicity of use. We expect to support the IDPF
standards for use in the iLiad e-reader in the future."
Cooperation with Other Information Technology Standards Organizations
IDPF has begun working to formalize its cooperation and collaboration
with other organizations. While the needs of the digital publishing
industry may require specific technologies, IDPF policy is to build on
broader information technology standards wherever possible.
IDPF has recently joined the OASIS international standards consortium,
and hopes that the IDPF OCF may be further advanced within OASIS as a
general file containment technology standard.
"We are happy to have the IDPF join our organization and pleased that
they plan to contribute proposed extensions to the OpenDocument OASIS
Standard for their Open Container Format," said James Bryce Clark,
director of standards development at OASIS. "We are looking forward
to working with them on future standardization efforts."
IDPF is also cooperating closely with DAISY, which is a member of the
IDPF. The upcoming OEBPS revision is working to be aligned with
requirements of the DAISY-based NIMAS initiative for accessible K-12
textbooks.
"The disability community is looking forward to the day when
commercial eBooks are usable by persons with disabilities with their
Assistive Technologies," said George Kerscher, Secretary General of
the DAISY Consortium.
The combined standards efforts will result in a non-proprietary way
for publishers to deliver digital books through the distribution chain
to consumers, similar to the MP3 format for digital music. No patent
encumbrances are expected of either new specification. Participation
in the Working Groups is open to all IDPF members and documents
published by both groups are regularly posted on the IDPF website at
www.idpf.org <http://www.idpf.org/> .
Additional Relevant Information
IDPF Specifications & Documents:
http://www.idpf.org/specs.htm
Open Container Format (OCF) 0.94 Working Draft Specification:
http://www.idpf.org/doc_library/informationaldocs/ocf10-20060612.pdf
Open eBook Publication Structure Specification Version 1.2:
http://www.idpf.org/oebps/oebps1.2/index.htm
Use Cases & Requirements for Next Version of the Open eBook
Publication Structure:
http://www.idpf.org/doc_library/informationaldocs/oebps_requirements.h
tm
IDPF Working Groups:
http://www.idpf.org/idpf_groups.htm
IDPF meetings & teleconference schedule:
http://www.idpf.org/events.htm
IDPF membership information:
http://www.idpf.org/membership.htm
About the International Digital Publishing Forum
The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), formerly the Open
eBook Forum (OeBF), is the trade and standards association for the
digital publishing industry. Further information about the
organization and industry, including membership information, can be
obtained by visiting www.idpf.org <http://www.idpf.org/> .
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