[bksvol-discuss] FW: E-Book Standards
- From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2006 09:36:19 -0400 (EDT)
Once again I see people talking about Daisy and not BRF. I hope that BRF
is not going to be left out in the cold if/when Bookshare gets more books
directly from publishers. I know more people use audio than braille, but
braille is darned important to those of us who use it, and essential to
people who can't hear audio.
Tracy
>> 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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