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By David Rothman

IDPFThe International Digital Publishing Forum is seeking input on its OPS 2.0 e-book format and related matters—from “potential users, developers and others, whether IDPF members or not, for the sake of improving the interoperability and quality of IDPF work.”

I hope that academics, publishing specialists and others will come out of the woodwork and provide thoughts on such issues as the durability of interbook links in OPS 2.0. To what extent will such links survive changes in texts? Here are other questions:

  • What about 2.0′s compatibility with navigation schemes to enhance access for people with disabilities?
  • Are there adequate fall-backs for situations when readers lack access to proprietary technologies such as Flash (an open standard but one set by Adobe)?
  • Will the IDPF’s container format simply encourage the continuation of the Tower of eBabel, or does it indeed prod people to use OPS 2.0?
  • How gracefully can OPS evolve in the future, compared to alternatives such as OpenReader?

Meanwhile, keep in mind that without interoperable DRM, the eBabel Tower will still loom over the industry if publishers keep insisting on copy-protection.

Deadline for comment is May 16. Background:

–The proposed Open Publication Structure (OPS) 2.0 v0.984 specs.

–Open Packaging Format (OPF) 2.0 v0.984.

–Sample OPS files.

A verbatim reproduction of an IDPF announcement from Nick Bogaty, IDPF executive director, follows.

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Dear eBook Community List,

The Open Publication Structure (OPS) 2.0 has been elevated for IDPF Member and Public Review. The review period will begin today and extend for 30 days ending on Wednesday, May 16th, 2007. The IDPF strongly encourages feedback from potential users, developers and others, whether IDPF members or not, for the sake of improving the interoperability and quality of IDPF work.

Document Summary

On March 29th, 2007 the OEBPS Working Group agreed to submit the OPS 2.0 Working Draft Specification into the official IDPF output process as a Submitted Document as per the IDPF Policies & Procedures 4.6.2 (Approving an Official Document). On Thursday, April 12th, 2007, the IDPF Board of Directors voted to elevate the document to Draft Status for IDPF Member and Public Review. The Draft Review Period will begin on Monday, April 16th, 2007 and last for 30 days, ending on Wednesday, May 16th, 2007. The specifications are available at:

OPS 2.0:

http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops/OPS_2.0_0.984_draft.html

OPF 2.0:

http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf/OPF_2.0_0.984_draft.html

Feedback on the draft specifications should be made by posting a reply to the forum topic located at http://www.idpf.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=58. Sample OPS 2.0 files can be found for download at http://www.idpf.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=5.

Specification Summary

The OPS 2.0 and OPF 2.0 specifications are successors to OEBPS 1.2 which was released as an official IDPF specification in August 2002. The OPS specification describes a standard for representing the content of electronic publications. The OPF specification defines the mechanism by which the various components of an OPS publication are tied together and provides additional structure and semantics to the electronic publication. OPS/OPF will increase the viability and adoption of the previous OEBPS standard as both a cross-reading system interchange and production format as well as a final publication delivery format.

Both OPF and OPS are aligned with the OEBPS Container Format (OCF) specification which defines the standard mechanism by which all components of an electronic publication may be packaged together into a single archive for transmission, delivery and archival purposes. The OCF specification was released as an official IDPF specification on October 27th, 2006.

Ouput Procedure & How to Make Comments on OPS 2.0

The Working Group will maintain a record of all IDPF Member and Public Comments during this 30 Day Comment Period. At the end of the Comment Period, the Working Group will record their actions on each comment and submit the revised Draft Document, Comments and Actions to the IDPF Board of Directors for a Final Board Review. Following the Final Board Review, if
elevated by a vote from the IDPF Board of Directors, the document will undergo an IP Notice Period of 45 days. The IP Notice Period will be followed by an IDPF Membership Vote which will require a Super Majority to approve the Proposed Document as a Recommended Document (Official Specification) in the IDPF.

Feedback on the draft specifications should be made by posting a reply to the forum topic located at http://www.idpf.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=58. Sample OPS 2.0 files can be found for download at http://www.idpf.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=5.

I would like to thank all of the contributors to these documents especially Garth Conboy and Brady Duga of eBook Technologies, Inc., Peter Sorotokin of Adobe Systems, Inc., George Kerscher of the DAISY Consortium, Jon Noring of DigitalPulp Publishing and Ben Trafford for their hard work and time.

Best,
Nick Bogaty

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Nick Bogaty
Executive Director
International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)
nbogaty@idpf.org
www.idpf.org
(212) 924-9081 direct
(212) 208-0978 fax

 
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