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Charter for EPUB Standards Maintenance WG
The following is the
charter for the EPUB Standards Maintenance Working Group. The group will
begin meetings immediately. Participation in the group is open to IDPF
members and invited experts (invited at the discretion of the chairs of the
working group). If you have any questions, please contact the
IDPF.
Document
Submitted by: George Kerscher (DAISY Consortium), Garth Conboy (eBook
Technologies, Inc.)
Date of Document: August 12, 2009 (Revised list of Participants)
Document Approved by Board: June 8, 2009
Charter Ratified by IDPF Members: June 23, 2009 (unanimous vote)
Charter Start Date: August 19, 2009
Charter End Date: TBD
Working Charter Update Date:
The IDPF and
DAISY
The International Digital
Publishing Forum (IDPF) in the USA has
accepted the offer from the DAISY Consortium, a founding member of the IDPF
registered as an Association in Switzerland, to assist in the maintenance of the
IDPF Standards. This document defines the Charter for the “EPUB Standards
Maintenance Working Group.”
DAISY Consortium Meets the Following Criteria:
1. It has communicated to the IDPF Board a willingness to assist in
the maintenance of the Standard
2. It is recognized as one of the technical leaders of the Standard
3. It has the DAISY Board’s approval to use resources* for
maintenance of the Standard
4. It has the communication infrastructure to promote the Standard
5. It has the technical ability to maintain technical documents
The DAISY Consortium's vision is in harmony with the vision of IDPF. The DAISY
Consortium Board of Directors, in keeping with the
DAISY Mission, will support
the development of IDPF standards, implementations, and the promotion of IDPF
Standards. As the identified maintenance organization, the EPUB Standards
Maintenance Group is expected to report to the DAISY Board of Directors, as well
as the IDPF Board of Directors, on a regular basis. It is expected that reports
will be provided to both organizations simultaneously.
* The DAISY Consortium will contribute Web services including the
issues tracking database, a Wiki for the working group, and leadership. DAISY
contributions to the validation software have been significant and they intend
to continue this contribution. DAISY expects to be helpful in the circulation of
announcements, call for review, etc…
EPUB Standards Maintenance WG
Working Group
Mission
The objectives of the Working Group are twofold. One set of activities governs
maintenance of the current EPUB Standards (i.e.
OCF,
OPF, and
OPS), while
another set of activities addresses the need to keep the Standards current and
up-to-date. See “Development History,” below.
Maintaining the strategic direction of the Standards is the highest-level
activity of the EPUB Standards Maintenance Working Group.
Working Group Scope
Maintenance Activities:
1. resolving issues identified in current releases of the Standards
2. releasing updates to the Standards that resolve issues that are
determined to be errors
3. tracking issues that are identified to be possible requirements
for future standards development
4. reviewing guidelines and sample content developed in support of
the Standards
5. Developing and maintaining a set of conformance tests for EPUB
rendering developed by the working group (Note: this is work inherited from the
Publication Structure working group)
Activities to Keep the Standards Current and Up-to-date:
1. tracking technology and publishing trends that could influence
the future direction of the Standards
2. recommending exploration of revisions to the Standards
3. collecting requirements for revisions to the Standards
4. analyzing requirements and determine if a revision of the
Standards is to be recommended
5. participating in working groups for the revision of the
Standards
Development
History
The original
OEBPS 1.0
specification was published in September 1999 followed by two updates to the
specification, 1.0.1 in June 2001, and
1.2 in August 2002. Work on these
specifications was guided by the Publication Structure Working Group (PSWG).
From 2002 through the summer of 2003, PSWG worked on an upgrade of the OEBPS
specification (slated to be version 2.0) and achieved a significant amount of
work, but was unable to complete the specification. While the group decided to
officially cease meeting in July 2003, significant work product was created.
Leveraging these previous efforts, two subsequent working groups were chartered:
the Common OEBPS Container Working Group in November of 2005, and the OEBPS
Working Group in March of 2006. The
OEBPS Container Format (OCF) Standard was
approved in October of 2006. The
Open Packing Format (OPF) 2.0 and
Open
Publication Structure (OPS) 2.0 Standards were approved in September of 2007.
“EPUB” is the unifying term used to denote an OPF/OPS publication packaged
within an OCF container. This Working Group shall be chartered with the
maintenance of EPUB Standards.
Duration of Working Group Charter
The
Working Group should be chartered for the remainder of 2009 and through 2010.
The Working Group expects to publish updated Specifications, Informational
Documents and test suites throughout its period of operation.
Intellectual Property and IDPF Corporate
Documents
All
work in the Working Group will be in compliance with the IDPF membership
agreement, intellectual property policy, anti-trust documents, policies and
procedures and bylaws of the IDPF. In approving the maintenance group charter,
the Board guidance included as a goal that EPUB Standards should continue to be
freely implementable by anyone, without requiring implementers to individually
secure patent licenses.
Working Group Composition
The
Working Group will have a minimum of 7 voting members. No company or
organization may have more than 2 voting members on the working group.
In addition, experts may be approved to participate in working group activities,
but these experts do not have the right to vote on matters that come before the
working group.
Communication to IDPF Members
All
Working Group documents will be made available to all IDPF Members. Working
Group Chairs will be available to the IDPF Board for updates on the progress of
the Working Group. All IDPF members will be encouraged to participate in the
Working Group as well as select Invited Experts to be selected by the Working
Group.
Estimated Time Commitment for IDPF Members
Working Group
members are expected to attend bi-weekly or more frequent one-hour
teleconference calls, unless the working group determines otherwise. In
addition, Working Group members are expected to attend one or more face–to-face
meetings per year. Face to face meetings are usually two day conferences, and
the location is determined by the Working Group. Travel expenses are not paid
for, but food is provided during the meetings.
Working Group members are also expected to volunteer additional time for
technical research, specification drafting and other activities pursued by the
Working Group. This off-call, and off-face-to-face time investment should range
from 3-10 hours per month during the height of development.
Process and
Good Standing for Voting
The Working Group
will conform to the policy and procedures established by the IDPF, which is in
harmony with DAISY Consortium process. This can be found on the IDPF Web site
under “IDPF Policy and Procedures” (refer to section 4).
Working Group Leadership
Chairs: George
Kerscher (DAISY Consortium.)
Vice-Chair: Garth Conboy (eBook Technologies, Inc.)
Secretary; Michael Smith, IDPF
Preliminary Working Group
Companies
participating in EPUB Standards Maintenance Group include:
Adobe, AIE, Apex CoVantage, Aptara, Barnes & Noble,
Benetech, BookNet Canada, Bowker, Cambridge University Press, codeMantra, Crossway Books and
Bibles, DAISY Consortium, Design Science, Digital Divide Data, DNL Reader, EasyPress Technologies,
eBook Technologies, Educational Testing Service, Entourage Systems, EPUB Users
Group (UK), Feedbooks, Follett, Hachette, HarperCollins, HOV Services, Ingram
Digital, Innodata Isogen, John Wiley & Sons, LibreDigital, McGraw-Hill
Professional, National Library and Archives of Iran, O'Reilly Media, OverDrive,
Pearson, Penguin,
Random House, Simplicissimus Book Farm, TexTech, The Publishers Association,
Threepress Consulting, University of Montreal, Vision Australia,
Wiley/Blackwell, World Health Organization.
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