Open eBook Publication Structure
| STG lead(s): |
Allen Renear, Steve DeRose |
STG played a leading role in the development of the Open eBook Publication Structure 1.0, an XML-based specification for hand-held electronic books.
STG's specific objective in this project was to ensure that the OEB PS 1.0 standard was based on sound scientific and engineering research and reflected best practice in document architecture standards -- in order to create a high-performance interoperable data specification that would provide broad-based benefits to commerce and culture. We were particularly concerned to align OEB with current work in the W3C (particularly XML-related standards), promote the rigorous separation of structure and rendering semantics, and design mechanisms for disciplined extensions (to reconcile supporting innovation with maintaining interoperability). In addition we wanted to establish a foundation for supporting internationalization.
Although in the end a few compromises had to be made in version 1.0 in order to accommodate the constraints of existing practices and market dynamics, our goals were largely achieved and OEB PS 1.0 is a powerful interoperable architecture that is fast becoming the common data format for electronic books. For its role in this project STG received a formal commendation from the US Department of Commerce, National Institute for Standards and Technology.
STG's Introduction to OEB PS 1.0 Overview (below) is based on presentations by Steve DeRose and Allen Renear at various conferences and workshops.
| Principal Investigator(s) or Parent Project Lead(s): |
[None]
Open eBook Initiative
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| Research domains: |
document architecture and markup systems; electronic publishing; standards development |
| STG involvement initiated: |
November 1998 |
| Status: | hosted elsewhere |
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Record last modified: 13-Sep-2005
