IDPF & W3C future and visionnary combination

https://www.w3.org/ — 10 May, Chicago, IL, USA —The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) announced today mutual interest in combining their respective organizations to more quickly advance publishing technologies on the Open Web Platform.

Tim Berners-Lee, Web Inventor and W3C Director, and Bill McCoy, IDPF Executive Director unveiled the plans following Berners-Lee’s keynote address at IDPF DigiCon at Book Expo America 2016 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

“We share an exciting vision for W3C and IDPF to fully align the publishing industry and core Web technology. This will create a rich media environment for digital publishing that opens up new possibilities for readers, authors, and publishers,” said Berners-Lee.

“Think about educational text books. The book content we know today is becoming highly interactive and accessible with links to videos and images from actual historical events and original research data. This provides greater authenticity and a more engaging learning environment for teachers and students,” Berners-Lee commented.

"Whether it's EPUB content or social marketing and reader engagement, Web technologies are foundational to enabling digital content to be created, distributed globally, and viewed on any Web-enabled device as well as dedicated reading apps and eReader devices," McCoy said.

Combining W3C and IDPF Resources Will Achieve Publishing on the Web Vision

Following the announcement, representatives from W3C and IDPF explained that for three years, members from their respective communities have been collaborating to identify how the publishing industry’s technology and expertise can improve the Web, and how Web technologies can create greater opportunities for the publishing industry.

“I’m enthusiastic about the prospect of joining forces with W3C. The IDPF’s track record of success in developing EPUB standards for the publishing industry will be complemented by W3C’s expertise in Web standards that enable accessible rich media,” said George Kerscher, President of the IDPF.

Dr. Jeff Jaffe, W3C CEO, concurred, “With the full participation of the digital publishing community as well as the core web platform developers we accelerate the development of technology standards. Early Web technologies did not meet the rigorous needs of authors and publishers whose curated content is crafted into books, journals and magazines with enhanced styling.”

Next Steps

The next steps in the process of combining the two organizations include soliciting comments from the respective memberships of W3C and IDPF and drafting a Memorandum of Understanding. Pending support from both memberships, completion of legal review, and the positive resolution of specific details, the goal is to combine the two organizations by January of 2017. The future evolution of EPUB technical standards would continue at W3C, along with broader work to improve publishing features across the entire Open Web Platform.

About the World Wide Web Consortium

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop

Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth and stewardship for the Web. Over 400 organizations are Members of the Consortium.

W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the United States, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France, Keio University in Japan and Beihang University in China. W3C has Offices in Australia; the Benelux countries; Brazil; Finland; France; Germany and Austria; Greece; Hungary; India; Italy; Korea; Morocco; Russia; South Africa; Spain; Sweden; and the United Kingdom and Ireland. For more information see http://www.w3.org/ 

About the International Digital Publishing Forum

The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) is the global trade and standards organization dedicated to the development and promotion of electronic publishing and digital content consumption. IDPF members include publishers, technology firms, other industry associations, and government and educational organizations. IDPF is the developer of the EPUB standard format for interchange and distribution of digital publications. http://idpf.org. An FAQ about the proposed combination targeted for IDPF members is also available.

My conclusion at the last #epubsummit triumph in bordeaux

Source :  very good post http://epubzone.org/news/the-epub-summit-a-triumph-in-bordeaux
We are today 26th of April 2016, and this is funny to read again this conclusion.

"The EPUB Summit was brought to a close by Pierre Danet (Hachette and CEO of EDRLab) and Bill McCoy where a well deserved round of appluase was given for the main organizers of the event: Cyril Labordrie andLaurent Le Meur of EDRLab. Pierre Danet gave us a final thought: The collaboration of W3C, IDPF, EDRLab and many others is cause for us all to have great confidence in the future."

Proud to be #IDPF Board Member : La Solidarité

Reading this.

November 18, 2015

The IDPF condemns the outrageous and tragic attacks in Paris which have taken the lives of at least two members of the French publishing industry. We stand in solidarity with our many friends, colleagues and members in France. Access to information and knowledge is the single most powerful tool available to promote world peace. IDPF supports this wholeheartedly through its mission to increase access to information and content on a global basis by fostering open standards. We can not and will not let terrorism prevent the advancement of global knowledge, peace and prosperity so we will continue to promote these ends as one element of the fight against barbarism. The IDPF grieves for all the victims and we extend our sincere condolences to their families.

Liberté, Interopérabilité, Accessibilité

Comment ne pas mieux résumer que ce succès :

http://idpf.org/news/idpf-to-open-european-headquarters-in-paris

doublé d'un :

http://readium.org/news/readium-foundation-to-open-european-headquarters-in-paris.

L'expression n'est pas de moi, chapeau à son auteur que voici et elle résume bien la vision portée par cette initiative. A ce propos on recherche activement son futur Directeur.

The European Digital Reading Lab looks for its CTO

Please Click Here : http://www.capdigital.com/en/the-european-digital-reading-lab-edrl-is-hiring-his-chief-technology-officer-cto-role-based-in-paris/

Nouveau Board de l'IDPF

Après une période Electorale d'une quinzaine de jours et dans un esprit purement démocratique, l'IDPF a procédé à l'élection de 7 sièges de son Conseil d'Administration.

Voici le Communiqué de Presse d'aujourd'hui :

"

IDPF Members Elect Two New Directors, Return Four Incumbents to Board

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

Member organizations of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) have elected six board members, including two new directors and four re-elected incumbents. New directors include Graham Bell (EDItEUR) and Eoin Noble (Safari Books Online). Incumbent directors re-elected in this cycle include the elected Board President, George Kerscher (DAISY Consortium) as well as Garth Conboy (Google), Pierre Danet (Hachette Livre) and Cristina Mussinelli (Italian Publishers Association). IDPF Board members serve two-year terms, with annual elections for approximately half of the 14-member board. Reflecting the increasing globalization of the IDPF membership and the digital publishing industry, this election marks the first time since the inception of IDPF that a majority of the elected Board members are located outside North America. "

C'est effectivement encore un signe et une preuve que l'IDPF se tourne vers le village global puisque une majorité des membres élus est dorénavant localisée en dehors d'Amérique du Nord. Peut-être un signe historique dans l'évangélisation de l'epub3 ! 

Comme dit sur twitter, je suis très honoré d'avoir été réélu et heureux de continuer à servir au sein de ce Board pour l'interopérabilité et l'universalisme de ce format.