Issues for Consideration:
Standardization
In the mass-market section, we touched briefly on standardization issues. Variations in software formats, support platforms, and individual design/architecture make it difficult to create, understand, share, and preserve electronic books. The development and adoption of industry standards is seen by many as the solution to these problems. The Open eBook Forum (OEBF), an association of hardware and software companies, publishers, authors and users of electronic books, have come together in order to establish such standards. Their goals are to:
• Develop, publish, and maintain common specifications relating to electronic books.
• Promote the successful adoption of these specifications.
• Identify, evaluate and recommend standards created by other bodies related to electronic books.
• Encourage interoperable implementations of electronic book related systems and provide a forum for resolution of interoperability issues.
• Accommodate differences in language, culture, reading and learning styles, and individual abilities.
However, in spite of efforts like OeBF, the electronic book does not appear to be any closer to a standard format than it was five years ago. This makes me wonder if standardization is the right goal to strive for in a medium that is constantly changing. My hunch is that open source software, social software and other innovations will be absorbed into ebook formats in a highly individual manner. Rather than moving toward standardization, we seem to be moving in the opposite direction, toward diversity. Toward flexibility that allows for the customization of each and every book. I would also like to suggest that the lack of a standard form for the electronic book equivalent might actually be its strength. A networked, sharable, multi-modal, co-authored, "book" created with customized open source software may be the best medium for self-expression and communication in the rapidly changing era of networked digital technology.
• Develop, publish, and maintain common specifications relating to electronic books.
• Promote the successful adoption of these specifications.
• Identify, evaluate and recommend standards created by other bodies related to electronic books.
• Encourage interoperable implementations of electronic book related systems and provide a forum for resolution of interoperability issues.
• Accommodate differences in language, culture, reading and learning styles, and individual abilities.
However, in spite of efforts like OeBF, the electronic book does not appear to be any closer to a standard format than it was five years ago. This makes me wonder if standardization is the right goal to strive for in a medium that is constantly changing. My hunch is that open source software, social software and other innovations will be absorbed into ebook formats in a highly individual manner. Rather than moving toward standardization, we seem to be moving in the opposite direction, toward diversity. Toward flexibility that allows for the customization of each and every book. I would also like to suggest that the lack of a standard form for the electronic book equivalent might actually be its strength. A networked, sharable, multi-modal, co-authored, "book" created with customized open source software may be the best medium for self-expression and communication in the rapidly changing era of networked digital technology.
posted by sat at 10:28 AM
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