eBook Standards Committee Reviews Draft Specification

by Paul Hilts -- Publishers Weekly, 2/15/1999

The Open eBook Standards Committee met January 28 in San Francisco to review the first draft of a standard file format for electronic book devices, as called for by publishers and manufacturers at the first electronic book conference held last October (News, Oct. 19). The current draft of the standard relies heavily on HTML and XML, languages used to format World Wide Web sites.

The meeting, hosted jointly by eBook manufacturers SoftBook Press and NuvoMedia, also set up a structure for an open-specification review process whereby members of the Open eBook initiative, formed in October, who are not on the authoring committee will be able to comment on the draft specification as it evolves. Victor McCrary, technical manager at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, will be the group facilitator in the review process.

According to an Open eBook spokesperson, anyone who signs an evaluator's agreement, which contains confidentiality provisions, will also be able to see and comment on the specification and to become Initiative members. The official noted that although the term of the agreement is 120 days, the final specification is likely to be published openly before that time; the agreement and its provisions will expire at that time. The next meeting of the group will be at the end of March, to be hosted by R.R. Donnelley in Chicago.

For more information, go to Open eBook's Web site: www/ openebook. org.