What is EPUB? Short for electronic publications, this freely available eBook format allows digital publications such as eBooks to be opened and viewed on a wide range of devices such as tablets, laptops and of course, a variety of eReaders. EPUB2 was adopted as the standardized format for electronic publications by the IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum) in 2007 and has since been update and improved to the current EPUB 3.0.1, which surfaced earlier this year.
The key of EBUP is to create a single, reflowable digital publication that users can distribute and access on a range of different hardware and software (idpf.org, 2014).
EPUB 3 has been able to combine four different open standards set by the IDPF that work independently on the publication, to bring together a set format; those standards being:
This interactive platform that EPUB 3 incorporates into electronic publications, has been greatly adopted by many educational publishers as it provides an excellent way of making interactive textbooks that students can benefit from. As well as educational purposes, EPUB 3 is built of an HTML 5 platform that allows publishers to incorporate JavaScript into their book (Garrish, 2011). This added feature opens up many opportunities for both users and the publishers themselves.
First and foremost is the access that publishers will be able to obtain from their eReader users such as reading habits and what they read. Being able to access what users are reading, publishers can advertise similar books to users and continue by adding in an interactive link that takes users directly to purchase. Publishers will be able to learn the reading patterns of users by understanding what publications the user reads and searches.
These great features that increase more user-publishers interactivity brings into question the security issues that are faced by the users due to publishers having direct access to eReader information. However, information that is remotely accessed by publishers on users devices, is not usually information that infringes the privacy of users. The information that is gathered is used to enrich and enhance the individual eReading experience (Greenfield, 2012).
EPUB3 is a great step for publishers in the direction of digital publishing and the synchronisation of formats like EBUP3 and the modern web platforms allows publishers many options as to what comes next in the digital market. This format has allowed publishing companies to integrate more smoothly into the digital world and is slowly bringing down the opposition of traditional publishing houses towards the fast coming digital transformation.
Word Count: 469
Bibliography
Garrish, M. (2011). What is EPUB 3?. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly.
Greenfield, J. (2012). How Publishers Should Prepare for EPUB 3 | Digital Book World. [online] Digitalbookworld.com. Available at: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/how-publishers-should-prepare-for-epub-3/ [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014].
Idpf.org, (2014). EPUB. [online] Available at: http://idpf.org/epub [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014].
The key of EBUP is to create a single, reflowable digital publication that users can distribute and access on a range of different hardware and software (idpf.org, 2014).
EPUB 3 has been able to combine four different open standards set by the IDPF that work independently on the publication, to bring together a set format; those standards being:
- EPUB Publications 3.0 – data integration, structure and meaning of information as well as conformance requirements
- EPUB Content Documents 3.0 – the use of XHTML, SVG & CSS to fit into EPUB publications.
- EPUB Open Container Format (OCF) 3.0 – creating one singular file/container for all different components.
- EPUB Media Overlays 3.0 – synchronising text and audio.
This interactive platform that EPUB 3 incorporates into electronic publications, has been greatly adopted by many educational publishers as it provides an excellent way of making interactive textbooks that students can benefit from. As well as educational purposes, EPUB 3 is built of an HTML 5 platform that allows publishers to incorporate JavaScript into their book (Garrish, 2011). This added feature opens up many opportunities for both users and the publishers themselves.
First and foremost is the access that publishers will be able to obtain from their eReader users such as reading habits and what they read. Being able to access what users are reading, publishers can advertise similar books to users and continue by adding in an interactive link that takes users directly to purchase. Publishers will be able to learn the reading patterns of users by understanding what publications the user reads and searches.
These great features that increase more user-publishers interactivity brings into question the security issues that are faced by the users due to publishers having direct access to eReader information. However, information that is remotely accessed by publishers on users devices, is not usually information that infringes the privacy of users. The information that is gathered is used to enrich and enhance the individual eReading experience (Greenfield, 2012).
EPUB3 is a great step for publishers in the direction of digital publishing and the synchronisation of formats like EBUP3 and the modern web platforms allows publishers many options as to what comes next in the digital market. This format has allowed publishing companies to integrate more smoothly into the digital world and is slowly bringing down the opposition of traditional publishing houses towards the fast coming digital transformation.
Word Count: 469
Bibliography
Garrish, M. (2011). What is EPUB 3?. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly.
Greenfield, J. (2012). How Publishers Should Prepare for EPUB 3 | Digital Book World. [online] Digitalbookworld.com. Available at: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/how-publishers-should-prepare-for-epub-3/ [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014].
Idpf.org, (2014). EPUB. [online] Available at: http://idpf.org/epub [Accessed 25 Oct. 2014].