RE: late incoming: Publishing@W3C Summit Theme

FYI I am about to split up the wiki into multiple pages so we can iterate on content-related stuff separately from logistics-related stuff and with a bit more visual space. Stay tuned.


BTW one key point that I think may have gotten lost in the shuffle is that even though this is not part of TPAC it should definitely be part of W3C. In other words, I don’t see our job as just to put on the best “publishing technology” or “digital publishing” conference possible in Nov 2017 but also to weave in Web stuff.

 

So to get to Tzivya’s leading question I think that while we could make an event so compelling for any number of reasons that it is one of the 3 (or 1!) that a staffer wants to go to, the low-hanging fruit seems to be to make it compelling because the staffer works on or cares about the Open Web Platform and where’s it’s headed. Because if the W3C/Web tie-in is not a significant motivator for an individual’s prioritization decision it seems much less likely to me that they would prioritize our (first-time) event at the top of their wish list. Even if our program is amazing they may not bother to read about it. Even if they are afraid about the future of the Web – well they should want to come! (I want 5 people from OverDrive to attend!... even if we can’t get them to sponsor… but Fran Toolan is probably a better pattern for that).

 

That doesn’t mean such folks are necessarily good candidates to get involved directly in other mainstream parts of TPAC. Plenty of folks depend instrumentally on Web platform but don’t see themselves as part of the process of *making* Web Standards or even of governing/steering the organization that develops them. You can be a foodie without being a chef. So you can be a hardcore Web person without being  a Web Standards person. But such folks may still want to rub shoulders with the Web Standards developers. Hence my idea to get our attendees included in the Wed evening reception, have them able to browser to the Technology Showcase, etc. 

 

I do think our hardest job is to finesse the future of Web Publications and the current capabilities and adoption of EPUB 3, especially with an audience that combines insiders and outsiders/newcomers to that ecosystem. We want to get people all excited about the future and that will pay dividends too, but at the same time there are lots of folks who could be ready to move from PDF / proprietary solutions to EPUB 3 and if they get the message that W3C is working on new stuff that may materialize in 3 years or so… that would be a downer. If this event were next March we might have enough head of steam up on PWP/EPUB4 that we could be more aggressively promoting it but I’m afraid that only a few months after kickoff future things are more likely to still be a bit vaporous or even contentious. So I would suggest we err on the side of planning more around EPUB 3 (not just for eBooks).

 

--Bill

 

From: Siegman, Tzviya - Hoboken [mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com] 
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2017 9:03 AM
To: Bill McCoy <bmccoy@w3.org>; 'Graham Bell' <graham@editeur.org>
Cc: 'George Kerscher' <kerscher@montana.com>; 'Bill Kasdorf' <bkasdorf@apexcovantage.com>; 'Dave Cramer' <dauwhe@gmail.com>; 'Karen Myers' <karen@w3.org>; 'Luc Audrain' <LAUDRAIN@hachette-livre.fr>; 'McCloy-Kelley, Liisa' <lmccloy-kelley@penguinrandomhouse.com>; 'Paul Belfanti' <Paul.Belfanti@ascendlearning.com>; 'PBG Steering Committee (Public)' <public-publishing-sc@w3.org>
Subject: RE: late incoming: Publishing@W3C Summit Theme

 

Let’s focus on refining the audience profile then and try to figure out what will suit that group. From the wiki [1]:

*        Mid-level technology and business managers plus some hands-on folks. Similar attendee mix to historical IDPF conferences at BEA, EPUB Summit events, former Tools of Change events.

 

I do fit in that descriptions, but I am not necessarily the best example, since I am involved in other aspects of TPAC. Can others chime in? Everyone on this list has been to dozens of conferences over the years. What would make your employees want to attend this conference? When I do budget planning, I request every conference and workshop that I MIGHT want to attend. I am usually told to pick 3 (or whatever the magic number is that season). What will make your employees choose this conference as one of the 3 that fits into the conference budget for 2017? What are the features of the conferences you have most enjoyed? What are the features of the conferences that you spent checking email because they were awful?

 

So far, we seem to be coming together around the following:

* Focus on great plenary sessions (not parallel tracks)
* Put out a call for proposed talks (this will require a tighter theme and volunteers to review submissions) 
* Call for volunteers

 

 

[1] https://www.w3.org/Member/wiki/PubSummit

 

Tzviya Siegman

Information Standards Lead

Wiley

201-748-6884

tsiegman@wiley.com <mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com>  

 

From: Bill McCoy [mailto:bmccoy@w3.org] 
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2017 10:33 AM
To: Siegman, Tzviya - Hoboken; 'Graham Bell'
Cc: 'George Kerscher'; 'Bill Kasdorf'; 'Dave Cramer'; 'Karen Myers'; 'Luc Audrain'; 'McCloy-Kelley, Liisa'; 'Paul Belfanti'; 'PBG Steering Committee (Public)'
Subject: RE: late incoming: Publishing@W3C Summit Theme

 

Hi I just saw this (sorry) and it is relevant to my parenthetical to Graham about “slapped-together” panels (mea culpa, sometimes). I’m not against panels in general but the under-prepped pseudo-panel is one of my major peeves.

 

--Bill


P.S. Tzviya I should also note that IMO to make the Publishing@W3C Summit exciting and interesting to *you* and *Dave*, amidst the rest of TPAC, and even for some others in PBG-SC who may be less deeply engaged in W3C but share our collective publishing conference overdose syndrome, will be a very high bar. I mean if we can do it, great, but some folks in PBG-SC may rather spend some or even most of their time on Thurs/Fri in other TPAC activities and to me that is OK. I am glad we are getting creative in thinking about making the event fun and useful - but I stand by what’s in the wiki about target audience not being exactly the same as TPAC. 

 

From: Siegman, Tzviya - Hoboken [mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com] 
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2017 5:13 AM
To: Graham Bell <graham@editeur.org <mailto:graham@editeur.org> >; Bill McCoy <bmccoy@w3.org <mailto:bmccoy@w3.org> >
Cc: George Kerscher <kerscher@montana.com <mailto:kerscher@montana.com> >; Bill Kasdorf <bkasdorf@apexcovantage.com <mailto:bkasdorf@apexcovantage.com> >; Dave Cramer <dauwhe@gmail.com <mailto:dauwhe@gmail.com> >; Karen Myers <karen@w3.org <mailto:karen@w3.org> >; Luc Audrain <LAUDRAIN@hachette-livre.fr <mailto:LAUDRAIN@hachette-livre.fr> >; McCloy-Kelley, Liisa <lmccloy-kelley@penguinrandomhouse.com <mailto:lmccloy-kelley@penguinrandomhouse.com> >; Paul Belfanti <Paul.Belfanti@ascendlearning.com <mailto:Paul.Belfanti@ascendlearning.com> >; PBG Steering Committee (Public) <public-publishing-sc@w3.org <mailto:public-publishing-sc@w3.org> >
Subject: RE: late incoming: Publishing@W3C Summit Theme

 

I’ll add also that I think most people prefer workshops or presentations to panels. Unless the panel puts a lot of time into preparing, it is not likely to be anything more than a conversation in front of an audience. I have been on panels, and I have observed panels.  No one wants to hear me talk about how great EPUB is or why they should join W3C again. They want me to talk about integrating Vivliostyle into Wiley’s journal workflow, what Wiley is doing to meet the University of Phoenix requirements that George just forwarded, and how I deliver one EPUB to all 50+ retailers with whom we work. 

 

Tzviya Siegman

Information Standards Lead

Wiley

201-748-6884

tsiegman@wiley.com <mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com>  

 

From: Graham Bell [mailto:graham@editeur.org] 
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2017 8:00 AM
To: Siegman, Tzviya - Hoboken; Bill McCoy
Cc: George Kerscher; Bill Kasdorf; Dave Cramer; Karen Myers; Luc Audrain; McCloy-Kelley, Liisa; Paul Belfanti; PBG Steering Committee (Public)
Subject: Re: late incoming: Publishing@W3C Summit Theme

 

Chiming in because at EDItEUR, we run a mini-conference during the Frankfurt Book Fair.  I’m also not a huge fan of multi-track, particularly at the scale we’re talking about – obviously it’s different if there are 1000 attendees. But part of a small conference is the ‘shared experience’ and community building, and that disappears if everyone hears a different selection of presentations. And it tends to dissipate any sense of  thematic coherence, even if each ‘track’ appears coherent in isolation.

 

G

 

Graham Bell

EDItEUR

 

On 12 May 2017, at 12:43, Siegman, Tzviya - Hoboken <tsiegman@wiley.com <mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com> > wrote:

 

Hi All,

 

I think we are reaching consensus around the idea of a focused theme. We have about 2 days to clean up the wiki and get the word out. We are good at work under pressure :)

 

BillK, I hope you’re feeling better soon.

 

BillM, I had a similar idea, but I didn’t suggest it because I thought it was a little wacky. I’m so glad we agree! I spoke about a similar theme at BiB a few years ago (“The Inadvertent Accessible Content Architect”).

 

Accessibility, how to do it, why it matters, and how it makes everything better was a huge them at ebookcraft in March. You can watch the videos at [1].

 

As far as parallel tracks vs plenary – maybe we should just stick with plenary? Parallel tracks is basically planning two (or more) conferences simultaneously. We have been saying that business, tech, etc are merging.  Can we go in with the assumption that people might just be interested in hearing what topics that are slightly beyond their comfort zones have to say? Is the concern that we will be flooded with speakers and be forced into parallel tracks? I will give up my spot to a new speaker, happily. If a topic doesn’t interest someone, s/he will cut out and use the time to network. We want that to happen anyway.

 

[1]  <https://booknetcanada.wistia.com/projects/rdm09rsvvx> https://booknetcanada.wistia.com/projects/rdm09rsvvx (also catch Dave’s talk about DRM, which is facts, not politics. Should be required viewing for anyone making decisions about DRM.)

 

 

 

Tzviya Siegman

Information Standards Lead

Wiley

201-748-6884

tsiegman@wiley.com <mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com> 

 

From: Bill McCoy [ <mailto:bmccoy@w3.org> mailto:bmccoy@w3.org] 
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2017 7:21 PM
To: 'George Kerscher'; 'Bill Kasdorf'; Siegman, Tzviya - Hoboken; 'Dave Cramer'
Cc: 'Karen Myers'; 'AUDRAIN LUC'; 'McCloy-Kelley, Liisa'; 'Paul Belfanti'; 'PBG Steering Committee (Public)'
Subject: RE: late incoming: Publishing@W3C Summit Theme

 

HI BIllK and George,

 

BillK thanks and I hope you get well and well caught up by next week!

 

George, personally I think it’s critical that we make a11y a focus for this event. It is one of the key things that already unites EPUB 3 and the rest of the Open Web Platform and to the extent that I see the real underlying theme for the broadest audience as “Beyond PDF”, a11y in the broadest sense (including optimized reading on mobile devices) is a primary driver for the need to go beyond PDF and the paper-replica model for representing content.

 

This does lead me to a crazy idea about a potential theme. I have always thought of a11y as the mine canary for all kinds of  machine processing, because well-structured content with metadata is much easier to reliably analyze, summarize, etc. I even once gave a Books in Browser talk suggesting we were creating content for machines to read, not humans and arguing that this was a good thing not an Orwellian disaster (despite what Jaron Lanier thinks). Of course the Web also makes Big Data practical and available to all (Ok Google). But this was all well before the current boom in AI. We could have a theme about AI and the future of documents/publications and weave in a11y to that as well as the imperative to move beyond PDF to OWP since it will facilitate content that can be processed reliably and at Web scale and with granularity (vs. PDF, “ the roach motel for data” [1]). And  I know some folks in our world such as Liza Daly have gotten into AI lately. Just an idea…

 

--BillM

 

[1]  <http://www.techradar.com/news/software/pdf-is-where-documents-go-to-die-says-microsoft-exec-1089202> http://www.techradar.com/news/software/pdf-is-where-documents-go-to-die-says-microsoft-exec-1089202

 

From: George Kerscher [ <mailto:kerscher@montana.com> mailto:kerscher@montana.com] 
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2017 2:26 PM
To: 'Bill Kasdorf' < <mailto:bkasdorf@apexcovantage.com> bkasdorf@apexcovantage.com>; 'Siegman, Tzviya - Hoboken' < <mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com> tsiegman@wiley.com>; 'Bill McCoy' < <mailto:bmccoy@w3.org> bmccoy@w3.org>; 'Dave Cramer' < <mailto:dauwhe@gmail.com> dauwhe@gmail.com>
Cc: 'Karen Myers' < <mailto:karen@w3.org> karen@w3.org>; 'AUDRAIN LUC' < <mailto:LAUDRAIN@hachette-livre.fr> LAUDRAIN@hachette-livre.fr>; 'McCloy-Kelley, Liisa' < <mailto:lmccloy-kelley@penguinrandomhouse.com> lmccloy-kelley@penguinrandomhouse.com>; 'Paul Belfanti' < <mailto:Paul.Belfanti@ascendlearning.com> Paul.Belfanti@ascendlearning.com>; 'PBG Steering Committee (Public)' < <mailto:public-publishing-sc@w3.org> public-publishing-sc@w3.org>
Subject: RE: late incoming: Publishing@W3C Summit Theme

 

Hi,

 

I too have been following it all. I alerted the WAI chairs to the coming event. Bill, you will probably be in touch with Judy.

 

/George

 

 

 

From: Bill Kasdorf [ <mailto:bkasdorf@apexcovantage.com> mailto:bkasdorf@apexcovantage.com] 
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2017 3:08 PM
To: Siegman, Tzviya - Hoboken < <mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com> tsiegman@wiley.com>; Bill McCoy < <mailto:bmccoy@w3.org> bmccoy@w3.org>; 'Dave Cramer' < <mailto:dauwhe@gmail.com> dauwhe@gmail.com>
Cc: 'Karen Myers' < <mailto:karen@w3.org> karen@w3.org>; 'AUDRAIN LUC' < <mailto:LAUDRAIN@hachette-livre.fr> LAUDRAIN@hachette-livre.fr>; 'McCloy-Kelley, Liisa' < <mailto:lmccloy-kelley@penguinrandomhouse.com> lmccloy-kelley@penguinrandomhouse.com>; 'Paul Belfanti' < <mailto:Paul.Belfanti@ascendlearning.com> Paul.Belfanti@ascendlearning.com>; 'PBG Steering Committee (Public)' < <mailto:public-publishing-sc@w3.org> public-publishing-sc@w3.org>
Subject: RE: late incoming: Publishing@W3C Summit Theme

 

Hi, folks—

 

I am even later to this discussion. I’ve been ill the last couple of weeks and struggling to recover (including from a sinus infection) before I get on a plane to London tomorrow. So I have only been able to do what was urgently necessary. I’m even giving a keynote presentation next Wednesday that I’ve hardly begun to prepare. So needless to say, I’ve had to defer looking at this lively thread since it started. (Not to mention hundreds of other emails.)

 

I have not looked at any of these, but before I leave for London I needed to make sure you didn’t interpret my silence as lack of interest. I don’t want to comment until I’m up to speed with where you’ve been going. Which I’m really sorry about, because as you know I love programming stuff like this and will be very happy to be involved. If there’s something you really need me to look at or weigh in on in the next week please let me know with a “BillK” or something in the subject line so I will respond right away. Otherwise, I will try to catch up on these and many others as I can, but I will be busy with IPTC meetings in London (including BBC) much of the time there.

 

I should be able to get well caught up the week of the 22nd, but I didn’t want to wait that long to at least touch base. I look forward to joining this discussion when I can. Thanks!

 

--Bill

 


Bill Kasdorf


VP and Principal Consultant | Apex CoVantage


p:

734-904-6252  m:   734-904-6252

ISNI: http://isni.org/isni/0000000116490786

ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7002-4786 <https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7002-4786?lang=en> 

 

 

From: Siegman, Tzviya - Hoboken [ <mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com> mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com] 
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2017 4:25 PM
To: Bill McCoy; 'Dave Cramer'
Cc: 'Karen Myers'; 'AUDRAIN LUC'; 'McCloy-Kelley, Liisa'; 'Paul Belfanti'; Bill Kasdorf; 'PBG Steering Committee (Public)'
Subject: RE: late incoming: Publishing@W3C Summit Theme

 

Hi Bill,

 

Apologies for coming late to the game. I love Dave’s idea of reaching out to our proposed audience to ask them what they want to hear. People who are included in the planning are a lot more likely to come and thus more likely to participate. I understand the time constraints though. I am also aware that the conferences we’ve discussed have had full-time staff and larger budgets. We are offering some of our time and experience.  

 

I do think it’s a good idea to focus the meeting. When I’m asked to speak, and the topic is “ebooks”, I don’t know where to start. If I am given a specific topic, I can usually come up with a good proposal. Here are a few ideas:

 

* Decentralizing publishing – working within and without the giants of digital publishing (renaming Dave’s David and Goliath)
* The making of a standard and why it matters to publishing (EPUB, (P)WP, ISO)
* OpenSource me – is OS relevant to your work? What does it mean to be opensource? Is that different from Open Standards (a personal favorite of mine, given some of the work I’ve been doing at Wiley).

Should I put these ideas on the wiki?

 

Best,

Tzviya

 

Tzviya Siegman

Information Standards Lead

Wiley

201-748-6884

tsiegman@wiley.com <mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com> 

 

From: Bill McCoy [ <mailto:bmccoy@w3.org> mailto:bmccoy@w3.org] 
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2017 3:58 PM
To: 'Dave Cramer'; Siegman, Tzviya - Hoboken
Cc: 'Karen Myers'; 'AUDRAIN LUC'; 'McCloy-Kelley, Liisa'; 'Paul Belfanti'; 'Bill Kasdorf'; 'PBG Steering Committee (Public)'
Subject: RE: late incoming: Publishing@W3C Summit Theme

 

I should also add that if your issue is really that you think we need a significantly narrower/topical focus for theme than anything that’s been proposed so far, that is something the PBG SC can certainly discuss. That was not the direction we came to in March but IMO there is time to narrow focus if that is what is desired and assuming we think a tighter focus will better achieve our goals. But we would need to agree on a more specific focus ASAP (within 1-2 weeks).

 

--Bill

 

From: Bill McCoy [ <mailto:bmccoy@w3.org> mailto:bmccoy@w3.org] 
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2017 12:51 PM
To: 'Dave Cramer' < <mailto:dauwhe@gmail.com> dauwhe@gmail.com>; 'Siegman, Tzviya - Hoboken' < <mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com> tsiegman@wiley.com>
Cc: 'Karen Myers' < <mailto:karen@w3.org> karen@w3.org>; 'AUDRAIN LUC' < <mailto:LAUDRAIN@hachette-livre.fr> LAUDRAIN@hachette-livre.fr>; 'McCloy-Kelley, Liisa' < <mailto:lmccloy-kelley@penguinrandomhouse.com> lmccloy-kelley@penguinrandomhouse.com>; 'Paul Belfanti' < <mailto:Paul.Belfanti@ascendlearning.com> Paul.Belfanti@ascendlearning.com>; 'Bill Kasdorf' < <mailto:bkasdorf@apexcovantage.com> bkasdorf@apexcovantage.com>; 'PBG Steering Committee (Public)' < <mailto:public-publishing-sc@w3.org> public-publishing-sc@w3.org>
Subject: RE: late incoming: Publishing@W3C Summit Theme

 

HI Dave, well we’ve had a draft theme statement for many weeks and now we have an improved one. If we want to start over from scratch with an appeal to the public to help us devise a theme we can do it. But IMO the PBG SC should have decided to do that in March in London. At this late date, with need to announce that an event is happening and open it for registration by June 12, I think with your and Tzivya’s fresh thinking we should instead improve (/redo) the theme we already have been working on and move on to get the event announced and start working on program. I do think a public call for proposals does make sense.

 

--Bill

 

From: Dave Cramer [ <mailto:dauwhe@gmail.com> mailto:dauwhe@gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2017 12:37 PM
To: Siegman, Tzviya - Hoboken < <mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com> tsiegman@wiley.com>
Cc: Bill McCoy < <mailto:bmccoy@w3.org> bmccoy@w3.org>; Karen Myers < <mailto:karen@w3.org> karen@w3.org>; AUDRAIN LUC < <mailto:LAUDRAIN@hachette-livre.fr> LAUDRAIN@hachette-livre.fr>; McCloy-Kelley, Liisa < <mailto:lmccloy-kelley@penguinrandomhouse.com> lmccloy-kelley@penguinrandomhouse.com>; Paul Belfanti < <mailto:Paul.Belfanti@ascendlearning.com> Paul.Belfanti@ascendlearning.com>; Bill Kasdorf < <mailto:bkasdorf@apexcovantage.com> bkasdorf@apexcovantage.com>; PBG Steering Committee (Public) < <mailto:public-publishing-sc@w3.org> public-publishing-sc@w3.org>
Subject: Re: late incoming: Publishing@W3C Summit Theme

 

Publishing@W3C is new. We have been blessed with a fresh start. In the spirit of W3C, let's get the community involved in planning the conference. 

 

First, we need a theme, a topic, something more than "this is a digital publishing conference, y'all are interested in digital publishing, you should come." Heck, we could ask  Twitter (and BISG, and existing WG/CG/IGs) what people loved or hated about IDPF/BEA, and what they'd like to see from a P@W3 Summit. We could each send emails to our colleagues asking such questions. How do we find out what would bring Peter or Rena to California? Ask them!

 

Once we have a theme, let's put out a call for proposals. I'd love to see speakers and panelists I haven't heard before, but just asking the people we already know is guaranteed to result in the usual suspects. This way we get volunteers rather than draftees, and the level of response will give us some information on how much enthusiasm is out there for such a conference.

 

Dave