RE: Agenda item: EPUB 3 affirmation for the publishing community

I agree. And thanks for saying "EPUB 3." I think it is essential for this message to be about EPUB 3 in general, not EPUB 3.x. I make it a practice always to use the decimal point when I'm talking about a particular rev but no decimal point when I mean any version of EPUB 3, and no number when I mean any version of EPUB. This message needs to be about EPUB 3. Yes, we want folks to stay current (and Tzviya's point about epubcheck for 3.1 is very important) but this message needs to be reassuring that _all those EPUBs already out there in the wild_ are not in danger of imminent extinction. There are millions of them, all over the world, in all kinds of publications. That's very positive and very important. Great suggestion to formally affirm that-particularly because it addresses the suspicion people have that the W3C will neglect EPUB now that they've "swallowed up" IDPF. The truth is just the opposite.

Bill Kasdorf

VP and Principal Consultant | Apex CoVantage

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From: George Kerscher [mailto:kerscher@montana.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2017 9:50 PM
To: Rick Johnson; Paul Belfanti; Cristina Mussinelli
Cc: PBG Steering Committee (Public)
Subject: Agenda item: EPUB 3 affirmation for the publishing community

                Dear Cristina, Rick, and Paul,

I want to suggest a SC agenda item for our next call on May 30. Perhaps this  is best titled "EPUB 3 affirmation for the publishing community."

I have said in presentations that EPUB 3 is a rock solid standard that the publishing community can use with confidence. While EPUB 3.1 is not a formal recommendation by the W3C, it is a standard under the W3C. I would love to see the PBG make a public statement encouraging the use of EPUB 3.x by the publishing community. Of course, we will be hard at work on formal rec track publishing standards, but we have a terrific standard to use now and in to the near future. I believe an affirmation like this would help to move the publishing industry both within the W3C and externally forward. We want to see those that are currently using EPUB to continue and those that are considering adoption to embrace EPUB 3 with confidence.

Best
George

George Kerscher Ph.D.
-In our Information Age, access to information is a fundamental human right.
Chief Innovations Officer, DAISY Consortium
http://www.daisy.org
Senior Advisor, Global Literacy, Benetech
http://www.benetech.org
President, International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)
http://www.idpf.org
Member of the National Museum and Library Services  Board (IMLS)
http://www.imls.gov
Chair Steering Council Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), a division of the W3C
http://www.w3c.org/wai
Phone: +1 406/549-4687
Cell:+1 406/544-2466
Email: kerscher@montana.com<mailto:kerscher@montana.com>