Re: ISO/IEC standardization of EPUB: Procedure

I would like to comment only on EPUB accessibility specification, as ISO work for EPUB 3.1 is an issue to be discussed by the implementers.
Our recommendation of moving EPUB accessibility specification forward in CG was based onISO standardization because a document developed by CG is not valued as much as the Rec Track deliverables. And accessibility documents need to have higher weight due to various reasons like legal mandates. ISO standardization will provide the required weight to EPUB accessibility specifications. 
With regards
Avneesh
From: MURATA Makoto 
Sent: Tuesday, May 9, 2017 15:45
To: W3C Publishing Business Group 
Subject: Re: ISO/IEC standardization of EPUB: Procedure

Bill, 

I do not support the revision of TS for 3.1.  I do not support
the upgrade of TS to IS for 3.1 either.  But I am very interested 
in creating an ISO/IEC Technical Specification for EPUB 
Accessibility 1.1.  This work should not take much time but it 
provides real benefits, since EPUB Accessibility 1.1 at W3C 
is neither a recommendation nor a .note but is merely a 
CG report (thanks, Ivan).

Regards,
Makoto
- 

2017-05-09 9:47 GMT+09:00 Bill McCoy <bmccoy@w3.org>:

  Dear Makoto, thank you very much for the detailed information.


  So for PBG folks, my take is the following



    1.. While it would be possible in principle to work with S. Korea to upgrade EPUB 3 from TS (Technical Specification) to IS (International Standard), and in the process could upgrade from 3.0 to 3.1, this would be considerable work and presents some obstacles since some of the dependent W3C specifications normatively referenced by EPUB 3.1 and earlier revisions are not themselves final Recommendations but only Candidates Recommendations or even Working Drafts. With everything else we have on our collective plate I can’t recommend that we pursue it at this time. 


    2.. As Makoto points out it would be possible to work with S. Korea and SC34 to upgrade the current EPUB 3.0 TS to 3.1 but not through “fast track” but the normal procedure. I don’t know that this would significantly change the effort required for this , mainly to process incoming errata reports, even if the only result is that for “righteous” errata we commit to addressing in a future revision (as IDPF agreed to do for 3.0, and did so in 3.0.1) but it would certainly increase the risk that it would not be successful due to objections and would probably be at least somewhat more hassle overall. I think PBG members should consider, and opine about if not in tomorrow’s call then in the near future, how significant they see the benefits of such an upgrade in terms of for example supporting accessibility mandates specifying EPUB 3. I have not heard anything specific about this and perhaps it could be ‘good enough” for a11y mandates that need an ISO reference to specify TS 30135 with a note, as appropriate, recommending use of EPUB 3.1 as the current version. I don’t think we should necessarily forbid use of EPUB 3.0 particularly as the modular EPUB Accessibility specification element of EPUB 3.1 was designed to apply to EPUB 3.0 as well later (and hopefully future) revisions. But that is just my opinion. If PBG thinks it Is a high priority we could then discuss further with EPUB 3 CG and other stakeholders. But if PbG doesn’t think it is a high priority we probably should table it for now (which might mean forever as far as EPUB 3 family is concerned, although a future EPUB 4 that is a W3C Recommendation could use the W3C PAS process to become a full IS).


  --Bill



  From: eb2mmrt@gmail.com [mailto:eb2mmrt@gmail.com] On Behalf Of MURATA Makoto
  Sent: Sunday, May 7, 2017 8:31 PM
  To: public-publishingbg@w3.org
  Subject: ISO/IEC standardization of EPUB: Procedure



  Dear colleagues,



  I plan to send a sequence of e-mails about this topic.  This first

  e-mail is about procedures.  The ISO/IEC JTC1 SC34 secretariat

  checked the content of this e-mail.



  1) ISO/IEC TS 30135



  The combination of EPUB 3.0 and FXL has been published as

  ISO/IEC Technical Specification 30135-1 to -7.  They were

  submitted by Korea as Draft Technical Specifications using

  the fast-track procedure.



  2) Fast-track procedure



  Member bodies (including Korea) are able to submit their national

  standards as draft international standards (DISs).  Fast-tracked DISs

  are voted only once for acceptance as International Standards.



  It is not impossible for Korea to adopt EPUB 3.0.1 or 3.1 as national

  standards and then submit it as a Draft International Standards.



  Member bodies were allowed to submit Draft Technical Specifications,

  but they are no longer allowed to so due to recent changes to ISO/IEC

  directives.  Thus, Korea cannot submit EPUB 3.0.1 or 3.1 as Draft

  Technical Specifications.



  3) PAS procedure



  PAS submitters (including W3C) are able to submit recommendations as

  draft international standards (DISs).  PAS-submitted DISs are voted

  only once for acceptance as International Standards.  No existing

  versions of EPUB are W3C recommendations.  Thus, W3C is

  not allowed to submit EPUB3 as draft international standards.



  There has been no PAS process for draft technical specifications.

  Thus, W3C is not allowed to submit EPUB3 as draft technical

  specifications.



  4) Normal procedure



  It is possible to use the normal process for revising ISO/IEC 30135 in

  sync with EPUB 3.0.1 or 3.1.  ODF 1.1 (OASIS standard) was standardized

  in ISO/IEC SC34/WG6 in this manner.  Associating Schemas with XML

  documents 1.0 (W3C Working Group Note) was also standardized in

  ISO/IEC SC34/WG1 in this manner.  Although the normal procedure 

  requires more than one ballot, it is not so slow as long as no

  oppositions are supported by other member bodies.



  https://www.w3.org/TR/2011/NOTE-xml-model-20110811/



  What is more, SC34 has already made a resolution for using the normal

  procedure for revising ISO/IEC TS 30135.



    Resolution 9: Revision of ISO/IEC TS 30135: 2014, Information technology -- Digital

    publishing -- EPUB3 (all parts)



    SC 34 creates sub-projects for a revision of TS 30135 (all parts) and

    assigns them to JWG 7 for development. The revision is to address the

    latest EPUB3 revision (3.0.1), in which parts 2 and 7 are merged. SC

    34 instructs its Secretariat to take the necessary action to obtain

    JTC 1 endorsement in accordance with JTC 1 Supplement 2.1.5.4.



  5) Superseding



  No matter which process is used for standardizing EPUB 3.0.1 or 3.1 in

  ISO/IEC, the current version, ISO/IEC 30135:2014 (EPUB 3.0 and FXL),

  will disappear from the ISO/IEC catalog.



  It is not completely impossible to have more than one editions in the

  ISO/IEC catalog.  In fact, ODF 1.0 (including 1.1) and 1.2 are both

  in the catalog as ISO/IEC 26300:2006 and ISO/IEC 26300:2015.  But

  this is a special case.  In the case of OOXML (ISO/IEC 29500), only

  the latest edition is in the catalog.  Since EPUB 3.0 is an ISO/IEC



  Technical Specification rather than an International Standard, I think

  that there are slim chances.





  Regards,



  ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34/WG4 Convenor

  Head of Delegation of the Japanese SC34 mirror 
  Makoto 





-- 


Praying for the victims of the Japan Tohoku earthquake

Makoto