Re: A very important announcement

Vlad,

Congratulations to you.  Your unique contributions, persistence, and 
leadership is a great deal of what brought us to this point today.

Jeff

On 1/26/2022 3:37 PM, Vladimir Levantovsky wrote:
>
> This might be first-ever email announcement that is addressed to both 
> SC29/WG3 Font Format AHG and W3C WebFonts WG, but hey - there's a 
> first time for everything … [they say J]
>
> Dear W3C WebFonts WG and MPEG Font AHG members,
>
> In December 2001, I joined the MPEG community to work on the “Advanced 
> text and graphics” initiative as part of the MPEG-4 family of 
> standards. Soon after, a call for proposals was developed to 
> standardize on font data format and delivery mechanisms, and the ISO 
> font technology standardization was launched opening the door to many 
> activities that followed, including
>
> - the development of dedicated font technology standards as part of 
> MPEG-4 family (ISO/IEC 14496-18 “Font compression and streaming” and 
> ISO/IEC 14496-22 “Open Font Format”);
>
> - extensions of Java ME platform supporting downloadable fonts on 
> mobile / consumer electronic devices;
>
> - new versions of DVB Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) and Globally 
> Executable MHP (GEM / packaged media) specifications to include 
> downloadable font support and advanced text functionality in Digital 
> TV, Open Cable, and Blu-Ray Disks applications, and
>
> - the web font technology standards (WOFF and WOFF2) developed by W3C.
>
> Over the years, these developments have had a profound effect on all 
> consumer electronic devices, digital TV and streaming media 
> applications, and the Web. We developed technology standards that 
> became an indispensable part of the media ecosystem, enabling custom 
> fonts to be used without limitation, allowing authors and application 
> developers to offer branded and accessible content in all world 
> languages and making significant improvements to the quality of the 
> user experience.
>
> Today, I am incredibly proud to report that this important work, 
> conducted by both the ISO SC29/WG3 Font Format AHG and W3C WebFonts 
> WG, has been recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and 
> Sciences with Technology & Engineering Emmy award for “Standardization 
> of Font Technology for Custom Downloadable Fonts and Typography for 
> Web and TV Devices <https://theemmys.tv/tech-73rd-award-recipients/>”.
>
> This tremendous achievement was made possible by your dedication and 
> hard work throughout the years! I am honored to have worked with such 
> a diverse group of talented people who brought their combined 
> expertise in typography, design, linguistics, web & media 
> technologies, and computer science, offering valuable contributions to 
> the standards that changed the way people read on screen and truly 
> made the world a better place.
>
> I also want to thank NATAS for their recognition of our work, and 
> express my gratitude to the many people who supported font 
> standardization activities throughout the years, and to all the folks 
> who realized its importance and advocated for font technology adoption 
> as part of digital TV standards and applications.
>
> Thank you very much for your contributions! Congratulations to you all 
> on your well-deserved Emmy award and recognition of your hard work!
>
> Vladimir
>