RE: [MPEG-OTSPEC] A very important announcement

Congratulations to the group and a special thanks to Vladimir for leading the MPEG Open Font Format activity for the past 20 years!

Best regards,

Gary Sullivan
Chair, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29

From: mpeg-otspec <mpeg-otspec-bounces@lists.aau.at> On Behalf Of Vladimir Levantovsky
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2022 12:38 PM
To: mpeg-otspec@lists.aau.at; 'Web Fonts Working Group' <public-webfonts-wg@w3.org>
Cc: jeff@w3.org; karen@w3.org; 'young.L' <young.L@samsung.com>; Philippe Le Hégaret <plh@w3.org>; joern.ostermann@ieee.org
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [MPEG-OTSPEC] A very important announcement

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 :)]

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://nam06..safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheemmys.tv%2Ftech-73rd-award-recipients%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cgarysull%40microsoft.com%7C98928f37a0fe43cba7ca08d9e10bc046%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C637788262878039271%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=Bd3Sky38S5FaReFEJ80C75LFDsjDZSWD0XFIG0UTyPQ%3D&reserved=0>".

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