W3C and IDPF Announce Exploration to Combine Organizations at DigiCon event in Chicago

Dear Media, Analysts and Friends of W3C,

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) announced today mutual interest in combining their respective organizations to more quickly advance publishing technologies on the Open Web Platform. 

Tim Berners-Lee, Web Inventor and W3C Director, and Bill McCoy, IDPF Executive Director unveiled the plans following Berners-Lee's keynote address at IDPF DigiCon at Book Expo America 2016 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

W3C has issued a press release:
https://www.w3.org/2016/05/digpub.html.en

Text version below.

For media, please direct inquiries for interviews to Karen Myers, W3C or Sarah Hilderley, IDPF. 

Best regards,

Karen Myers
W3C Communications 
Office: 1.617.253.5509
Mobile: 1.978.502.6218

Sarah Hilderley, IDPF Director of Communications
  <[presscontact@idpf.org>

======

 World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and International Digital Publishing
                Forum (IDPF) Explore Plans to Combine

Web Inventor and W3C Director Tim Berners-Lee shares vision of
Publishing on the Web in his keynote address at IDPF DigiCon at BEA 2016
    __________________________________________________________

  [3]Translations | [4]FAQ | [5]W3C Press Release Archive
    __________________________________________________________

     [3] https://www.w3.org/Press/Releases-2016#digpub
     [4] https://www.w3.org/2016/05/digpub-faq.html
     [5] https://www.w3.org/Press/

  Photo of Jeff Jaffe, W3C CEO; Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director;
  George Kerscher, IDPF President; Bill McCoy, IDPF Executive
  Director, at DigiCon May 10, 2016
  Jeff Jaffe, W3C CEO; Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director; George
  Kerscher, IDPF President; Bill McCoy, IDPF Executive Director,
  at DigiCon May 10, 2016

  [6]https://www.w3.org/ — 10 May, Chicago, IL, USA —The World
  Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the International Digital
  Publishing Forum (IDPF) announced today mutual interest in
  combining their respective organizations to more quickly
  advance publishing technologies on the Open Web Platform.

     [6] https://www.w3.org/

  Tim Berners-Lee, Web Inventor and W3C Director, and Bill McCoy,
  IDPF Executive Director unveiled the plans following
  Berners-Lee's keynote address at IDPF DigiCon at Book Expo
  America 2016 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

  "We share an exciting vision for W3C and IDPF to fully align
  the publishing industry and core Web technology. This will
  create a rich media environment for digital publishing that
  opens up new possibilities for readers, authors, and
  publishers," said Berners-Lee.

  "Think about educational text books. The book content we know
  today is becoming highly interactive and accessible with links
  to videos and images from actual historical events and original
  research data.  This provides greater authenticity and a more
  engaging learning environment for teachers and students,"
  Berners-Lee commented.

  "Whether it's EPUB content or social marketing and reader
  engagement, Web technologies are foundational to enabling
  digital content to be created, distributed globally, and viewed
  on any Web-enabled device as well as dedicated reading apps and
  eReader devices," McCoy said.

 Combining W3C and IDPF Resources Will Achieve Publishing on the Web
 Vision

  Following the announcement, representatives from W3C and IDPF
  explained that for three years, members from their respective
  communities have been collaborating to identify how the
  publishing industry’s technology and expertise can improve the
  Web, and how Web technologies can create greater opportunities
  for the publishing industry.

  "I’m enthusiastic about the prospect of joining forces with
  W3C.  The IDPF’s track record of success in developing EPUB
  standards for the publishing industry will be complemented by
  W3C’s expertise in Web standards that enable accessible rich
  media," said George Kerscher, President of the IDPF.

  Dr. Jeff Jaffe, W3C CEO, concurred, "With the full
  participation of the digital publishing community as well as
  the core web platform developers we accelerate the development
  of technology standards.  Early Web technologies did not meet
  the rigorous needs of authors and publishers whose curated
  content is crafted into books, journals and magazines with
  enhanced styling."

 Next Steps

  The next steps in the process of combining the two
  organizations include soliciting comments from the respective
  memberships of W3C and IDPF and drafting a Memorandum of
  Understanding. Pending support from both memberships,
  completion of legal review, and the positive resolution of
  specific details, the goal is to combine the two organizations
  by January of 2017. The future evolution of EPUB technical
  standards would continue at W3C, along with broader work to
  improve publishing features across the entire Open Web
  Platform.

About the World Wide Web Consortium

  The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international
  consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and
  the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C
  primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web
  standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth
  and stewardship for the Web. Over 400 organizations are
  [7]Members of the Consortium.

     [7] https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Member/List

  W3C is jointly run by the [8]MIT Computer Science and
  Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the United
  States, the [9]European Research Consortium for Informatics and
  Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France, [10]Keio
  University in Japan and [11]Beihang University in China. W3C
  has Offices in Australia; the Benelux countries; Brazil;
  Finland; France; Germany and Austria; Greece; Hungary; India;
  Italy; Korea; Morocco; Russia; South Africa; Spain; Sweden; and
  the United Kingdom and Ireland. For more information see
  [12]https://www.w3.org/

     [8] http://www.csail.mit.edu/
     [9] http://www.ercim.eu/
    [10] http://www.keio.ac.jp/
    [11] http://ev.buaa.edu.cn/
    [12] https://www.w3.org/

About the International Digital Publishing Forum

  The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) is the global
  trade and standards organization dedicated to the development
  and promotion of electronic publishing and digital content
  consumption. IDPF members include publishers, technology firms,
  other industry associations, and government and educational
  organizations. IDPF is the developer of the EPUB standard
  format for interchange and distribution of digital
  publications. [13]http://idpf.org

    [13] http://idpf.org/

  End Press Release

Media Contact

  Karen Myers, W3C <[14]w3t-pr@w3.org>
  Mobile: 1.978.502.6218

    [14] mailto:w3t-pr@w3.org

  Sarah Hilderley, IDPF Director of Communications
  <[15]presscontact@idpf.org>