From the web site http://www.prodworks.com
Press Release
International Companies Announce Support for the Open eBook
Standard
Last Updated: March 30, 1999
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March 30, 1999 - Trenton, NJ. Today The Productivity Works of
Trenton, New Jersey, USA, Labyrinten Data AB, of Sweden, and
VisuAide of Quebec, Canada, announced support in their products
for the Open eBook standard as expressed in the Open eBook
specification.
A key element of the Open eBook Initiative has been the
specification for eBook file and format structure based on HTML
and XML, the languages used to format information for Web sites.
The goal of the specification is to quickly create a critical
mass of compelling content. A publisher will be able to format a
title once according to the specification and the content will
be compatible with a wide variety of reading devices.
"Today's announcement brings a new dimension to the Open eBook
Initiative by providing tools to incorporate audio into eBooks
as well as making this new dimension of eBooks available via
software players and hardware playback devices." noted Ray
Ingram, executive vice president of The Productivity Works. He
continued by saying that "the eBook specification has been
created to encompass many styles of usage. Combining audio with
the text, as well as supporting reading of the books using
synthetic speech, allows the broadest audience of users,
including those with visual or reading problems, excellent
access to this new format of material."
The Productivity Works (www.prodworks.com) and Labyrinten
(www.labyrinten.se) co-develop and market the LpStudio/PLUS,
LpPlayer, pwWebSpeak, and pwTelephone products, all of which
will provide support for the new Open eBook specification.
VisuAide (www.visuaide.com) develops and markets the VICTOR
digital audio book reader.
LpStudio/PLUS provides a recording, editing, and production tool
to add synchronized audio into eBooks. LpPlayer is a specialized
software player and book navigation for eBooks and other format
electronic books that include synchronized digital audio.
pwWebSpeak is a non-visual Web browser that will include support
for eBook formats, including synchronized audio, and pwTelephone
is software that will allow services to deliver eBooks in
synthesized speech or digital audio, directly over the telephone
by linking to eBooks located on Web Servers.
The VICTOR digital audio book reader is a CD-based reader that
provides for navigation around books, book marking, and other
facilities that make the listening to digital audio versions of
e-Books pleasant and effective. The ability to utilize page
numbers and other book navigation attributes are also directly
supported within the VICTOR.
Gilles Pepin, president of VisuAide, commented that "the Open
eBook initiative combines publishers, booksellers, audio book
distributors, and software and hardware manufacturers. This
provides the opportunity for a very broad range of materials to
reach new audiences quickly that have so far generally been
excluded access to such materials. The VICTOR provides an ideal
reading and audio navigation device for the eBook materials
published with digital audio.
Contacts:
All media inquiries: Open City Communications, 212-714-3575 or
[log in to unmask]
Ray Ingram, The Productivity Works, Inc.
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609-984-8044
Gilles Pepin, VisuAide
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888-723-7273
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The Productivity Works Joins
in Efforts to Create Open
Standards for Accessible Books
Last Updated: March 30, 1999
The Productivity Works is
involved in several groups
working to create open
standards for accessible
electronic books. These
efforts include the National
Information Standards
Organization (NISO) Digital
Talking Book Standard, the
Daisy Consortium's Digital
Talking Book System, and now,
the Open E-Book group.
Our involvement in these
groups is based on one
guiding principle: that the
formats for electronic books
must be based solely on open,
publicly available,
international standards. To
that end, we have worked
diligently to recommend and
promote the usage of open
standards such as those of
the World Wide Web Consortium.
NISO Digital Talking Book
Standard
The NISO Digital Talking Book
Standard effort was initiated
by the US Library of
Congress' National Library
Service in 1997. A diverse
working committee consisting
of representatives from user
groups, government, industry,
and library organizations has
been working to define this
standard, which is based upon
XML with SMIL.
Daisy Talking Book System
The Daisy Consortium Digital
Talking Book system is based
upon HTML, XML, and SMIL. In
partnership with Labyrinten
Data, The Productivity Works
has been working with the
Consortium to develop the
standard and to implement
authoring and production
tools. In addition,
Labyrinten and Productivity
Works are developing a number
of playback and authoring
tools that support Daisy and
other standards.
Open E-Book
The Productivity Works
undertook participation in
Open E-Book in February of
1999, with the stated
interest of ensuring that
Open E-Book would be both
accessible and compatible
with the existing standards
activities of NISO and Daisy.
The first public working
draft of the Open E-Book
specification was published
on 29 March 1999. Comments by
The Productivity Works on the
current working draft are
available.
Other Activities
The Productivity Works
actively participates in the
World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) and continually
evaluates how developments in
web protocols and formats can
benefit the development of
open standards for accessible
books.
The Productivity Works
supports the work and
recommendations of the W3C.
Copyright (c)1996-1999 The Productivity Works, Inc.
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