Part 3 in ISO Online Browsing Platform

[Dennis E. Hamilton]

OFF-TOPIC Concerns

The notion of having on-line, browser-rendered standards behind a paywall does not sound like something many will want to pay for, considering the reference nature of standards specifications and the potential ephemeral nature of this initiative.  I think I'd prefer an EPUB to whatever the contortions are for this.  

In the meantime, PDFs are probably the most durable, consistently-usable form available.  Considering the size of the IS 29500 specifications, browser rendering will be toxic for many, and the supplemental machine-readable materials such as schemas still need to be dealt with.  (I find the OASIS linking to the HTML versions of ODF documents to be particularly jarring, ignoring the fact that the HTML conversion is imperfect.)  Thinking about accessing any of the substantial document-format and programming-language standards on my smart phone seems particularly creepy.  

Once a specification is available at a client, PDF browsing, search, and navigation are far more effective.  I suspect reliance on translation software and handling of accessibility requirements will also be more effective.

I do think consideration of translation and especially accessibility is something worth discussion at the SC level, though.

On the question of applicability of MCE separate from OOXML, I would hope that is clear in the scope and in any abstract produced for Part 3.

 - Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Arms, Caroline [mailto:caar at loc.gov] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 3, 2013 06:11
To: SC 34 WG4
Subject: Part 3 in ISO Online Browsing Platform

It just struck me that it will be worth considering how a revised Part 3 will look on the ISO Online Browsing Platform.

   Exmple display at   https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso-iec:14496:-21:ed-1:v1:en

"Users can now preview the content of standards (including the foreword, table of contents, introduction, scope and bibliographical references), run full-text searches, and use advanced filtering options." is what I find at http://www.iso.org/iso/home/news_index/news_archive/news.htm?refid=Ref1631

I know that we just agreed to shorten scope substantially.  I think it could be useful to review that decision based on what a user of OBP would see.  Will it be clear enough that the MCE mechanism is applicable beyond OOXML?

I also find  "More standards will be added to the Online Browsing Platform and become available for preview as they are converted into XML format. The goal is to have 30 % of the ISO collection of standards converted by the end of 2012, with the entire portfolio converted by the end of 2013."

Does anyone know what XML schema they are using?  And whether they will achieve the goal of 100% conversion by the end of this year?

    Thanks.    

    Caroline


Caroline Arms
Library of Congress Contractor
Co-compiler of Sustainability of Digital Formats resource
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/

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