U N I V E R S I T Y O F T H E A R C T I C

Open Textbooksand Electronic Publishing

Formats/StandardsArctic Virtual Learnng Tools

www.uarctic.org

U N I V E R S I T Y O F T H E A R C T I CChallenges

Challenges:• No clear standard format for electronic publishing of scientific and

educational materials (articles, dissertations, textbooks, etc)• De facto output standards (PDF, Word, HTML) are not ideal for

electronic archiving (digital libraries) or • Documents often lack proper metadata descriptors, and there are many

different standards for such metadata• Lack of sustainability/”future-proof”: Once in a final output format (or

formats), documents become difficult to revise or put in another format. Original source material often not archived or maintained.

U N I V E R S I T Y O F T H E A R C T I CGoals

Goals:• As simple solution as possible that allows for output to different

formats and uses (online, printout, published) that provides sufficient metadata descriptors, and maintains original source content for future applications and revision

• Maintain source materials in a single format or standard that can be used for multiple output formats (online, printout, published)

• Separate content and layout so to facilitate later editing and revision• Ensure documents at least contain proper metadata, to facilitate

search and archiving systems

U N I V E R S I T Y O F T H E A R C T I COutput Formats

• Best solution is to maintain a single ‘source version’ of each document, and produce copies in different end-use formats for different purposes.

• Process of creating the final output copies could be automated (generated ‘on-the-fly’ from web server), or manually to create archive of needed output formats.

• For our purposes, likely outputs would be:• standard web pages (HTML, normal screen resolution)• PDF for download and local printing (compact size, medium quality

resolution)• PDF (or other) for publication (professional publishing services; high

quality resolution)

• Other outputs might be desirable (mobile devices, speech files, etc), but increase complexity of the solution.

U N I V E R S I T Y O F T H E A R C T I CXML and DTD

XML: eXtensible Markup LanguageA set of rules for encoding documents electronically. XML’s design goals

emphasize simplicity, generality, and usability over the Internet.

DTD: Document Type Definition The purpose of a DTD is to define the legal building blocks of an XML document. It defines the document structure with a list of legal elements. A DTD can be declared inline in your XML document, or as an external reference.

U N I V E R S I T Y O F T H E A R C T I CEmerging Electronic Publishing Standards and Technologies

ETD Projects with XML-based ApproachThe following electronic theses and dissertation (ETD) projects have an

XML- based approach already in place or are presently in a pilot phase:• Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) Libraries, SWEDEN, • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, University Libraries, USA • Sentiers, Université Lumiére, Lyon 2, (Cytbertheses.org project), FRANCE • University of Montreal, CANADA • Universidad de Chilé (Santiago de Chilé), CHILE • Humboldt-University Berlin, "Dissertation Online", GERMANY • University of Oslo, Center for Information Technology Services, NORWAY • University of Iowa, Graduate College, USA • University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Library, USA • Helsinki University of Technology, Library, FINLAND

U N I V E R S I T Y O F T H E A R C T I CNetworked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations

The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination and preservation of electronic analogues to the traditional paper-based theses and dissertations.

http://www.ndltd.org/standards/metadata/etd-ms-v1.00-rev2.html

Does not have a single DTD standard, but general recommendations for preparing theses and dissertations for electronic publication

U N I V E R S I T Y O F T H E A R C T I CChallenges of XML/DTD

The main philosophy of SGML and XML is the strict separation of content, structure, and layout of documents

Little development in XML electronic publication standards or tools since initial popularity around 2000.

Even if we adopt a general XML approach, we still need to choose from among competing DTD ‘standards’ (no clear de facto standard)

PDF has at least survived and is used as the de facto standard of electronic journals, etc., despite the drawbacks. Which should probably tell us something.  

XML/DTD is seen as a solution from an engineering point-of-view, but has limited value for end users, unless it can be made as cost-effective/easy to use as straightforward PDF creation from word processing software.

U N I V E R S I T Y O F T H E A R C T I COptions

Options:1. Simple: Publish in PDF (different output standards, as needed), but

maintain well-organized archive of all source material (text, images, etc.) in original quality (ie, high resolution).

2. Complex: Adopt full XML/DTD standard, and provide publishing tools to content developers (from Word, etc)

3. Middle-Ground: Stick with PDF for final output, but use some of the hybrid tools to encode XML data in the document

Issues to Consider:• Which metadata standard(s)? (Connections to digital libraries,

archive systems)• Which DTD standard(s), if any?• Manual conversions vs Automated output ‘on-the-fly’• Best practices for conservation of original source materials• Future standards, formats and technologies• Options for print-on-demand services

U N I V E R S I T Y O F T H E A R C T I CHybrid Options

Possible Options to ConsiderLocal or server-based tools to do ‘quick-and-dirty’ conversions of Word

(or other source documents) that incorporate XML metadata into a final PDF output.

Lemon8-XML Documentation Public Knowledge ProjectFree web server based software system, to convert word processor

documents to XML, which can be automatically rendered to XHTML and PDF

Referencing assistanceXML based on subset of National Library of Medicine Journal

Publishing DTD

AutoProof (commercial):The Latest Developments in XML Content Workflows The Session Blog — PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference Blog 2009

U N I V E R S I T Y O F T H E A R C T I C

Lemon8 Architecture