Where's the OeBF?

By J. Knight
February 15, 2002

Editor's Note: The company behind Planet eBook, BinaryThing, is an Associate Member of OeBF and supports the organizations attempts to develop standards for the eBook industry. That said, we found this article to be an interesting discussion piece and welcome your comments in our Planet eBook Forum area. End of note.

I have a considerable distrust of committees, just as I do of mobs. The main difference between committees and mobs seems to be that mobs actually get things done. Those things are usually wrong-headed and often heinous, but at least something happens.

Not so with committees, whose primary function appears to be just the opposite, making sure that as little as possible is achieved, and in the case of Congressional Investigating Committees, nothing at all.

Which brings us to the Open eBook Forum.

The Open eBook Forum (OeBF) describes itself thusly: "The Open eBook Forum (OeBF) is an international trade and standards organization. Our members consist of hardware and software companies, publishers, authors, users of electronic books, and related organizations whose common goals are to establish specifications and standards for electronic publishing. The Forum’s work will foster the development of applications and products that will benefit creators of content, makers of reading systems and, most importantly, consumers."

The OeBF is a noble group with ambitious "values" to "strive toward," as their website declares. They stop short of setting "goals" or "timetables," thereby distinguishing themselves from a mob ("Let's string the varmint up now!") and solidly defining themselves as a committee ("Let us set values to strive toward.").

I think it's time to take a look at these values and see how well the OeBF is progressing with them.

Here's the first of the OeBF's stated values: "Providing a forum for the discussion of issues and technologies related to electronic books."

The OeBF does provide a forum for discussion—for its members. Membership is available on two levels to make it affordable for all: You can buy a "Principal Membership" for $5000 a year, or pick up an "Associate Membership" for only $1000 a year. If you are an author, a reader of eBooks, a potential reader of eBooks, an educator, a student, a traveler, a small publisher or just someone with an opinion, and you lack the $1000 annual membership fee, the "forum" is more like a private club, and you do not have a key. If their site included so much as a message board where the hoi polloi could meet to air their views, the atmosphere would be a good deal less stuffy.

The second stated value is: "Developing, publishing, and maintaining common specifications relating to electronic books and promoting the successful adoption of these specifications."

As a value, this one's a biggie. Most of us are aware of the famous Beta vs. VHS war fought in the late-1970s, where Sony squared off against Everybody Else to see who would set the standard for home video recording. Chaos reigned for several years until Sony succumbed to the inevitable and surrendered. No one involved in eBooks wants to see a replay of the disgraceful struggle that slowed the acceptance of home video recorders, wasted manufacturers' money and ultimately caused the extinction of a large number of home video libraries when Sony's Beta format bit the dust.

eBook device manufacturers, publishers, authors, the real and potential eBook reading public...all are united behind the OeBF's effort to create a single standard for eBooks. The OeBF released its "final 1.0 version of the Open eBook Publication Structure specification" in September 1999. The specification defines the format content takes when it's converted from print to electronic form, allowing publishers and authors to convert their material once and make it readable by any number of different software programs and/or devices.

In June 2001, the OeBF released version 1.0.1 of the Open eBook Publication Structure specification. Work on version 2.0 proceeds apace.

Thanks to the efforts of OeBF, the eBook world has been spared the debacle of the Beta vs. VHS war, which, in true modern Hollywood fashion, has been replaced by a special effects spectacular featuring not two, not four, but more than twenty different, incompatible and proprietary eBook formats! Some of these formats are OeBF compliant, and some aren't.

What went wrong? While the OeBF was studiously working out exacting standards for eBooks, war erupted in the real world. Maybe the OeBF's "peace talks" will eventually bear fruit, but meanwhile everyone else is throwing rocks and taking pot shots at innocent civilians.

Let's go to OeBF Value #3: "Promoting industry-wide participation of electronic publishing through training sessions, guidelines, and demonstrations of proven technology."

I guess they're doing this, but I wouldn't really know. I don't have $1000 for a membership so I don't get invited to these events.

Value #4: "Identifying, evaluating and recommending standards created by other bodies related to electronic books."

Sure, let's give them this one. Why not?

Value #5: "Encouraging interoperable implementations of electronic book related systems and providing a forum for resolution of interoperability issues."

I'm sorry, but I went to sleep while reading this one. You'll have to work it out for yourselves.

And finally: "Accommodating differences in language, culture, reading and learning styles, and individual abilities."

This value is vague enough to defy all possible quantification, making it perfect for use by a committee. Just coming up with it wins the OeBF nomination for the Committee Hall of Fame.

As I strive toward the value of evaluating the OeBF's accomplishments to date, I'm encouraged by the link on its website that reads, "What have we achieved?" Clicking the link I'm presented with a list of Committees the OeBF has formed and which continue to meet and discuss eBook issues.

The Committees are: Accessibility Special Interest Group (SIG); eBook Industry SIG; Education Committee; Europe, Middle-East, and Africa SIG; Identifiers Working Group; Intellectual Property Policy Committee; Metadata Working Group; Publication Structure Working Group; Requirements Working Group; Rights and Rules Working Group; and the Systems Working Group.

To see what each of these "active" groups does you'll need to visit the OeBF website, but here's a sample gleaned from the description of the Metadata Working Group: "The Metadata Working Group has a mission to create, endorse and/or adapt a framework for modular metadata standards that will enable the effective use of electronic books."

I like missions with flexibility, and this one really fits the bill. Create? Endorse? Adapt? Heck, let's just parachute into enemy territory and sort it out when we land! I feel that I'm in good hands with the Metadata Working Group.

Aside from the formation of these committees, though, the achievements list is rather sparse. So sparse, in fact, that the OeBF fills it in with a short course on how working groups are created, in case you want to build one in your basement, I guess.

Another source of information on the OeBF's activities is the "What's New at Open eBook Forum" page. Here we discover that the OeBF has taken yet another bold step to "Aid Growth of Industry." Having stretched "committee formation" close to its theoretical limit, the OeBF, we learn, has pulled out all the stops and commissioned a study.

According to the OeBF's press release, the research study into what consumers want in an eBook "will result in a series of white papers designed to assist publishers, retailers, and manufacturers with their focus on eBook trend lines and customer needs."

Frankly, if the OeBF would just open a forum in which the proletariat could participate, they'd learn in the first twenty-four hours that what consumers want is a sub-$100 reading device with a large screen that will display eBooks in the Microsoft Reader format. I'm sure that's what the study will reveal. Just watch.

In summary, we can all sleep better at night content in the knowledge that the Open eBook Forum is on the job, that its Working Groups are meeting regularly to discuss and debate and endorse, and that, if nothing else, they aren't out soaping windows or throwing firecrackers at cats.

Now you'll have to excuse me. I accidentally re-read that sentence about "encouraging interoperable implementations of electronic book related systems" and I feel a nap coming on.


J. Knight is the author of the e-chiller Risen, published by AOL Time Warner Book Group. Risen may be sampled on Knight's website at http://www.atombrain.com.


About J. Knight
J. Knight is the author of the e-chiller Risen, published by AOL Time Warner Book Group. Risen may be sampled on Knight's website at www.atombrain.com.