Dear IDPF Members,

I am seeking election to the IDPF Board of Directors. I represent the perspective of a publisher working to "invent the future" during truly transformative times. I've led the ebook strategy and program at a company that has been a leader in ebooks and digital publishing for more than a decade.

You're looking for someone that knows the industry and related technologies, and you need someone who can be an effective advocate and evangelist for IDPF and the EPUB standard:

• Since 2007 I've organized the program for the influential Tools of Change for Publishing Conference (which is building a growing international footprint)

• I initiated the development of an EPUB output for the open-source DocBook XSL Stylesheets

• I'm responsible for O'Reilly's sponsorship of the Bookworm open-source EPUB reading system

• I led the development of O'Reilly's XML-based digital-first production toolchain

• The strength of that EPUB-centric ebook program was critical to our alliance with Microsoft to bring their Microsoft Press ebooks to market in device-independent and DRM-free EPUB

• I've been a strong evangelist of the importance of open global markets for ebooks, particularly when it comes to serving mobile devices in emerging markets

• I worked with Amazon to ensure publishers have the option to sell their ebooks on Kindle without any encryption or device restrictions

• I've spoken at more than two dozen industry conferences and events around the world, and can tap a network that extends deep into the technology industry

IDPF must continue to develop EPUB into a standard that is flexible enough to adapt to the rapidly changing landscape for content consumption, particularly on mobile devices -- which will soon become the primary way that people access the internet. Emerging technology like HTML5 and emerging complementary standards like the Internet Archive's BookServer project represent collaboration opportunities for IDPF to not only remain relevant in the digital publishing space, but to lead the industry forward.

IDPF must expand its outreach beyond ebooks, in recognition that many of the newest forms of digital publishing don't look very much like books at all anymore. We must support (and expand) our membership to better understand and effectively produce and distribute content for devices that can see, that can speak, that can hear, that respond to touch, and that know where they are in the world.

And IDPF must work to understand and represent the interests of readers, companies, and organizations from around the world as a truly international body. There are 50 million people around the world already walking around with a bookstore in their pocket, and new companies and entrepreneurs are entering the industry every day. IDPF can be a resource for them and an enabler of a vibrant and rich ebook and digital-publishing ecology.

Biography:

Andrew Savikas is the VP of Digital Initiatives at O'Reilly Media, and is the Program Chair for O'Reilly's Tools of Change for Publishing conference. He blogs at toc.oreilly.com, and is also a regular contributor to the O'Reilly Radar blog.

Andrew leads the digital publishing and ebook program and strategy for O'Reilly Media, including both print and digital production of all O'Reilly books. Andrew is an advisor to Safari Books Online, O'Reilly's joint venture with Pearson Technology Group. He sits on the Board of Directors of the Book Industry Study Group, and is on advisory boards for Bookshare and the University of Michigan Press.

Before rising to a formal leadership role within O'Reilly, he spent several years working directly with a variety of ebook and digital publishing tools and technologies, including XML, HTML, FrameMaker, Quark, InDesign, Word, and PDF, as well as developing new tools using Perl, Ruby, VBA, and the XML-based XSLT and XQuery languages.

Andrew holds a B.S. in Media Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA from Northeastern University in Boston. He speaks frequently on digital publishing and ebooks, and is also the author of "Word Hacks: Tips & Tools for Taming your Text".

About O'Reilly Media's History as an Ebook Pioneer:

In the early 1990s, we co-developed docbook, one of the first standardized formats for ebooks, and the progenitor of future XML-based ebook formats. In 2001, in partnership with the Pearson Technology Group, we launched Safari Books Online, the largest and most comprehensive electronic subscription library of computer books and videos. We've built a successful direct business with DRM-free downloads of ebook bundles that work on any device. We're an early leader in publishing books for the iPhone and other portable reading devices, and understanding how to use ebook channels to reach new customers. And of course, our Tools of Change for Publishing Conference (TOC) has become the place to share knowledge about the changes sweeping through publishing.