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Dear Members of the IDPF,
I am seeking election to the
IDPF Board of Directors.
In a few short years, EPUB
has transformed from an emerging standard to the foundation for a industry
experiencing explosive growth. While the work of the IDPF makes the ebook trade
more efficient for publishers, aggregators, retailers and device manufacturers,
its greatest benefit is to consumers. In EPUB, consumers have access to an open
standard allowing transportability and interoperability, supported by a wide
range of vendors and devices -- qualities that are essential for the development
of a reader-centric ebook market. IDPF represents the first, best forum to
advocate and develop standards that encourage an open ebook ecosystem.
In addition to promoting
existing standards, IDPF should drive EPUB to deliver the book as it could be,
as well as the book as it is, ensuring support for innovation that provides new
opportunities to publishers, authors and designers. If we are at the peak of the
first wave of ebooks, focused on conversion of existing works and replication of
the print experience, we also need to start looking ahead to the ebook as a form
of its own.
IDPF should look at other
areas of print communication -- magazines, newspapers, fully illustrated works
-- that are at risk of enclosure in proprietary standards. It would be a huge
opportunity missed if we succeed in creating open standards for books while
letting the rest of print communication slip behind a wall of device- or
vendor-specific formats.
To the IDPF Board, I bring
two areas of relevant experience: First, with industry organizations focused on
standards, certification, and best practices sharing (BISG, BookNet Canada, ONIX
Int'l Committee). Second, as a retailer of EPUB-based content on web and mobile.
This engages me on a daily basis with ebook consumers and publishers and
provides me with a vested interest in more and better EPUB content, improved
metadata for ebooks, and new means of ebook discovery and distribution like OPDS.
Michael Tamblyn
is VP Content, Sales & Merchandising for Shortcovers. From a start in
independent bookselling as a magazine and small press buyer, in 1996 he
co-founded Bookshelf.ca, Canada’s first online bookstore. Indigo Books & Music
purchased Bookshelf.ca in 1998, and Michael moved to the chain as vice-president
of online operations. He later consulted in technology and media sectors before
becoming the founding CEO of BookNet Canada in March of 2003. During his tenure,
BookNet Canada launched B2B trading networks serving hundreds of bookstores and
publishers, promoted standards and certification in EDI and bibliographic data,
and launched BNC SalesData, the national book sales tracking service.
At Shortcovers, he is
responsible for sales, publisher and industry relations, content acquisition,
and the merchandising experience across all of Shortcovers’ web and mobile
services. He is also the author of the publishing technology call-to-arms “Six
Projects That Could Change Publishing for the Better”, a Director of the
acclaimed Canadian publisher House of Anansi Press, and an Adjunct Professor for
the Masters of Publishing program at Simon Fraser University. He has a Masters
in Business Administration from University of Western Ontario.
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