ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
Sayamindu Dasgupta
One Laptop Per Child
FOSS.IN 2009
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
A Brief History
Can be traced back to 1971 (Project Gutenberg)
Considered a niche area/product till recent times
Major pain pointsMultiple formats, some proprietary, some notLack of specialized devicesDisplay (mostly resolution related) issues
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
A Brief History
Can be traced back to 1971 (Project Gutenberg)
Considered a niche area/product till recent times
Major pain pointsMultiple formats, some proprietary, some notLack of specialized devicesDisplay (mostly resolution related) issues
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
A Brief History
Can be traced back to 1971 (Project Gutenberg)
Considered a niche area/product till recent times
Major pain pointsMultiple formats, some proprietary, some notLack of specialized devicesDisplay (mostly resolution related) issues
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
A Brief History
Can be traced back to 1971 (Project Gutenberg)
Considered a niche area/product till recent times
Major pain pointsMultiple formats, some proprietary, some notLack of specialized devicesDisplay (mostly resolution related) issues
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
A Brief History
Can be traced back to 1971 (Project Gutenberg)
Considered a niche area/product till recent times
Major pain pointsMultiple formats, some proprietary, some notLack of specialized devicesDisplay (mostly resolution related) issues
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
A Brief History
Can be traced back to 1971 (Project Gutenberg)
Considered a niche area/product till recent times
Major pain pointsMultiple formats, some proprietary, some notLack of specialized devicesDisplay (mostly resolution related) issues
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
A Brief History
Can be traced back to 1971 (Project Gutenberg)
Considered a niche area/product till recent times
Major pain pointsMultiple formats, some proprietary, some notLack of specialized devicesDisplay (mostly resolution related) issues
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Current Status
New reader devices announced every month
Everyone wants a piece of the pieGoogleAmazonBarnes and NobleSony. . .
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Current Status
New reader devices announced every month
Everyone wants a piece of the pieGoogleAmazonBarnes and NobleSony. . .
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Reasons for the Explosive Growth
Moore’s law
“Electronic paper”
Parallely evolving software standards
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Reasons for the Explosive Growth
Moore’s law
“Electronic paper”
Parallely evolving software standards
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
E-Ink
Most visible e-paper technologyAdvantages
High resolutionLow power
DisadvantagesSlowMonochrome
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
E-Ink
Most visible e-paper technologyAdvantages
High resolutionLow power
DisadvantagesSlowMonochrome
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
E-Ink
Most visible e-paper technologyAdvantages
High resolutionLow power
DisadvantagesSlowMonochrome
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Overview of EPUB
Developed by the IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum)
De-facto standard (almost. . . )
Combination of open, established technologiesOpen Publication Structure v2.0Open Packaging Format v2.0OEBPS Container Format (OCF) v1.0
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Overview of EPUB
Developed by the IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum)
De-facto standard (almost. . . )
Combination of open, established technologiesOpen Publication Structure v2.0Open Packaging Format v2.0OEBPS Container Format (OCF) v1.0
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Overview of EPUB
Developed by the IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum)
De-facto standard (almost. . . )
Combination of open, established technologiesOpen Publication Structure v2.0Open Packaging Format v2.0OEBPS Container Format (OCF) v1.0
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Overview of EPUB
Developed by the IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum)
De-facto standard (almost. . . )
Combination of open, established technologiesOpen Publication Structure v2.0Open Packaging Format v2.0OEBPS Container Format (OCF) v1.0
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Open Publication Structure
Standard for representing the content in eBooks
Two preferred vocabulariesXHTML
Subset of CSS
DTBook
Also supports various image formats, SVG and “XML Islands”
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Open Publication Structure
Standard for representing the content in eBooks
Two preferred vocabulariesXHTML
Subset of CSS
DTBook
Also supports various image formats, SVG and “XML Islands”
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Open Publication Structure
Standard for representing the content in eBooks
Two preferred vocabulariesXHTML
Subset of CSS
DTBook
Also supports various image formats, SVG and “XML Islands”
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Open Publication Structure
Standard for representing the content in eBooks
Two preferred vocabulariesXHTML
Subset of CSS
DTBook
Also supports various image formats, SVG and “XML Islands”
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Open Packaging Format
Standard for representing the “rest” of the eBookReference, description of all eBook components (files, images,etc) (a manifest)Metadata
Dublin Core with extra attributes
Linear reading order (spine)Declarative reading order (for better navigability, etc)
NCS (Navigation Center eXtended)
OPF also specifies fallback components for non-standard items inthe eBook
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Open Packaging Format
Standard for representing the “rest” of the eBookReference, description of all eBook components (files, images,etc) (a manifest)Metadata
Dublin Core with extra attributes
Linear reading order (spine)Declarative reading order (for better navigability, etc)
NCS (Navigation Center eXtended)
OPF also specifies fallback components for non-standard items inthe eBook
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Open Packaging Format
Standard for representing the “rest” of the eBookReference, description of all eBook components (files, images,etc) (a manifest)Metadata
Dublin Core with extra attributes
Linear reading order (spine)Declarative reading order (for better navigability, etc)
NCS (Navigation Center eXtended)
OPF also specifies fallback components for non-standard items inthe eBook
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
OEBPS Container Format
Standard for putting the eBook together
ZIP as container
Specifies the “root” OPF file for the eBook
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
OEBPS Container Format
Standard for putting the eBook together
ZIP as container
Specifies the “root” OPF file for the eBook
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
OEBPS Container Format
Standard for putting the eBook together
ZIP as container
Specifies the “root” OPF file for the eBook
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
A Typical EPUB File Structure
/META-INF
container.xml........points to the ebook root – ‘OPS/book.opf’
mimetype.........................must be “application/epub+zip”
OPSbook.ncx..........contains declarative reading order – “navMap”
book.opf .................. contains metadata, manifest, spine
cssstyle.css
main0.xmlmain1.xml...images
cover.png...
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
A Typical EPUB File Structure
/META-INF
container.xml........points to the ebook root – ‘OPS/book.opf’
mimetype.........................must be “application/epub+zip”
OPSbook.ncx..........contains declarative reading order – “navMap”
book.opf .................. contains metadata, manifest, spine
cssstyle.css
main0.xmlmain1.xml...images
cover.png...
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
A Typical EPUB File Structure
/META-INF
container.xml........points to the ebook root – ‘OPS/book.opf’
mimetype.........................must be “application/epub+zip”
OPSbook.ncx..........contains declarative reading order – “navMap”
book.opf .................. contains metadata, manifest, spine
cssstyle.css
main0.xmlmain1.xml...images
cover.png...
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
A Typical EPUB File Structure
/META-INF
container.xml........points to the ebook root – ‘OPS/book.opf’
mimetype.........................must be “application/epub+zip”
OPSbook.ncx..........contains declarative reading order – “navMap”
book.opf .................. contains metadata, manifest, spine
cssstyle.css
main0.xmlmain1.xml...images
cover.png...
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Hardware Devices (dedicated)
Sony Reader
Barnes and Noble Nook
IRex Digital Reader
BeBook
. . .
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Software
ProprietaryAdobe Digital EditionsStanza (iPhone)Aldiko (Android)
Free/Open SourceCalibreBookworm (web-based)OkularFBReaderSugar Read activity
. . .
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
A Brief History & Current StatusThe EPUB standardEPUB Readers
Software
ProprietaryAdobe Digital EditionsStanza (iPhone)Aldiko (Android)
Free/Open SourceCalibreBookworm (web-based)OkularFBReaderSugar Read activity
. . .
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
OPDSOnline/Offline OPDS Usage
OPDS: Open Publication Distribution System
Standard for distributing eBooks
Based on Atom XML
Work in progress (draft)
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
OPDSOnline/Offline OPDS Usage
OPDS for Discovery
Discovery via OpenSearch Query Syntaxhttp://foo/opensearch?q=Missourihttp://foo/opensearch?q=creator:Mark+Twainhttp://foo/opensearch?q=language:hihttp://foo/opensearch?q=title:perl+AND+provider:OReilly
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
OPDSOnline/Offline OPDS Usage
OPDS for Discovery
Discovery via OpenSearch Query Syntaxhttp://foo/opensearch?q=Missourihttp://foo/opensearch?q=creator:Mark+Twainhttp://foo/opensearch?q=language:hihttp://foo/opensearch?q=title:perl+AND+provider:OReilly
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
OPDSOnline/Offline OPDS Usage
OPDS providers and clients
Online providersThe Internet ArchiveFeedbooks.comO’Reilly
Client implementationsSugar Get Books activityAldikoIbis Reader
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
OPDSOnline/Offline OPDS Usage
OPDS providers and clients
Online providersThe Internet ArchiveFeedbooks.comO’Reilly
Client implementationsSugar Get Books activityAldikoIbis Reader
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
OPDSOnline/Offline OPDS Usage
OPDS Offline Usage
Implemented in Sugar’s Get Books activity“Library on a Stick” = USB Drive + EPUB files + OPDS XMLcatalog
Equivalent of an entire library’s collection in a USB thumb-drive
Sneakernet/Chappalnet support
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
OPDSOnline/Offline OPDS Usage
OPDS Offline Usage
Implemented in Sugar’s Get Books activity“Library on a Stick” = USB Drive + EPUB files + OPDS XMLcatalog
Equivalent of an entire library’s collection in a USB thumb-drive
Sneakernet/Chappalnet support
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
With OPDS
iTunes like book-sharing
Reading system publishes OPDS catalog of selected eBooks
Neighbouring reading system discovers catalogs and renders it
Zeroconf used for publication and auto-discovery (yay! for Avahi)
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
With OPDS
iTunes like book-sharing
Reading system publishes OPDS catalog of selected eBooks
Neighbouring reading system discovers catalogs and renders it
Zeroconf used for publication and auto-discovery (yay! for Avahi)
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
ReadingDiscovering
Sharing
Without OPDS : the Sugar Way
Sharing built in (using Telepathy)
Verb based interface
Child invites friend to current Read activity
eBook being read automagically gets shared
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks
Appendix Ideas about the Future
Audio-Visual elements (already happening)
Wiki-like eBooks
Microworlds, programming shells
. . .
Sayamindu Dasgupta Reading, Discovering, Sharing eBooks