In partnership with the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), BISG presented the third in a series of ONIX 3.0 educational webcasts. During this session, David Martin from EDItEUR's ONIX Support Team and Brian Green, Executive Director of the International ISBN Agency, focused on how ONIX 3.0 provides new support for digital publishing, along with requirements for identifying ebooks in our industry's complex new supply chain.
P4C x ELT = P4ELT: Its Theoretical Background (Kanazawa, 2024 March).pdf
BISG WEBCAST -- ONIX For Books v3.0 -- Supporting New Metadata For eBooks
1. This BISG WEBCAST took place
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. ET
To register for future BISG Webcasts, please visit:
http://www.bisg.org/event-cat-6-webcasts.php
.
Brought to you in partnership with the
International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)
www.bisg.org 1
2. “Working to create a more
informed, empowered and efficient
book industry supply chain
for both physical and digital products.”
www.bisg.org
www.bisg.org 2
3. Michael Smith
Executive Director
International Digital Publishing Forum
International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) is a non-profit trade
and standards organization for the digital publishing industry
representing over 120 companies and organizations. IDPF is
dedicated to the development and promotion of electronic
publishing.
www.bisg.org 3
4. David Martin, ONIX Support Team, EDItEUR Brian Green, Executive Director, International ISBN Agency
David Martin is an independent consultant on Currently Executive Director of the International ISBN
standards for business communication in the book Agency, until the beginning of this year Brian Green was
trade, working principally for EDItEUR, where he also Executive Director of EDItEUR. From 2003-2008,
leads the team responsible for ONIX for Books. Brian was Chair of ISO TC46 SC9, the ISO Committee
responsible for identifiers in the information community.
David has been involved with metadata standards
for most of his career, at INSPEC, at the British Brian managed BIC, the UK book trade standards body,
Library, where he was Director of Automated from 1991 until 2006 and, prior to that, was Director of
Services for six years, and as a founder Director of Technology and Publishing Management at the UK
Book Data Ltd (now part of Nielsen BookData). Publishers Association after working in the publishing
industry for many years.
www.bisg.org 4
5. London-based global trade standards
organization for books and serials supply chains
Established 1991
ONIX family of communications standards
ONIX for Books
ONIX for Serials
(online subscription products including ebooks)
ONIX for Publication Licenses
EDI
RFID
Secretariat for International ISBN Agency
www.bisg.org 5
6. The first standard in the ONIX family
“ONline Information eXchange”
Result of an AAP initiative in 1999
Response to growth in online book retailing
Requirement for “rich product metadata” – never needed
in this form before
Release 1.0 published May 2000
Developed since then by EDItEUR in close
collaboration with BISG and BIC
Implemented widely around the world
www.bisg.org 6
7. Version history
v1.0 2000 (no longer supported)
v2.0 2001
v2.1 2004 (retained backwards compatibility)
o Separation between structure and code lists
Governed by International Steering Committee
Representatives from the 15 countries which have local
ONIX committees
ONIX standard is designed to be very widely applicable
Local committees (including BISAC) work on
implementation guidelines appropriate to local market
www.bisg.org 7
8. Because users (through the International Steering
Committee) told us you needed a new release
Primarily to provide better support for digital products
Some other requirements could not be met by a 2.X
revision
Decision taken to move to v3.0
Extensive structural work
No longer backwards compatible
Shares code lists with v2.1 (Issue 10)
www.bisg.org 8
10. Removal of ‘deprecated’ elements
Digital products (ebooks and more)
Multiple-item products, sets and items in series
‘Marketing collateral’
Market-specific data, for products sold
internationally
Breakdown of product records into ‘blocks’, to
allow partial updates
New schema language options (RELAX NG)
But where no change was needed – no change…
www.bisg.org 10
11. An admitted problem area in past ONIX releases:
sets, series, multi-media products, multiple-copy packs
(classroom sets), trade packs (shrinkwraps), etc
Problems of definition:
is this a set? a series? a pack? or what?
Inconsistencies of description and encoding
Repetition of title elements when a set or series
title is a necessary part of a product title
Solution: a radical simplification of approach -
forget about ‘set’, ‘series’, ‘pack’, etc…
www.bisg.org 11
12. Multiple-item product: any product made up of
two or more items
Bibliographic collection: any collection of
products with a collective designation
Not mutually exclusive
Consistent approach to the description of any
multiple-item product, and any collection
Collective (‘series’) title elements can be used as
part of product title without repetition
See How to describe sets, series and multiple-
item products in ONIX 3, downloadable from the
EDItEUR website
www.bisg.org 12
13. Publishers and others are using, and will use in
future, a much greater variety of supporting
materials to promote sales, particularly in the web
environment
Previous ONIX releases used:
an <OtherText> composite to handle text content either as part of
the ONIX record itself or by links to text accessible elsewhere
a <MediaFile> composite for links to non-text media, eg images
Structures are too limited to meet current and future
requirements
Rigid distinction between text and non-text media is
unhelpful
Both composites have been removed and replaced
www.bisg.org 13
14. Three new data element groups:
<TextContent> is strictly for text which is carried within the ONIX
record, and which is made available for use by the receiver: short
and long descriptions, cover blurbs, review quotes etc.
<CitedContent> is for third-party content, in any medium, which
is cited by way of reinforcing the promotion of a product:
bestseller lists, TV or radio features, feature articles etc.
<SupportingResource> is for content, in any medium, which is
offered by the publisher (or sender of the ONIX record) to be used
by supply chain partners for promotional purposes, either by
downloading or linking: images, audio and video clips, widgets,
sample chapters. The composite is generalised so as to handle an
unlimited variety of content and media types by adding codes.
www.bisg.org 14
15. Most English-language publishing operates
simultaneously in different national or regional markets.
Publication dates, availability status, price and much else
are market-specific.
Some ONIX feeds relate only to a single marketplace,
some (for example, to and from data aggregators at an
international level) cover several markets.
Already partly recognised and supported in previous
releases – but some elements – such as publication date -
were assumed to be “global”.
ONIX 3.0 goes a stage further, by regrouping supply-
related content into a new unified structure, specific to a
designated marketplace.
www.bisg.org 15
16. Elements for specifying ebook formats were added in 2001,
in association with an AAP ebook project
These were apparently very little used: not much digital
product metadata was being sent in ONIX 2.1
Probably because most ebook development was happening
outside the “mainstream”?
But now digital products have joined the mainstream
ONIX is the mainstream product information standard for
the book industry
www.bisg.org 16
18. Separate elements for digital product formats in ONIX 2.1
have been scrapped.
Product form description for digital products is now
integrated with physical products in Product Form and
Product Form Detail coding.
Top-level <ProductForm> coding is based on delivery
method: ‘D’ codes for content delivered by physical carrier,
‘E’ codes for content accessed online or delivered by
download (also new ‘L’ codes for licences sold separately).
Format specified in <ProductFormDetail> (eg PDF, EPUB).
Content specified in Product Content Type elements (text,
audio, video etc).
ONIX 3.0 works best if ISBN guidelines are followed.
www.bisg.org 18
19. New element <EpubTechnicalProtection>
Enables DRM to be specified separately from format
Coded to specify (eg) ‘No DRM’, ‘Digital watermarking’,
‘Adobe DRM’ etc – more values will be added as required
Example: ebook supplied as a download in EPUB format
with Adobe DRM:
<ProductForm>ED</ProductForm> Digital download
<ProductFormDetail>E101</ProductFormDetail> EPUB format
<EpubTechnicalProtection>03</EpubTechnicalProtection> Adobe DRM
<PrimaryContentType>10</PrimaryContentType> Text
www.bisg.org 19
20. New elements added for optional encoding of a limited set of
usage constraints
Usage type: preview, print extract, copy extract, etc
Usage status: permitted without limit, permitted with limit,
prohibited
Usage limit expressed quantitatively
Example: preview permitted, up to 30 pages
<EpubUsageConstraint>
<EpubUsageType>01</EpubUsageType> Preview
<EpubUsageStatus>02</EpubUsageStatus> Permitted with limit
<EpubUsageLimit>
<Quantity>30</Quantity>
<EpubUsageUnit>04</EpubUsageUnit> Pages
</EpubUsageLimit>
</EpubUsageConstraint>
www.bisg.org 20
21. Past ONIX releases assumed a physical supply chain:
publisher to wholesaler to retailer
Variety of supply channels (and pricing models) for
digital products, e.g.,
publisher to consumer / publisher to library
packager to consumer / packager to library
publisher to selected wholesalers to retailers
publisher to selected retailers to consumer
Handled in ONIX 3.0 by new guidelines and code
values rather than new elements:
<Supplier> composite can now be coded to indicate a variety of ‘supplier roles’
Where pricing is too complex to be represented in ONIX, an item can be listed without
price, as ‘refer to supplier’
www.bisg.org 21
22. Full ONIX 3.0 specification, data element summary, and
XML technical notes published in April. Slightly revised
versions issued in July, correcting textual errors reported
by users. Only one change of substance: relaxation of one
of the ‘rules’ associated with multiple-item products.
DTD, XSL and RNG schemas also published in April. A
small but important amendment was made in July, to add
a release number attribute to the ONIX Message element.
Code Lists Issue 10 was published in July: a further issue is
likely by 2010.
Additional guidelines are being developed or are planned
in a number of areas.
Any changes from here on will be backwards-compatible.
www.bisg.org 22
23. Guidelines on “How to describe digital products
in ONIX 3.0” coming soon to the EDItEUR
website.
BISG Metadata Committee, as part of its work on
maintaining ONIX “Best Practice” guidelines for
North America, is finalising a complete ONIX 3.0
sample record for an ebook distributed by
download through trade channels – to be
available from the BISG website.
www.bisg.org 23
24. For existing users: not backwards compatible
Requires more extensive system work than upgrade to 2.x
Never a “right time”
Particular challenge for data aggregators
Support for multiple versions
Input and output
Essential for all who need to communicate ebook
metadata
Important benefits for others, but less immediate pressure
ONIX for Books 2.1 will continue to be supported, but
future development will build on 3.0
www.bisg.org 24
25. ONIX for Books was conceived so that publishers
could get better product information to
consumers at the point of (online) sale.
That has always been the focus for the
development of the format.
But are we missing other requirements for
metadata flows in the ebook production and
supply chain which might fit naturally into an
ONIX envelope?
Perhaps you can tell us, direct, or through IDPF
and BISG.
www.bisg.org 25
27. ‣ Under “Rules of assignment”, the 2005 revision of
the ISBN standard (ISO 2108) says:
Different product forms (e.g. hardcover, paperback,
Braille, audio-book, video, online electronic publication)
shall be assigned separate ISBNs
Each different format of an electronic publication (e.g.
‘.lit’, ‘.pdf’, ‘.html’, ‘.pdb’) that is published and made
separately available shall be given a separate ISBN.
www.bisg.org
28. ‣ E-commerce systems require ISBNs
‣ Bibliographic databases require ISBNs
‣ Detailed sales/usage reporting requires ISBNS
‣ At the time of the ISBN revision, identification
by file format seemed adequate. We thought
that the e-book supply chain would be similar to
print books. Not so!
www.bisg.org
29. ‣ For printed books, publishers assign ISBNs to each
format and that ISBN remains constant throughout
the supply chain
‣ For ebooks, many publishers only produce a single
generic file format (e.g. “.epub”), and intermediaries
add technical rights protection (DRM) and make
different versions with different user functionality
‣ Other players in the supply chain need to be able to
identify these different versions (e.g. for discovery,
EDI, usage reporting)
‣ But not all publishers provide ISBNs for them
www.bisg.org
38. Epub file ISBN “A”?
Epub file+DRM Publisher Epub file+DRM
(diff. proprietary) (proprietary)
Other formats Other formats
E-book aggregator / manager E-book aggregator /manager
ISBN “A” for Proprietary
all formats identifier
Library jobbers Wholesalers
Libraries Booksellers
Readers
www.bisg.org
39. Epub file ISBN “A”?
Epub file+DRM Publisher Epub file+DRM
(diff. proprietary) (proprietary)
Other formats Other formats
E-book aggregator / manager E-book aggregator /manager
ISBN “A” for Proprietary
all formats identifier
Library jobbers Wholesalers
Own ISBN-like
identifiers
Libraries Booksellers
Readers
www.bisg.org
40. Epub file ISBN “A”?
Epub file+DRM Publisher Epub file+DRM
(diff. proprietary) (proprietary)
Other formats Other formats
E-book aggregator / manager E-book aggregator /manager
ISBN “A” for Proprietary
all formats identifier
Library jobbers Wholesalers
ISBN “A” Own ISBN-like
+ metadata identifiers
Libraries Booksellers
Readers
www.bisg.org
41. Epub file ISBN “A”?
Epub file+DRM Publisher Epub file+DRM
(diff. proprietary) (proprietary)
Other formats Other formats
E-book aggregator / manager E-book aggregator /manager
ISBN “D”, “E“ ISBN “B”, “C”
Library jobbers Wholesalers
Libraries Booksellers
Readers
www.bisg.org
42. ‣ Some of their arguments:
“We can’t manage the metadata bloat involved”
“Our sales channels (e.g. Amazon) do not require
standard identifiers for ebooks as customers will find
them through their preferred vendor”
“ISBNs are too expensive for us to assign to each
format”
“We only “publish” one generic format (e.g. .epub) and
assign an ISBN to that”
“We are not responsible for formats provided by third
part intermediaries”
www.bisg.org
43. ‣ Since some publishers do not provide separate
ISBNs for each version and some customers,
especially libraries, need unique identification of
products from different platforms with different
functionality…
‣ If a publisher does not identify each format with a
separate ISBN, re-sellers may do so on their
behalf
Not ideal but a necessary compromise until publishers
assign their own ISBNs
Requires central bibliographic agency to collect and
list ISBNs and related metadata
www.bisg.org
44. What do you believe is the biggest barrier to assigning
ISBNs to digital products?
35.00%
30.00%
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
There are Price of Perceived Information Current Current Other
no barriers ISBNs value (or / metadata workflows digital 5.6%
11.3% 8.5% lack "bloat" make it business (8 votes)
Results gathered
during a live (16 votes) (12 votes) thereof) for 33.1% difficult to model(s)
BISG Webcast my (47 votes) assign them don't
participant
business 19.0% necessarily
poll held in
September 2009 6.3% (27 votes) require
(9 votes) them
16.2%
(23 votes)
Series1 11.30% 8.50% 6.30% 33.10% 19.00% 16.20% 5.60%
www.bisg.org
45. ‣ Standard identifiers are essential when there is a
need to communicate across a supply chain, e.g.
for purposes of e-commerce, aggregating
information, reporting sales or usage.
‣ This was precisely the reason for introducing the
ISBN standard (ISO 2108) in 1970 and the reason
that it has been so successful in enabling trade
developments
‣ Do we want to risk losing all that with digital
products?
www.bisg.org
46. ‣ At what level of granularity are standard
identifiers required?
Generic file (e.g. epub)?
Format (e.g. pdf)?
Platform (e.g. ebrary)?
‣ By whom?
‣ For what functions?
‣ Who should assign them?
‣ What are the barriers?
Please let us know if you have a view,
now or to info@international-isbn.org
www.bisg.org