1. Why is an XML Workflow
an Advantage ?
It’s all about solving business problems
bringing out new products!
Bob Kelly – American Physical Society
Director Journal Information Systems rakelly@aps.org
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2. THE FUTURE OF SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION:
BUILDING THE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR CYBERSCHOLARSHIP
(being competitive in the future))
 The widespread availability of digital content creates
opportunities for new forms of research and scholarship
that are qualitatively different from traditional ways of
using academic publications and research data. We call
this "cyberscholarship”.
 The widespread availability of content in digital formats
provides an infrastructure for novel forms of research. To
support cyberscholarship, such content must be captured,
managed, and preserved in ways that are significantly
different from conventional methods.
 A report sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Joint
Information Systems Committee – April 2007
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3. Why XML
for text, equations and figures
 Because, with a standardized archival file, you can create
other deliverables with out re-creating the source.
 Supports current and future deliverables and business
decisions
Multiple
Single, standardized production / Product and
Business
composition / archival process. opportunities
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4. Content will be reused! It is a web world!
It should only be created once!
Multiple readable Multiple system
deliverables deliverables
 Print  Secondary Publisher
 Web  Data Base
 PDF  Google
 Browsers  Federated Searching
 Smart Devices  Web 2.0
 E-Books
 Web 3.0
 Accessible Readers
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5. Business and Product Rationale
 Organizational restructuring  Integration with content from
 Separate formatting from other publishers
production  Data feed product
 Multiple formats from single  Web 2.0 Products
source  Web 3.0 products
 Reusable content
 Accessible products
 Automate navigation
 Interactive products
 Search index creation
 On Line
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6. IBM 198o’s
 Multiple authoring locations
 Share documentation development across locations.
 Solution – Generalized Mark Up Language – predecessor to SGML.
 Separate composition from formatting – use tagging for navigation
and formatting.
 Unexpected Benefit –
 First electronic deliverable, searchable, navigable, readable, for
sighted and for visually impaired with a screen reader – all built from
same file
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7. APS 1995 +
Create new products
 Migrate PRL from manual, past-up process to an “SGML (now XML) first”
production process
 Deliver articles in print and acrobat reader
 Title, abstracts, authors, references on line and article in pdf.
 TOC and Front Matter freely available
 Print and online plus search index all single sourced
 Unexpected benefit
 1998 all APS journals online from single dtd
 1998 all journal back files, to 1893, online with front and back matter in SGML/XML
 1998 - articles published daily – deconstruct the journal production process
 Linking to other online journal via doi, part of production process
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8. APS Current
 New deliverables
 Exploit common back file XML Source to introduce new
deliverables
 Develop revenue producing products, such as harvesting XML
via Open Archive Initiative Protocol
 RSS - a family Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works –Tables
of Contents, etc. in a standardized format - Wikipedia
 Microformats – a web-based approach to semantic markup to re-use existing
tags to convey metadata and other attributes - Wikipedia
 MathML- Mathematical Markup Language (MathML) is an application of XML for
describing mathematical notations and describing both its structure and content. -
Wikipedia
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9. APS Near and Not So Near Future
 RDF – Resource Description Framework a World Wide Web Consortium specification for a
metadata model and component in the proposed Semantic Web Wikipedia
 Personalization
 SVG for Figures – an XML specifiction and file format for describing two-dimensional vector
graphics, both static and dynamic - Wikipedia
 XML, MathML and SVG to DAISY Readers for Accessibility -project with
ViewPlus Technologies to make APS Journals Accessible to people with print disabilities,
those who are sight impaired or dyslexic.
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10. Wrap up
 Different deliverables based on publisher provided content can
provide a sustainable revenue stream – with a focus on science
 Reusable content saves re-inventing a production process
 Guarantees consistency of information
Multiple
Single, standardized production / composition / archival XML process. Product and
Business
opportunities
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11. Thanks
Bob Kelly
Director Journal Information Systems
The American Physical Society
rakelly@aps.org
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