W3C Global Web Experts Plan Technical Roadmap for Future of Web

The World Wide Web Consortium hosted the W3C Technical Plenary / Advisory Committee Meetings Week in Lisbon, Portugal from 19-23 September, 2016. The event allowed attendees to discuss standards and other technical aspects of the web in the coming years, with groups discussing interest areas such as accessibility, digital publishing, telecommunications, and web payments and security. In a first, W3C also hosted more than 20 W3C Community Groups that are developing ideas for future Web technologies including blockchain, virtual reality, and a Web of Things plugfest.

Marrakesh Treaty Comes into Force, with First Implementation in Australia

"Following decades of discussion and negotiation, and an international governments' Agreement in June 2013, blindness and low vision and print disability communities are celebrating the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled coming into force 30 September 2016."

National Archives Issues Regulation on Controlled Unclassified Information

Until now, the various government agencies that handle controlled unclassified information were forced to rely upon their own judgment in its handling, resulting in uneven approaches toward dissemination and security. In a welcome move, on September 14, 2016, the National Archives issued a Federal regulation, "Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), which "establish[es] consistent practices and procedures for safeguarding, disseminating, controlling, and marking CUI across Executive Branch departments and agencies." The new regulation goes into effect on November 13, 2016.

OCLC and Internet Archive Work Together to Ensure Future Sustainability of Persistent URLs

"OCLC and Internet Archive today announced the results of a year-long cooperative effort to ensure the future sustainability of purl.org. The organizations have worked together to build a new sustainable service hosted by Internet Archive that will manage persistent URLs and sub-domain redirections for purl.org, purl.com, purl.info and purl.net."

World Standards Week 2016

ANSI Meetings and Events

On October 24-28, 2016, ANSI will host a World Standards Week event in Washington, DC. The celebration is "designed to inspire open dialogue about developments and challenges related to standardization and conformity assessment, highlighted in multiple keynote speaker sessions and conferences," and this year's theme is "Standards Build Trust." Daytime meetings presented as part of World Standards week are free for ANSI members. The celebrations include meetings such as "Zero to Hero: Standards Know-How Isn't Just for Nerds," a full-day event on October 25 that will focus on preparing the next generation of standardizers; leadership and service awards; and a legal issues forum.

Chris Saynor joins EDItEUR

EDItEUR Newsletter, October 3, 2016; by Graham Bell

EDItEUR has announced that Chris Saynor will become the organization's Standards Editor at the end of October. Saynor is currently metadata specialist and project manager at GiantChair, Inc., in Paris, where for the past eight years, he has been responsible for implementation of the Onixsuite application. Saynor will be based in EDItEUR's London office, where he will work with Graham Bell on advancing EDItEUR's standards such as ONIX, Thema and EDItX.

After 'Tough' Year, BISG Refocuses

Publishers Weekly, October 3, 2016; by Andrew Albanese

"Speaking at the Book Industry Study Group's (BISG) annual meeting held September 30, in New York, newly appointed executive (as of Oct. 3) director Brian O'Leary previewed the organization's forthcoming strategic plan. In a 15-minute talk, O'Leary, a longtime consultant and BISG board member, praised the plan he is now tasked with implementing as the group's leader, and spoke confidently about BISG's future."

An Open Perspective on Interactive Textbooks

EDUCAUSE Review, August 22, 2016; by Jim Fowler

"The opposite of the commercial closed-source textbook is the open-source textbook," says this article that discusses problems related to top-down authority, fixed content, and, unsurprisingly, price, in relation to textbooks, learning quality, and student success.

American Library Association Lauds Bipartisan Senate Bill to Renew Support for Libraries Nationwide

American Library Association Press Release, September 23, 2016

The Museum and Library Services Act of 2016 (S. 3391) was introduced on September 23, 2016 by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI), Susan Collins (R-ME), Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). The $230 million authorized by this bill can be spent at states' discretion, says ALA President Julie Todaro, and will "offer library patrons everything from employment services and small business development assistance to free Wi-Fi to STEM programming and access to other costly resources such as academic journals."

Annotations as Peer Review: An Interview with Maryann Martone of Hypothes.is

The Scholarly Kitchen, September 22, 2016; by Alice Meadow

Hypothes.is allows a kind of scholarly doodling in the margins by allowing online annotations of web documents. In this interview, Martone, the company's Director of Biosciences and Scholarly Communications, discusses why this activity is valuable and why it should count toward peer review of material.

Disrupting the Subscription Journals' Business Model for the Necessary Large-scale Transformation to Open Access

A Max Planck Digital Library Open Access Policy White Paper, April 28, 2015; by R. Schimmer, K.K. Geschuhn, & A. Vogler

"Google engineer Travis McPhail was initially puzzled when Lonnie Bunch, the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, explained in a meeting with the Black Googler Network his mission to redefine what it means to be a museum in the modern age. But after hearing more about the director's vision of telling the history of America through the African-American lens, the software engineer at Google was hooked."

Google Is Redefining 3D Tech at the New African American History Museum

Smithsonian.com, September 14, 2016; by Katie Nodjimbaden

"Google engineer Travis McPhail was initially puzzled when Lonnie Bunch, the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, explained in a meeting with the Black Googler Network his mission to redefine what it means to be a museum in the modern age. But after hearing more about the director's vision of telling the history of America through the African-American lens, the software engineer at Google was hooked."

White House to Data Scientists: We Need You

Computer World, September 29, 2016; by Katherine Noyes

DJ Patil, chief data scientist at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, asked data scientists at Strata+Hadoop World on September 27 to "step up" and help his office. The scientists present know how to use data to solve the many problems facing our country, such as overhaul of the criminal justice system, said Patil, who told the audience that its up to them to show that his office's relatively small-scale work is "not just feasible but scalable."

W3C Global Web Experts Plan Technical Roadmap for Future of Web

The World Wide Web Consortium hosted the W3C Technical Plenary / Advisory Committee Meetings Week in Lisbon, Portugal from 19-23 September, 2016. The event allowed attendees to discuss standards and other technical aspects of the web in the coming years, with groups discussing interest areas such as accessibility, digital publishing, telecommunications, and web payments and security. In a first, W3C also hosted more than 20 W3C Community Groups that are developing ideas for future Web technologies including blockchain, virtual reality, and a Web of Things plugfest.

Marrakesh Treaty Comes into Force, with First Implementation in Australia

"Following decades of discussion and negotiation, and an international governments' Agreement in June 2013, blindness and low vision and print disability communities are celebrating the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled coming into force 30 September 2016."

National Archives Issues Regulation on Controlled Unclassified Information

Until now, the various government agencies that handle controlled unclassifed information were forced to rely upon their own judgment in its handling, resulting in uneven approaches toward dissemination and security. In a welcome move, on September 14, 2016, the National Archives issued a Federal regulation, "Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), which "establish[es] consistent practices and procedures for safeguarding, disseminating, controlling, and marking CUI across Executive Branch departments and agencies." The new regulation goes into effect on November 13, 2016.

OCLC and Internet Archive Work Together to Ensure Future Sustainability of Persistent URLs

"OCLC and Internet Archive today announced the results of a year-long cooperative effort to ensure the future sustainability of purl.org. The organizations have worked together to build a new sustainable service hosted by Internet Archive that will manage persistent URLs and sub-domain redirections for purl.org, purl.com, purl.info and purl.net."