SAE’s Approach to Digital Publishing

1. SAE’s Approach to Digital Publishing Nancy A Clarke Conference Session E4 How Digital Publishing is Changing & Where it is going

2. Did you know? • SAE was Founded in 1905 – Society of Automobile Engineers • Vice President – Henry Ford, initial membership 30 engineers • Initial publication of SAE Transactions – compilation of technical papers • A fateful meeting in 1916 – Society of AutomotiveEngineers • SAE Member, Sperry, created the term “automotive” from Greek autos (self), and Latin motivus (of motion) • Members included Thomas Edison, Orville Wright, Charles Kettering • SAE standards program played pivotal roles during both World Wars • 1960 - Emergence of FISITA – International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies • 1974 – Transition to Western PA – Pittsburgh – home of many companies that were key material and technical suppliers to the mobility industry • Developed interactive CD-ROM and web-based products • 1990’s • SAE Foundation created to raise funds in support of A World in Motion – physical science supplement for grades 4-8 • Launch of 12 different Collegiate Design Competitions drawing over 4,500 students and 500 universities. Examples include Formula SAE, SAE Mini Baja, and SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge

3. Today • 4 major industries – Aerospace, Automobile, Commercial Vehicle and Motorsports • 5 magazine publications • Automotive Engineering International • Aerospace Engineering & Manufacturing (online only) • Off-highway Engineering • Momentum (student magazine) • SAE Update (online only) • 850 published books, 95,000 published papers, 10,000 published standards – 1.7M pages – 67% digitized & online • Webinars, e-Learning, e-newsletters and e-Seminars • 120,000+ Members • Electronics, Clean Air, Hybrid Vehicle standards in high demand

4. Recasting SAE’s Digital PublishingBusiness • Goals • Leverage new channels for reaching members and customers • Speed time to market for new information and products • Provide content to customers based on their individual needs

5. SAE’s Approach (5 tracks) • Next Generation Product Plan • identify new content type opportunities, define valuable and needed improvements for our customers, and increase awareness of our products by leveraging content and social outlets. • Content Management Policy and Procedures • Changing from warehouses and inventory to print on demand • Changing priorities from order fulfillment and printing to real-time information publishing • Books, Magazines, Standards, Technical Papers • Changing from restrictive, complicated DRM to passive monitoring and logging • Changing from editorial department to XML first content management department • Replacing predefined, restrictive document builds with a dynamic agile build process • Expand author’s ability to communicate information and reach

6. SAE’s Approach (5 Tracks) • Content Conversion • Convert SAE’s existing content to a digital format that captures structure, semantics, and supplemental information. • Taxonomy Integration • Create and implement a new taxonomy • Implementation of content tagging system/procedures/organization, including definition and implementation of appropriate semi-automated tagging application software and staff training with quality assurance systems. • Convert all SAE systems to leverage new taxonomy • Content Management Infrastructure • Developing and implementing infrastructure changes required to meet new channels for publishing. Primary technologies to focus on include content storage, access, publication and labeling. • XML, semi-automated indexing, searching, rendering

7. The New SAE CM Workflow • New author guidelines and templates • Shortened review and approval process • All textual content distilled to XML format, non textual content linked where appropriate • Semi-automated process for classifying content • Publishing processes built with plug-in templates to produce the variety of digital demands  •  Replace manual compilations (e.g. journals) with automation • Content that changes is a challenge all into itself PDF PDF Publish Author/ Approve Validate Convert Ingest/ Index epub mobi Word XML Validate

8. Challenges • Authors are volunteers • Easy, clear and comprehensive authoring guidelines are critical • Restricted templates necessary • Need to plan for the idealist, the exceptions, the naysayers • It’s a new way of thinking for everyone • Format is not a given • Change will not be immediate • Efficiency is reached over time as more content moves to new workflow • The flow will evolve after it is being used, keep it simple and flexible • Authoring is about the content, not the presentation • Thinking outside the box is critical to truly leverage content – you’ll be amazed at what you’ll find

9. Challenges • Content Management tools enable process but alone do not change it • Procedures require detailed documentation • The Editor/Production Specialist’s role and skills change - knowledge of XML is critical • Training and new desktop tools are essential • Weed out the unnecessary - “we always did it this way…” • What is the authoritative source? • Underlying infrastructure is critical • Where to store the XML • Adequate disk space • Integration with company databases – metadata • Tools that permit flexibility of output format/layout (plug and play) • Communication, as always, is critical

10. SAE’s Digital Content Conversion • In 2009 converted 25 books and 95,000 technical papers to XML • Papers were converted between July and Dec • Average 12-16 pages per paper • 95% of content was converted from hard copy or PDF Image • Design specifications were created to apply across multiple content types • A team was needed to manage inventory, quality, timelines, budget and issues • Project/Design Lead • QA Lead + 3 analysts • IT Infrastructure Lead + 2 developers • 2010 promises conversions for 10K+ standards and 100 books

11. Conversion Design Specifications • NLM Journal and Book Publishing tag sets were basis for design • Zero changes made to the NLM DTDs • The NLM Common Tagging Preferences is very resourceful • http://dtd.nlm.nih.gov/publishing/tag-library/n-qk32.html • Many decisions still required beyond selecting a tag set • Decisions for legacy content and for new content will not be equal • Legacy Conversion Decisions • Produce an exact replica of print for immediate online access (PDF) • Capture text as XML that will enhance searching for content • Capture tables, math equations as graphics – capture content type for future possibilities • Capture structure for reuse/repurpose of content • Capture figure, table and formula labels with graphic • Capture section, list and other labels as labels

12. Design Decisions If capturing as inline equation, is it 1 or 2? What will it cost? -- STM papers are heavily peppered with A wide range of character codes/symbols. -- Standardized on Unicode even when entity code or otherwise is an option. -- Capture common characters as unicode, rare characters as images. -- Remember to address limitations of readers, renderers. -- DTD character set may specify a value other than a unicode (& and <) -- Replace variations of EM and EN dashes with hyphens

13. Conversion Design Specifications • Design document should cover anomalies and small details • Lists do not always follow standards • Be clear on what should and should not be a definition list • Define how to address multipart figures • If an “id” attribute exists, you probably want to use it • Page continuations • What defines a “subtitle”? • Be clear on use of contrib/contrib-group, appendix/appendix-group • Examine books individually • References/Citations • Write detailed rules for defining reference publication types • Use combination of mixed-citation and individual elements for flexibility • Provide examples of each type of reference (book vs. URL vs. paper) • Plan for multiple nested reference list elements

14. Lessons Learned • Know your DTD or XSD thoroughly so you know what can be captured and how to capture it • Identify roles/resources for the following: • Proofing results, correcting small problems • Tracking and managing documents with problems • Addressing vendor queries • Tracking and reporting progress • Prepare/build methods for proofing results first • Share tools with vendor • Define adequate sample size for pilot • Communication is key – regular meetings, status updates, issue logs • Include many examples, be specific • Adjust as you go

15. Lessons Learned • “trust but verify” • Understand how accuracy is measured • Don’t convert metadata if its already in a database, marry it up later • Account for disk space and method for transferring large amounts of data • Plan for unexpected costs (overruns, rework, scope) • Include costs for shipping, copying, software licenses, readers • Allow for ramp up, vendor allocation time • Save money, create your own epub, PDF • Each vendor has their own unique methods for converting to XML, ask questions

16. Thank You! http://www.sae.org