EPUB-labs is intended to be an informal, open development space, with associated mailing list, for ebook and media developers to begin exploring the best ways of achieving support for enhanced transmedia and internationalization experiences for ebooks.  epub-labs is intended to foster discussion of best practices for html5, css v2/v3, and other technologies for enhanced ebooks, in both web-based and more traditional package delivery formats.

epub-labs is not an IDPF program, and it is not part of the official IDPF standards development process.  Nor is it a part of IDPF's Maintenance Group activities supporting the current EPUB specification.  The formalization of new EPUB standards will proceed through an official IDPF epub track.

epub-labs will serve as an adjunct to official standards process guided by the IDPF by providing a open framework to demonstrate test implementations and obtain open feedback and community improvement.  However, IDPF is obviously free to avail itself of the work of epub-labs in its specification process, the development of reference implementations, or test and verification suites.  Strong associations and on- going communication exist between the principals behind the epub-labs community, IDPF, and AAP Digital Issues Working Group.

epub-labs invites "attachments" and associations with any existing community developer efforts supporting the epub ecosystem.

epub-labs is intended to be a commons.  No restricted content IP should be brought into the environment.  Eg., complete proprietary packaged ebooks available on the commercial market will not produce optimal community results.  (Proposed technical standards may possess IP entanglements; the epub-labs forum will discuss their relative merits -- video codecs being a poster child).

Please submit samples, trial excerpts, and demos based on public domain materials whenever possible.  All enhancements, whether video, textual, audio, or geographic should point to items in the public domain or possessing CC licenses that permit non-commercial use (acknowledging the terms of the CC license).

I propose that we use the following text as a sample whenever appropriate.  Of course, other texts can be used as well.

Letters and Speeches of the Honorable John F. Fitzgerald http://www.archive.org/details/lettersspeecheso00fitz

The source repository is hosted at github - if this is unsatisfactory, it can be changed or moved.

http://github.com/internetarchive/epub-labs

The Internet Archive is hosting this facility, however we do not desire to intervene beyond necessary site maintenance and our own developers' participation.  We will not apply a claim to any IP, content, or materials deposited on the site by other parties.

A mailing list is available for subscription at:

http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/epub-labs

If other community tools can or should be added, please do not hesitate to make suggestions through the list.

Thank you, and daemons' speed!