A quick, simple introduction to XML. Helpful for anyone who has print content and is planning to have it digitalized. Excellent for training non-tech staff and students on why XML is useful. This presentation can help build support for why it is necessary to convert Adobe PDF or Word documents or HTML into XML.

1. A VERY Simple Introduction to XML John Ben DeVetteDeVette Publishing Solutions johnben@devettepublishing.com

2. 2 What is XML? XML is a machine-friendly language that tells a computer how to display a document when it is loaded onto a website Adobe PDF and Microsoft Word (.doc) files are “people-friendly” formats, but not ready for machines to index or search easily XML Supports Unicode, so it can handle any language: Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, etc. XML is the acronym for “Extensible Markup Language” 10/4/10 DEVETTE PUBLISHING SOLUTIONS

3. 3 XML is“FUTURE FRIENDLY” It is easy to convert XML into other machine-readable or human-readable formats There are many software programs thatautomatically convert XML into ePub, HTML, PDF, or other publishing formats. We do not know what computers or software will look like in the future It is wise to keep archival copies of XML to protect your content for future generations 10/4/10 DEVETTE PUBLISHING SOLUTIONS

4. 4 XML is “Search Friendly” To be search friendly, it must be easy for Google and other search engines to mine (search) all your content SEO = Search Engine Optimization Easy to create metadata from XML Easy to create HTML from XML Easier to create machine readable indexing from XML. 10/4/10 DEVETTE PUBLISHING SOLUTIONS

5. XML Has Many Different “Dialects” Unfortunately, hundreds of different XML languages (I call them dialects) have been developed To people, they all look similar on the Web, but their file structures are different Different XML dialects will require customized software applications to combine or exchange documents and files with other systems It’s best for everyone to use the same XML dialect. Then it’s easier to build a knowledge base The NLM DTD Schema is fast becoming the global standard DTD for XML formatting. 10/4/10 5 DEVETTE PUBLISHING SOLUTIONS

6. 6 Advice for XML Use in Japan:The Whole Country Must Use the Same XML DTD Developing and maintaining a common DOCUMENT TYPE DEFINITION (DTD) XML Schema for all of Japan is critical The Japanese government should decide which DTD XML standard to use, and force all Japanese universities and societies to comply. 10/4/10 DEVETTE PUBLISHING SOLUTIONS

7. For questions and comments please contact John Ben DeVette at johnben@devettepublishing.comor visit my blog athttp://devette.wordpress.com This PowerPoint presentation is a excerpt of a longer presentation I gave to the Japan Science and Technology Agency on 2010 September 17, entitled: FUTURE TRENDS OF ACADEMIC PUBLISHING: Creating an Efficient Access & Distribution System for Japan’s Research Output This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. 10/4/10 7 DEVETTE PUBLISHING SOLUTIONS