EPUB 3 Working Group

Welcome to the EPUB 3 Working Group

This document includes some information for new members (“Newbies”) of the EPUB 3 Working Group (EPUB WG).

Members of the WG, especially new members are encouraged to help maintain this document.

The Working Group’s home page is: https://www.w3.org//publishing/groups/epub-wg/. Looking at the left and right column of the page gives you lots of further information. Especially, the group’s Work Mode is described in the WorkMode document and it includes information about how the WG operates, including links to the WG’s various resources.

Meetings

The group holds a weekly teleconference; see the separate page for the timing and the dial-in details. Time and dial in information will be shared as part of the agenda shared weekly on the group mailing list.

All meetings are governed by the W3C Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (CEPC). The CEPC also extends to communications outside of meetings, like email and GitHub comments.

IRC

Meetings usually use IRC as a tool for queue control and minute taking (and general chit-chat). You should also send to ivan@w3.org your preferred IRC nickname (or nicknames, if you use several of those). The goal is to improve the readability of the meeting minutes, so that third parties could also understand whose comments and remarks are in the minutes. Actually, in case you are already a seasoned GitHub user: the nicknames are stored in file on GitHub, meaning that you can simply make a pull request providing with with your nickname(s) instead of a mail.

If you are new to IRC, or haven’t used it in a while, you can use the W3C Client, or any IRC client. We recommend:

When using IRC, make sure you are in the correct channel! While attending a meeting, please use present+ to update your attendance (others will sometimes do this for you, but it’s good to get into the practice of joining this way). During the meeting, the IRC channel will be updated mainly by the chairs or the scribe, who will record the meeting minutes live during the meeting. If you would like to comment or ask a question, enter q+ in IRC to be added to the speaker’s queue, this is used by the chairs to know when someone would like to speak, and in what order. q- can be used to remove yourself from the queue if you wish as well. If in IRC you want to make a small personal comment, or even just some “general chit-chat”, you can use /me in front of your comment to make sure it’s not in the minutes. Remember that everyone will still be able to see your comment in the chat, so keep it respectful!

Quick reference for IRC Commands:

Scribing

All of our meetings will be minuted by someone we call the scribe. Scribing is a really important role in a meeting, as they are responsible for recording the points of the meeting for our records. If you are new to the group or to IRC, it can seem a bit intimidating at first, but scribing can be a great way to participate in the group. We are always looking for scribes to record meetings. If you are interested in scribing, please contact the chairs, we’ll be happy to explain the process and provide support.

If you have never scribed before because you’re unsure, here are the basics:

Quick reference for IRC commands:

Example:

jdoe: I am interested in learning how to scribe
... but I am unsure of the syntax
... could someone help me? 
chair: Of course, let's talk later.

GitHub

The group operates mostly on GitHub: that is where the specifications are developed, where issues are discussed. Even these pages are in a GitHub repository (look at the bottom for the reference). It is therefore important to familiarize yourself, at least at a basic level, with this tool. (If you are new to GitHub, the “Introduction to Basic GitHub Contribution” may be of help.)

Once you have your GitHub account name, “link” it to your W3C Account. This can be done by going to the relevant page on your account. This ensures that the various W3C specific tools can check your identity whether you use your W3C account or your GitHub account. As an example, if you do a Pull Request on one of the Recommendation track documents on GitHub, the system would know that you are bona fide Working Group member, which means that the possible IPR issues are properly handled by virtue of your institution’s Working Group membership. The W3C tooling will also automatically add your name to the Working Group’s “GitHub team” (in GitHub‘s jargon) within 24 hours, and this would give you the possibility of being asked personally to review or being assigned to issues, or editing the wiki pages.

Specifications in Progress

A list of the group’s specifications, including the publication status of each spec, can be found in the group’s PubStatus document.

New WG Member Introductions

Although it isn’t required, new WG members are encouraged to send a short introductory e-mail to the WG’s Public mail list (public-epub-wg@w3.org) or the group’s Member-only list (member-epub-wg@w3.org). The introduction should include your area(s) of interest.

Questions, Comments, Issues, etc.?

Please contact the group’s Chairs and staff contacts (using the group-epub-wg-chairs@w3.org list) — at any time — if you have any questions, issues, concerns, etc. about the Working Group.

Resources

If you are unfamiliar with processes and roles within the Consortium; there is an introduction course available which takes little over an hour and a half to complete.