IDEAlliance is proud to announce the release of a new family of specifications that define the foundation for a dynamic publishing architecture. The PRISM Source Vocabulary Specification (PSV) provides a publishing framework designed to enable publishers to efficiently create, produce and dynamically deliver content collections in print and across emerging tablet and mobile channelsin ways not possible today.

PSV is all about the source content. It is not about packaging, delivery or rendering content. PSV already employs the widely-adopted PRISM metadata vocabularies to make individual content assets "smarter" and thereby easier to use in a multi-channel production environment. Integrating PSV into publishing workflows creates efficiencies, lowers production costs and provides new opportunities to monetize media assets. PSV is designed to support issue-based publications as well as to enable publishers to aggregate their content and deliver through new digital channels. The tagline, The Source is the Solution, means that publishing to any platform should start with PSV.

The PRISM Source Vocabulary Specifications have been developed over the past two years by nextPub, the IDEAlliance publishing technology incubator. The nextPub Working Group (WG), chaired by Peter Meirs, VP Production Technologies, Time Inc., envisioned ways to monetize content beyond today's publishing channels.nextPub members advocate a "Dynamic Content Architecture" from which additional publishing channels can emerge when new collections of content "chunks" are demanded by consumers, as foreshadowed by Flipboard, Pulse or Zite. The central idea is to future-proof content no matter what the future brings. According to Peter Meirs, "Publishers are recognizing the inefficiencies that come from redesigning their content for multiple platforms. Rather than starting first with a specific design, content tagged with PSV metadata can enable scalable workflows that can automatically aggregate, transform and deliver published works across a spectrum of devices and channels."

According to Dianne Kennedy, VP, Emerging Technologies, IDEAlliance, "PSV defines a framework of robust PRISM 3.0 metadata elements that can be used to configure federated source content and rich media repositories to support the publication of books, blogs and websites as well as issue-based publications such as magazines, journals and newspapers. Simply put, the more semantically rich content is, the more useful it will be and the more adaptive it will become as we continue to re-imagine and re-vision business opportunities our content offers." As Karen McGrane, content evangelist and Managing Director at Bond Art +Science observes, "Publishers don't get to decide which device their customers use to read their content-readers do. Getting content out onto all these different new devices and platforms requires a dynamic and flexible content architecture, which PSV provides."

Resources required to support the technical effort it took to develop the PSV Specifications have come from our technology partners that include Adobe Systems Inc., Apex CoVantage, Aysling Digital Media Solutions, Dalim Software GmbH, Hearst Magazines, Hipzone Inc., MediaBeacon, New Proimage America, Inc., Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, Inc., RSI Content Solutions, Technology for Publishing, LLC, Time Inc., Trend Offset Printing, Typefi Systems Pty Ltd, WoodWing USA, Inc., Zinio LLC. Content providers supporting this project included AARP/Publications, American Media, Inc., Brown Printing Company, Hearst Magazines, Meredith Corporation, National Geographic Global Media, RR Donnelley, Rodale, Inc., Source Interlink Media, Time Inc., U.S. News Media Group, Wolters Kluwer. In addition we owe thanks to our association partners including the Magazine Media Association (MPA), Ad-ID,a company of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers and JMPA, the Japanese Magazine Publishing Association. David Steinhardt, President and CEO of IDEAlliance praised these supporters by saying, "The support of industry collaborators has enabled IDEAlliance to fast-track PSV specification development. Without their help this work would not have been possible."

The first publisher implementation of PSV will take place in Japan when JMPA implements their new PSV-based content distributor system for magazine and newspaper publishers in that country.The schemas and design of this system are based on the PSV Aggregator/Distributor Message Package Guide that is being released as part of the PSV documentation set. According to Mr.Tetsuya Okubo, Chairman of the Digital Content Promotion Committee at Japan Magazine Publishers Association, "Our goal is to build a system capable of delivering digital publications to our distributors today and to create the foundation to dynamically deliver content across media channels in the future."

Currently numerous technology solutions suppliers are incorporating PRISM Source Vocabulary metadata in their solutions. These tools, soon to be registered by IDEAlliance as "Powered by PSV," include a new content solution from Publisher's Press. According to Michael Simon, Executive Vice President, "We at Publisher's Press believe that The Source is the Solution and are actively implementing PRISM at the heart of our newest content offering, The Magazine Channel. TMC will run on our PSV-based ContentXpress digital solution, an XML archive work flow built on our proprietary platform. ContentXpress supports managed content via an easy-to-use XML archive that allows publishers to manage and make content available at the article level, the way today's users want to get at magazine content."

"WoodWing also embraces PSV for its Publishing System Enterprise product," according to Erik Schut, WoodWing's President and co-founder. "In the past, and in many cases still today, publishers had multiple workflows specific for the various output channels. Ever since our Enterprise 6 release in 2008 when we introduced Content Station we have been evangelizing a brand oriented multi-channel workflow. Since the release of the iPad in 2010 we have seen a rapidly increasing demand for multi-channel workflows. Woodwing has always stored our content in XML and all metadata in our database so we're thrilled to have an industry standard available and are looking forward to fully supporting the PRISM Source Vocabulary thus enabling our customers to be more productive and generate new revenues."

The PSV Specifications for establishing a dynamic publishing architecture can be downloaded from www.nextpub.org Publishers can learn more by joining the PRISM Practitioners LinkedIn group.To participate, contact Dianne Kennedy at 630-941-8197 or [email protected].