About nextPub

nextPub is an important initiative hosted by IDEAlliance. The goal of nextPub is to foster the development of next-generation publishing tools by embracing emerging technologies, developing best practices and establishing industry standards to make multi-channel publishing simple and efficient. To accomplish this objective, the nextPub Working Group has been established to define a metadata framework that publishers can use to deliver magazines and other rich content across platforms, to eReaders, media tablets and emerging electronic display devices both efficiently and cost effectively.

Participants of the nextPub Working Group attend regular Web conference meetings and quarterly face-to-face meetings. Benefits to participants include:
 • Exclusive access to information
 • Tracking emerging IT standards
 • Influencing IT development
 • Connecting with trade partners
 • Expanding their visibility

Over the past two years the nextPub Initiative has developed a family of specifications that form a framework to enable a new publishing paradigm for design-based publications such as magazines and display books. When the nextPub Initiative began, the immediate goal was to make multi-channel publishing both simple and efficient. That is, to meet the iPad challenge. But as the Working Group explored standards and technologies, strategists began to envision monetizing content beyond today’s publishing channels. Strategists began talking about developing a “Dynamic Content Architecture” from which new publishing channels can spring by assembling and delivering new content collections based on topics pulled from a multitude of magazine titles or based on personal preferences foretold by Flipboard, Pulse or Zite models. Based on this more aggressive vision, nextPub developed a set of specifications, known as the PRISM Source Vocabulary that serves as the basis for dynamic content publishing framework.