The data that is hidden beneath the surface of books includes semantic markup, which is an important part of the publishing process. Digital Book World brought this news to us in their article, “Why Semantics? How Ebook Markup Is a Sign of a Publisher’s Health.”
What is semantic markup? It is a method of marking or tagging content inside HTML, XML, EPUB, etc. in a logical and understandable way.
Proper use of semantic markup in the production process is a sign of good health for a publisher. This is not a new development, but the publishing world continues to change as digital media consumption grows. Digital media does not include just ebook sales, but broader content, like streaming music and Netflix video. These are perfect examples of the need for semantic markup.
Getting the best out of the content you have is as important as creating more. Before you can do that, though, you need to be sure that users can access your content via solid indexing with semantic markup against a standards-based taxonomy built by professionals.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Data Harmony, a unit of Access Innovations, the world leader in indexing and making content findable.
