10 th International Research/Expert Conference “Trends in the Development of Machinery and Associated Technology” TMT 2006, Barcelona–Lloret, Spain, 11-15 September, 2006 ENGINEERING EDUCATION SYSTEMS: E-BOOK TECHNOLOGY Angela Repanovici Barbu Braun Cornel Druga Marian REPANOVICI Transilvania University of Brasov, 500036 Brasov, B-dul Eroilor 29 Romania ABSTRACT E-books are gaining wider interest since the introduction of portable electronic reading devices and software-based readers that provide users with more realistic book reading experiences. The paper discusses where to acquire e-book technology, and how to create e-books. It also reports an evaluation to test usability of different types of e-book compiler software This paper starts with discussion of hardware and software based on e-book readers. Different types of e-books formats and standards are detailed. The publishing process and how to build e-books compilers are explained Keywords: e-books, digital library, e-book technology 1. INTRODUCTION E book Standards Although a single standard for e-book formats does not yet exist (as at the end of May 2002), NuvoMedia and SoftBook Press co-developed and proposed the Open eBook Publication Structure (OEBPS) in 1999. OEBPS is based on HTML and XML specifications for the content, structure and presentation of e-books, and is supported by more than 200 companies including IBM, Microsoft and Adobe [7]. Although Adobe is one of the members of OEB Forum, the company is actively pushing its PDF format to be the de facto e-book standard. Microsoft, on the other hand is in favour of HTML and Word documents, and has developed LIT which supports OEBPS. The features of these formats were described and compared by [5], concluding that publishers would prefer the de facto standard to be OEBPS or PDF. 2. PUBLISHING PROCESS Books that are produced and stored electronically rather than in print are the result of electronic publishing (e-publishing). From a financial point of view, e-publishing eliminates printing, binding, storage and transportation costs [3]. Nevertheless, it is probably just as costly (or more costly) to employ skilled editorial and technical staff (such as graphic artists, audio and video specialists, animators etc.) to prepare data for electronic publication as it is for paper based publication. As there is still no single standard format, or indeed a universal definition, for an e-book, the process of production one can still be interpreted in many different ways depending on the type of e-book and its purpose. For example, for textual e-books, the process can involve simply digitising a printed book, or applying mark-up languages. For multimedia or hypermedia books, a different approach is often required, involving additional steps such as creating graphics, audio, animation and video. The e-book publishing industry is currently concentrating on textual e-books with limited multimedia content. The e-publishing process closely resembles traditional print publishing and goes through similar stages: 1. Manuscripts are evaluated (for new books) or acquired (if paper versions exist); 2. If a book is marketable, contracts are signed; 693