ICC Macmillan: Newsletter Summer 2001

Summer 2001
Vol.2,No.2

Gomer is XML's biggest fan.

XML—Is It Really So Xtraordinary?

BY GINA GORDON

More and more publishers are making plans to code their documents in XML. Why is XML suddenly exceedingly popular? And how is XML different from SGML and HTML?

XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language and is a public project headed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It was officially recommended by the W3C on February 10, 1998 ("decades" ago in the technical world) and is a constantly evolving language.

XML is actually a child of SGML; XML is a subset of SGML so an XML document is, in fact, a pared- down version of SGML. Think of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) as the mother of all markup languages. SGML is verbose and complex for the average user.

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is also a relative of SGML; however, where HTML is clunky, simplified, and is basically used to display information on the Web, XML is the happy medium. XML allows you to organize information, not just display it.

SGML, XML, and even HTML are defined by a DTD ( Document Type Definition). The DTD describes what the structure of the document should be—the elements, attributes, entities, and notations that make up the document. With HTML, you cannot set up your own DTDs; you are always stuck using the same DTDs. However, with XML you can create a DTD that is unique to your own document.

Furthermore, where HTML uses tags only to describe the document's appearance — like <i> text </i> — if you need a word italicized, XML tags describe the data itself.

XML looks like this: <dog> Gomer </dog>
As you can see, XML tells us about the information in the document. We now know that the word "Gomer" refers to a dog. You can even go so far as to give the word multiple definitions: <swimmer>, <dog breed = "labrador" color = "black">. And if you want a word to appear visually distinctive, italicized for instance, you can use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). The CSS defines how the tagged text will be displayed.

So, how does that relate to book and journal publishing? Well, instead of searching through entire pages of information, the search engine can go straight to the relevant tag. You can sort out all the dog types in the entire document. Say you are looking for a dog that likes to fetch. You would do a search for < retriever> and you would be led directly to a list of all dogs that have a particular affinity for chasing sticks. Here are some perks of XML:

•	You can code a document in XML and it can be read on different, or even incompatible, systems. In fact, XML can be read on almost any platform.
•	It is not limited to Internet use only. XML can be used to organize information and is ideal for exchanging data between different systems.
•	XML’s precise tags make it easier to index documents.
•	It allows you to create cross-references.
•	The language has powerful hypertext linking capabilities. You can link to a URL, a span of text, portions within your document, or a separate document.
•	You can display math in XML if you use a mathsupportive DTD. For instance, MathML is composed of XML tags, which can be used to mark up an equation in terms of its appearance and its meaning.
•	Documents can be XML-coded as the book is typeset. For instance, we can use avenue. quark to extract each tagged element into an XML element type. And within LATEX, we can convert LATEX commands into XML code. Converting LATEX code to XML code is even more efficient than Quark because LATEX is a markup language and therefore conversion is only a matter of moving from one syntax to another.
•	And of course, we can always use your company's proprietary markup system or means to convert to XML.

If you have questions or comments, please send a message to "Ask Gomer" at gomer @ iccorp. com.

A Face to a Name: Meet Our Project Managers

BY GINA GORDON

STACEY CORBIN
	Stacey coordinates the production of ICC Macmillan’s eBook conversions and inter- active CD projects. Stacey also acts as our publishing technologies man- ager, focusing on research relating to multimedia products and eBooks. Her work helps us gain a better unders- tanding of the electronic publishing market so we can adapt and grow with
new technological developments. Stacey's experiences at the University of Chicago press (in the Astrophysical and Astronomical division) and as an editor of a Chicago newspaper brought her to ICC Macmillan and we have gained so much from having her around! A Grosse Pointe, Michigan, native, Stacey is about to have her first public art showing of paintings, photography, and mixed media.

BRITTNEY CORRIGAN-McELROY

Our senior project manager is a glutton for punishment. Brittney, who is originally from Aurora, Colorado, loves to tackle ICC Macmillan’s most complicated projects. She also manages the entire group of project managers. Brittney’s personal time is spent in publishing as well. She's been publishing her poems in literary journals for several years and was a consulting editor for Glimmer Train magazine. To top it all off, Brittney is a photographer, an Irish step dancer, and can say "The dog ate my homework" in Irish: D'ith an madra m'obair baile.

KATHY EWING
	Kathy handles multiple book projects and is always willing to take on "just one more book" without a word of complaint. A Portland local, she has a background in journalism and, while living in Germany, tutored students in English as a foreign language. Kathy enjoys being part of the process of turning ideas into a finished written product. And when her nose isn't
buried in a book, we know that she would love to sing a duet with Leonard Cohen, her favorite musician.

ROZI HARRIS

Hailing from Lunenburg, Massachusetts, Rozi’s experience in multimedia production is just what we'd been looking for in our newest project manager. She manages many of ICC Macmillan’s eBook and interactive CD projects. If you're ever curious about the philosophy of color, talk to Rozi; she wrote her college thesis on the inadequate theories of our ordinary color concepts. Don't worry, we assure you that Rozi won't be checking our color accurate proofs.

STACEY LOOMIS

Another ICC Macmillan star (raised in Los Angeles), Stacey coordinates the production of countless journals and almost as many books with the greatest of ease. Stacey is a pro at juggling multiple projects, having a solid background in publishing: she previously work- ed for a Portland independent publishing com- pany where she helped to write, edit, and market books before coming aboard at ICC Macmillan. A family secret: Stacey comes from a circus family. The name Loomis is actually derived from the name of a trapeze show—the Flying Loomis Sisters, perhaps?

JULIE VERMILLION

We think she's the next Michael Jordan of the publishing world. Seemingly incapable of becoming frazzled by tight deadlines or messy manuscripts, Julie handles numerous journals, as well as books and coding projects. Before arriving at ICC Macmillan, Julie worked for the African Wildlife Foundation in Washington, D.C., where she was a publications coordinator. She also spent time working for a scholarly book company and for Baltimore Magazine. A native of Gambrills, Maryland, Julie is obsessed with traveling. Some of the spots she intends to hit include Australia, Ireland, Hawaii, and Alaska.

ICC Macmillan PLANTS TREES

On July 14, the ICC Macmillan Awareness Club in New Delhi got together with a mission to improve the environment. The club members planted 50 trees near ICC Macmillan's newest Delhi facility. The event was followed by entertainment from ICC Macmillan’s very own (and truly talented) musicians and singers.

Author Guidelines for Submitting Word Files

BY ROSE RUMMEL-EURY

For publications for which our customers do not provide Microsoft Word templates, ICC Macmillan has put together recommendations specific to the submission of Word documents. If authors follow these few, simple tips, the result will be tighter manuscripts, rapid, error- free production, and will ensure the highest quality finished book.

… the less formatting,
the better …

•	THE LESS FORMATTING, THE BETTER. Removing formatting is time-consuming and necessary—our compositors will have to remove author formatting before typesetting. If formatting must be used, be consistent and make use of Word's styles for italics, bold, and bulleted lists, for example.
•	Do not break words at the ends of lines; the only hyphens that should exist will be in compound words.
•	Do not use running heads, the space bar for indents, or enhance spacing after periods, colons, and the ends of sentences.
•	The author should be aware that the art that appears in the Word document will not exactly match the final product; have no fear, the content will be identical, but ICC Macmillan will change the fonts and stroke weights to make all of the art in a project consistent.
•	It is recommended that the author not include photos in the MS Word document. These generally tend to be of lower resolution and are difficult to use. If this option is not available, send the original photograph/ image so that it can be scanned by ICC Macmillan’s art department If the author wishes to see the photo in place in the page, we ask that a separate hi- res image is provided as well.
•	Double-space the entire manuscript, but do not put any extra spaces between paragraphs, notes, or extracts.
•	Do not center or justify text.
•	Avoid writing short paragraphs, especially after headings. During formatting these types of paragraphs tend to create "widows" ( short lines at the top or bottom of a page). As a rule, paragraphs of three lines or less are a potential problem.
•	Avoid "in-position" tables and figures. Instead, allow them to "float" by giving them a reference number. Unnumbered elements cause difficulty during typesetting, which makes them more expensive to produce.
•	In tables, use the TAB key, not the space bar, between entries.
•	When incorporating mathematics into the manuscript, note that line breaks within in- line equations ( math in text) interfere with readability. Display math ( math set apart on one line by itself) will solve this problem.
•	Avoid the use of ALL CAPS
•	Last, the less formatting, the better!

If you would like more information on this topic, please contact our production team; we're here to help.

From tables at the World Peace Conference to the Portland India Cultural Festival, Earthrise volunteers are hard at work.

ICC Macmillan Launches a Charitable Nonprofit: Earthrise International

BY ERIKA KAUPPI

After initial discussions about launching a charitable nonprofit last summer, ICC Macmillan President Scott Johnson and company volunteers began their work in earnest. By December 2000, Earthrise International was born.

Earthrise, whose mission is to assist underprivileged communities through integrated health, education, and development programs, is based in Portland, Oregon, and works in impoverished areas in India. Earthrise has been collaborating with the Amba Foundation in New Delhi, India, to develop and expand health and education resources to a slum community in east New Delhi known as Mandawali.

Last spring, Earthrise began supporting an education center and a health center. Since then, the education center, which serves more than 200 children in the community, has been moved from an open- air hallway to a permanent building nearby. Classrooms are now furnished with desks, chalkboards, and other essentials. Certified teachers and staff have been hired. A nutritionist administers dietary supplements, and nutritional snacks are provided daily. In addition, children now have access to computers—a technology unknown to them a year ago.

The health center services are also expanding. Since Earthrise support began, a new doctor and additional staff have been hired, and a weekly women's group has been renewed. Also, a new child health program was launched that provides routine checkups and immunizations to about 50 to 150 children each week—effectively doubling the number of children treated at the health center.

Back at Earthrise headquarters in Oregon, volunteers are thrilled to see some of the results of their efforts taking shape. In addition to the progress underway in the field, the organization itself is growing. New volunteers are joining up, new partnerships are in the works, and Earthrise is discussing plans for an additional project in a rural area.

For volunteer or other information, contact Earthrise: (503) 525-0100.

David Heath

RUNNING MAN

On April 16, Richard Curwen, ICC Macmillan’s prepress consultant and art assistant, completed the 105th Boston Marathon with a time of 3: 23: 20. He came in 3,244th out of 13,408 runners. Congratulations, Richard!

INTERACTIONS… with ICC Macmillan Staff
Meet… David Heath

BY KERRY BEEAKER

ICC Macmillan compositor David Heath has been involved in the publishing industry for 27 years, having started out in newspapers and then moved into commercial typesetting. David has been with the company now known as ICC Macmillan for 25 years and is one of our top compositors, fluent in the intricacies of Quark and LATEX. Despite this extensive background, publishing is not his true profession. When asked what it is he does, David will say he is an actor.

David got his start in acting in 1969 while on assignment with the Peace Corps to teach English as a second language in the Marshall Islands. One of his fellow volunteers was a theatre major, and another wrote one-act plays—during a party one evening, David found himself auditioning for a play. To his surprise, he received the lead role, and the rest is history.

David has since been involved in numerous plays, television projects, and motion pictures, ranging from summer Shakespeare in the park to a Lifetime Channel movie about columnists Ann Landers and Dear Abby. Most recently, David played the part of Roy in a Portland theatre production of Neil Simon’s "The Odd Couple," and he is currently rehearsing for a late summer run of "The Crucible." Some of his favorite past roles include that of James Joyce in "Travesties," Norman in "The Norman Conquests," and the Sheriff of Nottingham in "The Adventures of Robin Hood."

See ICC Macmillan’s actor/compositor at work by renting Twentieth Century Fox’s "Men of Honor," which was filmed last year in Portland and starred Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Robert De Niro. After several auditions, David was awarded the role of a Navy surgeon who testifies against Gooding’s character in the final courtroom scene.

Whether using his creative talents to typeset page after page of code or to memorize page after page of dialogue, David’s myriad skills are impressive both on-stage and on-line.