- November 22, 2016
- FOXITBLOG
By David Ronald, VP of Marketing
On November 25, 2016 in Sydney, PDF Day Australia will host CIOs, CTOs, regulators, electronic content managers and policy makers for a day-long interactive immersive exploration of the most current issues in the field of ISO-standardized PDF technology.
If you can attend, plan to be at the morning welcome session that includes a fun, fast-paced overview of each ISO standard—PDF/X, PDF/A, PDF/UA, PDF/E, PDF/VT and of course, ISO 32000 (PDF)—in two minutes or less, literally bringing attendees up to speed on the current lexicon and formats. The rest of the day’s agenda consists of two distinct tracks, archiving and accessibility, which each consist of eight 30-40-minute sessions.
TRACK 1 – THE DOCUMENT OF RECORD
These sessions provide a context for the past, present and future of the PDF format as a final form electronic document in archival settings.
- Past – Early sessions outline the history and significance of the PDF format.
- Present – In addition to a historical perspective, sessions will provide an up-to-date snapshot of the current practices and challenges facing those doing the hands-on work in the trenches of document archiving documents.
- Future – The ever-evolving PDF/A standard is revolutionizing records retention and providing practical applications in new arenas such as aerospace, manufacturing, training and digital printing.
Our own Rowan Hanna, VP of SDK Products and Solutions, caps off these sessions with a discussion on why the PDF/A format is so advantageous in the long-term preservation of electric documents, including scanned ones.
PDF/A is a self-contained, platform-independent format; everything needed for uniform reproduction is embedded within itself. The format is also extensible, so you can reproduce documents accurately using future software for years to come.
TRACK 2 – THE ACCESSSIBLE DOCUMENT
Policy makers and CTIs can gain foresight into the challenge of implementing laws, practices and the tools themselves that meet the requirements for PDF/Universal Accessibility (PDF/UA), the International Standard for accessible PDF technology.
Developers who create OR Creators of PDF writing and processing software must conform to PDF/UA specs that ensure accessibility for people with disabilities who use assistive technologies such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, joysticks, text-to-speech functions and other resources to navigate PDF documents.
To comply with PDF/UA, organizations often make shortsighted decisions to implement solutions that are not extensible. Their systems might eventually turn out to be unsustainable or fail to work in the way intended.
Theoretical quandaries quickly manifest as practical problems to solve. Who exactly is responsible for making documents accessible? The software developer only? A company’s IT department? Does it ever fall to the end-user? What do organizations need to do beyond buying PDF/UA software?
These sessions culminate in an accessibility roundtable consisting of many of the presenters, leaders in the field, where you’re sure to get answers to your most pressing PDF questions.