System aims to get books on shelves quicker

Editing, proofreading, typesetting, process management and the copyright protection of books have been made easier with a smart system launched by the Intellectual Property Publishing House last week.

The new offering dubbed Zhongzhibianjiao, which means the IPPH's editing and proofreading system, is the first of its kind in China. It is aimed at making the process of book publication paperless, electronic and smart, helping the industry to transform and upgrade digitally.

"Though we have promoted digital publication for more than 10 years, we still print out manuscripts and then edit and proofread them," said Zhu Mingang, chairman of the board of directors at the publishing house.

"This has caused high labor intensity, low efficiency, a long and complicated process, divided document formats, and bottlenecks in the managing process. It leaves much to be desired," Zhu said.

Nie Zhenning, vice-president of the Publishers Association of China, said: "But now, because of the new system, books that are text-dominated and do not require complicated formats can be processed by a smart means."

It is an important step in integrating media and disruptive technologies. The system's content control can be extended beyond books' publication, he added.

The system is modular and features two subsystems - process management and complex unit editing and recognition - and five sub-modules: smart reviewing, change track, comparison, one-click layout and format conversion.

The publishing house said it has developed customizable solutions so users can select specific functions to make their own books.

Luo Xueke, principal of the Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication and an expert in the field, said people can change everything themselves.

The Intellectual Property Publishing House, against the backdrop of knowledge communication and development, stands out from its peers and serves as an example to companies eager to use technologies like artificial intelligence, Luo said.

Zhu said: "On this year's World Intellectual Property Day - April 26, we launched a patented translation engine, which marked the start of our exploration of artificial intelligence.

"As a successive invention, this editing system has met its targets in research and development and will soon start its commercial operations."

The publishing house signed contracts with many famed publishing companies on the day of the launch.

"We believe the system will improve quality of publications, shorten working hours, streamline the publishing process and make greater contributions to developing China into a country with strong IP protection," Zhu said.

yinruowei@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/22/2019 page17)