For those not familiar with how an EPUB file is constructed, it is essentially an HTML file zipped up with a table of contents and some specifications as to how the file should display. Some have referred to it as "a website in a box." Ebook readers are, more or less, browsers constructed specifically to read ebook files (the basis for Kindle ebooks is also HTML). The only difference between an ebook and a website is that an ebook has to be downloaded onto a device. And with the introduction of cloud readers such as the Kindle Cloud Reader or the Nook For Web reader, the differences between websites and ebooks practically disappears.
Laura Dawson is CEO of Numerical Gurus, LLC, consulting company providing services to the information, librarym and book industries. Dawson has consulted to numerous organizations in these verticals, primarily focusing on solving problems related to metadata, identifiers, Linked Data, semantic web applications, and structured content.