The PDF Association’s New Research Portal

The PDF Association is pleased to introduce the PDF Research Portal, a new initiative designed to support and encourage all-of-industry relevant research into PDF, and its broader role in modern economies.

As a globally-trusted platform for digital documents, PDF plays many critical roles in business, government, and academia. The new Research Portal aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice by connecting researchers with a growing list of open research questions to stimulate inquiry into this vital technology. Research questions span a diverse set of domains, from computer science to data science and legal and educational studies.

The PDF Research Portal invites researchers, technologists, students, and educators to explore the technical, historical, and functional dimensions of PDF along with other community-supported resources (such as Unsafe Docs and the Arlington PDF Model) that can inform and enable research.

Among the many thought-provoking questions posed through the portal are:

• Can modern web compression algorithms be optimized for PDF?
  This question explores if web-centric compression technology, such as that used with WOFF, can be optimized for PDF to achieve the ultimate in lossless data reduction across a variety of data.
• Can formal models be applied to the PDF graphics language and the physical structure of PDF files?
  Formal models define rules that can be codified into software to avoid pitfalls and vulnerabilities. These research questions seek to apply formal methods to establish new capabilities and improve the rigor and security postures for parsing PDF files.
• Can barriers to learning PDF for modern developers be reduced?
  PDF is often viewed as “too complex” and difficult to understand but, as a page description language like HTML, it shares more similarities than differences with HTML. Although all technologies are specified in thick tomes of text, these questions look to apply modern educational materials to help bridge the gap between understanding the web stack (HTML, CSS, SVG, etc.) and PDF for new developers.
• Where are outdated regulations and legislation referencing PDF holding back progress?
  PDF has been around for over 30 years, but only recently has it been based on open international standards. Several research questions look to identify potentially outdated regulations and legislation that block progress, such as the adoption of new technologies, conflicting requirements between regulations, or vendor lock in.

The PDF Research Portal is intended as a living resource, growing with the needs and contributions of industry, academia, and technical communities. Researchers are encouraged to submit new questions, contribute findings, and participate in shaping the future of PDF.

Whether you're a seasoned PDF expert or simply curious about the inner workings of the world's most widely used document format, the PDF Association invites you to explore the PDF Research Portal and get involved in building the next generation of PDF knowledge.