i-teach.. therefore i am…

I’d like to learn how to create eBooks. ePub sounds like its the best format to go with, as it is the beginning of an industry standard and is supported by Apple and its iPad.

The reason I love the iPad over other eBook readers, is that it supports basic HTML5 – which allows for the inclusion of multimedia. For a long time you have been able to create eBooks using programs like Sigil and Calibre. These are free OSS products which support the basic ePub standard. Apple’s Pages then had the ability to export documents with video embedded to create an ePub document which would support multimedia embedded. It meant though that Apple was using proprietary software to create a proprietary format, and hijack the epub format.

I don’t have a Mac any longer, and am back to Windows. I needed to find a product which would allow me to start creating eBooks with the primary aim the inclusion of multimedia of sound and vision. Here are the ones I found:

• Sigil - Great to create simple eBooks (think static almost ‘PDF’)
• Calibre - This also has more widely supported conversion options, as well as some fancy aspects of creating content from RSS feeds and automated content from websites. It also has a built in ‘library’ interface for your eBook management with a web-server to support the interface. For FOSS, its great to see such a full-featured commercial product.
• Adobe InDesign CS 5.5 – The really disappointing thing about it being CS 5.5 is the subtle changes from CS 5. I have purchased a site license for CS 5 for school – and not the maintenance option. In CS 5, you can export as an ePub, but doesnt support the HTML 5 embedding of multimedia. It packages the eBook for Adobe’s desktop reader – Digital Editions. The CS 5.5 update for InDesign however specifically includes an update to the export tool which allows the exporting of multimedia. There is no patch to support the upgrade to CS 5.5 from CS 5 – its a re-install, new version situation. Bummer!
• Jutoh - I may have found the holy grail of eBook creation. It is basically a desktop publishing client – albeit simple – but allows exporting of embedded multimedia files. It is platform independent (client for most OS’s). It cost’s money.

Some sites I have been reading to find out more information about ePub documents and creation:

• http://www.elizabethcastro.com/
• http://ereads.com/2011/06/dont-get-too-used-to-epub.html
• http://tomorrowsbook.com/20100409147/dev-tools/news/epub-creators-epub-sucks.html
• http://www.ghacks.net/2011/04/22/firefox-epub-reader-read-epub-ebooks-online/
• http://www.ghacks.net/2011/05/29/create-ebooks-in-epub-format-with-grabmybooks-for-firefox/

Falling further in love with my iPad. Trying not to.

OneNote / MobileNoter

I have always had a respectful affair with OneNote. It allows you to keep on top of massive amounts of information, but only if you are dedicated to using it. Its a great application with a tablet – but I never seem to have one available for use with it. I persevere. What has made me very interested in the product is the academic plugin, and the upcoming 1:1 agenda for schools – and how that fits into my school’s requirements.

I needed to be able to access my OneNote notebooks from my iPad – and I’ve been playing around with an application which might just do it. MobileNoter. It syncs the content of your selected notebooks via WiFi, and does a pretty good job. It also supports the recording/embedding of audio (think podcast you make for your students) and automatically transfers it to the right page and location – including notes you may have taken. Im going to play with it more. I just wish the iPad had a camera (or does it)

check out…

Camera for iPad

This fancy little product allows you to take a picture using your iPhone and beam it directly to your iPad. Where I see great value of it is during meetings where you may need to take a photo of minutes of a meeting, a photo of something being worked on for a project – or even just examples of student work. With the same application open on the iPad (99c US) – and the iPhone. You don’t need to actually pay for it twice and it works pretty well; supporting BlueTooth and WiFi.

I’ll keep playing.

I have to constantly straddle the security vs the practicality restrictions with students using school owned devices. Software restrictions, account and filesystem permissions all constantly ensure that ones time is often spent trying to circumvent the security you put in place yourself.

Enter Portable Apps

Portable apps are applications which can run entirely without installation. They range from pirated versions of Office and Adobe CS4, through to open-source ported solutions like OpenOffice. OpenOffice is an excellent ‘thing’ to have around when dealing with students work. It will open almost any file that you need, from the pesky MS Works files, through to the old school WordPerfect.

Very handy!