General limitations of online converters:
Limited file size
Limited formats
Your stuff is on their server
--Privacy?
--Sensitive/Proprietary stuff
Some sites look dodgy
--Read the comments and reviews
Issues:
You can’t make people use them
Device idiosyncrasies
Complex formatting doesn’t work well
No editing in some forms
So why bother?
Take it with you – once it’s downloaded you’re not tethered to an internet connection
Device/App affordances
--Bookmarks
--Highlighting
--Annotations
--Adjustable reading experience (background color, etc.)
Edocs flow better than PDF
Calibre (www.calibre-ebook.com)
Free
Open source
Convert formats
Create own metadata
Convert ebook/edoc/webpage to read on ereader or smartphone
Auto delivery of online blogs, newspapers, etc.
Works with many ebook formats, including MOBI (Kindle)
According to the forums, converting Overdrive books to .mobi using Calibre still requires stripping the DRM, which is of questionable legality
Metadata searching, organizing, cataloging
Developer and user community
Using it is either really easy or really hard
Not for creating full featured ebooks
No columns or non-image tables (causes flow problems)
MS Word documents must be saved as RTF or filtered HTML
Updates require a re-install
2epub (www.2epub.com)
Free
Relies on other open source software (including Calibre)
Convert from: doc, docx, epub, fb2, html, lit, lrf, mobi, odt, pdb, pdf, prc, rtf, txt
Convert to: epub, fb2, lit, lrf, mobi
Epub 2 Go (www.epub2go.com)
Free
Converts PDF to Epub that can be read on an iPhone/iPad using Stanza
Convert files from computer or from the Internet
Get Stanza from the iTunes App Store
No scrolling side to side
No tables are convertible
Not all images are converted
PDF file must be <= 30 MB
Grab My Books (www.grabmybooks.com)
Firefox add-on
Grab content from the web, including RSS feeds, and convert them to ePub format
Select manually or automatically
Automatic skips menus
Create edocs on the fly
Links not live
For more information on these and other converters, go to http://libguides.wsulibs.wsu.edu/edocs
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
CAYAS Workshop: Getting Creative With Youth: Book Arts, Graphic Novels and Fast Fiction.
This past Saturday I went to the CAYAS workshop Getting Creative With Youth: Book Arts, Graphic Novels and Fast Fiction.
Book Arts:
Over the course of 2 ½ hours we made 8 books. I have examples and instructions for 2 Accordian books, 2 Origami books, 2 Sewn books, 2 1 page books and a Hexaflexagon. The presenter Anne Bingham walked us through the production of these 8 books, tips on making them cheaply and also had examples of them that she had made and decorated herself. They were exquisite. And easy!
Fast Fiction:
Presented by Meredith Hale, the focus of her presentation was writing programs with teens. She had great ideas for breaking down the writing process and lots of examples of short fiction. I found the hardest task, and only one I didn’t complete, was the 6 word memoir. We wrote haiku’s (which it turns out are not just a 5-7-5 syllable poem), 4 word movie reviews and nanofiction- a short story in 55 words exactly.
Graphic Novels:
David Lasky is a comic book and graphic novel illustrator and his presentation was “Comic Books for People Who Can’t Draw”. He did a quick art lesson- how most drawings are just a simple shapes and lines. He created a round character and said if you can’t draw something complex, just give something simple accruements- like an eye patch and a beard. Thus he created a character called Flap Jack the Pirate. Pictures of the 8 page comic he drew during the session are on the Flikr stream (link below). He also focused on using symbols like a swirly line over a head to show anger, instead of being able to draw an angry face. We all made a comic about fleas because we can all draw fleas.
If anyone would like copies of any of the writing or book making materials please let me know and I will pass them on. And this is a link to a Flikr stream with pictures of Anne’s complete books. They look complicated, but they are really all examples of the 8 books she taught us to make.
http://flickr.com/gp/alwaysovercast/695Zxi/
Book Arts:
Over the course of 2 ½ hours we made 8 books. I have examples and instructions for 2 Accordian books, 2 Origami books, 2 Sewn books, 2 1 page books and a Hexaflexagon. The presenter Anne Bingham walked us through the production of these 8 books, tips on making them cheaply and also had examples of them that she had made and decorated herself. They were exquisite. And easy!
Fast Fiction:
Presented by Meredith Hale, the focus of her presentation was writing programs with teens. She had great ideas for breaking down the writing process and lots of examples of short fiction. I found the hardest task, and only one I didn’t complete, was the 6 word memoir. We wrote haiku’s (which it turns out are not just a 5-7-5 syllable poem), 4 word movie reviews and nanofiction- a short story in 55 words exactly.
Graphic Novels:
David Lasky is a comic book and graphic novel illustrator and his presentation was “Comic Books for People Who Can’t Draw”. He did a quick art lesson- how most drawings are just a simple shapes and lines. He created a round character and said if you can’t draw something complex, just give something simple accruements- like an eye patch and a beard. Thus he created a character called Flap Jack the Pirate. Pictures of the 8 page comic he drew during the session are on the Flikr stream (link below). He also focused on using symbols like a swirly line over a head to show anger, instead of being able to draw an angry face. We all made a comic about fleas because we can all draw fleas.
If anyone would like copies of any of the writing or book making materials please let me know and I will pass them on. And this is a link to a Flikr stream with pictures of Anne’s complete books. They look complicated, but they are really all examples of the 8 books she taught us to make.
http://flickr.com/gp/alwaysovercast/695Zxi/
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