Week Eight

This week I thought it would be a good idea to include the objectives for the other things I am doing whilst completing this project. At the same time as the project I am doing a research paper on Interactive Software suitability for eBooks and an eBusiness paper. Although I have written about these in past blogs I haven't really discussed them but as they are both to do with Information Technology they should also be included within this blog.


OBJECTIVES

Start making and set up a sixteen page document for the second interactive eBook, Wise Up, the choice is yours using Adobe InDesign.
Complete another section on eBusiness assignment.
Write up some of the literature review for Special Topic paper.

PROJECT 

The project I have been tasked to do is for New Zealand Fire Service, in this part I shall be making an interactive eBook from the Wise up, the choice is yours booklet which the Fire Service has given me.

TASKS

Create a sixteen page document using Adobe InDesign

Set margins

DAILY LOG

Monday

This morning I had to go the physio man about my fingers and this took up most of the morning which was good in a way as the exercises I have to do (broke my finger in March and damaged it) are being monitored to see if I can move my finger more as it could only bend slightly thus making typing and lots of other things hard. I am pleased to say that the exercises are slowly working and I have more movement thus making several things a lot easier to do.

When I finally got home I set up my home desktop ready for study - turned it on, made a cup of tea, got a biscuit and shut the door so I was not disturbed too much by other family members still at home. T then got out the printed version of Wise Up, the choice is yours and made sure that it was indeed 16 pages as it would be annoying to create the document with too few pages.  I selected the icon Adobe InDesign CC on my screen (got a new touchscreen which feels odd to work with at times).
These are the steps I took to set up the document:

• Select File
• Select New
• Select Document
• Make sure that the Facing Pages is clicked On (double page spread)
• Change margins to zero (if you do the first one then tab the rest will automatically change to zero)
• Select Number of Pages, change to 16
• Select Gutter and change to zero
• Select the Rectangle Frame Tool and draw the frame to fit the page
• Select Black Selection Tool (click and move frame) to center of page
• Save and name

Tuesday

I did not attend the eBusiness lecture this morning as I had a meeting with my client at 10am. When Mark and I spoke last week he thought that it might be a good idea if he got a recording of his wife (an English teacher) reading the poem which is on the Be Fire Safe activity book (page 10). He did this and next week I hope to be able to insert the reading onto page ten of the interactive eBook by adding a sound button (I will need to watch a tutorial on how to do this as I have not done it with this software before. The files he gave me were in MP3 and MP4A format and Mark also included a digital signature as he wished that to be included on the last page of the interactive eBook Be Fire Safe activity book.

Wednesday

Came into college and sat in on a class which I had previously seen on a timetable for one of the computer rooms and was called Understanding Research. I thought that this might help with my research paper. I spoke to Sue Chapman (tutor for the day) and asked if I could sit in and why I wanted to sit in (research paper). She explained that she would be talking about Qualitative Approach to Research in the lesson and that I could stay if I wished to (she didn't think that it would help much as the course was being run for students on a Sports Degree). The lesson was interesting and it got me thinking, although most of my research is based on literature reviews and testing software could there be scope for some qualitative data. The more I thought about it the more I thought I could set some questions and send them to those tutors who have used interactive methods within the classes I have attended. I will have to discuss this with Michael when we have the general internship meeting tomorrow lunchtime.

Thursday

This morning we had a meeting with Emre in regards to our Special Topic. This was in one of the interview rooms in C block at 9am this morning. Early start for me as there has been a lot of rain (still is) these last few days and I knew from friends that there had been a couple of minor landslips on the way and I wanted to arrive at college safely (did this without any incidents). The small group (5 of us) and Emre discussed where we were up to in regards to our Special Topic (mine is to do with interactive software for eBooks whilst the rest of the group are doing different aspects of Cloud Computing). I feel pleased that I have completed my literature review and written up some of the notes (rest will be written next week as it is the start of two weeks holiday). I have some notes in regards to software which I have tried but I need to write up my learning experience testing this software before I misplace my notes.

eBusiness - there was no class today but as I was in college I did some work on my eBusiness assignment. I took screen shots of my 'Handmade hats by GJ' pages and placed them into my assignment and wrote something about each of them. Considering that this was something I had to do for an assignment (clearly written on each of the pages) I have already had three orders and two sales - MORE work....

I wanted to add a screen shot of one of the pages (still needs some work on it but completed the criteria for the assessment - 10 followers) but I couldn't as it was not in a format which would allow me to do this so instead here is the link to the page.

https://www.facebook.com/Handmade-hats-by-GJ-932720670137515/timeline/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

I also wrote up this weeks blog so the time was not wasted by being in college today.
Attended the lunchtime meeting for those doing an internship or a project. I was surprised that there were not many students in attendance. Kim (tutor) talked about the final part - poster report etc. It was scary to know that the course ending is coming up so fast and I feel that there is still so much to learn and do. Michael nor Katheryn (tutors) were available for the meeting so I hope to catch up with them when they are better.

Friday

Last day of the week before we all start a two week holiday. Today I wrote up some of the things I read about for my Special Topic. The books I read were Research on Enhancing the Interactivity of Online Learning and Graphic Design Essentials: Skills, Software and Creative Solutions. The first book I learnt a bit about WebQuest, an inquiry oriented lesson format where most of the information learners work with comes from the internet (web). The book also talks about other collaborative learning programs  such as epals, jasonproject and gsn. The second book included Adobe InDesign (the software I am using to make my eBooks), Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. These three are known as Adobe Creative Suite and the book talks about the different tools of each application and has some tasks which you can complete. I was interested in Adobe InDesign (it is similar to Adobe Illustrator) but allows for multiple pages to be used. It was good to read which icons were used for which function. On Monday, when I take the book back to college I shall photocopy the page this is on for future reference. I wish this book had been available earlier on but somebody else had it out from EIT Library.

PROBLEMS

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

I learnt that it was good to go and sit in a class that was not meant for a BcS student. By sitting in on a class for students who are in their second year of studying sport I listened to their comments on qualitative research and their understanding of some of the key meanings. This jogged my memory to previous lectures I had attended and helped me to redefine the research methods I am using for my Special Topic paper.

STATUS OF PROJECT

The objectives for this week (for my project) was to create the sixteen page document using Adobe InDesign to enable me to start making Wise Up, the choice is yours interactive eBook. The objectives were completed and I managed to format each page accordingly to the requirements stated by the client.

I managed to complete another section of the eBusiness assignment by capturing all three created pages and include them within the assignment document annotating them once they were correctly placed.

Written up some of the literature review. I didn't realise that I had written so many notes in my exercise book from books and blogs and papers.

REFLECTION ON ISSUES

This week I did a lot of reading in regards to interactive software, even a thesis on The virtualMe: A knowledge acquisition framework. Although this book was not on interactive software for eBooks it was about an interactive framework which I have used during a lesson. It was interesting to read how the process evolved and what was involved and I brought several things from the thesis. For example I learnt what a metadata was (data about data), divergent data types (phrase used to identify many media types from unstructured data elements). This means text, images, sound and video. From unstructured data elements to structured elements - these are things like PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Flash files and PDF's. Not all books I have read whilst I have been researching have been helpful but from each book I have been able to take something from it and understand it - even if it was only the meaning of the word.

Week Seven

OBJECTIVES

Complete weekly blogs, add them into a word document so that they are all together and submit online to EIT on Monday 14/09/2015 before 17.00 hrs..

Start making the second interactive eBook, Wise Up, the choice is yours using Adobe InDesign.

PROJECT 

The project I have been tasked to do is for New Zealand Fire Service, in this part I shall be making an interactive eBook from the Wise up, the choice is yours booklet which the Fire Service has given me.

TASKS

Create a sixteen page document using Adobe InDesign

Insert text boxes

Insert text

Insert graphics

Insert page number

Insert colour

Insert shapes

DAILY LOG

Monday

Opened a word document, formatted it (looked at a past document for progress report from Project Management course) and then opened up week one of my blog. I formatted the blog to match the headings on my Word document (wish I had thought to do this on week one as it would have been so much easier) and added more details (still not enough apparently - finding this so hard to do BUT I will add more details during the weekend). Once I had formatted week one I copied the text and added it into the Progress Report (Word document) and then I had to highlight the text I had just copied and format that to match the font and layout. I then proceeded to do this for the following six weeks worth of blogs and it took all day (especially as I was looking back over my notes to see if there was extra things I could write about.

Tuesday

This week in eBusiness we helped a fellow international student with her assignment (assignment two) instead of having our lecture. This really helped me to understand what I have to do as well so I really appreciated the lesson. The class formed four different groups and each group wrote their ideas on a large sheet of paper - these were placed round the classroom and each group talked about their ideas (a good brainstorming session). It helped to show the whole class how to promote a company using eBuiness and some of the aspects you need to think about when doing this. The four sections that were covered were:

• Mission Statement (including B2B, B2C, stand along etc)
• Keywords Generated
• Budget (Daily) - No of campaigns
• Impressions and CTR
• Advertising

Wednesday

Continued reading the books that I got from EIT library for the research project and I did some searching on the internet. You have to be so specific in what you write as 

Thursday

To be added
eBusiness - made pages on fb, twitter and linkedin - write up about these and how much fun it was now I know what I am doing after Tuesdays lesson. Spoke to another student who knows about Google Adware and he talked me through that and about click rates and what that means (maybe explain abit about this later)

Friday

Today I concentrated on my research topic as I feel as if I am behind and should already have something written down (saw and spoke to Kathryn and Emry who both said I was fine where I was up to - relief on that one). Still I managed to do some research on-line.  which was good. I logged on and looked in Google Scholar writing first the words "Jakob Nielsen Usability Criteria". This gave me a good starting base and I looked at various sites and wrote some notes. I also did screen shots of the results.

As I can not add these I have added a link to one of the result pages.
https://www.google.co.nz/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=jakob%20nielsen%20usability%20criteria 

I also did searches using the words 'Interactive eBook software usability criteria', 'Criteria for evaluating eBook creator', 'Creating interactive eBooks' and 'Evaluating eBook development software'. This gave me a broad range of what I required and will give me a good bases of what to look at and read to start writing about my special topic (Interactive eBooks).


PROBLEMS

Blog formatting
Keeping detailed records of daily tasks.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Decide a format one the first blog and copy and paste into a draft copy before using in other blogs.
Write down each day in the blog what has been achieved.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

STATUS OF PROJECT

The objectives for this week were to start the second interactive eBook, Wise up, the choice is yours within Adobe InDesign. This was achieved using all the tasks stated above.

REFLECTION ON ISSUES

I wish I had formatted the blog posts to be under the same heading each week then I would not have had to spend the whole day doing this. Saying that I was pleased with the results but wish I had more time to add a summary of what I had achieved to-date. After doing this it was easier to copy and paste into the word document ready for submission.

Week Six

OBJECTIVES

Create the rest of the pages required for the interactive eBook Be Fire Safe using Adobe InDesign.

PROJECT 

The project I have been tasked to do is for New Zealand Fire Service. They wish to have two books (Be Fire Safe activity book and Wise Up, the choice is yours) which are published made into interactive eBooks which can be used with an Android device which will allow greater accessibility to children within the school environment.

TASKS

Create five pages using Adobe InDesign

Insert text boxes

Insert text

Insert graphics

Insert page number

Insert colour

Insert shapes

DAILY LOG

Monday

Had to restart all over again as the graphics and text were slightly blurry. To do this I made each page a PDF file, made sure it was 100%, took a snapshot and added it into a Word document (no margins) then saved each page as a PDF file. On checking each page was alot clearer and easier to read. I followed the following process:

• Select Adobe InDesign
• Select File
• Select New
• Select required amount of pages and select book
• Change margins and gutter to 0
• Set page to 45% ( having the pages like this enabled me to use the rectangular frame tool to fit a frame onto the whole page, (the rectangular tool has to cover the whole page (white space)
• Select File
• Select Place
• Select page one
• Select Open
• Click on image in centre of page (do this process for each of the 16 pages)
• SAVE
• • Within Export to Interactive PDF window
  • Select Pages as All Pages
  • Select View after exporting
  • Select Forms and Media to Include All
  • Select JPEG Quality as Maximum
  • Select OK

The images are compressed as a JPEG (Lossy) and you can save the quality as either medium, high or maximum. I saved mine as maximum.

Tuesday

Meeting with client (Mark Fowler, New Zealand Fire Service) today at 10am at EIT.

We discussed where I was up to, what software I was using (we also discussed the fact that we had both looked for free software on-line which could make interactive eBooks) and how it was going so far. Mark had a look at the book and was happy with the progress to date. However, he did ask if I could add a sound button on page 10 so that the poem could be read and a drag and drop facility on page 12 instead of drawing a line from one object to another. These I will have to look into and play with the software to see if this can be done. Mark also talked about what the Fire Service use at the moment, they use the Citrix System which provides servers, applications (Intranet) and networking. They use SMS - Station Management System and Training Management System and because there are servers all over the place nothing 'talks' to anything. At the moment the security system they use is Knox which is from Samsung. Next year there is going to be a large IT roll out for the whole of the fire service, each fire truck will use Samsung tablets.

I managed to insert all the text boxes, naming them for pages that required them and saved the document on my drive and laptop (so I have a copy in case something happens to the drive - or laptop).

Wednesday

As several of the things I am trying to do I can't and I am getting frustrated and annoyed I have been watching videos on YouTube and reading the books (from the library). 

Thursday

Saw the hand specialist today about my left index finger as I broke in February and I do not have full movement yet which is annoying as it is hard to type. The specialist sent me to see the physio who was in the same building to make an appointment. As he was there he quickly saw me, giving me some exercises and he strapped my fingers together. I didn't get home until late so that was a day not working on the eBook.

Friday

Today I needed to discuss with client what he requires in regards to drag and drop, as he was away I sent an email. I sat and read part of Multimedia Literacy 3rd ed. by F. T. Hofstetter, this was in regards to my research project. I have also been reading Graphic Design Essentials: Skills, Software and Creative Solutions by J. W. Macanio for the same reason. Within this book is a chapter on InDesign so I made lots of notes today and typed some out for my assignment. 

PROBLEMS

Time out to see specialist. Work not 100% clear.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Don't break fingers. Get somebody to check work for clarity before you get too far into it.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

My learning experience this week was good in one way. I recreated several pages of the interactive eBook and I am feeling good about that. Not so good about it not being so clear in the first place.

STATUS OF PROJECT

The objectives for this week was to add the rest of the pages to complete the first interactive eBook. Although all the pages have been included not all of the functions that I wanted to do have been done so I am slightly behind.

REFLECTION ON ISSUES

What a hard lesson to swallow when friends saw the book and made comments that it was not 100% clear (graphics and text). I could see what they meant and the pages were only slightly off - say at 98% but that was not good enough. Spent a frustrating Sunday and Monday sorting out how to correct this and get back up to where I had previously been. On a good note the client's feedback was good. He asked for a couple of additional features which will be included within the eBook.

Week Five

OBJECTIVES

Create at least five pages for the interactive eBook Be Fire Safe using Adobe InDesign. Complete each page to the standard set out in the printed version of the book. Make sure that each object is inserted into the correct place, make sure the colour is the same as that of the book. Insert text boxes into the correct space provided and name each text box in accordance to the function it is connected with. Make sure that the page turning facility is available.

PROJECT 

The project I have been tasked to do is for New Zealand Fire Service. They wish to have two books (Be Fire Safe activity book and Wise Up, the choice is yours) which are published made into interactive eBooks which can be used with an Android device which will allow greater accessibility to children within the school environment.

TASKS

Create five pages using Adobe InDesign

Insert text boxes

Insert text

Insert graphics

Insert page number

Insert colour

Insert shapes
Name each field accordingly

DAILY LOG

Monday

Today I started working on page four of Book One, Be Fire Safe Activity Book. This page has several different sections but the main things that need to be included on this page will be a text field and tick boxes The tick boxes will have to be check boxes to allow the person using the eBook to place a tick in the correct circle.

At the weekend I managed to get up to date with the required progress reports. These I have been doing as a weekly blog, however all I feel as if I am doing is updating the blog all the time as what I have written is not enough. You, the reader will want to know not that I started working on page four but how I was working on it. What I did and how I did it. This to me is time consuming and feels like it takes longer to write down what I have been doing than the actual doing (if you know what I mean).  However, I will try to remember to write down each stage so you, the reader can follow what I have been doing.

This is how it went:

• Opened laptop
• Started laptop
• Got a cuppa as laptop takes forever loading
• Selected Adobe InDesign - open
• Plugged in external hard drive (copies of what I have done so far saved on device)
• Selected file manager
• Selected Microsoft Word - open
• In Adobe InDesign select File
• Select Open
• Select required file from drive
• Select blank page you want to work on
• Select File
• Select place
• Select page from device you wish to insert (I always op[en this within Microsoft Word to make sure that I have added the correct one)
• Select open
• Click on 'placed' insert
• Rearrange the size to fit the page (lots of fiddling about)
• Select Window from InDesign Drop Down Tabs
• Select Interactive
• Select Buttons and Forms
• On the tools (left hand side of page) select Type Tool
• Move to correct position
• Drag to the required size
• Select Selection Tool, place over type field created
• Within Buttons and Forms select Type
• Select the required type required (Text field in this case)
• Select Name
• Write appropriate name (I always write which page and which question number)
• Select event
• Select hidden until triggered so that it is 'ticked'
• Select PDF Options
• Select Printable 
• Select Scrollable
• Make sure font size is 12
• SAVE

This has to be done for each section that I work on and seems a bit much for (a) me to keep writing it out and (b) for you to keep reading the same thing.

After I had made the text boxes and named them I proceeded to make check boxes for the other fields required.

Emailed contact to set up date for meeting and had a break.

When I came back laptop had lost power so I made sure that it was plugged in and proceeded to start the process all over again. To make pages five and six I opened up Adobe InDesign and opened my previously save document for this project (Book One). I scrolled down to the empty page five (set up ready to insert page five). I went back to file manager and selected my external hard drive (this has the copied book saved on it). I selected Book One and opened in Microsoft. I then proceeded to copy page five and then went back to Adobe InDesign and inserted the copy I had done. As it didn't fit the page correctly (went out of the margin lines) I proceeded to change the size until it fitted correctly. There is a lot of fiddling about doing it this way and I am sure there must be an easier way. I did use the icons on Adobe InDesign which if selected say that you can do an 'auto fit' however this did not work as I expected it to so I tried some of the other buttons that are used for auto fit, these were called:

• Align left edges
• Align right edges
• Align Top edges
• Align bottom edges
• Align horizontal centers
• Align vertical centers

Whet ever I tried the page would not fit into the space it was supposed to go which was very frustrating. I ended up deleting the page and starting all over again which worked - maybe I messed about with it too much in the first place I don't know...

Finally when the page was correctly inserted I thought as I was on a roll so I did the same process as I previously talked about and inserted page six from the copy I had made as a Word document. With the two pages inserted I remembered to save (in the event that the internet went down or I did something accidental and lost the work). Having looked at the two pages I decided that I would work first on page five first as that was the easiest one to do. Why? it only need me to add five text boxes. I did this by selecting the text tool, placing it where I wanted the text box and added it by using the mouse to drag it to the size required. As the first one was not quite right I used my arrow keys to position it in the correct place (I did this with the following text boxes which were required).

After inserting all the text boxes I remembered to go back to the first one I had made on page five so I could name it. Once I had selected the text box I selected the Window tab and clicked on Interactive, this brought another pop up list and I selected buttons and forms. With the first text box highlighted I selected Type (on buttons and forms) and selected Text Field. I then selected the name option and typed in Page_5_Question_1. For the event I elected On Release or Tap and left the Actions button as it was. I then proceeded to select Hidden Until Triggered (a tick appeared next to the comment) and made sure that only printable and scrollable were selected in the PDF Options. There was a facility to write something in the Description area but as I had already named the field I thought that this would just be duplicating what I had written earlier. Font size was left at the standard 12 points.

I did this same process for all the text fields, naming them:

• Page_5_Question_2
• Page_5_Question_3
• Page_5_Question_4
• Page_5_Question_5

Just checked this last field and saw that I had inserted the wrong field so changed it to a text field and renamed it (so glad that I was looking at what I had done whilst writing this blog). Although it does not seem I have done much (I don't think I have) it takes me forever to do what seems to be the simplest things.

Tuesday

e-Business lecture this morning in which we discussed things to do with our assignment two. It was quite interesting to learn about other companies and how they operate within the eBusiness commerce field (Tesco and Amazon).

After the lesson I tucked myself away in the Multimedia room (third floor up in the computer block at EIT) and started working on page 6. I had to take my laptop into college (heavy bag) as the software I am using (Adobe InDesign) is not on the college computers. Once I had set up and opened Adobe InDesign I had to select my drive from the File Manager and open up the saved Book One before I could start. I also opened up Microsoft Word so I could use later to open up the pages I had saved (one by one) of the book Be Fire Safe Activity Book. As I was still finding it hard to place things in certain positions I had a look at a video on YouTube which refreshed my memory and helped a lot. However, placing something into a document is not easy, you can not just copy and paste it into Adobe InDesign. You have to:

• Select file
• Select place
• Select the drive your work is saved on
• Select what it is you wish to insert
• Select open

Once you have done this the item you selected appears on your page in Adobe InDesign but it is small. You have to select the 'placed' item and it enlarges it to the size it should (or thinks it should) be. You then have to position the 'placed' item into the correct place where you want it. On this page instead of the six fields being text boxes they have to be a check box to enable the person using the book to place a tick or a cross into the box. This part is really complicated for me because I will have to learn how to do layers in which to hid the tick or cross if the answer is wrong (will have to find another video to watch how to do this). What I did do was to insert all the text boxes and name them accordingly but in the Type Field I selected Check Box. At least I achieved something today but by the time I had completed this it was time to go home and pick the children up from school. I remembered to save (file, export etc.).

I had a telephone conversation with my client today, he is excited to see the interactive eBooks and we have arranged a meeting for next Tuesday at EIT at 10am.

After the children were asleep I set up the laptop and added page seven. I completed the same process as page six, naming the fields and selecting the check box as the type required. 

Wednesday

Worked at home today as the laptop is so heavy to keep carrying around.
Today I need to try to find out how to do a drag and drop facility within InDesign as so far I can not find it within the book I got from the EIT Library (Adobe InDesign CS6 Digital Classroom. This is required for the user to complete pages eight and nine. This is taking longer to try to find and set up than I anticipated and it is time consuming and frustrating. I looked how to do this on YouTube as reading the book (from the library) didn't help much. Watching a video and making notes was more helpful but it still did not fully explain how to do this. What I want to do is to be able to drag items ABCDEFGH from page 8 to the correct boxes (Tool Box or Toy Box) on page 9. Also if the item from page 8 was placed into the wrong box I need it to go back to the original place on page 8. This is going to require several different layers and lots of thought. To make sure I don't fall behind I have left it as it is for now.

Thursday

e-Business class working on assignment two. After the lesson I again went and hid myself in the Multimedia room on level 3 of the computer block at EIT. I powered up the machine and proceeded to open up Google Chrome. I search for drag and  drop in Adobe InDesign CS6 which came up with lots of different things. Some were tutorials within Adobe, others were on YouTube, including some from people who work for Adobe and call themselves The Gurus. There were no drag and drop facilities that I had previously used in other software but things to do with anchoring objects etc, Left feeling more frustrated and lost than ever.

Friday

Hope today is better. going to get started on page ten. This page is a poem with graphics and should be easy to complete.

Powered up laptop (cuppa time) opened Adobe InDesign, selected my drive from the File Manager and open up the saved Book One before I could start. I also opened up Microsoft Word so I could use later to open up the pages I had saved (one by one) of the book Be Fire Safe Activity Book.

I then followed the normal process:

Select file

Select place

Select the drive your work is saved on

Select what it is you wish to insert

Select open

PROBLEMS

Graphic placement - not correct sometimes so had to do them several times. Drag and drop facility.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Watch video on how to place graphics within a document and read book, Adobe InDesign CS6 Digital Classroom. Find out how to do layers and how to 'hide' until I get the correct look I am after.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

My learning experience this week was good but really frustrating and time consuming. Although I created several pages of the interactive eBook none of it has been easy. Trying to do things which I have done using other software and can't using this software is not only frustrating but annoying because it is not so easy to do as I want it to be.

STATUS OF PROJECT

The objectives for this week were to add five pages into the interactive eBook using Adobe InDesign. This I managed to do.

REFLECTION ON ISSUES

This week was hard as I could not get the graphics quite right and was getting frustrated so rather than getting more frustrated and leaving the eBook I looked at YouTube videos and wrote some notes with which I can refer back to when required. I found just reading the book on how to do something didn't really work for me and I needed something visual to see and something written in my own words so I could understand and refer back to when required much more useful. I need to learn how not to get so frustrated when the software does not do what I want it to do and to find an easier way around the problems I keep getting.  I am also finding it hard to convey in words what I am reflecting upon as I do the work and not really reflect on it. I just make sure that it looks exactly like the page in the book and that all the features that are required on that page are set up correctly. When I get frustrated that I can't find something online to show me how to do something, or I can't read it in a book I realise that it is time to make a cuppa and sit quietly. Quite often it gives me an idea of how I can tackle this problem differently (try something else). If nothing springs to mind all I do is go onto the next page and write down what I have missed (have to do later). 

Week Three

WEEK THREE

This week (and for the next few weeks) I shall be working on the interactive eBooks, assignments for eBusiness and my Special Topic (this is a research paper on Interactive Software for eBooks).

OBJECTIVES

Start creating pages for the Be Fire Safe interactive activity book using Adobe InDesign CC.

PROJECT 

Producing two interactive eBooks for New Zealand Fire Service. These books are aimed at different aged children and are called Be Fire Safe activity book and Wise Up, the choice is yours. At present these are in printed form and are taken into schools by the Fire Awareness Intervention Practitioner to help show the children the dangers of fire and their consequences and the difference between good and bad fires.

TASKS

Create a 16 page document using Adobe InDesign
Add graphics, text and colours for the cover page
Insert New Zealand Fire Service Logo

DAILY LOG

Monday

Today I watched several videos on YouTube about how to make an interactive eBook using Adobe InDeisgn. I also watched some videos on the same subject within Adobe (on their website are tutorials). I wrote notes as I watched to allow me to refer back to them, when and if required, whilst I am making the interactive eBook.

Tuesday

eBusiness lecture today - discussed assignment and worked on that. This week it was in regards to Logistics for e-Commerce companies and what was offered by these companies. I went into the multimedia room up in the computer block (3rd floor) and went online and looked up several different large companies (which we have previously looked at) and had a look at their logistics. What they do, from where and how they do it (themselves or outsourcing). This also included how many different distribution centres the company has, if they delivered all the products, how many products and how many shops the company has.

I later worked on page two of the first interactive eBook. The first page only had colour, shapes, graphic and a logo, this page has has all of those (except for the logo) and it has additional text boxes which have to be included and named (something I forgot to do for the first two text boxes). This is where the child adds their name and address and telephone number. It also has the objectives of what the book hopes to achieve.

To add a text box you have to:

• Open InDesgn
• Select file
• Select the file you are working on
• Select the rectangle tool (not the frame tool) 
• Move the cursor to the position you wish (see it is now a cross) hold the right side of the mouse down and drag the  frame to make the size you wish. If you want the frame to be a certain size then go view, show rulers. To make a text box a certain size you right click anywhere on the ruler and choose the measurement you require

Name each box as you go. To do this I inserted the text box then I went to Window and selected interactive then buttons and forms. Once selected there is a box that will appear. This is what it looked like when I was working on it.

Once I did this another box appeared which is this one which I then used to name the text field and select the options I required.

As you can see I have already selected the box that I am going to name. I did this with all the text boxes I have made. It is time consuming but well worth doing.

Wednesday

Today I started working on page three of the interactive eBook. This page has good or bad tick boxes, I had a problem trying to get the tick to disappear if it was placed in the wrong box. Also on this page are text boxes in which the child has to add text by answering the questions and a number box where they have to add the fire service phone number. If this is entered incorrectly then a box will show on the screen for a few seconds asking them to try again.

Thursday
eBusiness class today (2 hours). I went home and worked on page three of the Be Fire Safe interactive eBook. I managed to add all the graphics, text and text boxes. I had a few issues on how to do the tick boxes and make them disappear if they were incorrectly placed. I am leaving this part to do at a later date.

Friday
Worked at home today on page four of the Be Safe interactive eBook. Page four has several graphics, two tick boxes and text. I will have to discuss with Mark, my contact at NZFS, as to the drop down boxes with possible answers for one section (what answers do he want added).

Presentation to Taradale Fire Service Monday evening next week so started to make a PowerPoint presentation - this was to do with interactive eBooks and what I hope achieve for the Fire Service.

PROBLEMS
Trying to remember how to do things within Adobe InDesign Software and finding a simple solution on how to insert pages correctly.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Watch the videos again on YouTube.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

My learning experience this week had been learning how to use new software and how to insert different things and naming them.

STATUS OF PROJECT
The objectives for this week were to install Adobe InDesign and to start to make an Interactive eBook. This has been achieved.

REFLECTION ON ISSUES
I am feeling quite isolated doing this project, I do talk to others who are doing an internship but it does not help as they are doing several different things within their companies and can not understand working alone on a project. However, I do feel a bit more positive about this project as I have been able to complete several pages and that has given me an incentive to progress and learn more about the software and find out what I can create with it. My issues were trying to get the pages set correctly and naming text boxes. I forgot to name the first two and found that I couldn't go back and name these as I needed to have them in the correct order so I had to delete them all and start adding and naming them all over again. It also took me a little bit of time to find out (after doing a screenshot) was how to save the shot as a PNG file to enable me to put it into the blog - I know it is easy but it was so long since I had to do this that I forgot so it was good to revisit something that I will use again.

Week Four

OBJECTIVES

Create at least five pages for the interactive eBook Be Fire Safe using Adobe InDesign.

Give talk to Taradale Fire Service Monday evening.

PROJECT 

The project I have been tasked to do is for New Zealand Fire Service. They wish to have two books (Be Fire Safe activity book and Wise Up, the choice is yours) which are published made into interactive eBooks which can be used with an Android device which will allow greater accessibility to children within the school environment.

TASKS

Create five pages using Adobe InDesign

Insert text boxes

Insert text

Insert graphics

Insert page number

Insert colour

Insert shapes

DAILY LOG

Monday

Worked on e-Business assignment at college but managed to speak to Ish in regards to Inkling Habitat and requirements for eBooks. There would be some problems using this software and no more accounts are available at this time. Still worth thinking about though but I feel I would need additional help. 

Evening - PowerPoint presentation for Taradale Fire Fighters – Interactive e-Books. Got some interesting feedback and their thoughts were noted. Most of what I wish to achieve was brought up (they asked for drag and drop, text boxes and tick boxes). Most thought that it was a good idea and the way forward. I was surprised that some of the firefighters did not know that the books in paper form existed. However, they were excited of the prospect of having the books interactive and suggested that maybe a couple of others could be made, one for parents and one aimed at old people.

They all saw the potential of having interactive eBooks available at shows they were at and thought that because technology was being used more and more in today’s society that this was the way that New Zealand Fire Service could go forward.

Tuesday

Flu - eBusiness class. Had to attend as discussion on assignment. Completed a video as part of the assignment which is on YouTube. Spoke to Katherine in regards to researching interactive software and testing, she was a great help showing where to look and what to look for. This will also help me when I am researching other interactive software. I managed to complete page four of the eBook.

Wednesday

Flu - rested at home.

Thursday

Flu but still managed to go to college for the eBusiness class (assignment due in 08.15 this morning). Should have stayed at home as nothing that was said sunk in. Came home and went to bed.

Friday

Stayed in bed all day as I felt really bad with the flu.

PROBLEMS

Being sick and not being able to complete any work other than eBusiness assignment.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Stay well, take vitamins. Stay in bed until better.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

My learning experience this week was not good due to having the flu but I did manage to complete my eBusiness assignment and add a video to YouTube and upload it for the class to see.

STATUS OF PROJECT

The objectives for this week were not achieved due to being ill.. This means that the project is slightly behind schedule.

REFLECTION ON ISSUES

Having the flue this week (and a Doctor’s note) made me mindful of all the tasks that I have to complete so I was surprised that I managed to complete the PowerPoint presentation to the Fire Service at Taradale.  I was surprised talking to the fire fighters that several of them did not know that the books existed and were used daily. Their feed back was helpful as they suggested that the second book (aimed at older children) would not really be used (because they are of an age where they think they know everything about fire) and it would be more helpful if a book could be made for the older people and one for parents as they are the ones that always stop and ask questions at the shows. Food for thought and something to discuss with my client (meeting arranged for Tuesday next week). Chatting to tutors was very helpful this week and I must remember that they have a greater knowledge of these matters and I should utilize this resource more often.

Week Two

WEEK TWO

Following on from last week I am looking at software this week and completing sections of my eBusiness assessment.

OBJECTIVES

 Source free interactive software which will have the following functionaliities:

 Add text
 Add text boxes
 Add colour
 Add shapes
 Drag and drop
 Use with Android devices

PROJECT 

Make two interactive eBooks from published material for New Zealand Fire Service. These books are called Be Fire Safe activity book and Wise Up, the choice is yours both. At present these books are in paperback form and taken to schools by the Fire Awareness Intervention Practitioner to help children and young people understand the dangers of fire and the consequences that a fire has.

TASKS

 Find suitable software to complete eBooks to a high standard
 Test software for suitable software

DAILY LOG 

Monday

Today I typed in the words free interactive software for eBooks, defining my search criteria. The first one I decided to look at was 8 top interactive eBook creator tools. I found this in etrainingcafe. The first one was Pubsoft, this had a lot of the things I require but you have to sell the books for which you earn commission of 50% which is good if you were selling your books. My client does not want to sell the books as at the moment they are used as a training aid for fire safety.

iBook Author – this is software for an Apple device and not suitable for my eBooks as they need to be used on Android devices.

KindleGen – these are for just books with no additional features to add drag and drop or text/tick boxes. However, you can turn pages with this software and include tables, scroll bars and drop caps.

Interactive Touch Books – Nice piece of software but only able to use on Apple devices.

Interactive Builder – This is good, can run on windows, Macks, iPads and Android tablets. No programming skills are needed for this software and you can use the free eBook software available. However, it is for an app and the company charge a small percentage for each one sold – Not a requirement for my project but maybe something to look at another time. Also you have to publish them in the interactBook store.

Skyreader Media – this is for eBooks and apps. It can be used on both iPads and Android devices. This software sounded interesting so I had a look at their webpage but as it was under construction and had to click on several different tabs before I found the correct one I needed to read. This software is for eBooks but not interactive eBooks - you can add text, change pages and add graphics using this software and they call it Page flip software.

Demibooks - this was an app device, not interactive software to make an eBook.

Active Reader - again a tool to be used but could not access the web page to have a look at what this software can do.

Tale Spring - This is a touch screen facility for books but can only be used on Apple products.

Mogule - this looks a good software which I may utilise as it has a drag and drop facility however the website was unavailable so I will have to go and look at this another time.

Kwik - For this you need to have Photoshop CS5 and  Corona SDK and is only free for pages 1 - 6. Each of the books I have to make are 16 pages (this search is harder than I thought it would be).

Tuesday

Today I had an eBusiness lecture which we discussed different elements of our forthcoming assignment. Afterwards, whilst the information was still fresh in my head I worked on my assignment. For this I started to compare the difference between Tesco and Countdown and the benefits they had of being online. Again lots of reading and note taking. In the evening I researched free interactive software for eBooks. This is what I looked at:

Oppia  - This software supports learning by doing, their activities are call explorations. To use Oppia (based in Egypt) you need to have: Python 2.7, JQuery, Angular Ul and a Google App Engine.

This software was not as interactive as I first thought it would be. There are some interactions, for example you can write a question and that you have to set the parameters for the answer. Once this was done another question (which you write) will come up. I could not add images or change the shapes. Got quite frustrated trying this software.

AtPresent Editor – this software had a good write up but when you go into it it is just a business domain site which was not very helpful. No interactive software was available. Filtering not working as well as I had hoped.

Wednesday

These were the two webpages I looked at today after typing in free interactive software for eBooks.

Librios – I had to sign up for this and had to request a demonstration – I am still waiting. I did receive an email from them stating that it was a business that uses multi-platform deployment for eBooks, Word and the web and you have to pay them.

Kitaboo – Again this is something which I had to sign up for. I then received an email to say that somebody from the company would be in contact with me. This they did but they were not offering the software for me to use, they wanted to make the eBooks for me. They did offer to let me use the software but the price per month they were asking was way too high, $1000. This would be good for a business (if their budget allowed) but not for a project.

Adobe InDesign CC – Borrowed the book from EIT Library last week and today I tried to download the free software which took forever so I gave up. Read some of the book to see what was possible to do within this package and then went online and watched a couple of YouTube tutorials on the subject, writing notes as I watched for future reference if needed.

Thursday

eBusiness class today (2 hours). I worked on my eBusiness assignment today which included a write up on my findings from last week (Tesco and Countdown - benefits on being online). I went into both these sites, as a customer, and proceeded to order products and arrange delivery. I stopped when the companies asked for payment details but I was able to gain valuable customer experience to be able to write up my comparisons with both companies.

Friday

Adobe InDesign CC¬ – downloaded the trial software on my home desktop. Again this took forever but I did stick at it today and finally when it had completed the download I went onto the Adobe website and had a look at the tutorial Create a new document. After I watched this I created my first document. This is what I had to do just to create a page.

• Open Adobe InDesign
• Select File
• Select New
• Select Document
• Change Intent to Digital Publishing
• Select facing pages
• Change page size to Android
• Select number of pages required
• Select preview (to see if the page been set up correctly)
• Select the icon next to Document Preset to save - you need to name your document here
• Select OK

PROBLEMS

Looking at different software and seeing if they were suitable only to find that I could not access the information on their webpage or the webpage was not available.
Looking at two online shops (Tesco and Countdown) for online experience and benefits.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Use a different search engine when using the internet.
Have two pages open of each page would make comparing the two companies easier.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

My learning experience this week had been a bit of a mixture. I learnt that even if you put in the correct words on your search you will still come up with software that is unsuitable for what you require and that it is so time consuming looking at different pages and reading through different sections. I also got frustrated whilst looking at the eBusiness companies for comparison as I thought it would be good to have the 'customer' experience by ordering online - one was easy the other not so easy.

STATUS OF PROJECT

The objectives for this week included looking for free interactive software for eBooks and to test some of the software. Although I looked at different software I didn't try them all because of the time factor - the time I looked at their websites and read through to find that they were unsuitable did not warrant testing so I only tried one software - Adobe InDesign CC.

REFLECTION ON ISSUES

I was pleased with the progress I have made this week. Although it does not look a lot there was heaps of reading and looking on the internet. This was very frustrating at times but then made me think of other things I could do (something to discuss with client at a later date). Some of the software which can be purchased is very good and I hope, at some stage, to be able to use some of it. By using Adobe InDesign I am feeling more positive as I feel I have found some software I can use on this project. I just wish the client had of purchased the preferred software at the beginning as I was comfortable using this software but in hindsight what would I have learnt? Probably not a lot. At least with looking at different software options and their functionalities I am learning something.

Week One

Before I write my weekly report I feel that it is important for you, the reader, to be brought up to date on what I am doing, why I am writing this blog and how I got to this point. I am in my final semester of a BcS course at EIT Taradale in New Zealand. As part of the final semester students normally do either an internship or a project. I was asked to do a project (I think I am the only one doing a project) for the New Zealand Fire Service, this project is to make two interactive eBooks.

To date I have had  meetings, telephone calls and emails from my client (Mark Fowler, NZFS Hastings). During this period we identified the scope and boundaries of the project, the requirements of the project and the criteria which included the constraints. The scope is to make 2 interactive eBooks which were the same as the original printed books. These books are aimed at two different age groups and are both 16 pages long (there will be more written about this in the weekly reflections.

To begin with the only constraints I had were:

• to be the same as the original printed books
• to be accessed on mobile Android devices
• to be completed by the beginning of November

Originally it was agreed that the Fire Service would purchase the preferred software (Articulate) which had all the functions (see objectives) required to complete the eBooks according to the agreed criteria and within the time frame allowed. I have just been informed that they can no longer do this and I have to source free software to complete the project. So, this is where I am now at.

WEEK ONE 

OBJECTIVES

Source free interactive software for making eBooks which have the following functionalities:

• Add text
• Add text boxes
• Add colour
• Add shapes
• Drag and drop
• Use with Android devices

PROJECT 

The project I have been tasked to do is for New Zealand Fire Service. They wish to have two books (Be Fire Safe activity book and Wise Up, the choice is yours) which are currently in paper form publications, made into interactive eBooks which can be used with an Android device which will allow greater accessibility to children within the school environment.

TASKS

• Find suitable software to complete eBooks to a high standard
• Test software for suitable software

DAILY TASKS - WEEK ONE

Monday

Today I typed in the words free interactive software and started with the first one which was called Interactive Software. There were several different sections to look through including: Education, Higher Education, Training CRM, Public Sector and Medical Systems. From reading these different sections I found that this software is used with additional software and not suitable to make interactive eBooks.

ACTUS Interactive - This software includes features such as touch control and voice control and is used as a content management system for kiosks and digital signage products. It is cloud based making it flexible and scalable for the customer but not suitable for my needs.

Sankore - This is an open-source program which uses code together with file formats. It can be used with a Mac which would make it unsuitable for this project as the client wishes the eBooks to be accessible using an Android device. However the website did have some interesting information on interactive digital teaching software and how it can be used.

SMART - I could not access the SMART Software portal for tutorials which was frustrating as I then had to go through all the different section to see if any were suitable for this project. There were eight different sections, including: SMART Notebook collaborative learning software, SMART Response interactive response system and SMART Notebook Express software. To look at these I had to download the software which was time consuming. SMART is an interactive software that is used with interactive whiteboards and was not free.

Tuesday

Today I had an eBusiness lecture and afterwards I worked on my assignment. In evening I research on free interactive software. 

Promethean ClassFlow – cloud based platform used for teachers making a classroom interactive and engaging. Used in conjunction with an interactive whiteboard by the teacher the students can access the information via iPads, Android tablets, iPod Touch, smartphones and computers. Reading the information was interesting but to find if it was suitable I had to ask for a demonstration. To see how it works I would have to create a log in account which would give the company additional information that I was not prepared to give. Again, the software was not free.

Wednesday

Actiespire Software – this has over 90,000 resources in which you could use and is used within the Promethean programme. I looked at the Promethean website the other day and it is not suitable for an interactive eBook, nor is it free.

Mimio Software is an interactive software which works using Windows 7 or Windows 8. I looked at the webpage and the video tutorials as the home page did not explain enough to see if this was a suitable software to use for the making eBooks. There were 12 different videos and it was very time consuming. I did find out that you could add animation and text and have a page transition. You could also add content by doing a screen shot – the whole process was time consuming and it took a while to find out that this software was not suitable for my project.

Alice. This was a free scripting and prototyping program but was for 3D objects and therefore not suitable for this project.

Superior Interactive software – This website was for gaming and not suitable. You could either buy or trial the software which didn’t appeal to me at all.

There were several other websites which I looked at today including: Apereo (supports software within educational institutes), Tine (open-source tool for telling interactive nonlinear stories), i-Docs (interactive documentary software) and Take2 (interactive games). All of these were unsuitable for my needs.

Thursday

eBusiness class today (2 hours). I worked on my eBusiness assignment today - eBusiness Strategies Case Studies Analysis. Today I was working on the Hypothetical Segmentation section which included the geographic and demographics and age range in which two firms were targeted and put these in a table. The firms were Amazon and FlipKart and several screenshots of each section were placed within the assignment.

Friday

Worked on eBusiness assignment all day. This section involved looking up different companies on the internet to see which category they fell into - Business, Consumer or Government and which were interchangeable. I then collated the information and placed it in a table with the different titles side and top and then I added which companies were either B2B (Business to Business), B2C (Business to Consumer), B2G (Business to Government) and G2B (Government to Government).

PROBLEMS

The problems I came up against for my project was due to the fact that the words I wrote in the search bar did not correspond with the information I wanted (or asked for). Most of the software was not free, for use within a classroom using an interactive whiteboard or was for gaming.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION

Need to redefine search to include the word eBook as there was lots of different interactive software for lots of different things (whiteboards, just page turning etc.).

Define search to include the word eBook

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

My learning experience has been frustrating this week. Having previously met and emailed with my client I was lead to believe that they would purchase the preferred software but have now decided not to which means a lot of searching for free interactive software. This will have an impact on the project but hopefully, once a suitable software has been found I can progress and finish the project on time. I learned more about different aspects of companies for example B2B, B2C etc. It was good to read about the different companies and which sectors they fall in, for example Adobe falls into two categories, B2B and B2C.

STATUS OF PROJECT

I partly completed the objectives for this week by looking at free interactive software, however those I looked at were not suitable for the tasks I wish to do.  It has taken alot of time reading about the different products and watching the trailers only to find the software either not free or not suitable. This has not given me time to trail any of the software.

REFLECTION ON ISSUES

As I am doing a project and not an internship this section (I feel) will be hard for me to complete each week. However, the client has decided not to purchase the preferred software and asked if I could source free software which would work with Adobe and on a tablet. Contact person has been on holiday so not had much contact. Trying to source free software is not as easy as it sounds as you first have to filter out stuff and then find out if it fits the clients criteria and then read or watch a video presentation about it, this is before you can trial it to see if it can do what you want it to do. At the same time you have to document what you have looked at, trial it, write down what you did and how and, at the end of it all you get very frustrated as it won't do what you want. Lots of time sitting at the computer and getting very frustrated - especially when you forget which software you have looked at because you forgot to write it down and have to go back through your internet history and write it all down. Must define search to include eBook as there is a lot of different interactive software available which is not suitable for producing an interactive eBook.