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.