electro-textual

Well the organisation may be upgrading to windos7 and ms office ‘07.. but i’m jumping ship.

Migrate to “The Ribbon“? Send people “docx” files that word’03 can’t open? i say no. (Ironically Open Office can open these word 2007 files, even though microsoft office 2003 cannot.)

• For operating system, i’ll try Linux and apple.
• For an office suite, i’ll continue to learn Open Office and google docs. Open Office has a portable version i can run from the USB drive.

Every time microsoft upgrades, they try to make life easier for newbies, and end up making things more annoying and difficult for people who know what we’re doing.

This can be liberating however, as i’m compelled to find alternatives.

For example, when i upgraded to microsoft office ‘03, the program disabled all my macros and keyboard shortcuts. Yes the company promised an easy conversion but it just didn’t work. So i’ve ended up switching all my “auto-text” shortcuts to “AutoHotkey“.. which means i can now use them in any windows program, on any windows PC. i have gained much freedom and power as a result.

Next step: find a way to export the list cross-platform so i can use them on apple mac and linux as well. Open office runs on all platforms.. maybe there’s a way to export AutoHotkey scripts too.

My ideal situation is not to be tied to any one physical computer, or any particular operating system.

However, i’m sure in time i’ll have to use windows 7 at work. And i suppose i’ll get used to it. i’ll probably learn to enjoy it.

Eyes Roll.

photo credit: Jason DeRusha

So we’re approaching the final sprint of this flexivet project for the e-learning innovations part of the Australian Flexible Learning Framework.

One of our major difficulties has been different versions of office software. Moreland Adult Education uses microsoft office 2007, while PRACE and Carlton NLC use 2003. On top of that, students at Carlton are primarily English as a second language (ESL).. with more urgent needs for simple and accessible language.

Great.

How do we build a shared resource when each organisation has such different needs? We decide to make or find screencasts for multiple versions of each skill set.

Then we find out – here at PRACE – that our tech department has decided to upgrade to microsoft office 2007 next year. Should have seen that coming, eh!! Now Soheir is caught between needing to make screencasts for her current students, and wanting to make resources that are useful into the future.

We’ve decided she’ll make the screencasts for office ‘07.. and we can use them to help staff make the adjustment too.

Okay good.

Then there’s the navigation issues.

On the student site, originally we had thought to organise by skill, and each page (eg how to print) could have multiple applications (eg word ‘03, word ‘07, Open Office etc). But people felt that students would get too confused. It’s hard enough for people just beginning to learn technology to navigate a web site.. we have to make it as simple as possible.

So now we’ve decided to organise the navigation by application.

Still on track, yes.. still getting things done (GTD).

Nervously looks at clock..

Ha ha. Serves me right for not double-checking in multiple browsers. The screencast channel is working fine on firefox / linux, also in the Opera browser on windows xp.

Problem is with java in google chrome browser.

Duh. Now i feel silly.

On the plus side, now i’ve fixed java on my linux laptop.. that means i can make screencasts and join elluminate from that machine too. Cool.

Oh, and AJ from screencast-o was very rapid in supportive response. Thanks AJ.

—————————————-

So i had discovered something very distressing over at screencast-o-matic. Vanishing screencasts!! Here’s the feedback i sent them:

Here at Preston Reservoir Adult Community Education (PRACE), our teachers have been making screencasts for learners.. and we chose your service because it had much to offer, including

• option to export screencasts to local disk,
• very small file size,
• (relatively) easy-to-use recording controls.

1) But now i’ve found many of my screencasts appear to have been deleted or are missing, and the same with other teachers too. My channel has all 10 screencasts still listed, but they seem to not exist on the screencast-o-matic server.

2) One teacher has repeatedly found the “export” option doesn’t work. Does this mean she may have lost her screencasts? That’s a lot of project time and money down the drain if so. We’d be really distressed.

By the way, our learners are very high need.. and our teachers don’t cope so well with technological frustration either.

thanks and kind regards, michael

Is that too dramatic? Am i panicking too soon, over something that will sort itself out?

(Well that question answered itself – yes, panicking too soon!)

Links:

• For the flexivet project.
• My not really empty screencast channel.

PS: Here’s the message i got from their feedback form:

Well i tried Windows 7, and it was a horrible experience. (more accurately.. it was a mixed experience). This old work laptop only has a p4 processor and 512 mb of Rams.. so Win7 grunted and spiffled like.. someone very slow. Plus it refused to send any signal to an external monitor/projector.

So i’ve loaded up (k)ubuntu linux, and the system is running beautifully.

• The start menu is superior to anything windows has ever done (screenshots below).
• i can tweak the desktop appearance with my usual collection of favourite images.
• i can easily assign keyboard shortcuts to various operations.
• Installing new software is far easier than on a windows machine, mostly – because of the inbuilt “download and install” program.
• Flash and java work effortlessly in either web browser (native konqueror or mozilla firefox)..
  (correction: after some effort, Java is now working).
• and the laptop is now permitted to send a signal out to the external projector.

Plus if i really need to, there’s a way to run windows applications. For the moment, i’ve found several mind-mapping apps that also run on Linux.

Sweet.

Here’s a couple of screengrabs of the brilliant Linux (kde) “start menu”.. with apps neatly and automatically organised into categories. All right, i used the built in menu editor to create a new mind-map category. (images link to larger version.)

Plus: this post entirely written and edited in the new ubuntu system.. including screengrabs and image editing.

Postscript: Well that was a real “fan boy” post wasn’t it: i left out the negative side. Largely because i was so happy to finally work with a useful “start menu”.. and because the laptop would put out to a projector easily enough.

Problems?

• Java install needed problem-solving.
• Occasional screen glitches.
• Yes programs do sometimes freeze inexplicably, just like in windows.

This old work laptop was due to have windos re-installed, so Fraser suggested i try the new “windos7″ instead of xp.

Things i do like about windos7

• Windos “Explorer” (file manager) has a new keyboard shortcut for navigating up the file structure (about time);
• overall the “my computer” experience is greatly improved with breadcrumbs in the title bar (you can search deep inside folders you’ve just visited);
• the whole thing is more aesthetic.. some of the themes are almost attractive (i don’t believe it!);
• windos volume control finally gets some attention, with a “mixer” (but you still have to guess where the microphone controls might be hidden);
• you can turn down system sounds in the volume mixer;
• i can still run my favourite dual-pane file manager – Xplorer2;
• the start menu has a new “find” option that responds (slowly) to the letters you key in.

Things i don’t like about windos7

• Themes: when you change theme, the system sounds get turned back on – i hate system sounds;
• resource hog: running very few apps, but the whole thing is dragging badly.. 60% CPU usage for the browser and the file manager (compared with xp.. annoying because everyone promised it runs well, compared to vista i guess);
• i can’t find drivers for the hardware, so this laptop will not push out to a projector anymore, and my trackball mouse is weaker than i’d like;
• can’t manually adjust the start menu any more.. no more adding application categories (eg audio, video etc) – (see image for explanation).

Anyway.. back to work.

Maybe i’ll try Ubuntu Linux instead.

• Have you tried windos7 yet?
• How do you feel about the endless upgrade cycle?
• Are we getting genuine improvements?

Finally!

i’ve ploughed my way through Lankshear & Knobel’s “Digital Literacies: concepts, policies and practices.” (2008)

Yes i’ve been reading it all year, but the final onslaught took me 4 days of sitting inside, during my holiday from work.. when the springtime sun was shining outside. How do i always manage to forget that academic reading can be horribly difficult!! If you’re out of practice, you need to diligently take notes on every page.. or you may as well not have read it.

Anyway, it’s done now, handed over to Tricia the Editor of Fine Print at Valbec (Victorian Adult Literacy and Basic Education Council).. where it will hopefully appear in the Spring 2009 edition (Spring ‘09 Vol 32 No. 3).

..and in spite of the painstaking nature of wading through Academic Guff, some interesting ideas in the book, particularly:

• Allan Martin on “digital literacy & the digital society” (ch7)
• Julie Davies on eBay: “Pay and Display – the digital literacies of online shoppers” (ch10);
• Colin and Michele the editors on Facebook: “Digital Literacy and Participation in Online Social Networking Spaces”, which i’ve written about already on this site (ch11);

Okay, back to work now.