davidstong

I've posted before about the cartoons in the BiSci course. After I completed the eleven that were included in the Flash piece on the creation of the universe and evolution of life, we started a unit on "creationism".

The unit touches on other theories of creation that differ from the Darwinian view. I drew a series of nine cartoons illustrating the theories that would be covered. The three posted here are representations of Theistic Creationism, Intelligent Design, and one of the many fringe views- number three, the Raelian view. I tried to make them understandable at this small size, but they do enlarge if you click them. I'm not sure that we'll do that in the lessons.

My job was to first understand the theories, then come up with a lighthearted illustration that didn't offend folks that may hold the particular beliefs. Very simply put, Theistic Creationism, the first of these three, holds that God created evolution and takes an active role in the ongoing process. Intelligent Design goes a bit farther in explaining the science in God's work. The final cartoon shows aliens, often mistaken for gods, visiting an early Earth where they intentionally or accidentally brought about the beginnings of life.

So now I have twenty cartoons on the same theme. I'm thinking it might make an interesting 40 page children's picture book with a cartoon on one page and short bit of witty educational text on the facing page. The text might be a problem. One of the more difficult tasks that I needed to perform was not offending people. It really goes against my natural tendencies. I'm not sure how much longer I can continue being so sweet.

I've been listening to a series of UC Berkeley lectures in iTunes. It's InfoSys296A-2 Open Source Development and Distribution of Digital Information: Technical, Economic, Social, and Legal Perspectives. It's interesting to me because I see having an informed, enlightened perspective on information sciences to be part of my job. I'm not naturally inclined to seek this stuff out. There is a little pleasure, though; especially, like going to a trade school instead of a university, when you find immediate tie ins to how you earn a living. The lecture currently sparking inner discussion is Wikipedia as an Open Source Project. You can probably locate it on iTunes with this much info, but those rascally UC Berkeley folks also have the same course on that other internet.

I love it. So I guess that's a lot of pleasure. A few minutes in, Mitch Kapor (Adjunct Professor at the School of Information at University of California, Berkeley) reads the Jimmy Wales quote,

"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge."

I get it. It and waves of images of implications. What would be the impact on a University? What would we lose? What would we gain? What would it be like having learning as a lifelong pastime for anyone who wants it? What sort of rationale would develop in academe that would try to maintain the political and fiscal status quo without mentioning them? Lock down the resources without sharing them? Would it be possible for a University to use such a system? What value could they add? What would the problems be?

Shouldn't someone be exploring this?

I'm going to go draw.

My blog entry box is peppered with unpublished entries. It's the result of brain ramblings during a 40 minute walk to work mashing into RSS NPR and email. Things come together in strange ways, then something happens, I get side tracked, and never publish.

Lots of things banged together today. A colleague wrote and asked if I'd read McLuhan's the medium is the Massage. I had, years ago; and knew it as I spoke of it- the medium is the message. I know that isn't spelled like the title is, but that's what they meant and what they talk about. The whole "massage" thing, as I recall, was a misprint. It was the sixties, after all. McLuhan and Fiore came up with a providential back-story to explain it.

And it turns out that the medium—a book—is the message here. They're fairly permanent, long lived, hard to change and update, live in locked away spaces, and you have to adapt your story to what and how they've communicated. How archaic.

Before I was married, I lived in town across from Schlow Library. A good morning to me was walking across the street and rambling from book to book, finding one thing and following it to another. Illustration jobs forced me to find more current information, and I had to go read in a book store, but libraries were still fun. I still enjoy it, but it takes so long. And sometimes, people actually remove the books, take them home for their own use, and leave me with a dead link.

I love books. The way they feel, the way they look. You don't plug them in or change their batteries. but damn it, when what you want is the information, books can be like gum on a sidewalk. And how do you know if they're wrong? There's no versioning... are you allowed to make corrections in the margins? How about if you use pencil? I bet I could even add illustrations if I was allowed.

Since my natural inclination is against using the modbook as a notebook, I sent a note to Mage software, developers of inkBook, to see if they have documentation that could help me. Meanwhile, I used some time to find reviews and analysis that might be useful. In that search alone, I discovered a few useful things.

I sent a note
to Mage Software to ask if they have any
documentation on inkBookFirst, you can drag a multi-paged PDF file onto an open inkBook and it will open pagenated across as many inkBook pages. The text isn't text, however- it comes in as a large graphic. It looks pretty good, and you can mark it up in inkBook then "Print to PDF". You can't open a pdf using the "open" command from within inkBook, nor can you drop a PDF on the inkBook icon to open it. inkBook needs to be open and the PDF is dragged onto a page.

I noticed that the pages all pagenate correctly, but the document might not be aligned to the inkBook pages the way you want. After my first attempt I realized that I needed to drag the PDF pageover a good bit to make sure the top and right side weren't clipped. Dragging one page only adjusted that page-not the entire document. I had to adjust each page separately. The PDF that's rendered does retain inkBook marks in their correct color and location, which was very nice.

Second, I had noticed that inkBook doesn't convert my handwritten notes to text in any of the modes that I tried. That seemed unusual, since it claimed to use Apple's inkwell technology. This morning I found that inkBook actually does convert handwritten notes to text- it just keeps the handwritten record while storing the text "meaning" in the background. This could be very useful in cases where the text needs to retain it's character for meaning. To see how inkBook has done with its conversion, you hold down the space bar. InkBook displays what it thinks you wrote directly over your notation. When you export your document as TXT- it is converted to plain text with none of your drawings. Exporting as RTF saves a folder with a text document and images as separate TIFF files.

When you create a drawing that you want to keep as an object, the entire piece needs to be selected and "joined". In an effort to understand your marks, inkBook keeps the strokes used to create an image as separate objects. To export them as one image instead of many individual images of separate strokes, the "Join" command is under "Ink" in the menu bar.

Page navigation is difficult in inkBook. I can easily page forward but have yet to discover how to page back. Navigation is made easier by a "tab" feature that lets you add a tab to a page so that any page is accessed by navigation tabs that remain on the right hand edge of the book.

UPDATE:I received the User Guide for inkBook v.1.2.0 from Mage Software. It'll be a big help. Their support also suggested that I give the beta version for v2 a try- I am and it looks pretty good. My first effort was the paragraph in this image, which was rendered as this text on export: "WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS To BE 5 ELF EVIDENT 7 TH AT ALL mew ARE CREATED EQUAL j Tr|AT Tr|M ARE EN DOWED B4 THEIR CREATOR WITA CERTAIN INALIENABLE RIGHTS 1 nfAT AMONG THESE ARE LIFE, LIBERTY / AND AN ALMOST FANATICAL DEVOTION TO THE POPE. "

I've started maintaining this text as one long page on my personal site. It may be easier to read in that way, but for comments and discussion, you have to come here. Sorry.

• There is a learning curve for both Ink (Mac software) and inkBook (third party software). In inkBook, editing drawings is difficult- the eraser often moves objects or deletes entire sections. It's difficult being precise. The drawing board smooths strokes, occasionally changing them (shifting, merging, connecting, extending) in ways that I don't intend. I've found very little documentation for inkBook, though Ink has a fair help window.

• Ink is far more consistent and predictable for quick sketches than inkBook. The text recognition feature, which I prefer not to use, is actually good, too. Editing the converted text is beyond my abilities. There are a number of "gestures" that you draw to accomplish things like "copy" "paste" or "delete" and the gestures need to be done relatively accurately. For notes, I prefer leaving the hand written characters.

• I've noticed that with both Ink and inkBook open, I frequently get erratic behavior from the pen and keyboard: the tip won't activate keys but the eraser end will. Or I'll notice that yellow stickies are opening under the keyboard and the text that I'm typing gets odd characters. Perhaps the new version of inkBook will remedy all of that. It might even be the keyboard's quirks. In all fairness I have to add that, even though I'm generally infallible, the behavior could be user error.

• I have to get some outsider input into modbook's notetaking power. As a drawing and painting tool, however- using Photoshop or even Painter, Canvas, or Flash- I can recommend the modbook highly.

The Modbook is exactly the same size as a Macbook with a closed lid. Macbook bags and covers will fit. The ports are the same, too; and there's a cd/dvd slot in the opposite end.

This is a document open in Photoshop. The taper and texture of the stroke is obvious. Note, too, that the keyboard sits ontop of the Photoshop interface and allows the user to access keyed shortcuts without Photoshop losing focus.

The keyboard sits ontop of a Word document, as does the Ink window. inkBook can lose focus, however. This image shows a quick doodle into the Ink window that was then "Sent" to the open Word doc.

Firefox 3 has support for color profiles. Previously, only Safari did. Safari support is on by default, Firefox 3's is off. The problem with profile support in a browser is that currently, few people design browser related things with profiles- so if your browser supports them, you may get wacky (but correct) color. Images that no longer match hexadecimal defined color and that sort of thing. For a long time I was frustrated because Safari wasn't displaying my images correctly- then I found out that it wasn't Safari; it was every one else.

But who is right doesn't matter. If correct color ruins the experience, what good is it? Tough decision; but times are changing- and I think this situation will slowly improve. I turned mine on and lived to post this entry.

If you have Firefox 3 and want to turn on color management, this is how I did it:

1. Open Firefox 3.
2. In the address bar, enter about:config When you hit "enter," you'll be shown an idiot box warning you away. Click the button that says, "I'll be careful, honest!"
3. At the top of the page that loads is a text field labeled "Filter". In that field enter color_management (or you can scroll down to the correct line...)
4. You want the line gfx.color_management.enabled
5. Double click that line of text. "Default" becomes user set and "false" becomes true
6. Quit Firefox. When you re-launch, color management is enabled.

This is documented several places: Brad Carlile Photo Blog and the dria.org blog to mention two.

ADDITIONAL: There's good information about color management in browsers at Gary Ballard's personal website. Under "Why is Color Management Important", there's a great before and after image. Remarkable way to drive this home.

I remember when the ITS logo was created. I thought the text was a bit fatter than I like to see; the mouse in the "at" sign was distracting, hard to identify, and, well, a bit single-focused; and ultimately, the "its at penn state" giggle was just plain ambiguous. Many will agree that it's also a good thing that nobody cared what I thought. It's our identity. It's our logo. It's managed and regulated. And, it's at Penn State.

The last little bit is what really concerns me. We are Penn State. Yet every body wants to be known for being the little bit of Penn State that they are; to stand out as an individual rather than as a contributer to the collective. Beats me, man; I stopped carving my name in desks at a very young age. But no matter. Every group wants an identity, usually one that starts with them and moves down the hierarchy. My role in such things varies. Sometimes I'm a creator and sometimes I have little role at all-except to be the old bastard who points out the policies, the reasons behind the policies, and the years of history behind the discussion. But as I've already said, no matter.

If we want buy in from other groups on campus, from others who may be just as interested in establishing their own piece of the landscape, wouldn't it be smart to let them have their identity and try to take a non-intrusive, non-confrontational position that drips participation, community and support? Wouldn't we want to look like team players? Wouldn't we want to be part of the same family, somebody that you can come to even when you might be unsure and afraid of looking silly?

I'm not sure the "its at Penn State" thing does any of that.

I wonder if the Apple group working on the iPhone resents having to stick that damn apple on their product? and using that same old tired font? With the iPhone now the largest revenue producer that Apple has, I wonder if we'll see a new font and logo? It's possible; but really, would you see it as the same product? For me, as tired as I am of the Penn State shield, as bored as I am with blue and white I understand Penn State's desire to have a unified team presence. I understand what it could mean to someone in a non-ITS department to have advice from Penn State instead of a competitor trying to create a bigger footprint. But you know, I'm just too damned tired of the same old arguments to enter the fray again.

Years ago, I did an illustration for a great designer at the Alumni Association. She wanted a picture of the campus around Old Main as a center piece for the Alumni web site, but she wanted it to look hand made. As far from "computery" as I could be. I came up with a technique in which I did a coarse line drawing, then xeroxed it onto acetate. That gave me multiple copies to play with, a resilient surface to scratch then re-ink, and the ability to lay it overtop of watercolors of different hues and tones to see how it would look. I went on to do three or four other campus scenes the same way.

Flash forward a little over a dozen years and I'm trying scratchboard again. I love scratchboard, I love the coarseness and character that I can get. And it still looks pretty far from "computery".

This time, of course, I'm working completely on the Modbook. I opened Flash to try sketching- the application seems to be made for rendering- and in very short order came up with this tree. If the ants weren't all over me, I'd have done more, but I don't think I would have polished it at all. The coarseness here is perfect, and I could see the set up and style being used for icons and illustrations across an entire site or an entire book.

The Modbook disappeared during this sketch. Like any good tool.

• I've discovered that the little on-screen keyboard can be scaled to any size. I like it small- it's consistently on top, I like it visible/available, and usually just leave an edge sticking out from a side of the work area. Small is just more convenient. It will come and go with pen button clicks, but I have those programmed for other things.

• The screen glass stays mysteriously clean. Through WC08 it was often in and out of a bag, held with my greasy fingers overlapping it, and otherwise abused. I didn't need to wipe it once. There's a glare proof coating on the underside and a slight roughening of the upper surface so it feels more like paper when you drag the pen across it.

• Someone asked if I could draw overtop of presentations. I can't say whether or not the modbook would make a good presentation environment; like any small laptop, I guess. I did find, install, and try Pointer from GenevaLogic. It works, but my first experience was me looking for the hidden "tool dock" that I had to approach just right to get my offset cursor to invoke it. That can be remedied with minor calibration. There was a real problem, though, when I chose a square mark that seemed to interfere with the desktop and mac system sensing my pen. I couldn't quit because the command buttons and dialogs got covered by red squares. The highlighter and pen didn't have the problem. The Pointer software may be worth a look- there's a 30 day trial.

• Since I discovered inkBook and the note taking potential of the Modbook, I realized that's probably the most sellable aspect of the thing and made it much of my focus. If you saw the notes I took at Steven Krug's 47 minute keynote, you'd understand that I'm not much of a note taker, and haven't been giving the Modbook a fair test. Others, like Roxanne for instance, will have better insight into those aspects of the Modbooks performance. I'll just note that it seems to do as well as I'd ever need and from here on I'll continue looking at its potential as a rendering toolset.

What was it that Krug said again? Buy my book?

At the web conference I heard a presenter say that one method for gaining adoption is to accept that it may be better (and easier) to apologize later rather than ask now.

Wow, does that punch my buttons. If you're familiar with the type and despise their simpering, harmful tactics too, this will be worse: she then went on to very cutely add, "...but I didn't say that."

I've heard the same from ranking officials who should be setting a better example.

I'm not for a moment advocating either mindless acceptance or any disapproval of civil disobedience. I'm advocating that people stand for what they believe and not do anything that they feel they will be sorry for. Disobey proudly. State your reasons boldly, and act for the good of the order. State why you did what you did and give your adversary a chance to justify or withdraw their position. To apologize is to have regrets- to say you are sorry. To use it as a spineless cover-up shows you to be characterless. And more, it educates no one.