Hi,
I'm not sure where to post this, but I'm pretty sure if I put it here
someone from PediaPress will probably read it.
I just found out about the PediaPress bookmarklet "create a collection
from any MediaWiki" thing and I thought I would try it. I added the
"Melbourne" article from en.wikipedia, wikitravel and Wikimedia
Commons, as well as an article called "Street press" from somewhere
else. When I downloaded the PDF, it contained 3 copies of the
en.wikipedia "Melbourne" article and the "Street press" article. So I
guess there is some bug with multiple articles from different sources
that happen to have the same name.
Secondly, this is not a bug but a feature request: en.wikipedia in
particular produces an awful amount of crud that is not that useful
for printing: references, external links etc. For the [[Melbourne]]
article, there are 22 pages of beautiful text and images, and no less
than 11 1/2 pages of crud, mostly consisting of 184 references. Would
it be possible to have an option to exclude references? Maybe replace
them all with a note like "To see original references, please visit
[url]."
thanks,
Brianna
--
They've just been waiting in a mountain for the right moment:
http://modernthings.org/
In the hopes that someone beyond English Wikibooks is reading
this:
I noticed that some system messages in the Collections extension
were updated to say "book" instead of "collection" etc. I didn't
realize how many system messages were affected until hejko
notified me in IRC. I've changed the English ones back to "book"
where it makes sense to do so - other language editions of
Wikibooks will probably want to update the localizations at
Betawiki and/or change their local messages.
Thanks,
-Mike
----
Mike.lifeguard
mikelifeguard(a)fastmail.fm
Anyone in NYC that would like to collaborate to convert a design text
book to using free software in its examples (see below)
adam
FLOSSIFY 1 : Digital Foundations
For a long time educational courses have been cheap marketing
for proprietary software companies. Can a student really afford all
those expensive softwares required by the courses? No. Ever hear of a
software company kicking up a fuss because students are using
'unofficial' versions? Well, it does happen but not often. And why not?
Because proprietary software companies know, as the universities know,
that once the students leave their training they will be indoctrinated
with those tools and simply slipstream into being paid up proprietary
software citizens. Simply put, unlicensed software used in education is
tolerated because it is cheap marketing.
This is how tools become 'industry standards'.
FLOSS Manuals is fighting this flow by converting textbooks that
use proprietary software to using free software in their examples.
We call this process "FLOSSify". We convert the book from
closed software to Free Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) hence we
'FLOSSify' the book.
Our first text book is the wonderful Digital Foundations book produced
by Michael Mandiberg and Xtine Burrough
(http://digital-foundations.net/). Its a text book designed to teach
software by teaching design. The current toolset it uses is the Adobe
Creative Suite and we will convert these examples entirely to using free
software.
Not only have the authors given the kind permission to go ahead with
this, they originated the idea and approached FLOSS Manuals to be
involved. We are very happy to get behind this initiative and work with
the authors to create a fantastic text book promoting the use of Free
and Open Source Software within design courses.
FLOSSIFY 1 : Digital Foundations will focus on a fun 3 day event at
Eyebeam, NYC. Anyone is welcome to attend and some food and beer will be
provided. Come and meet some of your old geek friends, make some new,
and help make a step towards unshackling education from proprietary
software.
FLOSSIFY 1 : Digital Foundations
Eyebeam, New York City
Feb 6-8
starts 10ish
finishes when we are done
fast connection, a table, some chairs, and beer and food provided
contact adam(a)flossmanuals.net for more info
venue:
http://eyebeam.org/
540 W. 21st Street, (between 10th and 11th Avenues)
New York, NY 10011
Tel. 212.937.6580 Fax: 212.937.6582
--
Adam Hyde
Founder FLOSS Manuals
http://www.flossmanuals.net
I found an interesting free ebook online about the C programming
language. The book is a little bit old, and seems to be released under
an ad hoc free license, like PD but maintaining the copyrights. I've
read over the license and don't think there would be a problem
uploading a copy to Wikibooks under the GFDL, especially not if we
sent them a nice email explanation.
Our current C book is a little bit neglected, and an influx of this
material might help bring it up to a higher quality level very
quickly. What do other people think about this?
--Andrew Whitworth