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My students are submitting their formal writing assignments as PDFs. I wanted them to have the experience of transfering a document in a form that is more stable (from a production standpoint) and think about the idea that not everyone has all of the same software, fonts, etc. on their computers. I need to work harder at explaining that. I think most of them think it is just a hassle and I’m just out to make their lives difficult.
So, the writing project I referred to in my last post is on digital literacies. I am trying to define what they are. Just now, I was making a quick list and one of the items on my list included Photoshoping an image (which I know the more theoretical way of saying would include the concept of Remediation). And, then I because I was already thinking about PDFs, I thought I’d add the ability to create a PDF using Adobe Acrobat, which when I wrote it down, turned out to be: PDFing.
And, that shorthand made me giggle. That F’ing PDF!!!!!
Reminder: discuss with students the shortcomings of linking PDFs on web pages, especially as it pertains to their portfolios, and re-explain the benefits of PDFs.
Hey, if any of you reading have come across some *huge* PDFs recently that are linked without any warning of its size or file type, can you send me the webpage URL where it is linked from? Also, if you know of any more elegant uses of PDFs and websites, I’d also be interested in those links.
Via del.icio.us and google, I did find the following information.
How to speed up loading of PDF with Adobe Acrobat
The Firefox PDF Extension to view PDFs as HTML, download, or open PDF.
Facts and Opinions about PDF Accessibility at A List Apart
PDF Accessibility at WebAIM
Web Usability – PDF and Accessibility August 2004
Adobe Access – Adobe has published accessibility information for each of its products.
Also, Clancy just asked about DevonThink. It reminded me that such software and search tools like Spotlight and Google Desktop enable searching of PDFs that are on your computer, which is a good thing for researchers.
If you can recommend any other recent articles on PDFs and accessibility, the Web, information management, and literacy, please leave me a comment below. Thanks!
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About m2h blogsMarcia Hansen works by day as a marketing manager in social media. At other times you'll find her traveling about speaking, writing, and learning. And, if she's lucky, it's on her Honda Shadow 1100.
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Michael
November 9th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
I also stress the use of PDFs in my classes. I teach public speaking and have found them to reduce the issues students and I encounter, especially in an environment with mixed OS platforms and desktop publishing applications.
I’ve been experimenting with having my students email me their assignments as rich text formatted files, on which I can provide comments using Track Changes in MS Word. I then use CutePDF Writer (for Windows) to convert the file to PDF, which I then send back to my students. It does a good job of creating very small file sizes, even with PowerPoint slides. Cuts down a lot on paper and file conversion issues, and allows both of us to always have a copy of the assignment with comments (useful when a student doesn’t make changes that were suggested).
If you have a tablet PC, then you can annotate directly on the PDF using PDF Annotator.
I’ll be interested to read how this progresses for you.