I recently had to export data (data in a table) from a PDF file and into an Excel format (or a format Excel can open) to edit the data. The format I chose to save the file was XML (Table in Excel Spreadsheet- go to Save As in Adobe PDF Reader, this will be an option to save the file). When I opened it in Excel, I received this error:

“Problems During Load
Problems came up in the following areas during load:

Tables”

I noticed the tags where not properly closed out in the XML file. So I used an HTML editor (in this case, Dreamweaver) to find the tag errors. I noticed either a < would be in a space where the data was, and most times, these tags would have validation errors.

I copied the text and did a find and replace (pasting the text into the find text box and replacing the text with nothing). If the XML file did not load in Excel, I tried to load it in Open Office. If it loaded, I saved it as an Excel Spreadsheet. If it did not load, I tried to run the XML file in Firefox to find which lines still had validation errors and repeated the HTML editor steps.  I saved it in Excel because I had a macros to run that combined all the sheets into one sheet (found it here on Yahoo! Answers).

So if you find this error with an XML file in Excel, it maybe that your tags are not properly closed out or configured. I hope this helps!

I have been working on a project that requires to have Arabic text in a flash website. The issue is that every time we add Arabic text, some of the letters get flipped when we export the movie (.swf file). Here is a work around that my boss (Ben) discovered. It uses actionscript and html code. Here are the steps below:

1. Create a text file with all the Arabic text you want to put into the fla file. Use HTML markup to create paragraphs, texts aligns etc. At the beginning of each line, you will write this actionscript code: instance_name=”html text”;

For example:
about_me_text = “<p><b style=’font-size:200%;’>About Me</b><p><br />“;

about_me_text += “<p>Author: Me<br>Department of Me Studies<br>Myself University <br></p><br >”;
about_me_text += “<p>More text<br></p><br >”;

Note: When you add an extra line, make sure your actionscript code has a + in it.

2. Go to the layer you want to add the text. Add a text box.

3. Open up the actionscript window for that layer. Paste in your text (with the actionscript and html markup in step 1)

4. Click on the text box. In the text box properties choose Dynamic Text

5. In Dynamic Text, there is a an instance textbox. Type in the instance name in the actionscript code. For this example, that would be: about_me_text

6. Under Paragraph in the text properties, in Behavior choose Multiline.

7. Under Options in the Text Properties, type in the same instance name for the Variable text box. In this example it would be:  about_me_text. (You can copy and paste the text you enter in step 5).

8. Render your movie.

Note: You can change the color, font type, and size in the Text Properties menu too.

1. Open up Audacity. Load your audio clip.
2. Now use the cursor to scroll over the shortest silence period in your clip. This is where a label will be inserted to show a break in audio parts. You are measuring the time.
3. Look at the bottom of Audacity. You will see how long that silence period is.
4. Now select all your audio clip by clicking Control + A.
5. Now go to the Analyze menu.
6. Choose Silence Finder
7. In the minimum silence duration text box, type in the number you saw at the bottom of Audacity when you measured the shortest silence period in the clip.
8. Click OK
9. Now you will see a series of labels with a S. You can also manually enter labels (if the analyzer missed any spots) by clicking on the silence spot and pressing Control + B.
10. Now that all your silence spots are marked to break up the clips, go to File and choose Export Multiple.
11. Choose the format (wav, mp3), where to save it, how to name it, and choose Split based on labels.
12. Click OK.

(I originally wrote this for the HRC blog: http://blogs.princeton.edu/hrc)

Note: If you need to delete a label, click on the label and backspace until all the letters or numbers are erased, then click enter (while the label is still selected).

Recently I cropped pdfs so that they would be larger when I viewed them in the Kindle DX. I did not convert them into a mobi file. I just wanted the pdf as is (an image basically). When I cropped my pdf using Adobe Acrobat reader and saved it, I noticed that when I viewed it in the Kindle the cropped did not apply to the pdf and it appeared in the original format. So how did I save my cropped pdfs so that they appeared the way I wanted them (cropped) on The Kindle? Simple. I exported them as pngs and then recreated the pdf using the pngs I exported from the cropped pdf. Here’s the steps:

1. Go to Tools–> Advanced Editing–> Crop tool

2. Crop each page to the way you would like for it to appear in the Kindle DX (this is good to get rid of side notes).

3. Save the pdf.

4. Now go to File–>Export–>Image–>PNG

5. Create a folder to place the exported png files

6. Now with the same pdf open, go to File—>Create PDF—>Merge Files into Single PDF

7. Click on the Add Files button, choose Add Folders, and choose the folder you created that has the png files.

8. Click the Combine Files button at the bottom right.

9. Name the new pdf and save it.

I hope this helps!

With the semester starting soon, I have been toying with the idea of using a blog to send out changes of polices or practices to my students. I want to make sure I can communicate with them – instead of printing out paper and having them initial it every time a change is made (which seems wasteful and degrading) or putting receipts on email to see if it was read (which I detest).

I don’t want the blog to be a one way street. Sure, I would like for them to sign off that they read the new procedure in the comments section of the post, but I also want them to give me feedback and ideas on the changes. Maybe they see something from a students prospective and I did not consider or see before? Are student workers having the same issues with software, hardware, or patrons? Did something come up in an evening shift? Should we change the hours on the weekend for the lab? I want them to post it and share it. I will value it.

I also want it to be their one-stop place for anything related to their job. A link to the scheduling calendar for shifts, a link to a  live updated list of whats on reserve for the semester, email link for shift subs, a link to their online timesheets, etc.  with the sensitivity of the information, I would like to make the blog private (I know , it goes against the idea of a blog).  Why not use the social media that my students are already using to give them a voice and create a more productive and cohesive work environment. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

I have been recently working on a project that requires for us to take a pdf file (which is basically an image) and convert it into a file that the Kindle can use (as in search text, highlight and underline text). A MOBI file is ideal for a Kindle (a PRC- palm file works as well). I will share the workflow process that we developed (there is no easy or right way to convert these files) and what software we used.

1. OCR your PDF. You will need to use an Optical Character Recognition tool. If you do not do this step, you can load your PDF as an image onto your Kindle DX, but it will be an image. You can not resize the text, search the terms in the text, or highlight and underline the text and make notes. Adobe PDF Reader has an OCR feature built into it, but it tripped on footnotes, page headers and poorly scanned documents in our case. If you are OCRing your document in another software like ReadIris or Abby Reader, make sure you crop out the page numbers, book headers and footers. Put all foot notes at the end of the file. If you are scanning an old text, make sure you scan it as straight and clean as possible. It was save you editing work in the long run. ReadIris worked every well in our work flow (text without image was best example it worked well).

2. Save the document as HTML or RTF. RTF will save images and will keep the formatting of the PDF document. One advantage of saving it as HTML is that it is easier to format the file and to hyperlink footnotes using an HTML editor (like Dreamweaver) versus using the bookmarks function in Word for an RTF. Also, HTML is easier to format spaces in between paragraphs of text using the <p> tag. Also remember when saving images for the Kindle, make sure the images are less than 600px and have to be a really small file size.

3. Edit the document. Here you will have to use a word processor (like Word) or an HTML editor (like Dreamweaver) to clean up any text that was misspelled or to place images in the document or hyperlink footnotes or links mentioned in the article. We used Dreamweaver and Microsoft word for this step, but any program will do for the editing process. Remember to put all footnotes at the end of your document. It’s cleaner for the conversion process to a MOBI file or Kindle. This step will take the most time.

4. Convert the file into a MOBI file or a PRC file. (use MOBI whenever possible). I used MobiPocket Creator (publisher edition) and Calibre to convert the RTF and HTML files. Calibre handled images better, but footnote links where handled better in Mobipocket Creator (or it could be the file type HTML vs. an RTF that converted the footnotes better than the other). In the converter you can fill out the metadata like title and author, image of book cover, etc. Both were very easy to use and free (but not Open Source).

5. Upload to a webserver and test on your Kindle DX by downloading from the web. Make sure you have a good wireless connection for the step or else the Kindle will freeze up on you/

Depending on the type of PDF, how clean the text is, and if it has images, will depend on the amount of time it takes to create a mobi file. The editing process can be very time consuming (the most time consuming part) and be painfully boring. Amazon has an option where you can email them the PDF and they can convert it for you (at a cost). I hope this helps Kindle users out there with their PDFs.

Links:

http://www.abbyy.com/ Abby Reader
http://download.cnet.com/Readiris-Pro/3000-2079_4-10216918.html Read Iris
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadSoft/ProductDetailsCreator.asp Mobipocket Creator (publisher edition)
http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/download Calibre

This great conversion tool by fivefilters.org allows for a person to enter in the RSS feed of their blog site (or any RSS from a site) and this tool creates a pdf newspaper (or newsletter) from the posts. If your posts have images, you can also set for the tool to include those images in the pdf. The images are not as clear as in the blog post, but it does add a nice touch to the pdf. When creating the pdf, you can also choose how the posts will show up. You can choose the posts to be arranged in ascending or descending order by date. If the RSS feed only has summaries and not the full text, you can set for the tool to grab the full text and include it in the pdf.  I would also recommend changing the title to make the pdf more personable and related to your blog brand (which you can do, by simply typing in the title textbox. ) All the features I just described can be accessed by clicking on the more options link. All you need to do is copy and paste the RSS feed url into the textbox and click Create PDF. The process was fast and simple. To learn more about the fivefilters.org tool, click the link below:

http://fivefilters.org/pdf-newspaper/

There are so many resources out there that you can pay for to learn a new language. With the internet, there are so many great resources for language learning for beginners (even to advance) you’ll ask yourself why pay all that money for a copy of Rosetta Stone? I found two great free sites to help you learn that language and have the resources to practice it with free peer review included. The sites are Livemocha and Busuu.com

Both Livemocha and Busuu.com have free accounts you can sign up for. Each gives you lessons with a vocab review, a writing exercise, an audio exercise, and a chance to have the exercises graded by native speakers (you as a native speaker of a language have the ability to grade others as well) and to chat with native speakers to practice your new found language skills. Both have paid subscriptions where you can have access to more contention and more advanced lessons. Here are some of the differences between the two services:

Livemocha:

Pros:

• At free level ,able to download vocab lists from the site
• More languages are available to you to learn at free level (like Arabic and Hindi)
• Have more flashcards to review and fill in the black word exercises at free level to help you retain vocab and helps you with writing and audio exercises

Cons:

• The vocab is not conversational in nature (you say things like I am fat, and I am thin)

Busuu.com:

Pros:

• Vocab is conversational in nature. You learn things like hello, how are you. Welcome. Good day. What is your name?
• To help with comprehension and vocab review, you are quizzed on a conversation a few people are having in that language. It is spoken at the normal pace and with the vocab you learned.

Cons:

• Free subscription limits you to only a few languages.
• To download vocab and print it (like  flashcard review), you need the paid service (also get podcasts with paid service)
• There is not enough vocab review exercises to prep you for the written and audio exercises. I felt that I retained little when I went into the written exercises and audio exercises.

Both are great tools, it just depends on what you want to learn and how you learn. I would sign up for both and give them a try and see how you like the service. You can use both as well to supplement each other. Good luck!

Livemocha: http://www.livemocha.com
Busuu.com: http://www.busuu.com

I am a Facebook user. I use it to keep up to date and connected with my friends. I often hear people say, why not use Facebook in the classroom? The students already use it and it would be a great way to send out assignments (basically a replacement for LMS like Blackboard).  Here are a few thoughts I have about Facebook and why I like the idea of using Facebook in the classroom but why I think it’s the wrong tool.

I use Facebook as a social device and I like to keep it private. A lot of people that use this site do as well. They share things, stories, videos, pictures, etc. They share very personal things with their friends. Now some students would feel that their privacy would be invaded (even though you can set privacy settings on Facebook). Some faculty may feel the same way. It has a lot of applications that can be used for education, but the most popular ones on Facebook do not have much to do with academics (like Mafia Wars and Which Muppet are You? Quizzes). This is the appeal of Facebook. Would students or faculty like to share that kind of information with one another? Usually no (and this also depends on education level and age).

There is also the assumption that all students are on Facebook. Not so true. Some are on MySpace and some non-traditional students may have never signed up for either a Facebook account or a MySpace account. So as with all technology, there is a learning curve. There is also that fear that once you joining Facebook, people not related to your class (family members, etc), will be asking you to friend them, which runs along the same lines with the privacy issue.

I would like to see a Facebook alternative for the classroom. One that is kind of structured like Blackboard, but has more appeal and social aspects like Facebook. Blogs come to mind to achieve this, but what if the students and teachers want to make the class private (just like viewing a profile on Facebook)? Social interaction apps like the ones Facebook has would make learning a lot more fun and memorable and features like wall messages cold be used for assignment posting and  announcements and having a private or group messaging system tied into your email like Facebook has would be great for teacher and students to get in touch about group or individual projects. We need a service that is a clone of Facebook but acts like a online classroom supplement (or distance learning course like Blackboard, Moodle or Sakai).  Maybe we can call it FaceClass or Classbook.

I just recently downloaded a program called Any Video Converter for free (click here to download: http://download.cnet.com/Any-Video-Converter/3000-2194_4-10661456.html). At first, it looks like a freeware or shareware version of a program that may download something bad or extra stuff on your machine. I was skeptical at first, but when I actually opened it up, I was surprised and how easy it was to use (and a nice interface design). I recently had to convert Real Video into a flash (.flv) format.  Now, if you worked with video, you know it’s hard to find a reliable tool that will work properly and convert the file in a clean way. Any Video Converter (AVC), did just that. You can convert into .mp4 format, flash (.flv),  mpge 2, a mobile phone format just to name a few. You can also convert audio using the usual formats like ACC, wave, and MP3.  There’s a professional version that allows you convert into the ipod format, but you need to pay. The free version gets you by for the most part. Another great feature I like is previewing what you are converting. That is a time saver if you need to split a long film into clips and convert them into another format. I really recommend this tool to anybody. Enjoy!