austraLasia 1657
Try out the Social Communication Handbook
ROME: 28th September 2006 -- The framework for all communications in the Salesian Congregation, known as the Salesian Social Communication Systemor SSCS, was printed in full colour and distributed to all provinces last year. It was very well received. Certainly all provincial delegates for social communication should have one, and in an ideal situation every community would have one. More recently, delegates for social communication in each province received a brief document on formation to social communication. In most instances this was given to them in a simple printed format but is also available to them (and to formation commission members) via sdb.org.
What is less known is that an earlier Handbook for Social Communication was completely re-written in the light of SSCS and the Formation to SC documents. But whereas the earlier handbook was addressed only to delegates for SC, the revised version is now addressed to all Salesians. The question is how, in a world of mounting printing and distribution costs, to get this document into the hands of all Salesians.
Which is why I am asking you if you would like to try out the handbook in another form. Click here! Or if that link is not working, here it is in raw form:www.bosconet.aust.com/com/manen/index.html. If this seems an effective way to have access to a useful document, you are then invited to offer your comment by way of the usual 'click here' down below in Boscowiki. If it works well for you, we will put this and other documents up in this form on sdb.org. If there are problems, I'd like to know.
It is helpful, I think, to explain how we have arrived at this point. In fact it models a process that offers a solution to a range of instances. Bear with the relatively simple technical explanation.
The original file was prepared as any file would be, except that no formatting was done at all - just content. It would not matter which word processing program is used. The ultimate key, though, is not to save it as .doc (Word files always combine format information with content, which is not ultimately a good process), but as .txt meaning plain text. The second stage was to import that file into an XML text editor. Such editors are available for free. I used one called XML Mind XML Editor. Inside that editor I identifed the key format issues like what is a heading, a subheading and ordinary paragraph text, numbered lists and so on. I simply saved that file to its native format inside XML Mind XML Editor. In fact this is a Docbook file with an .xml extension, not something you need to bother too much about at this stage. Finally I took that file and converted it from docbook with another free program called XML Mind XSL Utility.
And here is the wonder of this process. For very little work - I have simply taken an ordinary text file and formatted it inside another program - I have the facility to convert it instantly into (1) a 'word' style document, in rtf, (2) or a pdf file which can go anywhere, (3) or a web-based document in html. In this latter case it is not a Word document masquerading as an html file (as happens when you convert a .doc file into .html where it essentially remains a print document, not a web document) but a document appropriately formatted for the web. This is what we call 'horses for courses', or using the correct instrument for the correct purpose.
Check it out on the link above. I think you will see the benefits of this approach. If you want to ask further information on the process, please do. JBF.
GLOSSARY
Docbook: Since xml invites structured content rather than formatting (formatting is handled by a separate file), several approaches are out there in the market for word processing along structured lines. Docbook is one of them. It helps you structure your content for things like articles, books, letters, by offering you a range of tags but not in any order. Certain tags follow other tags naturally, hence the idea of 'structure'. It vastly improves the authoring process.
___________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm A separate service entirely is called F/OSSERVATORE to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world.
Try out the Social Communication Handbook
ROME: 28th September 2006 -- The framework for all communications in the Salesian Congregation, known as the Salesian Social Communication Systemor SSCS, was printed in full colour and distributed to all provinces last year. It was very well received. Certainly all provincial delegates for social communication should have one, and in an ideal situation every community would have one. More recently, delegates for social communication in each province received a brief document on formation to social communication. In most instances this was given to them in a simple printed format but is also available to them (and to formation commission members) via sdb.org.
What is less known is that an earlier Handbook for Social Communication was completely re-written in the light of SSCS and the Formation to SC documents. But whereas the earlier handbook was addressed only to delegates for SC, the revised version is now addressed to all Salesians. The question is how, in a world of mounting printing and distribution costs, to get this document into the hands of all Salesians.
Which is why I am asking you if you would like to try out the handbook in another form. Click here! Or if that link is not working, here it is in raw form:www.bosconet.aust.com/com/manen/index.html. If this seems an effective way to have access to a useful document, you are then invited to offer your comment by way of the usual 'click here' down below in Boscowiki. If it works well for you, we will put this and other documents up in this form on sdb.org. If there are problems, I'd like to know.
It is helpful, I think, to explain how we have arrived at this point. In fact it models a process that offers a solution to a range of instances. Bear with the relatively simple technical explanation.
The original file was prepared as any file would be, except that no formatting was done at all - just content. It would not matter which word processing program is used. The ultimate key, though, is not to save it as .doc (Word files always combine format information with content, which is not ultimately a good process), but as .txt meaning plain text. The second stage was to import that file into an XML text editor. Such editors are available for free. I used one called XML Mind XML Editor. Inside that editor I identifed the key format issues like what is a heading, a subheading and ordinary paragraph text, numbered lists and so on. I simply saved that file to its native format inside XML Mind XML Editor. In fact this is a Docbook file with an .xml extension, not something you need to bother too much about at this stage. Finally I took that file and converted it from docbook with another free program called XML Mind XSL Utility.
And here is the wonder of this process. For very little work - I have simply taken an ordinary text file and formatted it inside another program - I have the facility to convert it instantly into (1) a 'word' style document, in rtf, (2) or a pdf file which can go anywhere, (3) or a web-based document in html. In this latter case it is not a Word document masquerading as an html file (as happens when you convert a .doc file into .html where it essentially remains a print document, not a web document) but a document appropriately formatted for the web. This is what we call 'horses for courses', or using the correct instrument for the correct purpose.
Check it out on the link above. I think you will see the benefits of this approach. If you want to ask further information on the process, please do. JBF.
GLOSSARY
Docbook: Since xml invites structured content rather than formatting (formatting is handled by a separate file), several approaches are out there in the market for word processing along structured lines. Docbook is one of them. It helps you structure your content for things like articles, books, letters, by offering you a range of tags but not in any order. Certain tags follow other tags naturally, hence the idea of 'structure'. It vastly improves the authoring process.
___________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm A separate service entirely is called F/OSSERVATORE to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world.
