Help:Notes_on_document_conversion
The documents associated with the manual (such as handouts and presentations) were prepared as detailed below. The aim was to
- insert (lightweight) graphics into the documents (such as the RECOUP logo and the CC license badge, as well as a footer giving the url of the wiki), and
- to convert the source document from proprietary formats to open formats (including OpenOffice and wiki text).
Below, PPT refers to (presentations in) Microsoft Powerpoint 2004 for Mac, while OO refers to (presentations and documents in) OpenOffice 3.0 beta for Mac.
Presentations (source format powerpoint)
These originated as powerpoint for PC. Initially these were opened in OO, modified, and saved back to PPT. However, it was found that the size of the documents increased in this way. Instead, the document was opened in PPT, modifed, and save back to PPT, and the size was found to be more favourable. (Note that repeated saving in PPT alters the filesize. The document was repeatedly saved until the minimum filesize was obtained.)
Once the document had been modified and saved in PPT, a pdf was generated using the PPT pdf plugin. The PPT was then opened in OO, and saved as odp.
Documents (source format microsoft word doc)
These documents have a transparent 'RECOUP' logo as background, which in MSWORD didn't convert properly to pdf. These documents were thus opened in OO.
The following amendments were made to the documents:
- Recoup logo at the top
- CC license badget at the bottom
- Manual url in the footer.
To place the graphics easily, versions of the logos with white borders were created. In OO, two styles were set up, that placed the logos either at the top right or bottom right of the page. (Setting up styles that would place the logos a certain distance from the edge didn't seem to work reliably.)
From OO, documents were exported
- to pdf,
- MSWORD,
- Mediawiki text (available natively in OO version 3.0),
- and OpenDocument text.
The MSWORD documents remained similar in size, disregardless of whether saved from OO or MSWORD. Unlike the presentations (where the pdf was of similar size to the other documents), the pdf for MSWORD documents came out substantially larger than the other documents.
Security precautions
All documents were scanned with virus protection software, and all macros were removed.
Singal, N., and Jeffery, R. (2008). Qualitative Research Skills Workshop: A Facilitator's Reference Manual, http://oer.educ.cam.ac.uk/wiki/RECOUP, Cambridge: RECOUP (Research Consortium on Educational Outcomes and Poverty, http://recoup.educ.cam.ac.uk/). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. (original page)
