Instead of featuring a publication today, I’m looking at something which might aid in creating one. Writer, by Information Architects, is an ultra minimal word processing application for Mac and iPad, designed to hold your attention purely on the task at hand – writing. It has no formatting options, one font, one size, and can be set to focus only on the sentence you’re currently working on, fading the rest of the text out, so you “think, spell and write one sentence at a time”. I’ve been using TextEdit recently to compose any creative pieces I’ve been working on (often, handwritten first, then edited in) to avoid distractions, so I can appreciate Writer’s intention. We’ve recently got an iPad 2 in the studio, so I might have a tinker with this – I can imagine it would be useful for writing on the fly during City As Material events or whilst lounging in the studio, free from the dreaded desk and it’s vast, blank screen!
Pitch up & Publish One day workshops to create and publish booklets and StoryCubes using bookleteer: guiding you from concept to publication and beyond, bring a particular project you want to undertake, or come for an introduction and to experiment. The day will be tailored to your needs so you can bring a particular project you want to undertake, specific questions you want to address, or come for an introduction and to experiment. For new to experienced users, all are welcome. Book tickets on Eventbrite for these dates – 12 July, 13 Sept, £50 / £40 (early bird). Max 10 places per workshop.
Get Bookleteering! Come along to one of our ‘Get Bookleteering’ 2 hour surgery sessions ranging from beginners to advanced, to answer your questions about specific projects as well as introduce new users to Bookleteer. Book places on Eventbrite for these dates – 28 June , 26 July, £20 / £10 (Concessions). Max 6 places per session.
Both event prices include (complimentary Alpha Club membership, 5% discount off your first Short Run Printing order, free pack StoryCubes).
Bookleteer is an online service to help you create and publish booklets and StoryCubes. It’s simple, quick and free – print and make them in minutes using only a pair of scissors, or share them online, anywhere there is an internet connection, computer and standard inkjet or laser printer. Make field notebooks, workbooks, gifts, private journals and folios, or just test your design idea’s before using our short run printing service to print your book professionally in small or large quantities. Unlike other publishing platforms, Bookleteer enables quick and easy modification, as findings may change, mistakes made. It allows you use only the handmade versions or experiment with them before professionally printing. The opportunity to create is endless.
Selected by writer and journalist Bill Thompson, this eBook compiles three of Samuel Johnson’s essays in a slim, portable format; Rambler 2, pondering the nature of ambition and self-deception, Idler 48, in which he speaks of how we ‘play throughout life with the shadows of business’, and Adventurer 95, exploring the process of writing and original ideas. As Bill says, “They are the perfect refuge from the blogosphere and, since they require no external power, excellent for those long journeys when your laptop battery dies before you reach your destination and the only discarded newspaper to hand is yesterday’s Daily Express.”
Another zine from Holy Ghost, this time from one of its founders, photographer Alexander McLuckie. A 20 page, black and white photography zine, each copy of Four Twenty has a uniquely coloured cover in various vivid shades. Check the image of a bunch of them stacked in a box – a paper rainbow!
We’re really excited to announce a major new feature to bookleteer : an online bookreader allowing you to read and share your eBooks online. The bookreader is built in HTML5 and can be opened by standard web browsers – so now your eBooks can also be read on screen on a computer, laptop, smartphone (iPhone/Android etc) or tablet (iPad etc). Anyone can read an eBook that’s been shared via bookreader, but authors wanting to share their eBooks with bookreader will need to join the Alpha Club for the time being or have a Guest or Pro account.
Short Codes for easier linking
Each bookleteer publication has a unique short code for its bookreader version (e.g. http://bkltr.it/xxxxxx) which make sharing the links easier. The short codes also have QR codes (e.g. http://bkltr.it/xxxxxx.qrcode) for mobiles and other enabled devices to open the link directly:
For instance the eBook, “City As Material : Skylines Ancient Shadows, City Lights” can be found here: http://bkltr.it/iH4ndY and its QR code is http://bkltr.it/iH4ndY.qrcode
The QR code image can be embedded in websites, or downloaded and printed onto stickers, or incorporated into other things (postcards, business cards, other publications etc).
Embedding your eBook in your website or blog
The bookreader also allows you to embed a ‘mini reader’ of your eBook in web pages or blog posts (see below). You can share it in single or double page mode, as well as specifying a specific page to open to:
A link in the mini reader opens up the full screen version.
To see more examples please visit http://diffusion.org.uk/?tag=bookreader where we’ll be adding more embedded eBooks into the post pages over time.
Re-vamped interface for creating/editing eBooks
We’ve also re-vamped the interface for creating and editing eBooks to make choosing the right format easier. Selecting which design (Basic or Custom) you want to use is done by toggling the panes, then selecting the radio button at the bottom of each icon to decide which binding and orientation you want. The drop down menus below allow you to select the Sheet Size (A3 or A4) and the Reading (Left to Right or Right to Left) :
A new section now enables you to add more information to your book such as a short summary, an author bio, the name of the publisher, and copyright statement. This information show up in the bookreader’s information window.
You can add your own personal bio in the “my account’ page then simply click the “add my bio” button to add it to each publication you make rather than fill it in each time:
Acknowledgements & Thanks
The bookreader is open source software from the Open Library, who maintain one of the largest online knowledge resources and are part of the Internet Archive. Huge thanks to them for making this fantastic piece of software available to others to use.
Upon my search for creative portfolios, I came across the ‘showreel’ portfolio concept. I think this is a great way for creative minds to show off their work in a digital format.
I like the idea of bringing a portfolio to life this way, and with the addition of music, it’s really different to other portfolios I have come across. However I feel the only downside is that it’s not tangible. Even though someone can watch it with ease and experience something different, I don’t think it’s the same as having something in person.
Take a look here. There are numerous examples of what people have created. I enjoyed watching the Wes Kendel Reel 2009 showreel.
Whilst perusing Etsy for interesting zines, I was taken aback by the amazing False Dictotomy by illustrator Junyi Wu, filled with sombre, yet beautiful black and white artwork, paired with scrawled passages from the work of poet Emily Dickinson. The pen and ink illustrations of flora are set against sparse white backgrounds that highlight their delicate intricacy, occasionally clouded by expressionistic smudges. Junyi describes False Dictotomy as “journal-like” – the handwritten excerpts, complete with mistakes and ink blots, adds to this feel and gives the artwork, despite its still-life subject matter, an emotional intensity that is captivating.
a few weeks ago Hazposted about the exquisite hand-cut paper sculptures of Bianca Chang – today I came across a video of stopmotion builds of various pieces for a recent paper festival in Sydney:
Stop-motion builds and photos of recent works created for Sydney’s A4 Paper Festival 31st May – 5th June presented by the Paper Convention. All photos by Jacob Ring.
A collection of 36 short stories by Saki (Hector Hugh Munro), each an individual eBook, the tales in Beasts and Super-Beastsdeal mainly with “the presence or role of an animal and its relationship to the humans in the narrative, acutely dissecting their foibles and pretensions” (an exquisite summary by Giles there). They’re in a similar vein to Aesop’s Fables, albeit shifting the focus from the characteristics of animals as analogies for the noble ways people should behave, to the sharp satire of existing human behavior. First published in 1914, two years before Saki’s death, they can now be freely published, re-printed and read due to the expiration of copyright – generally 70 years after the author’s death in the United Kingdom. In this manner, older texts that might otherwise remain undiscovered by contemporary readers, can be openly enjoyed and shared through modern distribution models and publishing platforms like bookleteer and Diffusion.
Courtesy of FastCoDesign, I came across this cleverly designed photo album, a corner of which doubles as a stand, allowing it to balance upright in a striking pose. The unusual, dynamic design of “The Whole Story” encourages people to pick it up and leaf through, physically engaging with snapshot memories of their lives and others. Despite the stonking price tag, it’s designer Debra Folz’s intention is admirable; to change our current cursory engagement with digital photography (albeit the range of interactive iPad / iPhone photo albums and similar gadgets) and the way images are shared – placing them into the hands of friends and family has more emotional resonance than simply e-mailing or posting links, surely?
