Publications How and Why Table of Contents Table of Contents............................................................................................................................................................1 Publications..................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................2 How............................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Adding (or creating) a Publication...........................................................................................................................3 Why.............................................................................................................................................................................4 Asset Publisher................................................................................................................................................................5 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................5 How............................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Creating a Basic Dynamic Feed of Publications........................................................................................................5 Why.............................................................................................................................................................................6 Publication Displays.........................................................................................................................................................7 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................7 How............................................................................................................................................................................. 7 Configuring a Publication Display............................................................................................................................7 Why.............................................................................................................................................................................8 Publications List – (coming soon)....................................................................................................................................9 FCK Editor – (coming soon)..............................................................................................................................................9
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Publications Introduction A Publication can be defined as, “the communication of something to the public; making information generally known.”1 Using this definition, the possibilities of a Publication becomes enormous. The Publications within the Ultranet also have enormous capacity, providing the opportunity to users to embed, link and create repositories of resources that can be displayed on their sites. The Ultranet’s Publications have 3 main sections that will be discussed in this document. They can be understood only in a relational context;
The STRUCTURE creates the ‘shape’, ‘form’, or ‘structure’ of the Publication. It both restricts and enhances how a publication might be used. For example, you can create a STRUCTURE that will prompt the user to input a Title, Content, and add an Image (much like filling out a form). It restricts the user to a pre-set series of input boxes. It enhances the capacity of the publication because it makes it easier to do layout (see TEMPLATES) and add files or images to a Publication.
The TEMPLATE takes the structure, and creates a pre-programmed layout in the publication. For example, a TEMPLATE, if used in this document, would lay out all the pages in the same way, creating the same ‘Look and Feel’ for each page. The TEMPLATE requires programming input using Velocity (VM), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), or XML.
Finally, the Publication can be communicated in a number of ways using a variety of Applications including; Asset Publisher Publication Display (probably the most common) Publications List The Publications Search application will search and list all publications within your space.
1
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=publication
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How Adding (or creating) a Publication There are two ways to Add a Publication. The first, and probably the easiest, is to add it through a Publication Display configuration control (see “Publications Display – How – Configuration Controls” for more info):
The second, is through ‘Utilities – Control Panel’
Then ‘Publications’ and click the ‘Add Publication’ button
A basic Publication includes a Name, Content, and sometimes Type (depending on which method is used to Add the Publication). Name: Try and use a name that will easily identify the Publication and can be searched for easily
Content: The content can be edited through the FCK Editor placed above it. You can change text formats, embed Web 2.0 objects using “Source” (HTML code), add hyperlinks, Flash (SWF’s), tables etc.
Type: If unsure, select “General”. The Type can be used to filter content for a Publications List or Asset Publisher.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you want keep the Publication for use later, click “Save”. However, if you want it for use in a Display or Asset Publisher, you must click “Save and Approve”. All Publications must be approved before they can be communicated through an application. Created by Tim Danes
Why The main reason why you would use a Publication is to deliver one-way information. Unless you configure it specifically to allow community members to edit it, the content within the Publication can only be edited by the Owner of the site. Publications are arguably the most powerful method of delivering communications to others within the Ultranet. They can be used to create a streaming news feed, display banners (animated or static), embed interactive objects, videos and a whole range of other things that are only just beginning to be explored. Here are a few screenshots of some sample Publication Displays I have created: (left) An embedded “Cooliris” display that can be configured to display a Flickr or Google Picassa album.
(right) An Asset Publisher that is feeding VELS standards onto the page
(left) Wiki’s in Plain English (embedded from TeacherTube.com)
(right) An embedded MindMapping tool (SWF)
(left) A series of banners created for adding a little creativity to a site (still have a fair bit of work to do here). The images shown are static JPG’s and an animated Flash banner.
(right) An embedded eBook. Clicking on the document will open it to full screen for reading (embedded from issuu.com)
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Asset Publisher Introduction An Asset Publisher is like a built-in RSS feeder for; •
Blog Entry’s
•
Publications
•
Message Boards Messages
•
Wiki Pages
When it is first placed on the page, an Asset Publisher will display all of these Asset Types and needs to be configured to display a filtered list. Filtering of the feed can be done by narrowing down the Asset Type and also by Tags. For example, the Asset publisher on the previous page is set to display only Publications that have the tags of “VELS”, “Humanities”, “Expectations”, “Year 8”. Once the Asset Publisher has been configured to an Asset Type and a specific set of tags, clicking the “Add New…” button on the application will only offer the pre-selected Asset Type (eg. Publication) and will automatically add the pre-selected tags to the new publication.
How Creating a Basic Dynamic Feed of Publications Add the Asset Publisher to your page. By default it will display all possible content. Configure the application by going to the configuration option:
1. Asset Selection = ‘Dynamic’ 2. Asset Type = ‘Publication’ 3. The first area for tags can be used to filter your publications. For example, you could set it to show only Publications tagged with ‘Whole School’, ‘Newsletter’, ‘Weekly’. 4. Click ‘Save’ and ‘Return to Full Page’
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An Asset Publisher is like an RSS feed. The ‘Display Settings’ will allow you to have greater control over how the Asset Publisher displays its content. For example, you can set it to feed a class blog and show a heading, author, and date of publication.
Why The following are a few ideas around how an Asset Publisher could be used. The image right shows a large number of applications on a page (lots of scrolling involved!). An alternative way of accessing them could be through an Asset Publisher (left). This example has the tags ‘VELS’ and ‘Reading’ activated with a Search Operator of ‘And’. With well thought out tags, it is possible to create a very powerful feed. My thinking behind this feed (left) was to provide students with multiple formats to view the expected VELS standards in. This feed provides the same information in a pure text form (from the VCAA site) and an interpreted MindMap form. You could also include a Rubrics version (which is quite common amongst teachers), or a dot-point breakdown (created using hermeneutical techniques). Alternatively, a series of interactive objects, embedded in publications, could be delivered through the Asset Publisher.
A ‘toolbox’ of publications can be delivered through the Asset Publisher. For example, if a series of mind mapping tools were created, they could be provided to the user through links in an Asset Publisher (shown right). The same thing could be done with a toolbox of interactive maths objects, or whatever you choose.
Additionally, tags of Levels etc. could be added, delivering very specific tools for your students individual needs.
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Publication Displays Introduction The main use of Publications is to place them into a Publications Display application (or portlet). The key term to note is Publication DISPLAY. That is, the Application isn’t the Publication itself, but rather, is a ‘frame’ or portlet in which to display the Publication. With this in mind let’s look at…
How Configuring a Publication Display When you first place a Publications Display on the page, it looks like this. The primary edit controls can be found in the bottom left corner (highlighted by the red square)
When the Publication Display is first placed on the screen it appears translucent (above) and only the SELECT and ADD buttons are available. After a publication is chosen for Display purposes, or added to the Display, it becomes nearly solid, and an additional EDIT button becomes available: ADD
EDIT
SELECT EDIT will edit the Publication that the Application is displaying. There are two important things to note: 1. The EDIT button will not be available if you were not the original author of the Publication (see SELECT). 2. The Publication Display application only displays a particular publication. If this publication is edited and changed, it will be reflected in all Publication Displays that display that particular publication. SELECT will allow you to select which publication you would like to display. IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember, you can select a Publication from any community you are a member of. This is achieved by clicking on the drop-down list of “My Places”, selecting the site you have seen the publication on, and clicking “Search”. The publication should appear in the list.
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ADD a Publication will create a new publication that will be stored or saved until it is approved (accessible through the Control Panel). It is very important to use good naming protocols in case you need to find the publication again later. If you want more details on how to ADD a publication, go to “Publications – How – Adding a Publication”
Why Why would you use a Publication Display? Primarily, the reason is to provide a one-way communication with FCK Editor capability. The following is a list of applications and indicates how they communicate to the User:
Note that Publications are the only 1-way communication application with a FCK Editor. The FCK Editor allows changes text formatting, but also provides a series of tools for embedding, linking, inserting and copying external sources.
(left) FCK Editor To find out more about the FCK functionality, read the FCK Editor section. Publications flexibility makes it a very powerful tool. While Publications are available through the Control Panel, the Publication Display application provides a means to display the Publication to the user.
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Publications List – (coming soon) FCK Editor – (coming soon)
Created by Tim Danes