Great online resource

There are countless tomes of literature in world that were written in thousands of languages, and it impossible to have all these documents stored in their original paper, stone, papyrus, or parchment format in one safe place. Even if there was a building large enough to hold all these documents, the cost and risk of storing them in one place would be astronomical. So why not use new technology and preserve them as digital files?

In 1971, Project Gutenberg was born. Michael Hart, the founder, began to reproduce these documents in a digital form which requires the minimal computer standards to replicate formatting and special characters and at the same time, produces a small file that is easily transferred from computer to computer.

Currently, Project Gutenberg has over 100,000 titles available to choose from through their network of partners, associates, and resources.

Why it this so important?

• The environmental impact of reproducing countless books in traditional paperbound format is becoming too great

• Important references and resources may be lost due the challenges faced by conservationists

• Many great works are available to a greater portion of the world due the spread of technology and translation potential of the digital works

Three things I will not leave the house without

One thing I have learned in my life is you never know who you’ll meet and what you’ll need when you leave the house. As a result, I will not leave my house without my iPod Touch, USB key, and mobile office kit.

iPod Touch is a handy, dandy pocket size device that allows me to check my email, answer questions that only Google has the answer to, and keep myself entertained while on the bus, waiting in a doctor’s office or during a four-hour spare. It can easy keep track of important contacts and meeting.

My USB key is how I keep most of my documents I have on the go, and I truly do my best to have it with me at all times since I never know when I’ll have a brilliant idea and need to find a computer to type it up quickly.

My mobile office kit is a set with a pen, highlighter, pencil, and a fine tip marker. You may call me old fashion, but for some things I prefer to write them down on a piece of paper.

Some useful (and free) tools for any modern professional

In my experience as a student and a writer during my co-op term, I have come across a few handy online tools that are useful to any modern professional.

Don’t you just hate it you leave an important document or file on your home or office computer, and you need it immediately, but it is impossible for you to run and grab it?

Solution: logmein (https://secure.logmein.com/)

It requires you to install the platform on any computer that you may need to remotely access. But once the program is installed, you get real time access to the computer from anywhere in the world.

Working in a group with many people on a project…

Solution 1: Google Docs (http://www.google.com/google-d-s/b1.html)

Google Docs allows for you to work on documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawings from any computer. It gives you online storage as well as real time collaboration with colleagues around the world.

Solution 2: Dropbox (http://www.dropbox.com/)

It is not just an online back up for any important files, but helps to enable file sharing between groups of people. You start with 2GB of storage space, but you can always get more as your friends and family get their own accounts.

Unlikely places to look for help and inspiration with writing projects

After spending hours working on a wide range of writing projects, I often find myself stuck or in the need of a little help or inspiration for some of the projects. Sometimes, I can bug friends and family for ideas, but there are times that I find it isn’t enough, but I am lucky I have some found some other places to get me back on track.

1. World of Warcraft

As unlikely as it sounds, I am very lucky that my guild is very supportive of my education, and they try to help in any way they can. Some people will help with ideas on a certain topic, while others who are in professions like marketing, engineering, public relations, technical writing, etc. will take a look at my work and suggest improvements or new directions.

2. Failblog

Yes, I do find this website funny. And no, I do not plan on replicating some of the mistakes others have made. I find this site useful as a reminder to not make this mistake, but at the time, it often provides solutions (as well as comic relief) to some of the problems that are seen in everyday communications.

Challenges of dressing the part of a professional

Over the last five or so years, I have struggled with some health issues. The doctors have not been able to understand or determine the cause of until fairly recently. However, since they have figured out the most probable cause and dealt with it as best they could, I have lost a significant amount of weight and am continuing to lose weight at a fairly rapid pace. This does pose a large problem in trying to dress professionally when entering job interviews or potential freelance opportunities.

When I look in my closet, I am faced with clothes that used to fit before I got sick which are all in good condition, but still slightly on the too small side, clothes that fit before the last major health incident which are far too big (and make me look like I am playing dress up in my mother’s clothes), and my casual clothes (which are not suited for more than going to school and hanging out with friends). Due to the sudden and rapid change in my body (for better or worse), I find it hard to find clothes that will work for more than a few weeks…

But I do have a solution for now… for interviews and meetings with potential future employers, I wear skirts and a nice flowing top with a sweater. Skirts, unlike pants, are meant to be loose and they can be professional as well.

Freelance experience 3: website for a charity event

(Please note this is an on-going project)

Creating a website is not hard when the client provides you will all the information and files that are needed, but the challenges come when the client does not understand the process or the work that needs to be done in order to get every done.

1. Legal issues and concerns

Some of the sponsors have certain requirements for the use of the logo. The requirements for use of the logo is something that the client (or person asking for the website) should look into to avoid calling the contractor (freelancer) to say “get this down now are we will all get sued!”

2. Editing copy

As a technical communicator, I am quite familiar with editing the spelling and grammar of copy so I did make some changes to the copy, but I was not familiar with the specific charity or aspect of the charity the event is being promoted. I got a phone call last night saying, the charity doesn’t approve of the text on the webpage… Can you change it?

3. Uploading and making changes

My clients have a hard time understanding that some changes that would take five to ten minutes in Word, Dreamweaver, and Photoshop still take ½ hour to an hour to upload to site. This means that all the small changes they request one at a time are in fact more time consuming that doing them all at once.

Freelance experience 2: interpretive sign for outside an artificial chimney

The organization I was volunteering for built several artificial chimneys designed to be new alternative habitats for a threaten species of birds in Manitoba. The chimneys are located in Winnipeg, Starbuck, St. Adolphe, and Portage la Prairie.

They feared these new structures would be prone to vandalism if there were left with nothing to explain what they are so I was asked to create a bilingual 12” by 18” sign that would be mounted on a stand about three to four feet away from the structure.

My task was to write the text in both English and French describing the bird and the need for the structure and to design a functional display. I wanted to include contact information for the organization and images of the bird in flight as well as nesting.

Simple enough… or so I thought!

Every version of the text I wrote was rejected because “it was too simple.” My goal for the text was to include the necessary information in a clear and concise way to leave as much white space as possible (and to make the translation easier), but in the end, the committee went for a text- heavy and crowded design which they wrote themselves.

Shortly after I gave them what I thought was the final version, the coordinator stepped down and a new one took over. When the new coordinator saw the final version, he was not impressed (I dare not repeat the words he used), and the whole process began anew.

Freelance experience 1: certificate

Last year, I was volunteering for a non-for-profit organization creating print documents for both distribution within and outside the membership. The first task should have been the simple updating of the volunteer recognition certificate.

To complete the task, I was told to take the existing certificate and update it for the current year which involved changing the name of the coordinator and changing the year. However, the file I was given was a low resolution image file (a jpeg with 72 dpi), so I quickly redid the certificate in InDesign and sent it to the committee for approval…

The first version was rejected since it was too similar to the original version, and the person who initially created the certificate felt I was stealing her intellectual property.

Drafts two through six were rejected for a variety of reasons… anything from an image being pixilated (because they demanded a certain image which was low resolution) to the signature lines appearing to be off.

Finally, after 20 hours and seven drafts, the certificate was done and ready for printing.