Eureka! At least I think so . . .
Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:32 am
I hesitate to mention the following, largely because there are a number of accompanying issues that need to be checked out and thought out. I’ll do my best to cover what I know about.
A few months ago, I read a New York Times article about a company called Blurb. I visited their site and thought “Eureka!”.
Blurb is a self-publishing company; it was set up largely by a woman who has a background in photography. It’s still in Beta. I believe it debuted in March 2006. All you have to do is download their free software. Using the software on your computer you compose your own book. When you are done composing your book on your computer, you upload it and they print it off and ship it to you. When I discovered this, I immediately thought “PERSONAL HISTORY”. So, I’ve been scanning all my records and memories into my computer. The software allows me to drag and drop a picture into a template and I’ve been typing out my personal history, adding captions to the pictures etc. I’m over 100 pages now and I can go up to 440 pages for one book. The end product is astonishingly affordable – a hard copy 440 page book with custom dust jacket is only $80 plus shipping/handling – much more affordable than scrap booking, I’m told. Prices correspond to book length/soft or hardcover.
Since discovering it, I’ve thought about numerous church applications. Obviously, personal history is the biggest possibility. We’ve compiled cookbooks in my wards and stakes and sold them. The Young Women compiled one and sold it to raise money for girls’ camp etc. The company offers a general catalog of books that their customers have created and you can browse and purchase any of them. Or, you can create a private bookstore where people can view/buy your book only by entering a code.
The above covers the basics, but there are other features etc. I have a number of concerns about suggesting this on this site. The product costs money. I’m not well versed in church policies and procedures. We are encouraged to seek out no-cost or low-cost solutions to what we do and there are various restrictions that the Church has imposed that must be followed. So, any thing like this must be used with extreme caution. Obviously there are serious copyright issues to consider. Enthusiastic overuse could really be dangerous for a number of reasons.
This sort of effort is more useful for individuals than for church, I think, but it could assist us in so many ways. Personal histories could be made available to other family members in a wonderful format. Entities can publish their own cookbooks. Blurb offers a cookbook template. Baby books, wedding books, there is even a blog book template. One suggestion in this LDSTech Forum suggested ward blogs. Genealogy could be permanently preserved, etc.
I’m going to extract all the pictures I have of my three oldest nieces and compile a book for them which feature the pictures I took of them and my memories of them. Families could compile a yearbook of their activities and send it to relatives for Christmas. This sort of thing can really knit families and entities together. I can see compiling a book of memories from a special temple trip, family trip to Nauvoo or Palmyra to see a pageant, girls’ camp, EFY excursion, etc. You get the idea.
This forum is specifically a “tech” forum. I want to put on my librarian hat and lecture you for a moment. (I’m currently in library school). Tech people and librarians share a great deal. However, librarians are extraordinarily concerned with long-term preservation and access. Let me give you some axioms. 1. We do not have any long-term preservation options that are better than hard-copy books. Books are a very stable format. Books can easily be preserved for hundreds of years – even old books. NO ONE expects digital solutions to last more than 10 years. 2. We do not have any long-term preservation and access options for photographs that are better than putting hard-copy pictures in a shoe box. This is the most stable format for pictures that we have currently developed.
You have to resist the arrogance of the age in evaluating information creation, search, access, preservation, etc. Can you imagine trying to preserve the entire world’s accumulated knowledge on vinyl records or eight track tapes? We are tech professionals and tech enthusiasts, but we need to remember that the tools we use/develop should be the best tool for what we are trying to accomplish. The best tool, ultimately, may not be a technological one.
Having droned on endlessly, I’ll finish with other self-publishing options I know about:
Blurb: http://www.blurb.com/
iUniverse: http://www.iuniverse.com/
Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/
Picaboo: http://picaboo.com/
Shared Ink: http://sharedink.com/
A few months ago, I read a New York Times article about a company called Blurb. I visited their site and thought “Eureka!”.
Blurb is a self-publishing company; it was set up largely by a woman who has a background in photography. It’s still in Beta. I believe it debuted in March 2006. All you have to do is download their free software. Using the software on your computer you compose your own book. When you are done composing your book on your computer, you upload it and they print it off and ship it to you. When I discovered this, I immediately thought “PERSONAL HISTORY”. So, I’ve been scanning all my records and memories into my computer. The software allows me to drag and drop a picture into a template and I’ve been typing out my personal history, adding captions to the pictures etc. I’m over 100 pages now and I can go up to 440 pages for one book. The end product is astonishingly affordable – a hard copy 440 page book with custom dust jacket is only $80 plus shipping/handling – much more affordable than scrap booking, I’m told. Prices correspond to book length/soft or hardcover.
Since discovering it, I’ve thought about numerous church applications. Obviously, personal history is the biggest possibility. We’ve compiled cookbooks in my wards and stakes and sold them. The Young Women compiled one and sold it to raise money for girls’ camp etc. The company offers a general catalog of books that their customers have created and you can browse and purchase any of them. Or, you can create a private bookstore where people can view/buy your book only by entering a code.
The above covers the basics, but there are other features etc. I have a number of concerns about suggesting this on this site. The product costs money. I’m not well versed in church policies and procedures. We are encouraged to seek out no-cost or low-cost solutions to what we do and there are various restrictions that the Church has imposed that must be followed. So, any thing like this must be used with extreme caution. Obviously there are serious copyright issues to consider. Enthusiastic overuse could really be dangerous for a number of reasons.
This sort of effort is more useful for individuals than for church, I think, but it could assist us in so many ways. Personal histories could be made available to other family members in a wonderful format. Entities can publish their own cookbooks. Blurb offers a cookbook template. Baby books, wedding books, there is even a blog book template. One suggestion in this LDSTech Forum suggested ward blogs. Genealogy could be permanently preserved, etc.
I’m going to extract all the pictures I have of my three oldest nieces and compile a book for them which feature the pictures I took of them and my memories of them. Families could compile a yearbook of their activities and send it to relatives for Christmas. This sort of thing can really knit families and entities together. I can see compiling a book of memories from a special temple trip, family trip to Nauvoo or Palmyra to see a pageant, girls’ camp, EFY excursion, etc. You get the idea.
This forum is specifically a “tech” forum. I want to put on my librarian hat and lecture you for a moment. (I’m currently in library school). Tech people and librarians share a great deal. However, librarians are extraordinarily concerned with long-term preservation and access. Let me give you some axioms. 1. We do not have any long-term preservation options that are better than hard-copy books. Books are a very stable format. Books can easily be preserved for hundreds of years – even old books. NO ONE expects digital solutions to last more than 10 years. 2. We do not have any long-term preservation and access options for photographs that are better than putting hard-copy pictures in a shoe box. This is the most stable format for pictures that we have currently developed.
You have to resist the arrogance of the age in evaluating information creation, search, access, preservation, etc. Can you imagine trying to preserve the entire world’s accumulated knowledge on vinyl records or eight track tapes? We are tech professionals and tech enthusiasts, but we need to remember that the tools we use/develop should be the best tool for what we are trying to accomplish. The best tool, ultimately, may not be a technological one.
Having droned on endlessly, I’ll finish with other self-publishing options I know about:
Blurb: http://www.blurb.com/
iUniverse: http://www.iuniverse.com/
Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/
Picaboo: http://picaboo.com/
Shared Ink: http://sharedink.com/