100 TPC Tech Manual Page 2 – Chronicling Your Event

Introduction | Chronicling Your Event | Webcasting Your Event | Recording Your Event | Preserving Your Archive


Part II: Chronicling Your Event

www.100TPC.org is the global web site for all 100 Thousand Poets for Change events. When the LOCKSS program at UC Stanford begins to archive the records of our events, it will begin here. Most of your material, then, should be uploaded here—the exceptions being video and full audio recordings (though audio recordings of individual poems or segments should be OK).

There are three ways to chronicle your event at 100TPC.org. First, if you are already very familiar with WordPress, you can edit your event’s page directly, creating a web page that serves as an introduction to your event. Second, you can use your word processor to create a ‘zine to represent your event. Finally, you can use the comments stream of your 100TPC.org page to leave notes on the event. To leave the most effective record, pick one of the first two methods (for a thorough representation of your event) and supplement it with the third (for on-the-fly updates).

 

Method One: Are you an existing WordPress user?

If you’ve used a WordPress blog or web site before, you can be set up with Author privileges at 100TPC.org, allowing you to directly edit your event’s page. This option is only available to named Event Organizers who are experienced in using WordPress. Other participants are welcome to contribute material using the comment streams appropriate for their cities.

This will allow you to document your events as Web pages, making it convenient for both LOCKSS and Web surfers. You can upload poems, photographs, or short sound files. You can embed YouTube and Vimeo movies (but please note that embedded material will NOT be picked up by LOCKSS—in order to make sure your videos are permanently archived, please read the other pages in this document). To get started, simply:

  1. Write to Terri Carrión at tere67@comcast.net for a user name and password.
  2. Log into WordPress at https://100tpc.org/wp-login.php with your new user name and password.
  3. Use WordPress as normally to design your blog/journal/zine/page. PLEASE NOTE: under categories, you’ll find a list of all participating cities. Please make sure that your city is checked, and that no other categories are checked.

That’s it! Skip down to Method Three.

 

Method Two: Do you use your word processor to create ‘zines?

If you’re more comfortable using your word processor to document your event, you can use your word processing program to create a .pdf file, then upload that .pdf into the 100TPC.org comment stream for your city. This is only slightly less convenient for the average reader, and no less convenient for LOCKSS.

PDF stands for Portable Document Format, a format created by Adobe to enable a wide variety of computers and computer users will all be able to view a document in the same way. .pdf files are used on a daily basis by most businesses, government agencies, and school administrations, as well as many e-zine publishers and almost all e-book publishers. On home computers, .pdf files are read by the free software Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is probably already on your computer (but you might want to update it here). Most smartphones also come with Acrobat Reader installed. The software necessary to create .pdf files is not free, but comes free with many computer and software packages. All recent Mac computers can create .pdf files. Many word processing, desktop publishing, and photo editing programs for Windows and Linux come with a simple .pdf creator. If you work in an office environment or are using a school computer, you are almost certainly set up with some sort of .pdf creation program.

If you’re not sure whether or not you can create .pdfs on your computer, find out now:

  1. Open up your word processor. Write a few sentences as a test.
  2. Click on File: Print. (Do not use the print button, as that typically goes straight to your default printer.)
  3. Check the list of printers available to you. If one of them is PDF, Adobe PDF or Adobe Distiller, you’re set. Select that “printer,” which, rather than print, will create a file on your hard drive. You’ll be asked for a file name and location. The Adobe “printer” will then create a .pdf containing your test sentences.

That’s it! Skip down to Uploading your .pdf zine.

If you are using a Windows computer which does not have the ability to create .pdfs, I recommend one of the following two options:

PDF995

PDF995 is an easy-to-use .pdf creation program designed for the casual .pdf creator. It takes “snapshots” of each page of your ‘zine, then prints them out as images.

Advantages:
PDF995 is “shareware,” meaning it is a try-before-you-buy download. You are allowed to use it free for 30 days. After that, you may purchase it for 9.95USD. Note that the program will not stop working after 30 days, it will just remind you, each time you use it, to purchase.
It has very few settings and requires very little knowledge.

Disadvantages:
PDF995 is focused on creating printable documents. Although it works great with text and images, it cannot embed sound or video. It cannot create a “linked” table of contents, that is: you can create a table of contents in the manner of a physical book, but a reader will not be able to click on a poem or story and be automatically taken to that page.

Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat is the full-featured program, released by the creators of the .pdf format, and allowing you to create .pdfs with all the advantages of a web page and all the wide compatibility of a .pdf file.

Advantages:
Adobe Acrobat can create computer- and phone-ready documents to any existing professional standard. It can create links, cross-references, and annotations within your ‘zine. It can link multiple ‘zines together in a variety of ways. It can also embed sound and video, but you’ll want to use this feature on a very limited basis so as not to overwhelm Big Bridge‘s server.

Disadvantages:
The free trial stops working after 15 days. The program must then be purchased for 449.00USD.
Adobe Acrobat is easy to learn, but its many advanced features are not immediately easy for someone with limited computer experience to use. A technote is thus not provided, but you can get started at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatpro.html?promoid=DTELO.

Downloading and using PDF995 for Windows:

  1. Go to http://pdf995.com/download.html
  2. Click “Free Converter—Version 1.3—Download—9.1 MB.” This will download the full version of the program.
  3. Install the program.
  4. Reboot your computer.
  5. Open up your word processor. Write a few sentences as a test.
  6. Click on File: Print. (Do not use the print button, as that typically goes straight to your default printer.)
  7. Check the list of printers available to you. One of them should be PDF995. Select that “printer,” which, rather than print, will create a file on your hard drive. You’ll be asked for a file name and location. The Adobe “printer” will then create a .pdf containing your test sentences.

 

Uploading Your .pdf ‘zine (or any other file)

Once the record of your event is prepared, it can be uploaded directly to 100TPC.org, into your city’s comment stream.

  1. Go to https://100tpc.org/.
  2. Find your city listed on the right-hand side. Click on your city.
  3. Under your event description, click on “Leave a Comment.”
  4. Write an introductory note. The 100TPC.org site will be perused for years to come. People in your area might go directly to your page, without taking the time to explore the general areas of the site. A note introducing your ‘zine, your event, and your project is vital to helping people understand what they’re downloading.
  5. Click the “Browse” button to select and upload your file.
  6. Click “Post Comment” to leave your introductory note and ‘zine on the site.

 

Method Three: The Comment Stream

You aren’t limited to the production of a post-event formal ‘zine. At any time, you can use your city’s entry at the 100TPC.org site to discuss your progress, your readers, or any aspect of your event. Using this area before your event will help generate interest as September 24 approaches. Furthermore, the comment stream is available to all users, not just event organizers. You can encourage any participant in your event to use this area to chronicle their own involvement. Take a moment to read Uploading your .pdf ‘zine (or any other file) above, and consider uploading:

Images: You can upload images directly into the comment stream for your event, or embed them in your .pdf. Big Bridge is prepared to host a huge number of images to properly document the event. However, if you are using a high-quality digital camera, you might find that the images are unnecessarily large and slow, needlessly tying up your computer and Big Bridge‘s server. Since these images will be primarily viewed on the screen, they don’t need to be as big as if they were being prepared for print.

On a Mac, the pre-installed Preview program offers an easy way to resize any photo. Simply:

  1. Find your images on your hard disk, and double-click one to open Preview.
  2. Click Tools: Adjust size. Ensure that the “Scale proportionally” and “Resample image” buttons are checked.
  3. Adjust either the width or the height to a smaller number; the other number should follow suit. Alternatively, you can drop the resolution to 72 (which is an appropriate number for Web viewing, though not for printing.
  4. Click on File: Save As. Save the image in the JPEG format. For “Quality,” you want to get the image as far over to “Best” as you can without actually being the maximum, as the maximum file quality will produce a needlessly large file. Note that this value does not effect the size of the image, just makes it take up less space on hard disks.

The pre-installed Windows imaging editing software is less powerful. For Windows users, we recommend using IrfanView, a free, easy-to-use program:

  1. Download IrfanView from http://www.irfanview.com/ and install it.
  2. Run IrfanView.
  3. Use File: Open to open your photograph.
  4. Click Images: Resize/Resample to resize your photograph. You’ll have a number of options, but the easiest way is to ensure that the dialogue box saying “Preserve aspect ratio (proportional)” is checked, then change the values in the “Set new size as percentage of the original” from 100% down to your preferred size.
  5. Click File: Save As. In the “Save as type” box, select JPG. You’ll then be able to set the “Save quality” to 90, which will produce a high-quality file that can be easily uploaded and downloaded. Note that this value does not effect the size of the image, just makes it take up less space on hard disks.

Sound: LOCKSS is a well-funded program equipped to deal with a huge quantity of high-quality sound files. Big Bridge, on the other hand, is not. Please be courteous when uploading sound and use a limited number of files, and please make sure all sound files are converted to .mp3, so that they take up less space.

If you intend to use extensive sound recordings, consider hosting them on your web site, then linking to them from the 100TPC.org comment stream. You will need to make sure these files also get to LOCKSS, as detailed in Part 5.

If you have audio files that you need to convert to .mp3, try Mobile Media Converter, a free, easy-to-use program available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

  1. Download Mobile Media Converter at http://www.miksoft.net/mobileMediaConverterDown.htm. This page is cluttered with ads, so be sure that you’re downloading Mobile Media Converter for your system, not following a link to some commercial program.
  2. Run the program.
  3. Drag your files into the program’s main window.
  4. Select .MP3 in the “Conversion to…” box. The program will generate a new file, an .mp3 version of your existing audio file.

Video: Please do not upload videos directly to 100TPC.org; the Big Bridge servers are not equipped for many files of this size. Instead, you can link to YouTube or Vimeo pages.

Note that LOCKSS will not archive YouTube or Vimeo pages. The next three segments of this document discuss how to ensure that video of your event becomes part of the permanent archive and the public record.

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Comments

100 TPC Tech Manual Page 2 – Chronicling Your Event — 2 Comments

  1. Organizer for an event in L.A. Can’t find instructions for getting photo on to the Photos page.
    Please instruct. I don’t want image on the Comments, I want it on the Photos page.
    creatively,
    S. Pearl Sharp, Organizer,
    The World Stage Anansi Writers Workshop. Event: “Chalk Some Change” Los Angeles