I'm away

I shall be away for four days from Monday and will answer any queries next weekend.

The second computer program

I have been asked about the second computer program (the free-standing one). This is is a program that illustrates the concepts that you have described in the chunk that you have volunteered for. The key thing here is to make it look really glitzy. Remember there will be a prize for the best three.

Draw on any tools that have been taught in previous chunks, but back reference them in the comments to the program. We do not want any text for this, just comment the program where you think necessary. Good luck.

Safari

The library has asked me to point out a few things about Safari.

How many sections can any user print before Safari considers this "unreasonable use"?
There is no page-number limit on printing. As long as no automated software is used to download entire books, users won’t be locked out. With that in mind, Safari is not intended to be a tool with which users can print entire chapters or books. A statement on usage is available within the site.

You can print page by page. Will Safari detect you if you print page after page after page (as I know it will if you used automatic software to download sections)?
No, there is no detection of pages printed, but users of Safari are expected to follow standard "fair use" definitions. More detail can be found at this link ; however there isn't a specific rule on number of pages that can be printed.

Is it possible to download and print all the chapters of books in Safari?
Safari is a reference service and is not intended to be a replacement for purchasing the book if someone wants to have it on the shelf. Furthermore, if someone does try to systematically download every page of a book the system will consider it abuse and shut down the abuser's session.

Another project

The department is in the initial stages of planning another mass collaboration project. This time we are trying to get students to write a major piece of music. Currently we hope that we would get students to write a string quartet piece, a mass and something modern like a five minute hip-hop extract. It's early days yet and we need to do some planning, but keep a look out on this site in the new year.

News for this week

There are still authors tricking in. My estimate is that we will have something like 70-75. I was thinking that I would contact the alumni site; however, this would bring in lots of offers which I would have to refuse so I am not going to do any more advertising. I shall hope some of you might offer to do a second chunk in March or April.

Most of the tokens have been sent out. If you have not received one by the 14th November then please let me know and I will ask the fantastic Catherine to send you one.

Books and book vouchers

About two weeks ago I ordered four copies of the Greenberg book from Waterstones for mainland Europe authors. I have just received four emails saying that they have arrived; it looks like stock is coming into the country.

Also, the fantastic Catherine has sent out a large tranche of book tokens yesterday. This should clear everyone apart from authors who offer their services from Nov 6th. Tokens for them should arrive mid next week.

Don't panic

I am starting to receive chunk offers and am adding them to this part of my other blog. Please don't panic if you feel you need to look at the book before you commit. There are plenty of chunks left throughout the text.

Solving the indentation problem II

Paulo Greco has solved the indentation problem as well. His solution can be found here. Thanks Paolo.

Changes this week

From this week on my secretary, the fantastic Catherine, will be monitoring the email that is sent to the mass writing email address. Anything that needs to be placed on the web site such as the address of a blog or a change of email address she will do. Catherine is much more accurate with data than I am; this will improve the overall quality of this project. My role for the next five months is to answer your queries and provide support. It would help Catherine and I if you put something in the header or the first line of an email along the lines 'For Darrel' if you want my help. I will usually respond in a couple of days; often the same day. I will be occasionally away from email but I will post my absences on this blog.

I have looked at about a dozen blogs today and am really impressed with the energy that you are putting into this project. Makes me feel very humble and has reinforced my feeling that committing to the OU was the best decision I have ever made in my life (35 years ago). Enjoy the week.