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No Office Export in Keynote/Numbers for iPad?

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To be honest, I’m getting even more excited about the iPad. Not that we get that much more info about it, but:

For one thing, the Pages for iPad webpage is explicitly stating Word support:

Attach them to an email as Pages files for Mac, Microsoft Word files, or PDF documents.

Maybe this is because Steve Jobs himself promised it to Walt Mossberg?
Thing is, the equivalent pages about Keynote for iPad and about Numbers for iPad aren’t so explicit:

The presentations you create in Keynote on your iPad can be exported as Keynote files for Mac or PDF documents

and…

To share your work, export your spreadsheet as a Numbers file for Mac or PDF document

Not a huge issue, but it seems strange that Apple would have such an “export to Microsoft Office” feature on only one of the three “iWork for iPad” apps. Now, the differences in the way exports are described may not mean that Keynote won’t be able to export to Microsoft PowerPoint or that Numbers won’t be able to export to Microsoft Excel. After all, these texts may have been written at different times. But it does sound like PowerPoint and Excel will be import-only, on the iPad.

Which, again, may not be that big an issue. Maybe iWork.com will work well enough for people’s needs. And some other cloud-based tools do support Keynote. (Though Google Docs and Zoho Show don’t.)

The reason I care is simple: I do share most of my presentation files. Either to students (as resources on Moodle) or to whole wide world (through Slideshare). My desktop outliner of choice, OmniOutliner, exports to Keynote and Microsoft Word. My ideal workflow would be to send, in parallel, presentation files to Keynote for display while on stage and to PowerPoint for sharing. The Word version could also be useful for sharing.

Speaking of presenting “slides” on stage, I’m also hoping that the “iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter” will support “presenter mode” at some point (though it doesn’t seem to be the case, right now). I also dream of a way to control an iPad presentation with some kind of remote. In fact, it’s not too hard to imagine it as an iPod touch app (maybe made by Appiction, down in ATX).

To be clear: my “presentation files” aren’t really about presenting so much as they are a way to package and organize items. Yes, I use bullet points. No, I don’t try to make the presentation sexy. My presentation files are acting like cue cards and like whiteboard snapshots. During a class, I use the “slides” as a way to keep track of where I planned the discussion to go. I can skip around, but it’s easier for me to get at least some students focused on what’s important (the actual depth of the discussion) because they know the structure (as “slides”) will be available online. Since I also podcast my lectures, it means that they can go back to all the material.

I also use “slides” to capture things we build in class, such as lists of themes from the readings or potential exam questions.  Again, the “whiteboard” idea. I don’t typically do the same thing during a one-time talk (say, at an unconference). But I still want to share my “slides,” at some point.

So, in all of these situations, I need a file format for “slides.” I really wish there were a format which could work directly out of the browser and could be converted back and forth with other formats (especially Keynote, OpenOffice, and PowerPoint). I don’t need anything fancy. I don’t even care about transitions, animations, or even inserting pictures. But, despite some friends’ attempts at making me use open solutions, I end up having to use presentation files.

Unfortunately, at this point, PowerPoint is the de facto standard for presentation files. So I need it, somehow. Not that I really need PowerPoint itself. But it’s still the only format I can use to share “slides.”

So, if Keynote for iPad doesn’t export directly to PowerPoint, it means that I’ll have to find another way to make my workflow fit.

Ah, well…

comment-fishing, français, Google, Placeholders, quickies, Twitter

Vague expérience

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Bon, ça fait déjà quelques temps que je suis sur Google Wave alors il me faudrait commencer à parler de mon expérience. J’ai pris pas mal de notes et j’ai remarqué des tas de choses. Mais vaut mieux commencer par quelques petits points…

J’écrivais une réponse à une amie sur Facebook dont les amis tentaient d’en savoir plus à propos de Wave. Et ça m’a donné l’occasion de mettre quelques idées en place.

 

Wave est un drôle de système. Comme Twitter lors des premières utilisations, c’est difficile de se faire une idée. Surtout que c’est une version très préliminaire, pleine de bogues.

Jusqu’à maintenant, voici les ressources que j’ai trouvé utiles:
http://lifehacker.com/5376138/google-wave-101
http://danieltenner.com/posts/0012-google-wave.html

(Oui, en anglais. Je traduirai pas, à moins qu’il y ait de la demande.)

Le guide suivant risque en effet d’être le plus complet. Je l’ai pas encore lu…
http://completewaveguide.com/

Sinon, version relativement courte…
Wave est un outil de communication basé sur la notion que les participants à l’événement de communication (la discussion, dions) ont accès à un contenu centralisé. Donc, plutôt que d’échanger des courriels, on construit une “wave” qui peut contenir des tas de choses. On pense surtout au texte mais le contenu est très flexible.
Quelques forces…
– On passe du temps réel au mode asynchrone. Donc, on peut commencer une conversation comme si c’était un échange de courriels puis se faire une séance de clavardage dans le même contenu et retourner au mode courriel plus tard. Très utile et exactement le genre de truc dont plusieurs ont besoin, s’ils échangent des idées à propos de contenus.
– Comme Wiki, SubEthaEdit ou même Google Docs, c’est de l’écriture collaborative. Donc, on peut facilement construire du contenu avec plusieurs autres personnes. Le système permet un suivi plus facile que sur un Wiki ou avec Google Docs.
– La gestion des accès est incroyablement facile. En ce moment, on ne peut pas retirer quelqu’un qu’on a ajouté à une “wave”, mais c’est vraiment très facile de spécifier qui on veut ajouter comme participants à une “wave” ou même à une plus petite section. Donc, on peut conserver certaines choses plus privées et d’autres presque publiques. Ça semble simple, mais c’est assez important, comme changement. On peut créer des listes ad hoc comme si on décidait soudainement de faire équipe.
– C’est une architecture ouverte, avec la possibilité de créer des outils pour transformer les contenus ou pour ajouter d’autres choses (cartes, contenus interactifs, sondages…). Du genre widgets, mais ça va plus loin. Et ça motive le monde des développeurs. L’idée, c’est que le système permet d’être étendu de façon inattendue.
– C’est si nouveau et relativement limité dans le nombre d’utilisateurs qu’on en est à une phase où tout le monde essaie d’expérimenter et accepte de répondre à toute question.

– Il n’y a pour l’instant pas de pourriel.

Bon, c’est déjà pas si court… 😉

Si vous avez des questions, faites-moi signe. Si vous êtes déjà sur Wave, je suis enkerli et informalethnographer (dans les deux cas, c’est @googlewave.com).

Blogger (Blogspot), comment-fishing, Education, eLearning, Google, learning and teaching, linkfest, ramblings, Teaching, teaching and learning, Tech, techno enthusiasts, wishful thinking, wishlists, YouTube

Google for Educational Contexts

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Interesting wishlist, over at tbarrett’s classroom ICT blog.

11 Google Apps Improvements for the Classroom | ICT in my Classroom.

In a way, Google is in a unique position in terms of creating the optimal set of classroom tools. And Google teams have an interest in educational projects (as made clear by Google for Educators, Google Summer of Code, Google Apps for schools…).
What seems to be missing is integration. Maybe Google is taking its time before integrating all of its services and apps. After all, the integration of Google Notebook and Google Bookmarks was fairly recent (and we can easily imagine a further integration with Google Reader). But some of us are a bit impatient. Or too enthusiastic about tools.

Because I just skimmed through the Google Chrome comicbook, I get to think that, maybe, Google is getting ready to integrate its tools in a neat way. Not specifically meant for schools but, in the end, an integrated Google platform can be developed into an education-specific set of applications.
After all, apart from Google Scholar, we’re talking about pretty much the same tools as those used outside of educational contexts.

What tools am I personally thinking about? Almost everything Google does or has done could be useful in educational contexts. From Google Apps (which includes Google Docs, Gmail, Google Sites, GTalk, Gcal…) to Google Books and Google Scholar or even Google Earth, Google Translate, and Google Maps. Not to mention OpenSocial, YouTube, Android, Blogger, Sketchup, Lively…

Not that Google’s versions of all of these tools and services are inherently more appropriate for education than those developed outside of Google. But it’s clear that Google has an edge in terms of its technology portfolio. Can’t we just imagine a new kind of Learning Management System leveraging all the neat Google technologies and using a social networking model?

Educational contexts do have some specific requirements. Despite Google’s love affair with “openness,” schools typically require protection for different types of data. Some would also say that Google’s usual advertisement-supported model may be inappropriate for learning environments. So it might be a sign that Google does understand school-focused requirements that Google Apps are ad-free for students, faculty, and staff.

Ok, I’m thinking out loud. But isn’t this what wishlists are about?

blog comments, Facebook, Google, Moodle, social networking, WordPress.com, YouTube

How Can Google Beat Facebook?

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It might not be so hard:

As I see it, the biggest shortcoming of social-networking sites is their inability to play well with others. Between MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tribe, Pownce, and the numerous also-rans, it seems as if maintaining an active presence at all of these sites could erode into becoming a full-time job. If Google can somehow create a means for all of these services to work together, and seamlessly interact with the Google family, then perhaps this is the killer app that people don’t even realize they’ve been waiting for. Google gives social networking another go | Media Sphere – Josh Wolf blogs about the new information age – CNET Blogs

Some might take issue at Wolf’s presumption. Many of us have realised in 1997 that the “killer app” for social networking services is for them to work together. But the point is incredibly important and needs to be made again and again.

Social Networking Services work when people connect through it. The most intricate “network effect” you can think of. For connections to work, existing social relationships and potential social relationships need to be represented in the SNS as easily as possible. What’s more, investing effort and time in building one’s network relates quite directly with the prospective life of SNS. Faced with the eventuality of losing all connections in a snap because everybody has gone to “the next thing,” the typical SNS user is wary. Given the impression that SNS links can survive the jump to “the next one” (say, via a simple “import” function), the typical SNS user is likely to use the SNS to its fullest potential. This is probably one of several reasons for the success of Facebook. And Google can certainly put something together which benefits from this principle.

Yeah, yeah, Wolf  was referring more specifically to the “synchronisation” of activities on different SNS or SNS-like systems. That’s an important aspect of the overall “SNS interoperability” issue. Especially if SNS are important parts of people’s lives. But I prefer to think about the whole picture.

Another thing which has been mentioned is the connection Google could make between SNS and its other tools. One approach would be to build more “social networking features” (beyond sharing) into its existing services. The other could be to integrate Google tools into SNS (say, top-notch Facebook applications). Taken together, these two approaches would greatly benefit both Google and the field of social networking in general.

All in all, what I could easily see would be a way for me to bring all my SNS “content” to a Google SNS, including existing links. From a Google SNS, I would be able to use different “social-enabled” tools from Google like the new Gmail, an improved version of Google Documents, and the Blogger blogging platform. Eventually, most of my online activities would be facilitated by Google but I would still be able to use non-Google tools as I wish.

There’s a few tools I’m already thinking about, which could make sense in this “Google-enabled social platform.” For one, the “ultimate social bookmarking tool” for which I’ve been building feature wishlists. Then, there’s the obvious need for diverse applications which can use a centralised online storage system. Or the browser integration possible with something like, I don’t know, the Google toolbar… 😉

Given my interest in educational technology, I can’t help but think about online systems for course management (like Moodle and Sakai). Probably too specific, but Google could do a wonderful job at it.

Many people are certainly thinking about advertisement, revenue-sharing, p2p for media files, and other Google-friendly concepts. These aren’t that important for me.

I can’t say that I have a very clear image of what Google’s involvement in the “social networking sphere” will look like. But I can easily start listing Google products and features which are desperately calling for integration in a social context: Scholar, Web History, Docs, Reader, Browser Sync, Gcal, Gmail, Notebook, News, Mobile, YouTube, Ride Finder, Blog Comments, Music Trends, University Search, MeasureMap, Groups, Alerts, Bookmarks…

Sometimes, I really wonder why a company like Google can’t “get its act together” in making everything it does fit in a simple platform. They have the experts, the money, the users. They just need to make it happen.

Ah, well…

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Zoho Tools

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I might enjoy Zoho more than I thought I would. In a browser (like Firefox 2) with a “spell as you type” mode, it can be fairly useful.
However, the desktopization of Zoho Writer (a widget which allows users of Zoho Writer, Sheets, or Show to edit files offline) wasn’t working for me, just now. The other desktop widgets did work and the add-ins for Microsoft Excel and Word also seem to work. Strange there doesn’t seem to be a PowerPoint add-in, but maybe that’s coming.
At first glance, Zoho Writer seems more feature-rich than Google Docs. It also works in browsers to allow for opening online documents, which can be quite useful. But Google Docs has the advantage of Gmail integration…
Actually, I just received a Word document which was to be co-edited with members of a group I’m a member of and I decided to open it in Google Docs. And I then shared it through Google Docs. Maybe because I thought it would be easier for the “collaborators” to recognise what this was supposed to be. But I guess I should have used Zoho Writer.
Ah, well…

I’ve been using Zoho Show for lectures and it does work fairly well. I wish it worked a bit more like an outliner with different output options (screen display, outlined notes, etc.) but it works quite well as a PowerPoint replacement.
The advantage, for me, is that I can edit it on any computer and know that it’ll be available for classroom presentation. Perhaps a less important point but it also means that I only log in to my Zoho Show account, from the classroom computer.
An issue I had while presenting was that read-only presentations were too slow to go from one slide to another. Another issue I have is that Firefox isn’t keeping the classroom computer awake and the screen sometimes goes black if I spend too much time on the same slide (which might happen on occasion).
I just wish I could synchronise things with my Clié so that notes I take while reading some things can be transformed into lecture notes more easily.

All in all, Zoho’s online tools seem to be fairly well adapted to my workflow.