[Edu-sig] How best to publish?...

[Kirby Urner]

>So why not work toward an open-source type of XML format that
>can remain free?

Well, HTML (a subset of SGML, of which XML is a streamlined
version), is already such a public domain tag language. 
Your browser (likely a free download) knows what to do
with those tags.  

So HTML is much better than we've ever had, in terms of 
being able to share formatted materials in the public 
domain.  From the point of view of the 1960s, we're 
already there.  But then of course we always raise our 
standards to the next level, assuring eternal 
dissatisfaction with what we've got (aye, there's the
rub).

As we've learned from experience, any time someone sets
down a trully useful standard, it gets caught in a tug-o-war
as innovators overlay it with their own specialized 
enchancements.  This has happened with HTML.  XML doesn't 
prevent it either, just makes it easier for everyone to 
extend their tag sets as they please, with no upper limits 
(the standard defines the syntax, so automatic parsers 
can verify code at a low level, and people take it from 
there).

Coming up with standards that actually propagate is really 
difficult, except maybe under dictatorships.  It's very
easy to say "let's all agree".  But then what?  It's not
really easy at all, because, ultimately, no one is in 
control at the top (just principles operating on auto-
pilot, like gravity).

I just don't think it wise to have our Python-informed 
curriculum efforts get side-tracked into some "how do we
do this the right way the first time" investigations.
Like, I think Elkner is asking good questions and his
heart is certainly in the right place, but at the end 
of the day, people are gonna do what they're gonna do.

Personally, I thought the PDF versions of the LiveWires
stuff was adequate, and question the need for HTMLized
versions of all the same stuff.  But maybe I just don't 
understand the big picture here.

Anyway, my view is we should just get stuff out there, 
using whatever existing standards.  Even use Microsoft 
Word that's what you know.  Even if you don't have it, 
someone in your network probably does, and will download 
and convert it for you.  Leave it to the informal grape
vines to mix 'n match as needed.  Not important to 
always use lowest common denominator, which might be 
straight ASCII (but how does that work for Kanji, plus 
we need lotsa graphics plus...).

Speaking of kanji, keep in mind that we're on the brink 
of going to way more characters, given unicode.  A lot 
of teachers doing Python-informed curriculum writing 
will be doing so using characters that Roman alphabet
people can't decipher easily.  So even if they use 
the most open source of all formats (e.g. HTML), there's 
no way a lot of us are going to be able to use their 
materials directly (or vice versa).  Such is life 
in the big city.

My personal practice is to use HTML for most of my 
public domain curriculum writing.  It suits my needs and 
will persist as a standard for a long time to come, even 
with XML in the picture.  When JPython applets become 
easier to create, I expect we'll see a lot more of 
those.  But it's not critical that everything you're 
doing with Python be doable over the web or sharable 
in some HTML-embedded form.

With Adobe Distiller, you can convert your web pages
into PDFs, but I've never found a good reason for 
doing that.

Lastly, let me put in a plug for video (with audio).
A lot of what I personally want to teach is bottlenecked 
behind the fact that I have no access to a well-
equipped media lab.  

And I include real life teachers, lecturing or taking 
questions, as part of what goes under the heading of 
"TV" (whether that be streaming, PAL/NTSC or whatever).  
Take Bill Nye the Science Guy for example -- now 
_there's_ a real teacher (better than I'll ever be).

Some of this Python stuff could well be imparted with 
videos.  I'm not just talking about staring at some 
screen while people type code.  That'd be a small 
part of it.  I'm talking about creative mixes of 
live action, interviews, over-the-shoulder views of 
coding sessions, and other stuff, to give students 
the flavor of real world, working situations in which
Python (and math in general) is of vital importance
(gets back to the PR problems we're having with the 
women -- if we make the TV shows right, this will 
stop being a problem after awhile).

Kirby