Software

During the semester, we will be using the Microsoft Office suite of programs, including Word and Powerpoint, as well as some Excel. Though the computers in our classroom have the latest version of Office (2007) installed, they also support the previous version (Office 2003), which we will be using for varous reasons. First of all, I don't think most people have had adequate time to learn the new Office interface. Secondly, the default file format is incompatible with previous versions of office for both Windows and Mac.

If you own Office 2007, please make sure you save your documents to previso that I and others in class can read your files. If you own Office 2003, then you're in good shape. If you don't own any version of Word, then you should look into obtaining a copy through the university's campus license agreement. Just make sure you save your files to the older file format (e.g., ".doc" for Word) instead of the newer one (".docx").

In addition, later in the semester, we'll be exploring the page layout capabilities of Adobe InDesign CS3, but not to the extent that you'll need to purchase the program. You can just get by using the copies available in the computer classrooms around campus. We'll also learn a thing or two about Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Collaboration

In terms of collaborative technologies, we'll take a look at several applications that allow small teams to work together via the Internet, including the following:

Groove - a Microsoft application that is available in our classroom via the Office 2007 suite.
Google Docs - document and spreadsheet apps that can be shared via the web.
BaseCamp - a project management tool that helps distributed teams stay on task. Video overviews are available for various parts of the application.
Dabble DB - a shared database application that allows teams to create data repositories over the week. Check out the introductory video.

Imaging

When we begin drafting procedures and instructions, we will also explore the following imaging tools to help us better communicate routines to our audiences:

SnagIt - a great application for taking still computer screenshots.
Camtasia - software for taking video screenshots of an action on your screen. Allows you to record voice narratives to match the actions.
SketchUp - a new Google application that allows you make quick 3D illustrations to accompany your instructions.

XML

Toward the end of the semester, we'll explore the phenomenon known as single-source authoring, which uses XML tagging to publish multiple formats from a single XML file. For those exercises, we'll be using trial versions of the oXygen XML editor.