October
25, 2006
Publish live
lectures as enhanced podcasts
Making lectures
available to students through podcasts is growing in popularity on campuses
across the country. With a new software program called ProfCast (http://www.profcast.com)
instructors can offer live lectures as enhanced podcasts.
ProfCast allows
instructors to integrate live lectures with the PowerPoint or Keynote
presentations that accompany them. It is an all-in-one presentation-to-podcast
tool for the Macintosh, offering an integrated workflow for creating,
recording and publishing podcasts.
The software is
designed specifically around a presenter's workflow. Instructors deliver
presentations as usual. ProfCast provides an intuitive publishing assistant
that helps users publish their enhanced podcasts in a matter of minutes.
A ProfCast-captured
podcast is downloaded to a Windows or Macintosh computer - or on a video
iPod - for a multimedia playback of the class. Student notes can easily
be matched with the lecture slides and audio. Those who might miss a
class can also download the lecture, helping them review for the next
class or an upcoming exam.
Visually impaired
students or those with non-video iPods or other non-iPod devices can
still listen to the widely supported m4b format.
"We have a tremendous
amount of classroom discussion and it's important for students to have
access to that information after the class is done," says Dr. Ken Riopelle,
a research professor in Wayne State University's department of Industrial
and Manufacturing Engineering. "ProfCast is clearly an essential tool
in teaching - and an easy way to disseminate information."
Educators at Duke,
MIT, Stanford, Brown, Penn State, University of Michigan, and University
of North Carolina are also using ProfCast, among many others in the
U.S. ProfCast also is at work in universities abroad, including Obirin
University, Japan; University of New England, Australia; Universite
Paris Dauphine, France; University of Cambridge, England, and elsewhere.
"Everyone knows
that performances are different than rehearsals," says company co-founder
and president David Chmura. "There is a certain excitement from presenting
in front of a live audience. ProfCast captures your voice while you
give your presentation, so your recorded presentation will have a higher
level of engagement."
ProfCast is currently
available for Macintosh users (a Windows version is planned for next
year). It can be purchased at http://www.profcast.com/buy/.
There is a 15-day trial version of ProfCast is available through the
company's website. The full version is $30.
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UW-Madison on
the Google avenue
The University of
Wisconsins Madison library has joined Googles library project, making
the out-of-copyright material in its 7.2 million item library available
for digitizing and preserving. Edward Van Gemert, acting director of
the UW-Madison General Library System, indicates that the items to be
provided to Google will be limited to ones in the public domain. UW-Madison
is noted for its collections of historical documents, ranging from literature
on bees to material on the history of engineering, medicine, and the
arts. The UW-Madison library joins several other libraries in the book-digitizing
project. They include university libraries at Harvard, Stanford, Michigan
at Ann Arbor, California, Oxford, and Madrid, and the New York Public
Library.
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Philosophy journals
going electronic
(by Richard Hull)
Blackwell Publishing
Company, publisher of philosophy journals Noûs and Philosophy
and Phenomenological Research, has announced a six month moratorium
on new submissions to permit the journals to move from paper to exclusively
electronic operation. The combination of the moratorium and move to
electronic editions will reduce the time lags that the two journals
now suffer in both reviews of submissions and in the time from acceptance
to publication.
No submissions will
be accepted after the date of the announcement, Wednesday, 18 October
1006. At the end of the six-month moratorium, both journals will accept
only online electronic submissions. Instructions effective mid-April
1007 will be announced on the journals websites, www.blackwellpublishing.com/nous
and www.blackwellpublishing.com/phpr
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Hull, Gray promote
workshops at POD conference
TAA Executive Director
Richard Hull, and TAA Council member Tara Gray, presenter of the TAA-sponsored
"Publish & Flourish: Become A Prolific Scholar" workshop, attended the
Professional Development Network in Higher Education (POD Network) annual
conference in Portland Oregon, October 25-29, to promote TAA's new Academic
Authoring Workshops.
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New member benefit
Recommended reading
lists for textbook and academic authors: Click
here (members only area)
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Discounted
editing services for members
As a courtesy to
its members, TAA has asked several companies to provide their editing
services at a discount to TAA members. See the list of companies offering
discounted services such as developmental editing, copyediting, text
formatting, reference checking and formatting, publications consulting,
assistance with scholarly articles, book chapters, textbooks, scholarly
books, conference papers, and grant applications here.
Click
here for the editing services list (members only area)
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Authors asking:
Hardcover or softcover?
Read the answer
to a recent question posed by a member regarding how to decide whether
to publish a book in hardcover or softcover: Click
here (members only area)
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Joy Hakim Notable
Author updated
Joy Hakim, author
of the social studies series, "The History of US," shares information
about her new science series, "The Story of Science," in her updated
Notable Author: Click here
(members only area)
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Q&A with author
Joy Hakim
Joy Hakim, author
of the bestselling social studies series, "A History of US,"
and a new science series, "The Story of Science," answers
some questions about her books and her unique writing style: Click
here (members only area)
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TAA Foundation
website redesigned
The TAAF website
has been redesigned to include more information about the Foundation
and its projects. New to the site: Annual Donor Giving Societies, Cumulative
Giving Society and The Academic Authors Legacy Society (including a
PDF of the new Legacy Society brochure); a revised gift pledge form;
and an area to recognize donors to the Foundation. Check it out: Click
here
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BTAA People:
Hannah Rubenstein
The third edition
of "A Speaker's Guidebook: Text in Reference" by Dan O'Hair, Rob Stewart
and Hannah Rubenstein, came out in May 2006. The second edition of their
"A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking" will be out in January 2007.
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Gift Memberships
TAA member Don Collins
gave a gift membership to David Stout. TAA member Martin S. Roden gave
a gift membership to Raymond B. Landis. TAA member Belverd Needles,
Jr. gave a gift membership to Salvador Aceves. TAA member Michael Sullivan
gave a gift membership to Kathleen M. Van Citters. Thanks Don, Martin,
Belverd and Michael! Welcome David, Raymond Salvador and Kathleen!
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TAA
welcomes new members
Salvador Aceves,
Ann M. Berger, Margaret Carno, Hugh F. Crean, Barbara Friesth, Jean
Grace, Karen Grigsby, Susan Groth, Hope Jackson Konnath, Christina Koulouglioti,
Rachel A. Krans, Dolores Krebs, Louise LaFramboise, Raymond B. Landis,
Joanne Layton, Gregory Lewbart, Mary Dahl Maher, Peggy Tidikis Menck,?Dianne
Morrison-Beedy, Laron Nelson, Sally Norton, TK Rodehorst, Susan Seibold-Simpson,
Craig R. Sellers, David Stout, Paul Tran, Jane Tuttle, Kathleen Utter
King, Ellen Volpe, Bonnie J. Walden, Nancy M. Watson, Margaret E. Wilson,
Ying Xue
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Contributing
members
TAA thanks member
Mervin J. Block for renewing at the Contributing Member level ($100).
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Sustaining Members
TAA thanks the following
members for renewing at the Sustaining Member level: Ronald E. Pynn
($200); Ray H. Garrison ($150)
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Search the TAA
website
TAA recently added
a Google-powered internal search engine to its website. Put in your
search terms (e.g. textbooks, journals, grant writing, etc.) and relevant
pages on the TAA website that contain those terms will be shown on Google.
Go to the TAA home page to begin your search.
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Renew your membership
online!
TAA has just launched
a new online member form that will allow members to renew online using
a secure server. The form can also be used by new members. Check it
out in the TAA Member Center here.
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