INLS261 Tools for Information Literacy

Task 03 - Document Markup

Task - format a basic text document into a printer-ready book

1. Introduce yourself to Edwin Abbott's book, Escaping Flatland.

The following is a quote from a Princeton University Press catalog.

Over a hundred years ago, Edwin Abbott Abbott wrote a mathematical adventure set in a two-dimensional plane world, populated by a hierarchical society of regular geometrical figures-who think and speak and have all too human emotions. Since then Flatland has fascinated generations of readers, becoming a perennial science-fiction favorite. By imagining the contact of beings from different dimensions, the author fully exploited the power of the analogy between the limitations of humans and those of his two-dimensional characters.
A first-rate fictional guide to the concept of multiple dimensions of space, the book will also appeal to those who are interested in computer graphics. This field, which literally makes higher dimensions seeable, has aroused a new interest in visualization. We can now manipulate objects in four dimensions and observe their three-dimensional slices tumbling on the computer screen. But how do we interpret these images? In his introduction, Thomas Banchoff points out that there is no better way to begin exploring the problem of understanding higher-dimensional slicing phenomena than reading this classic novel of the Victorian era.
The author of more than fifty books on classics, theology, history, and Shakespeare, Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838-1926) was headmaster of the City of London School and one of the leading educators of his time.

2. Prepare to create your own version of Abbott's book.

Inspired by seeing Edward Tufte's 10,000 pound, stainless steel, outdoor sculpture also called Escaping Flatland, a client has asked us to create a printer-ready copy of the book that inspired Tufte.

You might also be interested to read how Tufte integrated the idea of escaping flatland into his own books, especially Envisioning Information.

The client wants this book formatted so that it may be printed with no special considerations everywhere except in North America.

3. Your task will be to transform, through skilful formatting, a basic text version of the book into one created to meet the client's expectations.

some specific subtasks include:

Retrieve the plain text version of the e-book from the Project Gutenberg site, searching for the text using the author name and book title. Use etext number 97, the non-illustrated version for download. Select the version that is 202KB in size and download from the main site.
Once you have the document on your client, open it in MSWord and save it as a .doc file, so you can take advantage of some of the specific tools available in MSWord.

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Condition

The client wants a product that can be printed as if it were to be bound.

International Standard Paper sizes are not necessarily the same we are used to. A book format is about 5.8 by 8.26 inches, or 148 by 210 mm. There is an international standard that fits this size and the book should be formatted to tell a printer exactly what size paper it expects to be printed on.

Footnotes - the draft document has some "footnotes" in it, but they are confusing and need to be converted to true footnotes.

find the highlighted text in the document and apply the footnotes appropriately
- find Footnote 1. The Author desires me to add ... in the preface and place it as an actual footnote in the preface text at the end of the sentence that reads One touch of Nature makes all worlds akin. Clearly, this will take some cutting and pasting, as well as some editing [to remove the words (footnote 1) after you have created the new footnote].
- find the second Footnote 1 in the text after the words Isosceles parents. The footnote to be created here can be found with the words What need of a certificate? .... Follow the same procedure as in the Preface footnote.
- there is no Footnote 2 in the text, so find the words Footnote 3. When I say "sitting," of course ... and, having cut the footnote, create it anew at the end of the paragraph that ends with the words ...the coming century, the coming Millennium. The original text has the footnote in the sentence, but we want to insert the actual footnote at the end of the sentence.
- one footnote is missing in the text. Find the place where it should be by searching for the phrase and not by the Men's or Western door. Once you have found this location, insert a footnote at the end of the sentence and use the following quotation for the footnote text:

When I was in Spaceland I understood that some of your Priestly circles have in the same way a separate entrance for Farmers, Villagers and Teachers of Board Schools (Spectator, Sept. 1884, p. 1255) that they may "approach in a becoming and respectful manner."

you should have a total of four footnotes in the document

Add these linked images to the document (formatted according to the specifications sheet)

place the title page image on the title page after the date.
- format the image object to 80% of its original size, with horizontal alignment center, top and bottom wrapping.
place the three triangles in section 1 between the paragraph ends with "nothing but a straight line" and the paragraph that begins with "When I was in Spaceland".
- format the image object to 80% of its original size, with horizontal alignment center, top and bottom wrapping.
place the men's door pentagon in section 2 between the paragraph ends with "floor is usually doorless" and the paragraph that begins with "Square and triangular houses are not allowed".
- format the image object to 100% of its original size, with horizontal alignment left, tight wrapping.
place the equilateral triangle and pentagon in section 6 between the paragraph ends with "how am I to distinguish them?" and the paragraph that begins with "It will be obvious, to every child".
- format the image object to 80% of its original size, with horizontal alignment center, top and bottom wrapping.
place the hexagonal figure in section 6 between the paragraph ends with "into greater dimness towards the extremities C and D" and the paragraph that begins with "But I must not give way to the temptation".
- format the image object to 100% of its original size, with horizontal alignment center, top and bottom wrapping.
place My view of Lineland in section 13 between the paragraph ends with "with the same velocity" and the paragraph that begins with "A noise of confused, multitudinous chirping".
- format the image to 60% of its original size, with horizontal alignment center, top and bottom wrapping.
place My body before I disappeared in section 14 between the paragraph ends with "and the interval between each" and the paragraph that begins with "When I had done this at great length".
- format the image to 70% of its original size, with horizontal alignment center, square wrapping.
place three circles in section 16 between the paragraph ends with "dwindles to a point and finally vanishes" and the paragraph that begins with "There was no "rising" that I could see".
- format the image to 80% of its original size, with horizontal alignment center, top and bottom wrapping.
place the hall pentagon in section 18 between the paragraph ends with "which the Sphere had made mention" and the paragraph that begins with "Touched by my Wife's distress".
- make sure the image is clearly visible on the same page as the paragraph that follows it.
- format the image to 80% of its original size, with horizontal alignment center, top and bottom wrapping.
place the two cubes in section 19 between the paragraph ends with "Follow me" and the paragraph that begins with "Once more we ascended into space".
- format the image object to 100% of its original size, with horizontal alignment center, square wrapping.
place the end of Flatland in section 22 at the end of the paragraph which ends with "**End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott**".
- format the image object to 80% of its original size, with horizontal alignment center, top and bottom wrapping.

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Standard

It should meet the standards laid out on the task 03 gradesheet

You may find this example of how to accomplish the task helpful should you be unsure of how to proceed.

Submission

Save the document as a .doc file and place it in your password protected directory. Then place a hyperlink to it on the image object on your Task 03 page on your web site.
When it's ready for me to download and grade, send me a note telling me to retrieve it from your Task 03 web page.
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