History is in Colour

I am totally stoked about the soon to be in mailboxes Winter issue of British Columbia History. It has a colour cover.

The photography of author and photographer Matt Whelan graces the cover. 

Read his story about the Warplane in the Woods: nestled in the forest of the Pacific coast lies a graffiti-covered fuselage — an eerie reminder of the Second World War.

For those readers who love maps,  The Lower Mainland’s First Settler Built Trail by John Macdonald is full of maps and includes a colour map on the back cover from 1889.

This issue includes stories about an escaped Washington slave by by Racan Souiedan; logging camp memories by Peggie Law; a different perspective on Surrey by Mary Carlisle; a reprint of a Victor comic from May 1962; a piece on the Salt Spring Island Archives' ambitious digitization project; and a story of a dugout canoe from the Osoyoos & District Museum and Archives.

Look for it in mailboxesx and book stores in early December.

Seven Things

Fashion Plates catalogue

Recently, my friend, co-founder of the Golden Ears Writers and Gothic author, KT Wagner tagged me in her blog. The tag was a challenge to post “7 Thing About Me” and nominate seven people to carry it on.

Here goes: Seven Things About Me

1. When I was growing up I made my own catalogue using Parker Brothers Fashion Plates.

2. I collect silhouette pictures.

3. I am an avid family historian.

4. I have an uncanny ability to identify little known Canadian actors.

5. I have too many hobbies.

6. I am a chocoholic.

7. I met my hubby while doing archery.

Now for my tags.  (I didn’t check with everyone first, so please just ignore me if you don’t have time for this.)

Guidelines:
Link back to the person who nominated you.
List 7 Things about yourself. Can be anything you want.
Nominate 7 other people.

I nominate:

Annette Fulford, Canadian War Brides of the First World War

M. Diane Rogers,  CanadaGenealogy, or, 'Jane's Your Aunt'

GT, Progress Developer

Messy Chic

The Fortress of Verisimilitude 

Daily Zen

Darren Durupt, Geek on a Bike .... coming soon

The Shifting Landscape of Publishing

Center for Digital Media

Friday and Saturday I was at Vancouver O'Reilly's Mini TOC (Tools of Change for Publishing) at the brand new Center for Digital Media. My brain is full of new ideas. It was exhilarating to be a room with smart, visionary, and passionate people. There were speakers from the Vancouver area as well as speakers who have frequented the O’Reilly TOC in New York program.
Friday offered workshops in two streams: the "Tech Workshop" and the "Secrets to Ebook Success" day-long workshops. Saturday offered presentations followed by discussions that involved everyone in attendance.
So what were the themes? I heard a lot of discussion about discoverability, curated content, and interactive books.
The main thing I came away with an author was that electronic publishing is in its infancy. Tylor Sherman of Denim & Steel talked about how HTML5 separates content from design and I think this is the key concept that applies to publishing.
Most people seemed to feel that electronic publishing is not going to replace print but instead it will evolve into something different and become a companion to print. We need to remember that we are authors and thus, creators of content. The book, the blog, the article, the app – those are just containers for the content. Right now the technology is driving the creation and it should be the other way around. Just as Griffin and Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence by Nick Bantock pushed the boundaries of print; there will be authors who create content for interactive publications and drive the technology creators to create support their ideas.
Peter Cocking, a Vancouver-based graphic designer and design teacher, talked about keeping the audience in the forefront. If you start adding interactive elements to your book just because you can are you taking away from the reading experience? Should you make a movie instead? There are places where interactive content adds value and there are instances where it detracts. A cook book is great example of where an instructional video can enhance the usability for the reader. A coffee table book delivered electronically loses the design and the smell and the experience. To quote Peter Cocking even gift giving is altered when you give ebooks "I bought you some pixels." "Oh, you really shouldn't have."
There were many other great discussions at Vancouver’s Mini-TOC but I will save those for another post and leave you with a question. Is an interactive book still a book or is it something else?