Critical Studies Module CDCCS – What I have gained from this project

I first read the story about the end of the Thomas Cook overseas timetable in The Independent newspaper. I was later able to find the article on their website. I did not know much about the timetable but I did know it had a good reputation. The aim of the project was to find the reason why the timetable was to be published no more. Was it because of technological advances or was it for other reasons?

I looked for the answer online using Google. The story was too recent to be in a book in the library! I looked for information about what the timetable is, when it is published and since when. I found this information on Thomas Cook’s site and also Amazon. I looked for customer quotes about the timetable. They all seemed positive. An interview with the editor told the reason for the timetable’s demise – he was retiring and not being replaced. There seemed to be a consensus that it would be missed. I also investigated possible replacements. I collected relevant information in a word file. It was combined and condensed over several iterations. This is how the timetable was produced and is the technique I would use to research and create the contents of a leaflet professionally.

In general I get most of my research information online. I use newspapers and magazines as well. I find something of interest and do further investigation online. Images are taken from online sources. Video clips come from Youtube. In a professional job images, sound and video would need to be provided by the client or myself. I have the skills to do this. Otherwise permission would need to be obtained from the copyright holder.

I wanted to use web pages as an image. I converted the web page to PDF. This sometimes produced a multi page document which I imported into Scribus. Each page was exported as a JPEG. They were reassembled into a single image in Gimp.

The pages layout of the leaflet was done in Scribus. The colour scheme was influenced by the timetable itself. Finally it was exported as a PDF.

In short this project has demonstrated that I have the necessary skills – research, image manipulation and page layout to produce a professional quality document.

I use online tutorials to learn new skills. It seems to work well. I prefer using an online manual where a search will find the relevant section rather than searching through a large book. I search for an answer online when the current task is beyond my current skills.

Critical Studies Assignment – Module Code CDCCs

I noticed a story in The Independent about the Thomas Cook rail timetables. They have been published since March 1873. The current edition of the Overseas Timetable is the last. I investigated to see if this was because of changes in technology. Were the printed editions to be replaced by digital versions? I found that this is not the case. Publication is ceasing because the editor is retiring. There is no like for like replacement. I have produced a for page booklet in pdf format which explains this in more detail.

Here is the pdf file: Thomas Cook
Here is the edited version of the information used to produce the above file: Thomas Cook 4
Here is the unedited version: Thomas Cook Overseas
Here is a list of picture references: Thomas Cook Pictures

Here is my profile. It is an up to date account of what I have been learning: Profile

Global Positioning Systems

This is a fact sheet about GPS that I produced as part of a presentation to class. Here is a link to the PDF version which you may print if you wish.

GPS

Here is a list of references.

GPS References

Audioboo and Last.fm

I created an audioboo account using my twitter profile (bpt11). I will use audioboo to publicise my audio work.

On the Last.fm website I clicked radio and typed the following artists

Television

O’jays

Congos

King Tubby

Lee Perry

Miles Davis

All bar King Tubby and Miles Davis were found. This was better than I expected!