[TSW] Google Docs Viewer - Easily embed PDFs/PPTs

[Michael Koch]

Hey all,

Thought this might be of interest.

Google has a tool (http://docs.google.com/viewer) that allows you to embed PDFs or PPTs into web pages by simply entering the URL to the file and clicking "Generate Link". It uses the Google Docs Viewer that you might be familiar with already, and produces code to embed into an HTML page or email to others.

We're using it on the Energy Efficiency Reference as a way to display PDFs inside our wiki that we've attached to a particular page.
Example: http://eeref.engr.oregonstate.edu/EEREF_Energy_Efficiency_Reference/Opportunities_with_Calculation_Sheets/Photovoltaic_Array
(scroll to bottom for example)

Regards,
Mike

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[Chris Watkins]

That could come in handy. It does raise a question about how to use a wiki. A page like this is no longer editable in the same way.

One idea is to have a policy of only allowing it for documents that have particular value in their original form, e.g. govt policy documents.

Then there is the copyright issue. My feeling is that embedded content can be excluded from the open license, so documents that don't fit the wiki's license can be used. This should be made clear somehow, though - at the very least in the wiki's copyrights page.

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[Curt Beckmann]

I agree completely with your assessment, Chris.  That is, not for mainstream wiki content, but super useful for items where we want an image of original content, and for stuff where we have permission to share under something other than CC-BY-SA (and there is a fair amount of content where the explicit license encourages sharing, but under non CCBYSA terms).

Good stuff!
Curt

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Curt Beckmann

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