Moving content from Microsoft (MS) PowerPoint (PPT) into TiddlyWiki tiddlers

[Craig in Calgary]

Any suggestions on an easy, turnkey solution for importing the content
of PowerPoint slides (text and images) into tiddlers? Thank you.

[Måns]

Hi Craig

The easiest way to do this is to upload your Ppt-file to either Google
Docs, voicethread.com or Slideshare.com and either embed the code for
embedding the viewer provided by the host in question - or make an
iframe to show the presentation directly from the net.

The hardest way to do it - is to rewrite/translate every dias in the
Ppt-show to an individual tiddler. Name the tiddlers with numbers and
tag the tiddlers with a common tag - for use with SlideShowPlugin by
Paolo Soares http://www.math.ist.utl.pt/~psoares/addons.html .

Paolo's slideshow plugin is great - but I recomend to make your
slideshow directly in your TiddlyWiki - instead of trying to "import"
a finished show from Pp - because it is very difficult to mimic the
different textanimations and pictures can't just be "imported" from a
Ppt-document..

Regards Måns Mårtensson

[Måns]

Oh I forgot another easy way to show an embedded presentation in a TW
-
You could simply print your Ppt-file to an Adobe Pdf and show the pdf
in a Tiddler in an iframe.

Yet another idea (The last one from me anyway ...): You could save
each slide as an image and put each image in a tiddler - again Paolo
Soares' SlideShowPlugin could provide the slideshow engine..

regards Måns Mårtensson

[Craig in Calgary]

Måns,

All your suggestions are excellent if I only want to view the PPT
content within a TW context. However, what I am trying to do is create
a turnkey method of converting PPT content into TW-editable content.
Why? This goes hand-in-hand with my post on Scientific Research
(http://groups.google.com/group/tiddlywiki/t/7ea2c7a6f43e58b0?hl=en).
I haven't finalized permission from my professor but I believe my TW
research is going to focus on the benefits of students and faculty
using TW instead of PowerPoint as a delivery mechanism for lecture
content. I hope to be able to conduct a trial with several different
professors in different academic disciplines where they will present
one lecture as they normally do and another lecture through a TW.
After the students are tested on the material from both lectures I
will survey to determine if retention was improved by the use of TW as
an editable resource.

The easier I can make it on myself to migrate content to TWs, the
broader my trial and survey will be. The window of time is just a few
weeks and I need to reduce the workload as much as possible.
Additionally, at the conclusion of my research, if my findings are as
positive as I believe they will be, it is likely some of those
professors might consider adopting this strategy more widely. For
*their* sake I need to find or craft an automated solution.

In tinkering with PowerPoint 2007 with a 26-slide sample PPT I have
determined that the PDF and MHT formats (Save As...) accurately
reproduce the look of each slide. The MHTs render poorly in Firefox
(my preferred browser) and render nicely in IE *if* I place the MHT
file in the root directory or a directory with no spaces or special
characters in the path. The Publish --> Create Handouts in Microsoft
Word option did a tolerable job of creating (too) small images of each
slide and adding speaker notes beside or below each image. If I chose
"Outline only" I get all the slide text but no images of the slides or
embedded images, no speaker notes, and no formatting or layout of the
slide text in a way that could be easily combined with the other
Publish method (small images and speaker notes). There is even a
Publish --> Publish Slides options which creates a PPTX for each slide
in the deck. I haven't experimented with these files yet but I
wouldn't be opposed to constructing a batch process against all the
PPTXs in a directory.

In tinkering with OpenOffice.org's Impress application, the same
sample PPT imports flawlessly. Export... --> File format: HTML
Document yields the same results as File --> Preview in Web Browser:
it generates an HTML file with an embedded image for each slide and a
second HTML file with the slide text for each slide, excluding the
slide titles. These render well enough, except:
* The text HTMLs don't have the slide titles. This is where I would
cut/paste the text from so the missing titles is a problem. However,
if my solution requires grepping and schlepping content amongst HTML
files, then grabbing the slide titles from the <title></title> tags
will not be an issue.
* The text HTMLs have a bug. The first paragraph of slide text is
pushed into the highest <h> tag on the page. For example, a page with
only several bullets (<ul><li></li></ul>) has the first bullet of
content pushed into an <h2></h2> or <h3></h3>. Again, if grepping and
schlepping must occur, cleaning up the content will just be another
step in the laborious process.
* The image HTMLs have a navigation bar at the top of the page for
First page, Back, Continue, Last page, Overview, and Text. The text
HTMLs don't have the same icon bar. They just have hyperlinks. Boring
and inconsistent. Possibly not relevant if I don't use the HTMLs
unmodified.
* There is no option for exporting just the embedded images within
slides, not the entire slide as an image.

I suspect my solution might involve each tiddler containing an image
of the original slide and the editable text. This will provide the
student a reference point for the original content after they have
modified the text to suit themselves.

Other possibilities

I uploaded the PPT to Google Docs. It looks fine there but the only
"Download presentation as" options are PDF, PPT, TXT. The TXT is
useless.

Moving beyond the conventional to the extreme, I have access to many
different applications, e.g. SnagIt, FAR (Find and Replace), numerous
editors for any imaginable content type, that might contribute to a
multi-step solution. I hope to avoid such complexity but here is my
plan-of-action as of this moment. I'm mostly thinking out loud here,
subject to change:

With an instructor-provided PPT I will craft a process that:
1. Imports the PPT into Impress. When Impress opens a PPT it converts
it automatically so there is actually no work for me to do here except
pass the filename and -o parameter to the Impress executable at the
command line.
2. Exports all slides to HTML specifying a destination directory and
pre-defined design.
- Future refinement: Create destination directory if it doesn't
already exist.
- Future refinement: Warn if destination directory already contains an
export.
- Future refinement: I haven't found a command line option to run the
Export process automatically so I will need to create a macro or
explore the API Project (http://api.openoffice.org/). The solution
will need to also allow for the selection of one of several pre-
defined designs. I expect every instructor will want their tiddlers to
look "just so" so I'll likely have maintain several designs (CSS,
icons, etc.) choices. My ultimate goal is to not have to interact with
the Impress UI at all.
- Future refinement: Embed the instructor's name, course name, course
ID, and date/timestamp of the original PPT into the content (for
versioning). At the least this information should be embedded in the
tiddlers as non-editable. Integrating it into each image would be
better. Both would be best.
3. Identify the TW that will receive the content. For now that will
have to be a single TW per PPT.
- Future refinement: Option to download the latest/greatest TW from
http://tiddlywiki.com.
- Future refinement: allow multiple PPTs to import into a single TW so
the all the course content can reside in one TW.
4. Create one tiddler per slide, embedding the slide image and
wikifying the slide text. I suppose it is possible for a TW plugin to
be able to digest the HTML files (drag & drop) but I do not have the
time to develop that solution right now. I will have to do some
grepping to push content around and into tiddlers. I've done mass HTML
updates before so the learning curve will be shorter. In my
"automation" process this is the step that will bog me down the most
initially but yield the greatest ROI in time savings once the solution
works.
5. Close, test, and distribute the TW.

An alternative to steps 2-4 could involve having PowerPoint publish
PPTX files for each slide and me manipulate the content from that
source instead of the Impress HTML files.

Måns, I've gone on and on here not to weary you but to have a single
place where my brain dump can reside.

Any and all suggestions, corrections, enhancements, or any other type
of adjustments are welcome from all comers!

Thank you!

Craig
craig.p...@gmail.com

[Måns]

Hi Craig
I don't think you can weary me :-) or wear me out - or what the
correct expression might be..
If I was to convince someone to use TW as an presentationTool - I
would first show them how TW works as a simple notedatabase - and then
show them how easy it is to turn the notes into a presentation..
TW's strength is not just beeing a container for content made in
another fundamentally different tool - it's the workflow and the
ability to create individualized systems which sets it apart from
anything else - especially PowerPoint...

*If* I however should introduce a radical improvement compared to
Powerpoint - which is almost embarrassingly obvious - yet very
digestable for someone who is used to Powerpoint (I believe..) - I
would make a showcase with VUE (Visual Understanding Environment)
http://vue.tufts.edu/
Here's a truly great tool which combines simple mindmapping and
slidepresentations in a way that makes Powerpoint look hopelessly
primitive - and incapable of delivering even the simplest overview of
context...

TiddlyWiki has it's own way of delivering context - web2.0'ish in
conduct - tags - fields - tables etc - But it needs to be fed - and
customized for effective use.
VUE is a finished solution for making presentations in a way that
affects every aspect of making presentations - even the research and
collection of images is implemented in a way that makes it stand
out...

Its OpenSource and very worth while looking into - You need much time
to get the idea of how it works and the learningcurve is *very very*
low, (and short...)
VUE has all sorts of student/professorfriendly exportformats - so why
not make a total switch? - be radical - change the workflow and turn
everything upside down...

Again my opinion is (I might be wrong of course...) TW's strenght is
*not* just beeing a container for what is made in another program -
It's the nonlinear linking, web2.0'ish behaviour that makes people
think differently and change perspective (make systems with tags and
links)- the notes you make *can* turn into "pure gold" when you
discover that you can make the document into a presentationtool as
well - but to compare it with Powerpoint ---- ?
I wouldn't try to convince someone who hasn't discovered TW's great
advantages (compared to a simple Word-document) - of it's
presentationabilities - especially not - if they are used to a
"closed" environment as Powerpoint - which sole point is to power up a
series of slides.... nothing more.

Try VUE - it's different. http://vue.tufts.edu/

Regards Måns Mårtensson

> - Future refinement: Option to download the latest/greatest TW fromhttp://tiddlywiki.com.

> - Future refinement: allow multiple PPTs to import into a single TW so
> the all the course content can reside in one TW.
> 4. Create one tiddler per slide, embedding the slide image and
> wikifying the slide text. I suppose it is possible for a TW plugin to
> be able to digest the HTML files (drag & drop) but I do not have the
> time to develop that solution right now. I will have to do some
> grepping to push content around and into tiddlers. I've done mass HTML
> updates before so the learning curve will be shorter. In my
> "automation" process this is the step that will bog me down the most
> initially but yield the greatest ROI in time savings once the solution
> works.
> 5. Close, test, and distribute the TW.
>
> An alternative to steps 2-4 could involve having PowerPoint publish
> PPTX files for each slide and me manipulate the content from that
> source instead of the Impress HTML files.
>
> Måns, I've gone on and on here not to weary you but to have a single
> place where my brain dump can reside.
>
> Any and all suggestions, corrections, enhancements, or any other type
> of adjustments are welcome from all comers!
>
> Thank you!
>
> Craig

> craig.prich...@gmail.com

[Måns]

Sorry:
... - You need much time

to get the idea of how it works and the learningcurve is *very very*

low, ...
should be:
You *don't* need much time

to get the idea of how it works and the learningcurve is *very very*
low

Regards Måns Mårtensson

On 6 Okt., 00:56, Måns <humam...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Craig
> I don't think you can weary me :-) or wear me out - or what the
> correct expression might be..
> If I was to convince someone to use TW as an presentationTool - I
> would first show them how TW works as a simple notedatabase - and then
> show them how easy it is to turn the notes into a presentation..
> TW's strength is not just beeing a container for content made in
> another fundamentally different tool - it's the workflow and the
> ability to create individualized systems which sets it apart from
> anything else - especially PowerPoint...
>
> *If* I however should introduce a radical improvement  compared to
> Powerpoint - which is almost embarrassingly obvious - yet very
> digestable for someone who is used to Powerpoint (I believe..) - I

> would make a showcase with VUE (Visual Understanding Environment)http://vue.tufts.edu/

> Try VUE - it's different.http://vue.tufts.edu/

> ...
>
> læs mere »

[skye riquelme]

Hi All

Exporting a presentation from Impress using Flash format does a good
job of keeping the original slides as they were. It' s then simple to
watch your flash presentation from within a tiddler...........

But what makes TW better than Powerpoint is the ability to add in
other information. For example.....I don´t actually use Powerpoint...I
work directly in TW (using Pauls SlideShowPlugin)......and I usually
have the right sidebar panel loaded with a TWTreeView tiddler that
reads a config.options value....so when I open presentation #1....the
right colum automatically refreshes to show all the references I used
to generate that presentation.....switching to presentation #2...and
now references for presentation #2 are nicely displayed and organised
by TWTreeView..........at the end of the course I simply give the
participants a CD that has my TW (and its supporting fotos..images)
and now the participants have the presentation, all the
references...maybe extra notes.......whatever you want to add....you
can add in UploadTiddlerPlugin and use the TW as the document that
participants use to answer questions and the TW sends them to the
teachers home-copy.....add in LoadTiddlers and now each participants
TW gets updated with the assignment answers of all the other
participants.....now we are getting into good collaborative
education........not just a Powerpoint look-alike......

Keep the creativity going guys..........

Skye

> ...
>
> mais informações »

[Måns]

Hi Skye

I sounds very nice, simple and intuitive - the thing you do with
presentations and treeview.
I'm not sure if it is just as easy to setup though...
Could/would you make/share an exampledocument to show how you do it?

YS Måns Mårtensson

> ...
>
> læs mere »