How to finance PDF production?

Most of the PDF files have a low level of production. Some of the best graphics are there because Cliff Harper was prepared to make some of his work available online in high resolution. He needs persuading about this on a case by case basis so please don't assume this is ok with all his work.

He won an award for illustration as part of the TUC Press and PR Awards for 2001. He has generously agreed for the winning illustration to be made available in PDF.

One of the issues for using PDF in the social economy is how the production costs get paid for. Most web content is free and often not very good. eBooks are secure for publishers but not convenient for readers. Illustration in PDF could be widely used if there was some way illustrators were paid. Maybe subscription or shared passwords or forms of sponsorship. Please think about this before downloading the PDF. Maybe you need illustration for print publication and would also like the PDF to be available online. Maybe you have a database of members of a co-op who could be sent the password to a file. There must be methods that would work for any form of publishing.

The Acrobat Services promotion budget for the fourth quarter has gone on two illustrations by Clifford Harper. One is about PDF and the other is a snow scene suitable for cards or decoration. These are intended as public domain and the download times should be reasonable. If this works as promotion there could be variations within the social economy to allow production costs for better content on the web while still maintaining open access to resources.

Meanwhile The Guardian has placed at least one PDF on the website. This can be found through "Clifford Harper" in Google. The facing page can be guessed at. Strangely the search engine on the Guardian site seems not to find this page but can find a review. In the case of the GPMU and Dart illustrations, Clifford Harper has given permission for them to be on the web. The two new ones were intended to work through the web. Maybe one day there will be conditions for all the illustrations in The Guardian to be available as PDF. A recent article by Jack Schofield raises issues of copyright that starts with how to publish old material. There is another isue about how new stuff is paid for. Meanwhile don't just put the Country Diary through a scanner. A new book from Agraphia Press contains all the Country Diary illustrations and five new ones. A work of art in itself for only ten pounds, post included.

Some free content continues to arrive, although there is yet to be funding for improved production values. The latest is a suggestion from Lyle Mitchell and shows how PDF can be used for academic papers. 'Co-operative Loan Fund Dynamics' by Ian G. Fenty . This uses system dynamics to compare ICOF and the North-Country Cooperative Development Fund (NCDF) in the US. By the way, the PDF is only 430k compared with 2,7 meg for the Word version..

It would be good to get some links to this site. A start is being made on some designs. A grant would still be useful in making time for better design and also sorting out the mess the pages are becoming. Please stay with it though, there is enough here to show some of what is possible with PDF.

Meanwhile Exetreme can offer training and consultancy around Acrobat and PDF as well as html. We will carry on doing something and suggesting Acrobat when we can.

Any suggestions, please get in touch.

Will Pollard will@exetreme.com

Their new site has a Postscript file of their logo which is 1,768k. The magic of Distiller has transformed this to a PDF of 26k.