The XIMERA
Project
Introduction
The XiMeRa
(pronounced chimera)
project seeks to provide an open-source method for converting LaTeX
documents into iPad (and other tablet-PC) e-texts. The key components
of our project are:
- A content conversion tool Textbook authors are not
programmers, so we will create tools to convert traditional LaTeX
documents into interactive textbooks. This will allow for rapid
creation and editing of these applications.
- A content navigator We recognize that the navigation of a
large document is a difficult task. We seek to design a content
navigator that will allow us to produce usable interactive
textbooks.
- A JavaScript library From our experience of creating
interactive elements in JavaScript, we hope to construct a library
of common functionality that can be used to produce virtual
manipulatives in the future.
Get Involved
There are several simple things you can do to
get involved with this project:
- Write a LaTeX document and try our conversion process on it.
- Write JavaScript interactive elements and share them with us.
- Work on the content conversion tool or the content navigator.
Status
While we are currently at a proof-of-concept stage, we hope to have
something that will allow anyone to create an iPad application
from LaTeX notes soon.
- In the autumn of 2010, Snapp led a team of undergraduate computer
science majors (Sam Colburn, Gus Coliadis, Will Mohr, and Jhovary
Ruiz) in creating a "proof-of-concept" interactive textbook for the
iPad.
- In the summer of 2011, Fowler and Snapp worked with a graduate
student (Joo-Kyung Kim) on the content navigator.
- In the fall of 2011 Fowler and Snapp worked on the content
conversion tool, ironing out many problems
For more information on this project, email Bart Snapp at
snapp@math.osu.edu, or Jim Fowler at fowler@math.osu.edu.