The following list is a modified list that appears in the article Why Remix Open Educational Resources?<\/a> created by Liam Green-Hughes. It is used under a CC-BY<\/a> license and describes reasons why you may want to adapt an open textbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\t
\n\t
Some General Considerations<\/h1>\n
\n\t
Step 1: Check the license<\/h2>\nFirst, check the license to make sure you have the permission to modify the contents. As long as the Creative Commons license does not have a No Derivatives clause, you are able to change the contents of the book. See Creative Commons<\/a> for more information on licenses.\n
Note<\/h3>\nFor the B.C. Open Textbook project, we do not recommend textbooks that contain the No Derivatives (ND) restriction as part of the Creative Commons license, i.e., CC-BY-ND.\n\nIf you are unsure as to the license, please contact the BC Open Textbook project for assistance.\n\n<\/div>\n
Step 2: The format of the textbook<\/h2>\nIf you wish to adapt an open textbook, you need to be able to have the textbook in a technical format that you can work with. This usually means the original source files used to create the textbook.\n\nCommon source formats for open textbooks that you should look for are:\n
\n\t
Avoid PDF documents.<\/strong><\/h4>\nIt is common that open textbooks may only be available as a PDF document. PDF documents are not editable. If you want to adapt an open textbook that is only available in PDF format, you will need to convert the PDF document to one of the formats above.\n\nBefore you consider converting a PDF version of the textbook, you should contact the original author and ask for a copy of the textbook source files.\n
Note<\/h3>\nConverting a PDF document to an editable format is a difficult, time consuming and an imprecise process.\n\n<\/div>\n
Step 3: Tools for editing an open textbook<\/h2>\nOnce you have a source format that you can edit, you can then begin to adapt the textbook. What tools you will use to do this will depend greatly on what editable format you are working with, and your comfort level with working with that format.\n
PressBooks<\/strong><\/h3>\nOne of the tools we recommend for the BC Open Textbook project is PressBooks<\/a>. PressBooks is a web-based authoring tool based on the popular WordPress authoring platform. Working in PressBooks is similar to working within a Learning Management Systems like Moodle or Desire2Learn.\n\nYou can import a number of different formats into PressBooks for editing, including Word, ePub and HTML. PressBooks will output the textbook as a mobile-friendly website, an ePub document (for use in e-readers), and a PDF (for printing).\n\nFor the BC Open Textbook project, we are using a self hosted installation of PressBooks<\/a>, but you can try out PressBooks for free using their hosted service<\/a>.\n
Other editing tools<\/strong><\/h3>\nThe chart below shows you some of the tool options you have for working with the various file formats. Note that this is not an exhaustive list. You may have a tool that works for you that you wish to use to create your open textbook.\n