Internet distribution of course materials

The Internet is becoming an important distribution medium for course materials, especially for schools. It gives all students in a class immediate access to materials as soon as they are posted, significantly reduces the effort involved in distribution, and saves a valuable natural resource: paper.

Japanese WordMage v5.0 includes a number of features which make it very easy for teachers to distribute materials (such as dictionaries, HTML-based documents, exercises, passages of text, etc.) over the Internet, or school intranet. The great thing about this new system is that a single archive can be used, irrespective of which platform version of JWM the student is using.

This new system consists of two parts: a cross-platform file archiving and compression utility, and a new function in JWM v5.0 called Distribution File Format (DFF) conversion.

Aladdin Systems (www.aladdinsys.com) have developed file archiving and compression technology which is incorporated into products called Aladdin DropStuff and Aladdin Expander. These products are shareware and are available on the Internet for both MacOS and Windows 95/NT. Aladdin DropStuff provides a method to compress a collection of files into a single archive for easy distribution, whilst Aladdin Expander decompresses a single archive into its individual files.

The distribution process can best be illustrated with an example:

1) a JWM dictionary is selected for distribution
2) it is converted into .dff format using JWM
3) it is compressed into a .sit file using Aladdin DropStuff, and made available on the Internet
4) the student downloads the .sit file
5) he/she decompresses it with Aladdin Expander
6) it is converted from .dff format using JWM, and is now ready to use

Of course, this example includes only a single file, but any number of files can be bundled into a collection. For example, your classes weekly vocabulary dictionary, Kanji flashcard set and reading comprehension passage can be bundled together in one archive.

Back to contents