1. Practical Unicode Logic for Online Tech Courses Elizabeth J. Pyatt, Ph.D. Information Technology Services Penn State University ejp10@psu.edu

2. Outline The Courses & The Characters With a little Flash and Video Putting it on the Web (fonts & equations) Help for the Students Glyph Challenges Math Support vs. Foreign Language Support Lessons Learned 2

3. The Campus Penn State Blended Learning Initiative Online or Hybrid (online + face 2 face) Lots of online study guides, multimedia, quizzes Two Courses Phil 12 (Logic) & ME 300 (Thermodynamics) 3

4. Symbolic Logic Phil 12 – Symbolic Logic Required for Criminal Justice Major Completely Online Glyph Repertoire: ∨ ∧ ⊃ ∀ ∃ ↔ ⊦ ℙ ℚ Proof Tables, Truth Trees Videos Demos of Logic Problems 4

5. A Typical Proof Notice the quantity of “exotic” glyphs embedded in text with English glyphs 5

6. Video Title Titles in LiveType. Video on PC Tablet 6

7. Thermodynamics ME 300 Taught at multiple campuses Lecture notes online Glyph Repertoire: ∂,∫, ∮,≡, Ẇ, ℘, ṁ,q ̇,η,γ MIA: q ̇ and (too new) Equations, sketches, flash animation 7

8. Some Equations W net = ∮ δW rev + ∮ δW sys ∑ ṁ H,in + ∑ ṁ C,in = ∑ ṁ H,out + ∑ ṁ C,out 8

9. Some Multimedia 9

10. Word Then HTML Word for draft of contents Two Platforms Developers on Mac – OS X 10.5 with Office 2008 & Arial Unicode MS Instructors on PC – Arial Unicode MS 10

11. Beware Insert Symbol Word includes logic symbols on Symbol palette, but pulls glyphs from Private Use Area 11

12. Viable Alternatives Character Map (Win)/Palette (Mac) Click & Insert one at a time Numeric Alt Codes (Win Office) E.g. ∩ = ALT+8745 Numeric Option Codes (Mac) E.g. ∩ = Option+2229 Custom Logic Keyboard Minimal disruption once enabled 12

13. Custom Logic Keyboard Built by Mac developer (me) Ukelele from SIL Manual adjustment of Keyboard XML Keystrokes easy to memorize ∩ = Shift+Option+7 (Shift+7 = &) Available in most Mac applications Transitioned from Phil 12 to ME 300 May be possible on Windows 13

14. Beware Font Switches MS Office for Mac switches fonts If current font does not have the correct glyph Common: Times New Roman > Math 2 Mac Times New Roman ≠ Win TNR ṁ, ẇ on Mac TNR, but not Win Keep to Arial Unicode MS 14

15. Adobe: Know Thy Fonts Good Unicode support, but must manually switch font. Good Font ChoicesNot So Good Need to ensure large glyph base in Math/Latin/Greek/Symbol blocks Arial Unicode MS (Win) Lucida Grande (Mac) Linux Libertine (free) Arev Sans (free) Unicode Symbols (free) These fonts have critical gaps once content becomes too technical. Times New Roman Verdana/Tahoma/Trebuc het Palatino … Greek yes, but missing logic symbols and ṁ and ẇ. 15

16. Fonts On to the Web CSS should specify alternate fonts Unicode Symbols, Lucida Grande, Arial Unicode MS Need font list for IE 6 and earlier Provide link to freeware fonts Use larger sizes for new or confusing glyphs, especially if subscripts/superscripts involved or italicized I prefer serif whenever possible 16

17. Equations on the Web How about Math ML? Firefox/Internet Explorer code incompatible No MathML support on Safari Resorted to Unicode text if one 1ine Images (with ALT tag) if multiline or Tables (need invisible images with ALT tag) 17

18. Single vs.Multiline W net = ∮ δW rev + ∮ δW sys ∑ ṁ H,in + ∑ ṁ C,in = ∑ ṁ H,out + ∑ ṁ C,out 18

19. Glyph Challenges Doublestruck P/Q (or ℙ / ℚ ) Hard to read at 12 point ( ℙ / ℚ ) Preferred Unicode Symbols font over standard over sans serif ℙ / ℚ vs ℙ / ℚ Therfore: Doublestruck had its own CSS class 19

20. Helping the Students Option 1: Training Students can learn to input Unicode But…requires instructor confidence Necessary for general education course? Option 2: Cut/Paste from Templates Ideal for more complicated diagrams

21. Pick A Proof

22. Dots over Q and V Precomposed Q-Dot and V-Dot not in Unicode standard ṁ in because of Old Irish ?? (seriously) What about combining diacritic? OK for q ̇ and v ̇ but not Q ̇ and V ̇ Cursor placement VERY tricky in editing Resorted to Q ̇ and V ̇ Still text and not an image

23. Q ̇ scans Use of dotted Q in 2 textbooks

24. V ̇ scans Use of dotted V in textbook & Web 24

25. V = ?? V can be velocity or volume NOT strictly a Unicode problem Thermo Textbook uses V for velocity for volume and for specific volume We used V for volume, v for specific volume V for velocity 25

26. Script V ()in 2 Sources Textbook 1: V = volume = velocity Textbook 2: V = velocity = volume 26

27. Math vs Language Support Awareness Most foreign language professionals have heard of Unicode Math/Science? “Math” has Large Character Set Latin A-D, Greek, Arrows, Numeric Symbols, Alphabetic Symbols Math Blocks, Miscellaneous Symbols… 27

28. Different Workflows Language Setup input keyboard Plain text Many script-specific fonts available Math Equation Editor or Insert tools preferred MathML/LaTex assumed Complete fonts? 28

29. Lessons Learned? Technology doable, but tricky to navigate Upgrades can be slow Custom keyboards saved my sanity Every course/glyph has its own story IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT 29