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 Originally
a teacher of Biology and P.E. Charles McEwan migrated into Information
Technology and has taught computing in schools, colleges and industry
for many years. His students have ranged from teenagers to senior citizens
and they have commented favourably on the quality of his prepared material.
He has a good deal of experience in producing instructional material for
students.
He lives in Scotland with his wife and four children and a number of
the exercises used in the book have a Scottish flavour. However these
exercises can be followed by anybody from any culture and the author considered
that that having a Scottish slant provided a little more interest and
colour as well as educating the general public about such items as the
Loch Ness Monster and the anti-clockwise haggis which he considered to
be excessively important.
His interests revolve mainly around his family and music. He plays the
guitar and banjo and sings.
Testing the Book
Writing an instructional book is only one of the parts in the process
of publishing a book. An author attempts to presents the material as clearly
as possible but if he observes a beginner working through the exercises
he will soon discover that it is not so clear to the beginner as it is
to him. There will be certain ambiguities in the text to correct and he
will have to add extra explanations or graphics to improve the clarity.
He will also discover that the user will forget how he did previous exercises
and will want to refer back to refresh his memory. The user will also
perform certain actions not specified which can cause further problems.
To make the book as user friendly as possible the different sections
of the book have been tested on students who had very little or no previous
knowledge of using computers. It is one thing for an expert to write a
book but it is a different thing to be able to predict where beginners
will get stuck. What seems obvious to the expert can prove to be a real
stumbling block to a beginner.
Because of this the author considered it was important to use real beginners
in the testing process. As a result of the testing the author included
many modifications including a more extensive cross-reference system.
Also included are sections where possible errors are anticipated before
they arise, to avoid problems before they occur. As with any instructional
book, a beginner will always find difficulties but many things have been
built in to this book to reduce these as far as is possible. This was
the process followed and the book has been revised many times as a result.
It has resulted in a book the author feels happy with. He hopes you do
to.
The Beltie Logo
This book has been produced by Beltie Productions and
it uses the logo of a Galloway bull. Galloway cattle are also know as
Belties because of the white belt around their middle and their image
was previously used as a logo by the Regional Council and by the Dumfries
and Galloway Tourist Board.
“In 1996 the current Tourist Board then adopted the hills, trees
and loch logo which was thought to present a better picture of the region
as a holiday destination. It is still in use today combined with the flexible
strapline along a natural theme; (eg. naturally inspiring; naturally you'll
love it) and is also used by various partners and businesses in the region.”
The author chose the logo because he is a resident of this beautiful
part of Scotland and because the Beltie logo although simple is very recognizable
and distinct. If you wish to search on the internet you will find that
Beltie cattle are held in high regard by cattle breeders with some farms
specializing exclusively on the breeding of the Beltie.
The abolition of the Beltie as the Galloway logo was done much to the
annoyance of a certain proportion of the local population who organized
campaigns to “Bring Back the Beltie”. To date the campaign has
not succeeded.
Learn Computing with Microsoft Office
Version 2000
©Beltie Productions
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