INTRODUCTION

In this report, we examine the use of Adobe PDF by Santa Rosa Junior College Departments. PDF is a virtually universal document and graphics file exchange format that can also offer such desirable features as security and interactivity. We believe it is ideally suited to SRJC, a large organization with a computer infrastructure that includes many different platforms and software applications.

However, we find that, while there is some laudable use of PDF at SRJC, the format is underused. We present the reasons for this and respond to them where we can. One of the main reasons for limited use is simply lack of knowledge about Adobe PDF. Therefore, we also present some basic information about it in this report, and offer some reference sources. We hope that with more information, SRJC Departments will choose to use PDF in the future.

For clarity, we think it best to give a brief overview of PDF and Acrobat before we continue. We treat PDF and its various Adobe components in more detail in the Discussion section.

PDF is an acronym for Portable Document Format (planetPDF). Adobe Systems Incorporated developed this file format in 1991 so that people would have a reliable way to exchange e-documents “online across a broad range of hardware platforms and software applications.” () For example, someone can create a document in Microsoft Word on a PC, convert it to PDF, and send it online to Macintosh user who does not have Word. The Mac user can view file exactly as it was created on the PC. All that they need are a couple of Adobe programs designed for processing and reading PDF files.

Adobe Systems has several applications that deal with PDF files. The word “Acrobat” by itself usually refers to a suite of applications, such as the current Acrobat 5.0. The main components are Acrobat Distiller and Viewer. Adobe also has some PDF applications not in the Acrobat suite. The most common, with 200 million users, is Acrobat Reader. With Acrobat Reader installed, the user can read, but not create, PDF files. Another is PDFWriter. It converts Microsoft Office files to the PDF format.

METHODS

We have two types of data for this report. One is information about the use of PDF at Santa Rosa Junior College. This comes from interviews for JRJC staff by Doug Fisk. The other is information about Adobe PDF. This comes from online sources and books.

Doug Fisk’s interviews cover both SRJC staff who do and who do not use PDF. The interviews of those who use PDF offer examples of how the format may be used in a Junior College environment. The interviews of those who do not use PDF, unfortunately the majority at SRJC, bring forth the reasons why they do not use it. This information is the core of this report.

We use online sources to gather information about PDF and Acrobat. The Web sites of Adobe Systems itself are to be the most useful. Others that are helpful include the sites of PlantPDF.com, PDFWorld.com, and (). The Google.com search engine and the About.com directory are also useful.

Finally, we used our familiarity with Acrobat 5.0. Doug is a long-time user of the Adobe suite. John is new to it. Actual use of the Acrobat suite helps to put the research gathered from interviews and online into the real world. Experience with putting PDF online and struggles with learning it give a definition to the words and terms of PDF and Adobe Acrobat that no mere reading can give.

FINDINGS

In his interviews, Doug Fisk found several people at Santa Rosa Junior College who are already putting the PDF format to good use.

· Dr. Xuan Ho, instructor and program director of Radiation Technology at STJC, uses Word and PDF to distribute documents. Once, he used PDF to send, receive, and annotate course material from a hospitalized student.

· Courtney Anderson, a teacher in the Department of Chemistry at SRJC, uses PDF to inform the Department Web site, to post his academic calendar and seminar schedule, and to inform his fellows of contract negotiations. Dr. Dennis Fujita assists him in these projects.

· Dr. Kerry Campbell-Price, SRJC Manager for Public Information and Community, publishes Insider, his weekly staff newsletter, in PDF format.

· Maria Gaitan, Academic Affairs Administrative Secretary, uses Acrobat 5.0 to convert the PageMaker documents she creates into PDF. She uploads the converted documents to the SRJC public server where become part of the Campus Wide Information Services. Ken Fiori, the Director of Computing Services, supports her in this task.

· Julia Bomhoefer is at technical writer for SRJC Computing Services. She uses Acrobat 5.0, together with other applications, to produce user and technical documentation for print and the Web.