FAQ

Interactive textbooks

How can I start with an Open Interactive Textbook (OIT)?
Open interactive textbooks are written in MarkDown and published using Jupyter Books. You install the Jupyter Books software package on your computer. You write your book by creating and writing MarkDown files and/or Jupyter Notebooks. All interactive elements can be included through scripts you can write or adopt from available open materials. Once you are ready to publish, your files will be transferred to a centrally hosted TU Delft server. If you want to publish an open interactive book, please get in touch with us to get all the information you need to get started. A pool of student assistants is available to support you through publishing your open interactive textbook.  

Where can I find documents of use?

If you want to learn more about the process of publishing an interactive open textbook, look at our step-by-step text document for the publishing process.
If you haven’t worked with Gitlab before, this how-to-manual will give you all the necessary information.

Other documents that can help you are:

  • The LateX clean-up script for making your LaTeX text fit for markdown: cleanlatex.py on Gitlab
  • The LateX-to-Markdown conversion script: latextomarkdown.py on Gitlab
  • The Quality checklist for publishing
  • The Catalogue information form, to send us the information needed for publishing an open interactive textbook

We regularly organize (lunch) information sessions where lecturers share best practices. We also have a growing MS Teams community page inviting all TU Delft lecturers intrigued by Open Interactive Textbooks to participate.

Everything is ready on my Github, how do I get my website/interactive textbook working? ​
A step-by-step document gives you information on the steps to publish your book. If you have questions or need support, you can send an email to educationsupport-lib@tudelft.nl ​​

What are the differences between a Jupyter Notebook and a Jupyter Book?​
A Jupyter Notebook is a single file containing code blocks with output, usually in combination with text blocks with explanations. They are commonly used in programming exercises. Jupyter Notebooks are generally viewed in a browser but can also be considered in various programming environments.
A Jupyter Book is a collection of files combined in a coherent whole, presented as a website with all web functionality, such as links, figures, and the inclusion of other web elements (e.g., interactive applets). Jupyter Books are built from source files, either plain MarkDown or Jupyter Notebooks. If the webserver that hosts the Jupyter Book is configured to allow this, the Notebook pages can still be run interactively; otherwise, they can be launched in interactive mode on an external server. In the Jupyter Book, code blocks can be shown or hidden and extended using plugins.

What are the advantages of Open Interactive Textbooks (OIT), as compared to an online PDF of my book?​
First, since the open interactive book is a website (Jupyter book), it can host all kinds of interactivity and you can embed videos or even other websites. See this demo book for inspiration. Second, publishing your Jupyter book as OIT on the designated website will guarantee availability, easy adaptability and broad exposure. On top of that, you will get support in setting up your book. ​​

How much time / effort will it cost me to get my book transformed to an open interactive book in Jupyter Books?​
This depends on a lot of factors. For example, the process can speed up if your content is written in LaTeX. Furthermore, this step-by-step document gives you more information on the activities needed to publish your book. We have a support team ready to help you with many steps. ​​

How can other people use (parts of) my book when it is published? How can they easily copy my content? 
As part of the open nature of our Open Interactive Textbooks, we share the source files from which the Jupyter books are built. A link to the source files will be automatically included on every page of your Jupyter book (accessible via one of the icons on the top right of every page).

Why should I use Jupyter Book instead of some other rich text formatting I have done? 
We adopted the Jupyter Books software after broad consultation in the TU Delft. The use and publication of Jupyter books will be supported centrally, giving your work greater visibility and ensuring they remain available long-term. Naturally, this was not the only possible choice. Fortunately, if your source files are in a consistent format, converting them to MarkDown pages that can be built as a Jupyter book is usually straightforward; please get in touch with us if you want help.

Where can I find copyright free images?​
You can use some websites to find copyright free images for your book(cover), such as unsplash.com, openverse.org, pexels.com, or we like sharing (from TUD).​ Wikimedia Commons also hosts an extensive collection of images that are either public domain or published under a CC license; you can also use these (when properly attributed). For every image, please make sure to credit the source. Also, if you are not explicitly required to do so by the website you found them on. 

​Can I just use your manual and make my own book?​
We recommend consulting us first via educationsupport-lib@tudelft.nl, as a lot of little things come to play when you want to publish a book. Think about conversion issues, copyright, layout, video editing etc. etc. ​