Open Sources Tools for Information Advocacy
Some time ago, I had picked up by Visualizing Information for Advocacy: An Introduction to Information Design from the Tactical Technology Collective. It turns out that the information wasn't what I was looking for, but it has an amazing list of open source tools that you can use to help convey information and design graphics. They are
- OpenOffice - an office productivity suite that has a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program. (Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X under X11)
- NeoOffice - an office productivity suite that has a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program. (Mac OS X)
- Ajax13 - a web-based office productivity suite that has a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation management, sketch tool, and media player.
- InkScape - a vector graphics editor that is similar to Illustrator, Freehand, or CorelDraw. (Windows, Linux, and Mac)
- PDFCreator - a tool to create PDF files. I use this tool regularly and have been pretty satisfied. I would recommend using this along with PDFBlender, which allows you to combine PDF files easily. (Windows)
- Scribus - a desktop publisher that has similar functionality to Microsoft Publisher. (Windows, Linux, and Mac)
- The GIMP - my favorite image and graphics editor. It is incredibly powerful, but people often complain that it isn't as user-friendly as Photoshop. I was too cheap to buy Photoshop, so the GIMP seemed like the right option for me. (Windows, Linux, and Mac)
- GIMPShop - a version of GIMP for people who want something that looks more like Photoshop. (Windows and Mac)
After finding that list, I can't wait for their next publication, Quick 'n' Easy Guide to Mapping for Advocacy, which should be available soon. I hope that it has a similar list of tools. - K
