Kay Sturm

First time Lay Deputy from the Diocese of Southern Ohio

May 20, 2009 I have worked for the diocese part time as the Assistant to the Canon for Life Formation and Diocesan Convention Registrar for over 8 years. I helped coordinate volunteers for the last General Convention in Columbus. I am a former computer database programmer and instructor. My hobbies are reading, photography, scrapbooking and jewelry making.

How would you like to shrink your Blue Book to just over 1/3 inch thick and 10.2 ounces? How about have someone read the Blue Book to you or adjust the print size to accommodate your eyes? If you have an Amazon Kindle 2, this and more is possible. The cost if you already own the Kindle 2? Ten cents! Really!

The Kindle 2 is Amazon’s proprietary wireless reading device which allows you to download books, newspapers and magazines. To read all about it, just go to www.amazon.com.  I bought a Kindle 2 in order to download books to read while I travel and to allow me to adjust print size. The ability to download the Blue Book and use the speech capabilities are recent discoveries.

Amazon will convert any non-protected PDF computer file to Kindle 2 format for a dime.  Complex formatting may be lost, but it worked fine for the Blue Book except for the Table of Contents and Index which look a little strange. The Bishop and Deputy Handbook, Draft Budget, Resolutions Guidelines and Public Narrative information are also on the General Convention site as PDF files which can be converted and sent to your Kindle. Once you have the converted file, here are some of the things you can do with it:

• Read it – change the text size to the one most comfortable for you. When you are done, just turn off your Kindle or go to another document. The Kindle will remember your place.
  
  
• Listen to it – turn on the text-to-speech feature and let your Kindle read to you. You can even change the speed of the reading, slower or faster. It is actually very easy to listen to. The pages advance automatically, so turning this feature on provides hands-free operation. There is also a speaker jack for headphones.
  
  
• Search it – the full keyboard will allow you to type in the resolution number you are looking for or a key phrase and all the occurrences will be displayed for you to browse. One hint – the explanation of the resolution appears before the number in the Blue Book, so once you find the resolution by number, you have to page back for the narrative.
  
  
• Bookmark it – mark places to which you want to return and the Kindle will keep a list ready for you to use.
  
  
• Annotate it – add your own notes using the full keyboard.
  
  
• Send it to your iPhone – I certainly wouldn’t recommend it with the whole Blue Book, but it is nice to know that this feature is available.

To keep down the length, you could insert a link to these instructions as they will only be relevant if the reader owns a Kindle 2.

Instructions:   This is the link to the page with the PDF version of the Blue Book.

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/gc2009_106480_ENG_HTM.htm

From here you can either select the whole Blue Book or the reports of various Committees, Commissions, Agencies and Boards. Double-click on the file you want. A new window will open. In this new window, click on File, then Send, then Page by e-mail. An email will open with the file name as an attachment. Type in the email of your Kindle account, “your name”@kindle.com, then click Send. The file is received and converted by Amazon for 10 cents. This process can take a few minutes to an hour. When you next turn on your Kindle 2 wireless function (they call it Whispernet), the converted file will automatically download to your Kindle. The whole Blue Book only took a couple minutes for me. If you are not in a wireless area or want to save the dime, you can send it to “your name”@free.kindle.com and the converted file will be emailed back to your computer at no charge. You can then download the file directly to your Kindle using a USB cable which comes with your Kindle 2.