Jilster

Jilster (https://www.jilster.com/) is an online tool for creating journals. These can be edited by several partners via a shared access. This is controlled by an editor-in-chief who can assign access rights to his co-editors. Basically, Jilster is a kind of online publishing software.

It is possible to order magazines with up to 120 pages in different print qualities or to purchase the result as a pdf file. Numerous templates are available, but finished files such as pdf can also be uploaded and used for the magazine. The result can be ordered in a print run of one copy or more.

A nice special feature is that the online version of the magazine can be flipped through like a real magazine. Unfortunately, this feature is only available for a limited time. 

Conclusion

Our students worked together in collaborative groups on creating Jilster magazines where they uploaded the descriptions and photos of their most treasured family possessions (personal heritage), something of great value that they would like to pass on to their descendants. This online magazine can be used for any purpose. Students learn how to use this tool and the result was very attractive to them.

For international cooperation, the possibility of working together on a document via the editor-in-chief system is very attractive. Unfortunately, the result is not permanently available as a free online magazine with the page turning function. In the course of the project, we have therefore once again limited ourselves to the classic creation of pdf files.

Hints for creating a jilster with students

These are recommendations we gave to our students before they started to use the tool:

Creation of an online magazine on our project results / Publication of results

What to watch out for:

·        Have a general introduction or editorial.

·        Use an appealing layout, use your logos, etc.

·        Observance picture rights (Creative commons or own pictures) and personality rights (agreement of pictured persons).

·        Give source citation.

·        Include a disclaimer.

·        Never do copy & paste jobs.

·        If the name of the authors (students) is known, at least mention the first name

·        Ensure that you will not lose the login data for your jilster.