Do digital notebooks have a page limit? This is my first year note-booking and while I have had a bit of help, I think i’ve been doing okay. We started our notebook over the summer so we could do our game overview and directory but other than that everything has been done since September. We currently have 93 pages but there are some diagrams, tables, pictures, and QR codes that still need to be added. We have the most progress out of everyone in our program, particularly because we have more experience. Multiple coaches and experienced members of our program have said that the notebook is done very nicely and they believe it can be award winning. The problem is that we have heard of a notebook page limit because digital notebooks have been coming in as way too long. Some sources say 200 pages, others say 500. If we continue the notebook like this we will exceed 200 and definitely end up around the 300 page mark. The notebook is well organized but its length is mainly due to diagrams, charts, and pictures. We’ve also heard that the page limit is “made up” and there isn’t one. So does anyone know what the page limit actually is?
I’m pretty sure there isn’t a limit.
Yeah, we had like 600 last year and we were perfectly fine.
I use the “Shogun Rule” after the James Clavell book. It weighs in at 1288 pages 421,370 words. All things should be under that length.
But, like Shogun did, your book may need two things, better organization and an editor. A great editor can trim things down, tossing the fluff away. Not saying that Shogun should become:
"English Captain comes to Japan and gets captured. He teaches the way of European fighting with cannons. Japanese teach him the way of the Shogun. He learns that rules matter and sometimes it’s just a fish. He falls in love and a war ensues. "
but it would be a much easier read.
Unnecessary bloat can be things like including the entire game manual. Adding all of the code changes since the beginning. For IQ adding the allowed list of parts, etc. As a Judge (not a referee) I have seen all those things in a notebook. If you are going to put them in, make them appendices at the end so I don’t need to scroll through it.
Look at the rubric and say “Does this piece of content add to the notebook and increase the points we will get” and act accordingly.
Organization is key. I’m most interested in seeing the first items around do you understand the game, did you come up with good strategies, did you brainstorm and evaluate a number of initial designs. Then seeing the chronology of the build process and did you follow the design, build, test, evaluate cycle for the entire build season. How did you evaluate and incorporate match results into changes in strategy and robot design. Do I see a schedule and possible revised schedules along with how you did time management and people management in the build process.
All the CAD drawings, code listings, detailed match scores, etc can be in the back as supporting documentation.
We all know that electrons don’t weigh very much, but judges time is finite, make their time reading your notebook add to your result.
No there’s no limit. But my journal has around 250 pages, and we have won design award 5 times. So as long as the information in your journal is efficient, it doesn’t matter if you have 2 pages. In my personal opinion, I think around 200 is a good number. 300+ is a little much in my opinion, and 100 minus is not enough. Your journal is probably super awesome! Keep going and never give up!