Beginning Proofreaders' FAQ
From DPCanadaWiki
Beginning Proofreaders' FAQ refers to this document which introduces new proofreaders to the basic concepts and aims of our site.
You can always access the Beginning Proofreaders' FAQ from FAQ Central.
The purpose of this FAQ is to provide answers to common questions that new people joining us at the Distributed Proofreaders Canada web site have asked. Obviously not all questions can be included here. If you don't find an answer here, you can try the following sources:
1) Look in our other documentation pages included on the FAQ Central Page FAQ Central
2) Check the Documentation Suggestions Forum, and the two "For Beginners" forums: How do I...? Common Site Q & A and Common Proofreading Q & A
3) Email us at DP Help.
I'm too impatient even to read all this "new Proofreaders' stuff". What can I do right now?
a) if you haven't already joined DPC, that's the first step
- click on the word "Register" on the right side of the menu bar at the top of the Main Page
- complete the form that appears--you choose your own member ID or alias when you fill out the form
- click on the "Send E-mail required to activate account" button at the bottom of the form
- make sure that your e-mail ISP will not "screen out" DPC's response as spam--you might consider making DP Canada Help (dphelp@pgdpcanada.net) a "whitewashed" or acceptable sender
- if the e-mail does not arrive within 30 minutes, check your spam folder
- when your confirmation e-mail arrives, follow the instructions included in it to confirm your registration
- you will be returned to the Main Page
- log in, using your new member ID and the password you were sent in the registration email; you can then change your password, if you choose
b) Once you're logged in, click on "P1" on the right side of the menu bar at the top of the Activity Hub page--you'll be taken to the P1 page
- look around
- read what P1 is all about, including the "10 Simple Proofreading Rules"
- scroll down the page until you see the list of projects available in P1
- select a simple project (perhaps one of our BEGIN projects--this will guarantee you'll get very fast feedback on your work), or one labelled EASY
- click on the name of the project you've chosen and you'll be taken to the Project Page of that project
c) look over the Project Page
- read the Comments provided by the Project Manager (PM)
- when you're ready, click on the "Start Proofreading" button (at the bottom of the Project Comments form)
- you'll be taken to the Proofing Interface
d) Start proofing
- examine the image (at the top or left hand side of the page)
- make the text (at the bottom or right hand side of the page) look similar to the image
- in simplest terms, that's all proofing consists of--there are many short-cuts, and guidelines to follow, but that'll come later
- your mission is simply to improve the page, to make the text look similar to the image, not necessarily perfect
- when you decide you've done the best you can with the page, click the "Save as Done" button at the bottom of the Proofing Interface--you will exit to the Project Page
- if you find you've accidentally chosen a page to work on that is just too hard for you, click the "Return to Round" button at the bottom of the Proofing Interface. Don't feel guilty about this, or that you've "failed"--we all make this kind of mistake sometimes--just pick a different page.
You've completed your first page!!! Congratulations--notice that your total of P1 pages done (upper right corner of the P1 page) has changed to "1".
Now it's time to read more information below. Thanks for proofing!
What is Distibuted Proofreaders Canada?
Distributed Proofreaders Canada (DPC) is a volunteer-operated program, founded in 2007 by Michael Shepard and David Jones to support Project Gutenberg Canada by making etexts of public domain books available freely to everyone. The basic concept is that our website software allows several proofreaders to be working on the same book at the same time, each proofreading on different pages. This significantly speeds up the proofreading process. Here's how it works:
1. This website uses online software and databases to create a "library".
2. Volunteers ("content providers") scan books and upload the scanned images into this library.
3. People like you ("proofreaders") choose a project ("book") to work on today.
4. The website then shows you a webpage containing the scanned image of one page and the text from that image (as produced by OCR software). This allows you to compare the scanned text to the image of the page easily, so you can note the differences and fix them.
5. You read the text, and correct it to match the page image. Basically, you fix OCR errors, according to our standardized guidelines (so we all mark the text the same way).
6. When done with that page, you save the page, then either request another page from the same project to proofread, go to another project, or quit for the day. Note that, at the same time, others will be working on other pages from this book, or from different books. Each proofreader does just a bit (we suggest "a page a day"), but working together we can get a lot of books done!
7. The site stores proofread pages in our database for the next round. Each book goes through three rounds of Proofreading, to try to catch all errors in the text. Then it goes through two rounds of Formatting to match the style of the original book. At the Formatting stage, volunteers mark such things as bold and italic text, headings, footnotes or illustrations, so that the page looks like the original scanned image.
8. When all the pages in a book have been proofread and formatted, a "post-processor" does the finishing work of getting this book ready: combining all the pages into one big file, making sure the formatting and layout is consistent, etc., and one last check for errors.
9. Finally the book is submitted to the Project Gutenberg Canada archive, and is posted on mirror sites all over the world, freely available for anyone to read and enjoy.
What is Project Gutenberg Canada?
Michael Hart founded Project Gutenberg in 1971. His idea was: anything that can be entered into a computer can be reproduced indefinitely. This led to the concept of entering books into computers and sharing these books with the whole world.
These Electronic Texts (E-texts) would be made available in the simplest, easiest to use form. Originally, this meant "Plain Vanilla ASCII text." Italics, underlines, and bolds would be converted to a format readable by any computer, with any browser software. In the same vein, the books selected would be those that appealed to the greatest number of people possible. Gradually, as browser technology and computers became widely distributed, and more sophisticated, emphasis was shifted to formats like HTML that can more closely reproduce the formatting and layout of the original books, as well as permit the use of illustrations. Text versions are still produced.
In 2007 Mark Akrigg created PG Canada, to take advantage of Canada's more liberal copyright laws, and to preserve Canadiana.
You can read more about the history of Project Gutenberg here.
Why do we pick the books that we do?
The Content Providers and Project Managers pick whatever books we can find. We go to Used & Rare bookshops and scour the Internet websites & auctions. We check out rare books from libraries and scan them. We obtain page images from other archive sites (called "harvesting"). We try to find books that we think people would enjoy reading and that we can find at an acceptable price.
Before selecting a book to convert to an etext, we check Project Gutenberg's project list and PG Canada (to make certain that it hasn't already been done) and we check David's In-Progress List (to make certain that it isn't being done by someone else).
Then a comprehensive copyright check is done, to make sure that the book is in the public domain in Canada--this means that the author (and any other significant contributor, like an illustrator) has been dead for at least 50 years.
In summary, we do whatever books people provide to us (that we legally can). If you have a book that you would like to see done (and it is copyright cleared) we can probably do it (with your help). Contact us at DPC Help or see the "Content Providers" Forum.
How can I help?
The process of creating an etext is a long one.
Distributed Proofreaders Canada was set up to make that go faster, by letting you help the Project Managers by proofreading pages in their books. If you have not already done so, click on the "Register" link and make an account. This enables you to select an available book and proofread a few pages.
We encourage people to try to do at least "a page a day", but any work done is greatly appreciated and goes a long way toward assisting in creating etexts. This is the way most people help.
If you really catch Distributed Proofreading Canada fever, you may want to become a Project Manager. Project Managers mainly shepherd a project ("book") through the uploading, proofreading and post-processing processes on this website. Sometimes they do many of the tasks themselves; sometimes they coordinate others who are working on the tasks. If you think that being a Project Manager is for you, Read the Project Manager's FAQ. (We do have experienced Project Managers who will mentor you in this process.) When you feel ready, contact us at DP Help.
If you want to do more for the site, but don't have the time, or inclination, to become a Project Manager, you might consider making a donation. Funding for the site comes entirely from the founders and voluntary donations. See the "donate" button on our Main Page if you wish to make a tax-deductible donation.
You can also donate books (Public Domain) by shipping them to us for scanning (better if they do not need to be returned). You can also scan the books and send us the images (best if you want to keep the book). We would prefer it if you would clear the books first before scanning and sending us the images. Please refer to the Content Provider's FAQ for more details on clearing and scanning books.
So if you want to do more than just proofreading, you can also help by taking on any of the following roles:
- Content Provider. Does any or all of the following tasks:
1. Find a suitable (non-copyright) book to proofread.
2. Obtain copyright clearance for the book.
3. Run each page of the book through a scanner, or "harvest" from an images archive.
4. Process each page image through OCR (Optical Character Reader) software.
5. Run pre-processing software on the OCR'd file to fix common problems--this is an optional step, some Content Providers do not use such software.
6. Upload the page image files and OCR'd text files to the DP website.
- Project Manager. Does the following tasks:
1. Choose a book that has been prepared by a Content Provider.
2. Create the project and prepare applicable Project Comments.
3. Oversee the proofing and formatting of the project; answer questions asked by proofers or formatters.
4. Once the book is finally posted to PG Canada, you have the pleasant task of congratulating and thanking everyone who participated in a job well done.
- Post Processor. Does the following tasks:
1. Does all the finishing work to take a project from a set of proofread pages to a combined etext file suitable for adding to the Project Gutenberg Canada archive.
2. Combines all the pages into one big file, deals with words or paragraphs split across pages, moves footnotes & sidenotes to the proper place, and generally makes sure that all the proofreaders were consistent in the way they proofread the text.
3. Finally sends it back to DP Canada for final preparation for posting to PG Canada.
You can do any or all of these entirely on your own, or you can work together with others to do the tasks. DPC projects are done by a group of people working together through our website, each member of the group working at an individual pace.
How do I handle...?
There are no set "Rules" enforced by Project Gutenberg Canada, but in order to allow the distributed proofreading to work, we have written up our own Proofreading Guidelines and Formatting Guidelines. Please read the applicable guidelines for the task that you are doing as well as any Project Comments that a Project Manager may have provided before starting to proofread or format.
The main goal is to preserve as much formatting as possible, marked the same way, while making the etext readable on a computer. If you are a new proofreader it may be helpful to print out a copy of our 2-page summary, the Handy Proofreading Guide, and keep it handy while proofreading. This covers the basics of proofreading.
Also, some of our projects are marked BEGIN or "Beginners only". These are books that are straightforward, without complex proofreading issues. It's a good idea to choose one of these books when you first start proofreading.
Then, we have some projects for "Newcomers Only"--once you have a little proofing experience, you could try one of these. They are still straightforward, but have a wider range of proofing situations to correct.
How do I contact someone...?
You can email DP Help at: DP Help
Other Project Managers can be reached by clicking on their name on the Projects page. Each project has a link to the Project Manager in charge of it.
Also, the "Discuss this book" link on the opening page where you start proofreading the book links to the Forum for this book. That's the best place to contact the Project Manager of the book, or to ask questions about the book or ask how to handle some proofreading issue in the book.
And Simple Simon, our Site Admin, is usually lurking about somewhere.
What is the entire process for creating an etext?
A book follows a long road to become an etext. These steps are covered in more detail in the Project Managers' FAQ.
This Workflow Diagram for the site shows the general flow of material into and out of the site.
How can I get copies of the etexts I've worked on?
On the opening page where you start proofreading a book (the Project Page) there is an item "Book Completed". Click on "Click here to register for automatic email notification of when this has been posted to Project Gutenberg." If you do that, when the book is eventually added to the Project Gutenberg Canada archive, you will receive an email notifying you and giving the link to download this book.
Also, on the DPC main page, there is a weekly list of links to recent books completed and sent to Project Gutenberg Canada, books proofread and being post-processed, and books currently in the process of proofreading.
How can I get copies of other Project Gutenberg Canada etexts?
You can go to Project Gutenberg Canada's online catalog and get copies of any etext in the library, including the ones done through Distributed Proofreaders Canada.
I think I've messed something up (done something wrong)--How can I fix it?
First, don't panic. We all make mistakes. If you think you made a mistake on the last few pages of a particular project, go back to the Project Page and note the "DONE" links. They reconnect to the last 5 pages you proofread for that project. Click on one, and you can make corrections to your proofreading of that page.
If it's earlier than one of these last 5 pages, you can click on the "Just my pages" link on the Project Page and then click on the "Edit" link on the Page Details page of the specific page, or leave a note in the Project Forum for that book (reached from the opening page where you started proofreading -- click on "Discuss this Project"). Give the number of the page you were on (if you remember) and what you did. This lets the second round proofreader or the post-processor fix it if it was not correct. If you are not sure that you handled something correctly or if the Project has already gone to the next round when you decide that you might have made a mistake, leave a note in the Project Forum.
Remember that all your proofread pages will be proofread again in the 'second round' and 'third round' of proofreading. Few mistakes make it by all proofreaders undetected! So just do your best and don't worry.
Also, feel free to leave short notes in the pages as you do them, just make certain to mark them with a double asterisk so that the next proofreader can find them. Like this:
John Smyth [**image too faint--I can't tell if it's Smythe or Smith here.]
I'm having trouble on the website trying to: Log in/Proofread a page/Get a new page
Almost all browser-related problems (not being able to log in, not seeing the proofreading page, not getting a fresh page to proofread after you have proofread your first page) can be solved by verifying that your computer is set with the correct time and date and that your browser options are set the following way:
1. Cookies accepted/on*
2. Javascript enabled
Also, if in your Preferences (located here), "Launch in New Window" is set to "Yes", then there is the following additional requirement:
3. Pop-up Windows allowed* (and make sure they aren't being blocked by another utility)
Setting these options correctly solves most problems accessing or using the site. * Security note: for security and privacy reasons, many people have some of these options turned off. They must be turned on for the DP website to work.
However, they can be limited:
Cookies: DPC cookies are only for the DPC Website, so rather than setting this option to "Accept All Cookies", you can set it to the more restricted option "Accept Cookies for the originating website only" or similar words. If you do not know how to set the restricted option, search your browser help for "blocking or allowing cookies from specific websites".
Pop-up Windows: Most browser Pop-up options or pop-up blocking utilities offer an option to list specific sites from which you accept pop-ups. So rather than simply setting it to "Accept all pop-ups", you can set the more restrictive option of "Suppress all pop-ups" but include the DPC website (www.pgdpcanada.net) in the Exceptions list. Note: the exact wording of these options will depend on your browser.
The DPC site attempts to cooperate with firewalls, web caches and proxies, though if you see the 'I get the same page to proofread over and over again' difficulty, please email us at DPC Help, including your browser details.
