December 31, 2010
From DPCanadaWiki
Volume 4, Issue #80--December 31, 2010
(Full listing of previous issues is available at DPC Newsletters)
Simon Says...
This article has been churning around in my head for a while, trying to decide whether it's about CPing or PMing--probably it concerns both. Eventually, we'll need to revise our Guidelines on both subjects--the basics are the same as DP-INT, of course, but a number of essential differences exist.
Just as DP-INT does, we need to emphasize that projects must be complete, and well-designed, before they go into P1. So, whoever is taking responsibility for the structure of the project (whether it be the CPer who harvests or creates the scans, or the PM who sets up the project page and decides on any special treatment that may be required), that person must:
- 1. ensure that all the scans are present--at the least this means flipping through the pages as currently accumulated in the project database, making sure the pages are consecutive, that none have been omitted during the "pruning" of blank pages (if that's been done) and that the illos are all there
- 2. ensure that the scans are of sufficient quality and clarity for proofing purposes, while keeping file size manageable--DPC would prefer it if ordinary pages are less than 50K and illos are less than 100K (but a few very detailed engravings or illustrations may exceed this if required for clarity)
- 3. design the Project Instructions to assist proofers and formatters decide on any tricky points that may arise during the project--this means checking the flow of the pages to identify special problems, deciding about any project-specific instructions for dealing with unusual orthography, spelling, vocabulary or other features that can occur in old books. This may be substantially changed when we switch to the same code as DP-INT, because WordCheck will come into play, requiring Good and Bad Word lists to be prepared by the PM
- 4. check to ensure the book has not been posted previously to PGC or PG-INT, and is not currently in the rounds at DP-INT. It helps to consult David's List at http://www.dprice48.freeserve.co.uk/GutIP.html to see if anyone has obtained a clearance, but not yet placed it into a workflow. We must remember that some folks work "solo", do not submit a project to a DP site, but still intend to post to a PG site. If so, they will probably have a clearance from PG-INT or from PGC.
- 5. make a list of all the significant contributors to the book: author, co-author, acknowledged editor (not just the editor of a series the book may be part of), translator, writer of preface, biography or other major part of the book, and illustrator(s). Then do what you can to uncover the DOD of each of them. Remember, while Wikipedia may be useful as a starting place, we cannot accept their DOD evidence as reliable--a library, archive, government site or university is preferable. Don't go crazy--I can help a great deal here, and mcbax of the Infomaniacs is a miracle-worker!!
- 6. check any illos in the book for evidence of the creator--this may be in the List of Illos, the caption, or in the form of a signature et al on the illo itself. If this step is omitted, there could be significant delays in posting a completed book. We need to uncover the DOD for the creator of each illo or omit it, but there are exceptions:
- --illos created by companies, studios or governments are normally not copyright
- --photos more than 50 years old are Public Domain
- --illos by completely unidentified creators are OK
- --but beware the illustrator with an illegible ID or initials or …..
- --illos published more than 140 years ago are usually OK (makes the creator 110+ years old by 1960, our new index year as of Jan 1)
- 7. make sure that a hi-res version of each illo is available--ideally it will be uploaded to the project directory at the same time as the scans and text files, in the form of an unmatched or extra file. Just use a slightly different filename, so that it won't match a text file, and the database will store it as an illo, and add a link to the illo on the Project page.
- 8. If you are capable of "wrangling" the hi-res illo so it is completely ready for insertion into the finished book by the PPer, please do so. If you need help, please ask the Illustrators--especially if a map or multi-part illo needs to be "knitted" into one final image.
- 9. Review the entire Project page for clarity and completeness before you push the project into P1 Waiting. Our extremely capable P1 and BEGIN Coordinator, DE2164, will move it to P1 Available in a manner calculated to keep the round balanced for variety and complexity of content.
Of course, it also helps to think about some of the types of pages and page content included in the project, so you can be ready for any questions that may arise in the Project forum thread. Are there difficult tables, large amounts of Greek, is the project LOTE, does it include many footnotes, sidenotes, or other complex formatting matters, and so on…
Most important of all, try to select projects that interest you and are likely to attract the attention and motivate the participation of many members. Of course, we always try to maintain a variety of project types, and are open to new project types (Armenian, Hebrew, Cyrillic, Esperanto, Klingon anyone?) If you need help to decide whether such a project would "work" at DPC, I'm always available.
If, after considering all this, you'd like to try being a CPer or PM, get in touch with me or a PF for more discussion, and some help to get started. We need more new projects all the time, and new CPers and PMs, too. It's not onerous, except for a brief flurry of activity at project creation time, and the rewards are great.
Cheers
Simon
Special Requests
Proofers Needed
Help Needed!!!
Calling all proofers ... we are in desperate need to have pages done in P2 and P3. F1 is down to about 10 projects and F2 is down to 3!! Please help!!!
Simon is going to do some P3 skipping of easy projects, but we still need proofing done.
Attention all CPers (current and potential) and PMs
Now,... if you've got a book of short stories that might be good for BEGIN projects ... let De2164 know since he's also in charge of BEGIN projects--currently there are none in the queue nor in P1. Or if you know of some eligible books, send a PM to him.
Any available or potential PPers?
We can always use PPers; currently there are about 105 projects in the queue--a lot of very short BEGIN projects are in the PP Pool. Simple Simon is very good about picking up projects to PPV in order to keep that queue as short as possible ... Can't post anything if there is nothing to PPV....
Lots of choices depending on what you like:
- easy, average, hard;
- history, biography, fiction, humour (or is that "humor" :wink:), folklore, periodicals, science, military, juvenile and other genres;
- most are in English--including all the BEGIN, but there are also three in Portuguese, three in French, one in German, one English with French and one in Spanish (at the time of writing);
- the regular projects range in size from about 45 pages to over 800 while the BEGIN projects range from 6 to 18 pages--very easy if you want to try your hand at PPing;
- a number of them have illustrations.
There are also number that have been sitting in the PP pool for more than a year--including German and Portuguese projects. Any takers?
We're always looking for new PPers. If you are interested, drop by any of the PPing-related forums:
For those people who are interested in learning how to PP, the BEGIN projects are an ideal way to do it. The projects are very short and have few if any illustrations or other formatting requirements. Since the projects are short and simple, re-doing them is very easy.
Please remember, there are several experienced PPers who will give some direction if asked. Lostpaces has offered to mentor new PPers so you are not alone. Check out her forum discussion thread: Would like to PP? Check here. Or send her a PM.
Editorial
Book Count--462 books and counting ... As PPers must still complete about 40 projects (there are a number waiting for posting at PGC) we won't see number 500 before the end of the year. So we should be more realistic and hope for our 500th book during the first quarter of 2011 ... now will that be early or late....
As an FYI: We reached our 100th book in December 2008 and by December 2009, we'd done 250 books!!! Should we have a special book--all rounds done in 1 day as we did for 1st anniversary book in December 2007? Or do you have any other ideas? Suggestions are needed, people. Please send your suggestions to Quill or Simple Simon.
Display site--Do please provide Simon with any suggestions or ideas that you have. He's provided an email link (starlink @ rogers.com) so that you can send him comments that you don't want to write in a forum post. Any and ALL ideas, comments, suggestions, questions, etc. are welcome. I'm sure that there are more ideas out there.
Thanks to Tiena for starting a discussion thread--there are some good ideas. Even if you don't have an idea, your comments--pro or con--are always welcome.
PLEASE NOTE--Update--The "new" FAQs and non-English Guidelines that you can access through the FAQ Central page either have been or are being revised to be truly DPC versions.
Formatting Guidelines--Revisions have been completed. Have a look here. If you have any comments, we've started a new discussion thread. Simon is working with coachmike to remove the old links, but that is not an easy task--he doesn't want to cause any other problems.
ÜberProjects--see the regular updates below. There's a good possibility that several more of our Chronicles will be posted soon.
Revisions to Guidelines, FAQs, etc.
Guideline Differences--Once we get our Proofreading and Formatting Guidelines updated, we intend to produce a wikipage with the differences between DP-Int and DPC Guidelines. One thing to remember though: one of the major differences between the Guidelines of the two sites is that DPC has organized our differently from DP-Int; so be sure to use the links at the top of the Guidelines pages.
Guidelines Summaries--IonaV, with the kind assistance of Long Green (aka Mama Beth) as well as stygiania and jjz (P3 and F2 Quals PFs respectively), is updating the Proofreading and Formatting Guidelines Summaries. She hopes to have them available soon. Once the revised Formatting Guidelines have been finalized, that summary will be finalized and uploaded.
ÜberProject #1: Chronicles of Canada
To see the current status of the volumes, check out the ÜberProject wiki page for The Chronicles of Canada here: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/The_Chronicles_of_Canada
- De2164 and IonaV are prepping the rest of the volumes. Sufficient PMs have volunteered to handle all remaining volumes--we just need PPers, but the volumes can be picked up from the PP pool when they have completed the rounds unless there is a volume that a PPer really wants to do--in that case let the PM know sooner rather than later.
- We have borrowed "mint condition" copies of the full set and so will be able to get good scans of all the maps and illustrations as well as picking up missing pages (if any). Thank you to hugger1935 for the use of the books.
- P1: Waiting: 0; proofing/formatting rounds: 0; available for or completed post-processing: 14; posted to Project Gutenberg: 11 There are several in New Project being prepared for the P1: Waiting queue with one or two yet to be prepped. Of the projects in PP, a couple are at the PPV review stage and so should, hopefully, be posted in August.
- PP standards have been set and the books do not have anything extremely difficult at all. Check the Chronicles wiki page for the PP standards. Some of the standards for PPing have been updated.
- Volumes 13, 17 and 24 are being done at DP-Int since the authors of these volumes are out of DPC's copyright purview. They will be posted to PG-Int in due time. For those that are interested, Volumes 13, 17 & 24 are all in F2: Waiting.
- Eleven volumes have been posted to PGC and/or PG-International:
- Volume 1: The Dawn of Canadian History, A Chronicle of Aboriginal Canada,
- Volume 2: The Mariner of St Malo: A Chronicle of the Voyages of Jacques Cartier,
- Volume 3: The Founder of New France, A Chronicle of Champlain,
- Volume 5: The Seigneurs of old Canada: A Chronicle of New World Feudalism,
- Volume 8: The Great Fortress: A Chronicle of Louisbourg 1720-1760,
- Volume 11: The Winning of Canada, A Chronicle of Wolfe,
- Volume 12: The Father of British Canada, A Chronicle of Carleton,
- Volume 18: The 'Adventures of England on Hudson Bay', A Chronicle of the Fur Trade in the North,
- Volume 20: Adventurers of the Far North, A Chronicle of the Arctic Seas,
- Volume 27: The Winning of Popular Government: A Chronicle of the Union of 1841, and
- Volume 29: The Day of Sir John MacDonald, A Chronicle of the Early Years of the Dominion.
ÜberProject #2: Jesuit Relations
Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France; 1610-1791
Vol. 65: Lower Canada, Mississippi Valley, 1696-1702, is in post processing; though Simple Simon says that it has been a long, slow process. Smooth Reading is done ... now Simon gets to finalize the text version (readable) and he'll also be working on the HTML readable and both scholarly versions as well. The scholarly versions will include ALL the strange characters and abbreviations from the original Jesuit diaries.
This volume has taken longer to PP as he is setting up precedents and procedures for the PPing of this project. If you've done any work on any of the volumes either here or at DP-Int, you'll know that they are not simple.
Vol. 66: Illinois, Louisiana, Iroquois, Lower Canada, 1702-1712, is now in post processing.
Vol. 67: Lower Canada, Abenakis, Louisiana; 1716- 1727 is in F2: Available. Lots of "fun" with strange characters, old style French spellings and accents, bits and pieces of other languages.
Vol. 68: Lower Canada, Crees, Louisiana; 1720-1736 is in P3: Available. Again, lots of "fun" with strange characters, old style French spellings and accents, bits and pieces of other languages.
Vol. 69: All Missions; 1710-1756 is in P3: Available. More of the same strange characters with Latin as well as old French spellings and English.
A set of standards has been determined and added to the Project Comments. An ÜberProject wiki page for Jesuit Relations has been created. It includes the basic instructions for proofing and formatting.
ÜberProject #3: Governor General's Award Books
Warmheart has created an ÜberProject page for this uberproject. The page looks very good and has lots of links. You can see the details of what she has completed to date here: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/Governor_General%27s_Literary_Awards Check it out, you might find something interesting there....
There are only a couple of books that are available since many of the authors are still alive--ah, well, we'll get them eventually. :)
ÜberProject #4: Periodicals
Graham's Magazine
This was the first of our Periodicals ÜberProjects.
Second year--prep: 6; P1: Waiting: 0; proofing/formatting rounds: 2; post-processing: 4; posted to Project Gutenberg: 0
First year--ALL issues are posted to Project Gutenberg
Our Young Folks
An illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls
Issued monthly; Publication Dates: January 1865 thru October 1873 when it merged with St. Nicholas.
Volume 3: prep: 1; P1: Waiting: 0; proofing/formatting rounds: 0; post-processing: 0; posted to Project Gutenberg: 0
Volume 2: prep: 1; P1: Waiting: 1; proofing/formatting rounds: 1; post-processing: 9; posted to Project Gutenberg: 0
Volume 1: post-processing: 10; posted to Project Gutenberg: 2
Warmheart's wikipage for the Periodical can be found through this link: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/Our_Young_Folks .
Scientific American
These are very early issues from 1846. The first issue has now been posted. Simon has more being prepped for proofing.
We've started a wiki page for it: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/Periodicals/Scientific_American.
The Maple Leaf
This Canadian juvenile periodical was published between 1852 and 1854 for a total of 30 issues. IonaV is PMing and handling the prep. Susan downloaded the scans and will possibly do the PPing.
Volume 1 (6 issues): prep: 5; P1: Waiting: 0; proofing/formatting rounds: 0; post-processing: 1; posted to Project Gutenberg: 0.
A wikipage has been created: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/The_Maple_Leaf
"Old Periodicals" Criteria
Remember, these aren't the only periodicals that we can do--there are lots of others out there and some that are quite unique. Is there one that you'd like to do? Suggestions for favourite OLD periodicals are always welcome, but they must meet 3 criteria:
- published earlier than 1865 to avoid the need for copyright checking
- good quality scans of a reasonable number of issues (preferably in whole volumes of 6-months or a year)
- interesting content, out of the ordinary, Canadiana, ...
ÜberProject #5: Works by Charles Dickens
Simple Simon and IonaV are Dickens fans. We know that there are many more out there. Although there are some of Dickens' works on the other PG sites, some of it is text only. We've got early editions of those books with illustrations as well as stories that have not yet been posted. As well, there are letters and essays and ...
- Bleak House, the original version illustrated by "Phiz", is in P3: Available.
- The Mystery of Edwin Drood is currently available for post-processing.
- A Christmas Carol, The Original Manuscript has been posted to Project Gutenberg.
- Two short stories for our anniversary blitz are posted to our wiki (http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/Dickens_%22First_Anniversary%22_project): The Christmas Tree and What Christmas is as we get older. They will be posted to PG Canada with other Dickens' short stories.
More details and an ÜberProject wiki page to come.
ÜberProject #6: John Graves Simcoe
John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and military leader of Canada, and one of the true Canadian "Fathers of Confederation". This is NOT dull history either.
Projects about or by Simcoe in P1: Waiting: 0; proofing/formatting rounds: 1; post-processing: 2. Three have been posted to PGC.
ÜberProject #7: Gilbert (George) Murray
Gilbert Murray lived from 1866-1957. He was quite a prolific writer with some 90 odd titles to his name with 32 of them being translations of Greek dramas.
Status of these projects--post processing: 14; proofing/formatting rounds: 1; P1: Waiting: 1; in prep: 0; Posted to PGC: 0.
Miscia has created a wikipage which will be a work in progress naturally: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/Gilbert_%28George%29_Murray_%281866-1957%29
ÜberProject #8: Art Latcham Magic Collection
This new ÜberProject has been launched--see the update for more details.
Status of these projects--post processing: 1; in prep: 1.
This is sort of in limbo until Simon can acquire a high speed scanner as he is the only one who can prep the books.
All "magic" lovers should enjoy these books. If you know of anyone who likes magic and who are not members of DPC, be sure to let them know about this upcoming ÜberProject.
And if you want to be really involved with the project in some way: prepping, PMing, PPing, managing the ÜberProject wikipage or any of the tasks listed in the Simon Says... article above, just send Simon a PM and let him know.
We Grow Every Day
We are now up to 1,014 members. Welcome to all new members; I hope you find some projects that you will enjoy doing. Many of our members are also members of DP-Int/US and/or DP Europe--we welcome them and thank them for all their continued support and interest in DPC. (Numbers are accurate up to "press" time.)
| New | |
|---|---|
| December 2010 | 19 |
| November 2010 | 25 |
| October 2010 | 18 |
| 2010 Q3 | 39 |
| 2010 Q2 | 56 |
| 2010 Q1 | 62 |
| 2009 total | 321 |
| 2008 total | 235 |
| 2007 total | 239 |
| Total to date | 1014 |
Milestones
We are going to use this space to "celebrate" notable milestones achieved by a member, team, group or project. For example, we'll report when a member completes 5,000 pages in any one round; then we'll let you know when they've done 10,000 pages and so on.
The "team" numbers are the cumulative totals for each round for each member while they are members of a particular team. So that's why, the team pages go up whenever a team member's totals increase. Another reason to join a team or two....
Completed 75,000 pages in a round:
- no one at present...
Completed 70,000 pages in a round:
- Foofers' Corner in F2
Completed 65,000 pages in a round:
- no one at present...
Completed 60,000 pages in a round:
- no one at present...
Completed 55,000 pages in a round:
- no one at present...
Completed 50,000 pages in a round:
- no one at present...
Completed 45,000 pages in a round:
- uwe-joachim in F2
- Team USA in P3
Completed 40,000 pages in a round:
- Ex-Pats in F2
- Team Canada in P1
- P3 Pros in P3
Completed 35,000 pages in a round:
- rolands in P3
Completed 30,000 pages in a round:
- Foofers' Corner in F1
Completed 25,000 pages in a round:
- Miscia in F2 NEW!!!
- Drama Team in P2
- P2 Expediters in P3
- Team Canada in P2 and F2 NEW!!!
Completed 20,000 pages in a round:
- hugger1935 in P2
- Scribe in F2
- Drama Team in F2
- LOTE Flotes my Bote in F2
Completed 15,000 pages in a round:
- RCEberwein in F1
- snowseraph in P2
- stygiania in P3
- Drama Team in P1 and P3
- Team Canada in P3
- Weather Reports in F2
Completed 10,000 pages in a round:
- Antigony in F1
- Bibi in P3
- cmspence in F2
- De2164 in F1
- GIMadore in P1
- hugger1935 in P1 and F1 NEW!!!
- Marmaduke in P3
- rcool in P1 and P2
- Drama Team in F1
- Foofers' Corner in P2 and P3
- Team Canada in F1
- Team German in F2
- Team USA in P2, F1, and F2
Completed 5,000 pages in a round:
- Adair in F1 and F2
- Daniel G in P1
- gmiller in P2
- goofball in P1
- hazeleyeflgal in F2
- hugger1935 in P3 and F2
- jadrien in P3
- literagnu in F1
- mcbax in P3
- Miscia in P2, P3 and F1
- Pippin in F1
- RCEberwein in P1
- snowseraph in P1
- stygiania in F2
- supo88 in P2
- Warmheart in P2 and F1
- yajeulb in F1
- DPing with Cats in P1, P2 and F1
- Foofers' Corner in P1
- Illustrators in F1
- Infomaniacs in P2 and P3
- P2 Expediters in P2 and F2
- P3 Pros in P2 and F2
- Table Tamers in F1
- Team British Columbia in P1, P2, P3 and F2
- Team français in P1, P2 and P3
- Team German in P2, P3 and F1
- Smoothies (aka Team Smoothy) in P2
- Team UK in P1, P2 and F1
- Team USA in P1
And how many pages have been done in each of the rounds? Naturally, F2 will be at the bottom since they are the last round that gets the projects before PPing and P1 will be on top since they get to start all the projects. <grin> Another consideration is that P3 or F2 stats may be slightly smaller if the PM/PPer has skipped his/her/their project through either one or both of those rounds. So let's see where each round was at the end of November:
- P1 completed over 194,000 pages
- P2 completed over 178,000 pages
- P3 completed over 155,000 pages
- F1 completed over 156,000 pages
- F2 completed over 151,000 pages
Great work, people!!!
Proofing & Formatting Stats
Well, we made it ... last day of December, last day of 2010. There will be a few more pages done (I hope) before the end of today--the numbers below will change.
And ... ALL RIGHT!!! Way to go, people!!! ... P2 is over 200% of December's page target!!! All other rounds are over 100% of December page targets. What a great way to end the year!!!
| Round | P1 | P2 | P3 | F1 | F2 |
| December target | 3,410 | 3,410 | 3,100 | 3,410 | 3,100 |
| *December to date | 6,127 | 7,489 | 3,493 | 3,621 | 4,450 |
| December to date % | 179.68% | 219.62% | 112.19% | 106.19% | 143.55% |
*Numbers accurate to "press" time.
For more statistics and related links go to: Statistics Central.
Books In Process And/or Posted To PG Canada or PG-International
At press time, we had 462 Gold Star books posted to PGC or PG-Int. Fantastic work, everyone!! Simon also works very hard to keep the number of PPVs under control since projects cannot be posted until he makes sure that "all the Ts are crossed and Is are dotted".
There are currently 150 Bronze Star projects which are undergoing proofreading or formatting with another 46 waiting in the queue (not including the BEGIN projects). There are 458 Silver Star projects in the various post processing stages with 195 being post-processed and 104 waiting for PPers; the balance consists of those that have completed post processing and are awaiting posting at PG or are parts of projects that have been or will be merged which is why the Silver Star numbers are extremely variable. For more details about the posted and/or active projects, please see the listings on the DPC Welcome page.
User Team Talk
Have you checked out our user teams? To check out the teams or to join one go to: User Teams. The Team threads are located under Proofing Team Talk. Is there a team that you'd like to see? You can create a team from the link on the User Teams page--you might be surprised by who shows up to join you.
We have 29 teams; more are always welcome.
Possible Future Articles
This is YOUR newsletter: yes, there are forum posts and user team posts, but is there something that you want to tell the whole DPC community? You are allowed to brag here. You can also be anonymous if you choose ... we won't tell.
- Tips or Hints: for those people who do/did a lot of proofing and/or formatting on DP-Int/US &/or DP-Eur, do you have any tips or "rules" that you follow to help yourself while you proof or format? Even a re-wording of a guideline that helps you remember how to do something specific.
- Tell us why you joined DPC.
- Quotable Quotes: have you seen a thought-provoking quote that is relevant to the DP Community while you were doing your proofing that you just had to pass on?...
- The most interesting, outrageous, or strangest line you proofed: before it was proofed (if that was the outrageous or strange part) and what it was after proofing (please do not submit obscene language, it will not be published).
- New projects: PMs is there a series of books or books by a very prolific author that you'd like to do?--let us know so that we can help pass the word to the proofers so they'll be there to jump in and work on them.
- Kudos, Bouquets & Compliments: are there any DPers that you would like to give special thanks and/or recognition to: a mentor who gave you lots of guidance, a PPer that made your project into a very wonderful looking book for posting to PG, a CPer or image/text preparer who went the extra little bit to provide you with clean scans, well OCR'd text, or good illustrations for your project, another DPer who made you feel really welcome or provided you with some good advice or....
- "Guest articles" by anyone and everyone who wishes to....
