January 15, 2010
From DPCanadaWiki
Volume 3, Issue #55--January 15, 2010
(Full listing of previous issues is available at DPC Newsletters)
Simon Says...
I promised some words on DPC's New Year's Resolutions.
We're determined to keep our "promises" reasonable and achievable, because we're very conscious of having fallen short in the past.
So, only a very small number of resolutions, modest in scope. If we do well on delivering these, then by the middle of the year maybe we'll expand on our "vision for the future".
Four resolutions, one for each quarter of the year:
Q1--complete the synchronization with DP-INT.
This is actually the biggest reach, and I know that some of you can't quite understand why that is so. Thus, a little expansion on what is involved--essentially, there are 6 steps:
1. complete the installation of "gettext" calls in the DP-INT site code, so that we can "translate" it into DPC-themed content.
- Status--in reasonable shape, still some mechanical work, and a lot of testing, to do
2. commit all that to the DP-INT "test" server, and ensure that no changes have appeared in the copy of the DP-INT we maintain on our "sandbox"
- Status--fairly simple, once step 1 is complete--comparison of websites must be done centrally, by me.
3. complete the DPC-English .po table--this is a table containing all the text strings from the DP-INT site, plus "translations" into DPC-ese, so as to give our site its unique characteristics
- Status--table already created, will need to be reviewed before installation--Simple Simon task, though I may request some help
4. install all site utilities on our server--including decisions about upgrading to newer versions of wiki and forum software
- Status--only coachmike can do this, because it requires secure access to our server
5. "convert" our database to the same format as DP-INT's database
- Status--well under way
6. test and "go live"
- Status--some must be done by SA, but I will ask members to "kick the tires" on a test site address, before we finalize
Q2--create ways to recruit more members, bring them on board, and make them effective.
I would like to see us reach the capacity by the end of this year to do about 20% of the number of projects that DP-INT does, roughly double our present capacity. Clearly, we don't want simply to "steal" more members from DP-INT, but to increase the overall capacity of the DP community.
DPC will be engaging in several "outreach" programs to attract and recruit members from schools and universities, from ethnic communities (particularly in Canada), and from retirees. In addition, the challenge will be to familiarize these folks with DPC's methods, and train them to increase their productivity more quickly than the normal "grow at your own pace" approach.
This will be necessary to avoid overloading DPC's admin and support mechanisms and the PFs. More roles for experienced DPC members who are interested will undoubtedly open up.
I plan to introduce a completely new technology, using on-line "webinars" to inform and train these new members, and anyone else that's interested. Any of you interested in "starring" in these demos/how-to sessions?
Q3--create our "archiving" site:
We'll launch a new site, intended to be a home for all CP sources to load and store scans they've done from scratch, or harvested and prepped. Thus PMs will have a ready source of DPC-formatted scans, featuring works that are PD in Canada, but unavailable from sources like the Internet Archive, due to copyright restrictions. Essentially, scans from after 1922.
Perhaps, as part of this, we can also provide an OCRing service, to take the process one step further.
This technology will permit PMs to create projects quickly, and thus "feed" the DPC front-end.
We'll also seek to open up contact with many sources of (PD in Canada) scans around the world. Any suggestions?
Q4--create our "display" site:
This will seek to meet several goals:
a) provide an attractive "home" for our own DPC e-books--we don't intend to "replace" PGC, or supplant other archives. We'll continue to support PGC, and the new site will be reader-friendly, not scholar oriented--less emphasis on bibliographic completeness or correctness, strong search capability, extensive "tagging" of books, probably HTML only (or may include newer formats like e-pub)
b) be a "mirror" for e-books from archives around the world--with the same characteristics as part a)
c) offer many new features: book reviews, author bios, timelines, reader bookmarks and blogs, historical articles with links to the books, attractive galleries of visual material, support for book clubs...and many more. What would you like to see, or create? how can you help?
Somewhere in the middle of all this, we'll complete the revision of our Guidelines, and add more FAQ wiki pages to cover areas of DPC operations beyond proofing and foofing.
There, see, I told you I'd keep it small and achievable.
Special Requests
Favourite Plays Wanted!
from the Drama Team
Is there a play you really like? An old favourite perhaps? Or maybe a lost masterpiece you've rediscovered? Something really obscure that everyone should have a chance to enjoy?
If it falls within the scope of PG Can, the Drama Team would love to hear from you. Just drop by the team thread and add your request. We look forward to seeing you there!
Calling all CPs and PMs
De2164, our faithful PF who manages the P1: Waiting queue has an ongoing need for more projects. Do you have anything sitting on your desk that needs to get uploaded? Is some interesting book scans on TIA that you have been thinking of harvesting? Well, now's the time.
Comments from DAvid (De2164):
- We are pretty good with fiction. Most anything that is not fiction or biographies is needed. Since Histories are popular on this site we could use a few more, perhaps a new series.
- Another idea is to pick an author and begin to do every book that is available that has not already been done. There are quite a number of Canadian authors in the Wiki List.
And don't forget to check out the names of authors who died in 1959; they're now in Canada's public domain.
Even if you don't want to be a CPer or a PM, you can certainly help. Do you have any ideas for books that we could do? You know that favourite book that you grew up with and that has not yet been created into an ebook and posted to Project Gutenberg.... See this forum: Books I'd like to see in a PG.
ÜberProject #6: John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada
Simple Simon advises that the books he's been PMing that about or by John Simcoe are about done; however, there are others out there. Do you know of other books or documents or reports by or about Simcoe? If you know of other titles or have access to any, please tell Simon.
Calling P3 Proofers...
F1 is in dire straits ... we need a bunch more P3 pages done so that F1 has some work to do. Please and thank you.
Editorial
Books posted to PGC and/or PG-Int--I'm sure that you saw Simon's comments in the last issue about the fact that 21 books were posted in December 2009. Well, we've already posted 11 so far this month ... do you think we can repeat last month? Yes, the PPers and PPVers do the final workup before a book gets posted; but without the work of the proofers and foofers, the PPers would have no work to do....
Calling all Proofers--We still need help on getting projects into the higher rounds. Maybe all proofers could commit to doing a few more pages every week ... those poor F1s don't have many projects to choose from and even F2 is suffering. Even foofers can help with proofing you know.
Post Processing--Lots of available projects for PPers--our "newest" F2s have been working overtime finishing up the formatting.
If you are interested in trying out a new skill, 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
"Horn Tooting" and/or Kudos--For those PMs and/or PPers who have had projects posted, we've got a new section (our first was in the last issue) for "horn tooting" whether you want to let people know about your first or second or tenth or ... posted project; or if you just completed an especially difficult project; or if someone believes that a certain PPer should be congratulated for a job well done. Please send a PM to Quill and we'll ensure that comments are published.
PLEASE NOTE--Update--The "new" FAQs and non-English Guidelines that you can access through the new FAQ Central page either have been or are being revised to be truly DPC versions.
Formatting Guidelines--Simon and IonaV are working on Version 2 for the Formatting Guidelines.
Server and site issues--In a previous issue, Simon advised that he and coachmike hope to get the new "to us" site code up in the first quarter of 2010. We'll let you know as that date gets closer.
There's still the odd server problem that has continued, but hopefully those will be cleared up once the site code is upgraded.
ÜberProjects--see the updates below. For those that are interested, Simon has decided that he's going to post periodicals to PG-Int as well since the ones we are doing are all pre-1923. It will also give DPC work greater coverage. He's also considering posting the Chronicles of Canada series to PG-Int so that we'll have the complete series together--due to the fact that several of the volumes have authors who are not yet in Canada's Public Domain. However, there is still some negotiating to do.
David (De2164) is pushing the rest of the Chronicles of Canada volumes into the rounds so the proofers and foofers can get them done and we can get onto the next big ÜberProject.
Watch for some new ÜberProjects in 2010.
Our first Jesuit Relations volume has made it to post-processing!!
Check out the list of "possible future articles" at the end of the newsletter--are you interested in contributing or do you know of someone who could, or would like to, contribute, we'd love to have your article and/or thoughts. And you can do so anonymously if you choose. It doesn't have to be long: a sentence or two, a short paragraph or two, or more if you really like to "talk"; send a PM to Quill.
Revisions to Guidelines, FAQs and the DPC site code
Guideline Differences--Once we get our Proofreading and Formatting Guidelines updated to go along with our upcoming site code upgrade, we intend to produce a wikipage with the differences. We're working on the Guidelines updates at this time and we hope to produce the "differences" page shortly thereafter.
Please see items under the Editorial regarding the status of the revisions to the Proofreading and Formatting Guidelines.
Upgraded DPC site code--In his Simon Says... article of Dec 4/09, Simon advised that we could, hopefully, see it in the first quarter of 2010. My fingers are crossed.
ÜberProject #1: Chronicles of Canada
There continue to be lots of spaces for volunteers to PM, PP and even CP. 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 doing the prep on the rest of the volumes. Sufficient PMs have volunteered--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've arranged to get "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.
- Volume 25 is in P1: Waiting; Volumes 16 and 19 are in P1: Available; Volumes 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 21, 31 and 32 are available for or in Post-Processing. There are several in New Project being prepared for the P1: Waiting queue with one or two yet to be prepped.
- 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 17 & 24 are in the P3 waiting queue while Volume 13 is sitting in F2: Waiting.
- Nine 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,
- Volune 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 Ahronicle 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
Vol. 65: Lower Canada, Mississippi Valley, 1696-1702,is in post processing.. Simple Simon is the PM and has decided that he will definitely PP this first volume, though he says that he will undoubtedly seek help from someone fluent in French to "look over his shoulder" on that side of things. He'll probably do the same for other languages as well. Okay, now Simon gets to figure out how he's going to PP this book--he did say that he'll be reviewing all the comments that we've made in the ÜberProject forum for the volumes.
Vol. 66: Illinois, Louisiana, Iroquois, Lower Canada, 1702-1712, is in F2: Available. It is just like Vol. 65: strange characters, old style French spellings and accents, bits and pieces of other languages--lots of fun.
Vol. 67: Lower Canada, Abenakis, Louisiana; 1716- 1727 is in P3: 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 P1: Available. Again, lots of "fun" with strange characters, old style French spellings and accents, bits and pieces of other languages.
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 is the first part of our ongoing periodicals ÜberProject. All the first year's volumes are either in process or completed. There are two issues in post-processing. Ten issues have been posted. The second year has started now with four in the proofing rounds and two waiting.
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.
Eight issues are in PP, three issues are undergoing proofing or formatting. Vol. 1, issue 1 has been posted to Project Gutenberg Canada.
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, too--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 is a Canadian juvenile periodical published between 1852 and 1854. Susan and IonaV are going to share the duties of PMing. Iona is handling the prep, Susan has downloaded the scans and will do the PPing. They are hoping to get it into the rounds within the next week or so.
A wikipage has been created: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/The_Maple_Leaf
Remember, these aren't the only periodicals that we can do--there are lots of others out there and some that are very different than "Graham's". Is there one that you'd like to do? Suggestions for favourite OLD periodicals are always welcome, but they must meet 3 criteria:
- published before 1860 to avoid the need for copyright checking
- good quality scans of a reasonable number of issues (preferably in whole volumes=a year)
- interesting content, out of the ordinary
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 prep.
- The Mystery of Edwin Drood is currently in F2: Available.
- 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 proofing and/or formatting rounds: 2; post-processing: 1. Two have been posted to PGC.
Simon is soliciting other material by or about Simcoe--do you know of any?
We Grow Every Day
We are now up to 804 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 | |
|---|---|
| January 2010 | 9 |
| 2009 Q4 | 63 |
| 2009 Q3 | 35 |
| 2009 Q2 | 55 |
| 2009 Q1 | 168 |
| 2008 total | 235 |
| 2007 total | 239 |
| Total to date | 804 |
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 50,000 pages in a round:
- Foofers' Corner in F2
Completed 45,000 pages in a round:
- uwe-joachim in F2
Completed 40,000 pages in a round:
- no one at present...
Completed 35,000 pages in a round:
- no one at present...
Completed 30,000 pages in a round:
- rolands in P3
- Team USA in P3
Completed 25,000 pages in a round:
- Team Canada in P1 NEW!!!
Completed 20,000 pages in a round:
- Ex-Pats in F2
- Foofers' Corner in F1
- LOTE Flotes my Bote in F2
- Team Canada in P2
Completed 15,000 pages in a round:
- no one at present...
Completed 10,000 pages in a round:
- Bibi in P3
- De2164 in F1
- hugger1935 in F1
- rcool in P2
- P3 Pros in P3
- Scribe in F2
- Team Canada in F1
- Team German in F2
- Team USA in F2
Completed 5,000 pages in a round:
- Adair in F1 and F2
- Antigony in F1
- Daniel G in P1
- gmiller in P2
- hugger1935 in P3 and F2NEW!!!
- mcbax in P3
- Miscia in P3
- Pippin in F1
- rcool in P1
- snowseraph in P1 and P2
- stygiania in P3 and F2
- supo88 in P2
- Warmheart in P2 and F1
- yajeulb in F1
- DPing with Cats in P1, P2 and F1
- Foofers' Corner in P2 and P3
- Infomaniacs in P2 and P3
- P2 Expediters in P3 and F2
- P3 Pros in F2
- Team British Columbia in P1, P2 and P3
- Team Canada in P3
- Team German in P3
- Team Smoothy (aka 'Smoothies') in P2
- Team UK in P1 and P2
- Team USA in P2 and F1
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 December:
- P1 completed over 126,000 pages
- P2 completed over 117,000 pages
- P3 completed over 104,000 pages
- F1 completed over 106,000 pages
- F2 completed over 101,000 pages
Great work, people!!!
Proofing & Formatting Stats
Okay, we're almost half way through January and most of the rounds have reached, at least, the half-way mark for this month's target. F1 still has some work to do ... but, ah,... we need P3 to get more pages done--F1 doesn't have anything to do....
| Round | P1 | P2 | P3 | F1 | F2 |
| January target | 3,410 | 3,410 | 3,100 | 3,410 | 3,100 |
| *January to date | 2,948 | 2,141 | 2,235 | 1,080 | 1,738 |
| January to date % | 86.45% | 62.79% | 70.10% | 31.67% | 56.06% |
*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 279 Gold Star books posted to PGC or PG-Int (with 6 in PPV). Fantastic work, all.
There are currently 288 Silver Star projects in post processing and 110 Bronze Star projects which are currently undergoing proofing or formatting. For more details about these projects, please see the listings on the bottom of the DP 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 26 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....
