January 16, 2009
From DPCanadaWiki
Volume 2, Issue #29--January 16, 2009
(Full listing of previous issues is available at DPC Newsletters)
Editorial
Server and site problems--Simple Simon, coachmike and company have continued to work hard the last couple of months. Lots of things have been fixed which is wonderful. I've been advised that there are 3 main server glitches left:
- non-creation of new project forums (now handled manually by PMs, PFs and Simple Simon)
- non-archiving of completed projects (now handled manually by coachmike)
- several (background) chron-jobs not running (not crucial)
These problems are still being worked on and hopefully they will be resolved very soon.
ÜberProjects--see the updates below.
Revisions to the Formatting Guidelines--Simple Simon prepared a draft; you can find it here: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/Formatting_Guidelines.
Comments were due January 15. Now Simon will compile the various comments. We should see the results very soon.
Comments regarding bad links to FAQs and Guidelines--If any of these are still left, I know that coachmike will get to them. Don't forget to let Simple Simon know if there are still some around.
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 anonymouslyAnd you can do so anonymously if you choose. It doesn't have to be long: a sentence or two, a short paragraph or two, 500 words or more if you really like to "talk"; send a PM to Quill.
Simon Says...
Welcome to 2009!! My New Year's Resolution--DPC will have a complete, comprehensive solution to the server/site code/glitches situation by August 1, 2009--several other related issues will clear up in the same timeframe.
We had a very good First Year, in my opionion:
- we managed to survive, and grow modestly
- we completed 100 books, though not quite within the first 12 months
- we appear to be on track to complete 10 to 12 books a month, up from 8 per month last year
- my end-of-year review of the books we posted to PGC left me impressed with the quality, appearance, range of content, and multi-cultural/multi-language nature of our accomplishments
IT'S ALL DUE TO YOU--THE MEMBERS--YOU HAVE DONE AMAZING THINGS, AND CONTINUE TO DO SO--THANK YOU!!!
Having said that, and always conscious that "another pair of eyes will always find something", we will be reviewing all books posted for remaining errors--anyone want to volunteer to smooth-read one or more books you have not worked on before?
Developments for 2009 include:
1. cleaning up some of the remaining "glitches" that annoy us all, and making "work-arounds" for others, so we can "hold the fort" until August 1, when our whole new approach rolls out.
2. "synching up" with DP-INT by August 1--this involves the following steps:
a) arranging for a co-location hosting contract (where we provide our own equipment, and software, hoster just provides space, power, backup and Internet connectivity) NO ROAD-BLOCKS
b) providing the equipment WILL BE HANDLED BY DPC FOUNDERS WITH A GENEROUS DONATION FROM DP-INT
c) modifying DP-INT's site code to allow for multiple versions of .php site pages, with a switch for the SA to select the set; initially, there would be a "US set" and a "DPC set", but there might eventually be a "DP-EUR set", a "French pages set"...COACHMIKE FEELS HE HAS THIS UNDER CONTROL, though substantial work needed to construct the page sets accurately
d) fixing WordCheck to be UTF-8 compliant DP-INT IS TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS
e) loading the revised software on the new equipment, installing the equipment, and testing everything SHOULD BE ROUTINE (nervous chuckle ensues)
f) once this change is made, we simply install any future changes DP-INT decides to make--software maintenance drops to a minimum--BUT we cannot decide to vary from their code in any way--all desired changes in functionality would have to be routed through the DP-INT "suggestions for change" mechanism
3. resolving implications of above change:
a) if we use the same code, we get all their features (like WordCheck). So, except for "Canadianization", why would any of our site pages need to be any different from theirs?
b) could/should we not use exactly the same Guidelines (except for things like UTF-8/character encoding if they do not adopt that)?
c) should we abandon the "wiki" approach to Guidelines?
These are not rhetorical questions, I'm looking for input.
4. increasing our scale--this involves two processes:
a) recruiting more members, especially after September 1 (when we'll be sure we can handle them). This includes inviting DP-INT and DP-EUR members to "live a second existence" at DPC to do books from after 1923 (not abandon their current homes). And we'll want to bring in more people new to the DP community--page-a-day on FaceBook??
b) keeping more "newbies" around--how do we do this? more greeting, support, training, personal interaction, proactive (as compared to our current responsive) Mentoring...
5. launching DPC's "display site"--tentatively named readwiki.com
a) building the raw capability--site pages, directory structure, database, indexing approach, forum, wiki THAT'S UP TO COACHMIKE AND SIMON
b) finalizing the mission THIS WILL BE THE SUBJECT OF THE NEXT "SIMON SAYS"--need your ideas
c) designing the various roles needed to make this a success--whole new set of Coordinators, Facilitators, Forum developers, wiki gurus, and so on--may be some overlap, but there's a huge amount of scope for learning and contributing
d) recruiting volunteers to do:
- site page design
- gallery design
- set up report and table formats
- identify, collect, fix and "tag" e-books from all over the world
- write author bios, history blurbs, captions for pictures ... this task could expand to fit the time available
- maintain forums, wiki, recruiting campaigns, and other activities NO WAY SIMON AND COACHMIKE CAN DO ALL THIS
We'll be inventing a whole new way of looking at books--got any ideas??
6. This time, there's no way Mike and I can finance it all--we'll have to launch a fund-raising program, too.
I'm sure we'll find some things to do in our spare time....
And, so I don't forget, I promised to do some more work on the Guidelines:
- the Formatting Guideline will go into effect February 1 (alert to F2 Quals Coordinator)--any last adjustments?
- I'll be working on the CPing and PMing FAQs next--we need more consistency and help for beginners there
- I will produce a combined Proofing/Foofing Guideline by March 15
Revisions to Guidelines, FAQs and the DPC site code
Revisions to the Formatting Guidelines.--See comments in Editorial.
The proposed date for the revisions to come into effect is February 1.
Once the revised Formatting Guidelines is up, Simon will create (as promised) a combined Proofing/Foofing wiki page for those formatters who like to have only one document open at a time but also what to be able to double check on the Proofing Guidelines when they spot an error.
Simon plans to have the combined wikipage ready for March 15.
Now that we have the Proofing and Formatting Guidelines updated, Simon plans to start on the Content Provider and Project Management FAQs. As always, your comments, suggestions, recommendations, insights, etc. will be welcome.
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 prepped a number of volumes and there are also several others that need prepping, so there's lots to do. CPers, PMs, PPers are all needed.
- 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.
- Volumes 11 and 21 are in F1: Available; Volumes 1, 3, 8, 18 and 27 are in Post-Processing. I know that there are a couple more being 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, the books are in the P3 waiting queue.
- Four volumes have been posted to PGC: Volume 2: The Mariner of St Malo: A Chronicle of the Voyages of Jacques Cartier, Volume 5: The Seigneurs of old Canada: a Chronicle of New World Feudalism, Volume 20: Adventurers of the Far North, A Chronicle of the Arctic Seas 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, our first, is currently in P3: Available. 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.
Vol. 66: Illinois, Louisiana, Iroquois, Lower Canada, 1702-1712, our second, is in P1: Available. It is just like Vol. 65: strange characters, old style French spellings and accents, bits and pieces of other languages--lots of fun.
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 ÜberProject #4: Periodicals. Simple Simon has the entire first year of volumes in hand and will release them as demand calls for them. There is one issue currently undergoing proofing in round P2: Available; one in P1: Available and one in P1: Waiting. Two issues are in PP; another has been sent to PGC for posting and one issue: Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXII, No. 2 (1848) has been posted to PGC. Two more issues are being dropped into P1: Waiting this week.
Simon also needs some volunteers for PPing these periodicals--if you are interested, send him a PM.
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.
Comments from Warmheart: Okay, let's get going: Issue 1 is in P1: Waiting; Issues 2, 3 & 4 are in the prep stage. This looks to be a very interesting periodical--can't wait for it to get to P1: Available.
Warmheart's wikipage for the Periodical can be found through this link: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/Our_Young_Folks.
And another periodical is in the works: Scientific American--very early issues, too--from 1846. Watch for it.
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 ...
- "A Christmas Carol" is in P1: Available.
- The Mystery of Edwin Drood is currently in P2: Available.
- 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.
We Grow Every Day
We are now up to 480 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 2009 | 6 |
| Q4 2008 | 33 |
| Q3 2008 | 33 |
| Q2 2008 | 63 |
| Q1 2008 | 106 |
| 2007 total | 239 |
| Total to date | 480 |
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 of each team. So that's why, for the "15,000 pages" totals Team USA has the most P3 pages. Another reason to join a team or two....
Completed 25,000 pages in a round:
- uwe-joachim in F2
Completed 20,000 pages in a round:
- rolands in P3
- Team USA in P3
Completed 15,000 pages in a round:
Completed 10,000 pages in a round:
- Team Canada in P1 and P2
- Team German in F2
- Foofers' Corner in F2
Completed 5,000 pages in a round:
- Daniel G in P1
- De2164 in F1
- Warmheart in F1
- yajeulb in F1
- hugger1935 in F1 and F2 NEW!!!
- Team Canada in F1
- DPing with Cats in P2 and F1
- Foofers' Corner in F1
Great work, people!!!
Proofing & Formatting Stats
Okay, we're half-way through January; P3 is already over 88% of their page goal with both F1 and F2 over 60% of their goals. Need some help in P1 and P2....
| Round | P1 | P2 | P3 | F1 | F2 |
| January goal | 3,100 | 3,100 | 2,325 | 3,100 | 2,325 |
| *January to date | 1,067 | 865 | 2,058 | 2,077 | 1,420 |
| January to date % | 34.42 % | 27.90 % | 88.52 % | 67.00 % | 61.08 % |
*Numbers accurate to "press" time.
For more statistics and related links go to: Statistics Central.
Books In Process And/or Posted To PGC
At press time, we had 112 Gold Star books posted to PGC (with 8 in PPV). Fantastic work, all.
There are currently 109 Silver Star projects in post processing and 100 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 now have 21 teams; more are always welcome. The newest team is: Italian Team. Welcome, 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....
