July 17, 2009
From DPCanadaWiki
Volume 2, Issue #42--July 17, 2009
(Full listing of previous issues is available at DPC Newsletters)
Books by Frederick Niven
Mark Akrigg's article in the last issue really got people going ... we now have 3 more of Niven's books either in process or waiting in the P1 queue. Hope you enjoy working on them.
Editorial
e-Books posted--Are we there yet?... Almost--199 ebooks … now just watch, as soon as I publish this issue, #200 will be posted…. Ah, well, that's life, isn't it?...
Stats--We now have over 700 members!!! Now onwards and upwards … #800 is the next major milestone.
PG-INT Copyright Clearances--CPers and PMs who apply to Simple Simon for copyright clearances need to check out his comments under last issue's Simon Says….
Server and site problems--As you'll see in Simon's article below we'll own our "new to us" server. And since we'll have the most recent DP-Int site code we should be free of many, if not all, of our current problems--I am hoping that is the case anyway.
Guidelines Differences--As noted in Simon's comments below, some decisions do need to be made if we want our Guidelines to be closer to those of DP-Int notwithstanding that we are a UTF-8 site. Though we don't want to change our decision about ellipses (i.e., matching the scan)--that is something that many DPC and DP-Int DPers like.
Checklists--As promised several months ago, Simon has been producing basic checklists for DPers. He started with PPing basic checklists for simple projects: he has done checklists for startup, text version, HTML version, HTML Tables, "illustrations"--for PPers and CPers and CSS. The final item on Simon's PPing list is "tools for PPers": sounds interesting.
Simon has created a wikipage (linked to the main DPC Wiki) for the Checklists for New PPers. He has included the checklists that he has done so far. You can see from the Table of Contents what he plans for future checklists.
Any and all comments and/or questions from PPers are requested and welcome. Anyone else can comment as well. Send any questions or comments to Simple Simon.
Once the PPing checklists are done, he'll do some for CPing and PMing.
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.
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.
Simon Says...
In the very recent past, we have passed several very significant "milestones".
First, we now have over 700 registered members. To continue with some member stats, our active users numbers for the "24 hour", "1 week" and "1 month" continue to rise.
Most important of all, the number of completed and posted e-books climbs steadily. Our first-year goal was to average 8 books/month, and we almost made that target--we're now regularly into 2-digit territory, and perhaps we should be thinking of striving for 15 books/month.
Overall, we have almost reached our 200th posted book (it took 13 months to reach 100, but only 6 to reach the second 100).
Mike and I recently examined the prospects of completing the "synchronization" with DP-INT site code on target, and realized we were slipping on this goal. So we re-dedicated ourselves, trimmed some expectations, and are in full-blown "push" mode.
We now expect to install our new server later this month (this time, we'll own it ourselves!!) and switch to co-location services in August. This will provide more server speed, storage, bandwidth, and virtually remove data traffic restraints. It will also permit the addition of our "display site" to show case the work our dedicated DPC volunteers.
We are working actively with the DP-INT Squirrels to agree on modifications to their site code. Once this is done, we will adopt the same site code, and use a gettext/lookup method to change those text strings that give DPC its unique characteristics. This will enable us to acquire all the DP-INT features that have been introduced since the 2006 version of the site code that we currently use.
Eventually, after a lot of work, this approach will also allow us to offer the entire site in French, and probably some other languages on a member-selected basis--we will need a lot of help from those members who are fluent in LOTE. This would be a full implementation of a translated site--all the text pages, captions, form headings, proofing/foofing interface, button names--everything would be translated (except of course the actual data).
Since we will be synchronizing with DP-INT, we will be on the lookout for ways to make the sites similar in as many ways as possible, thus making it easier for members to work at both sites without learning two completely different sets of procedures. We'll try to minimize the differences in Guidelines. too--although we do not plan to retreat on the "hard-won" territory in areas like ellipses. (DPC will still try to be a "match the scan" site as much as possible). Perhaps we can persuade our colleagues at DP-INT to move in our direction a bit?
While we expect DP-INT to switch to UTF-8 sometime in the next year, no specific target has been established--perhaps the new Board will add this to their list of priorities?
Lots of good news--now back to the grindstone.
Cheers Simon
Revisions to Guidelines, FAQs and the DPC site code
Guideline Differences--See article at beginning of the April 10 issue. Simon made some further comments in his article in the last issue.
Combined Proofing and Formatting Guidelines-- The eventual "combined guidelines" will be a very summarized version, not a complete document--but it's a huge task, which is the reason for the delay in issuance, among other tasks that are keeping Simon very busy. Even DP-INT has no such animal--so we can't copy theirs. Once it is drafted, Simon will ask for review by experienced proofers and foofers to ensure that it is understandable--that is, not confusing or missing some extremely important rule.
New DPC site code--It's closer, it's closer…. See Simon's comments above.
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.
- Volumes 4 and 12 have been split into multiple parts and are being used for BEGIN projects. A number of parts of each volume are sitting in P1: Waiting (English BEGIN) until they are needed; several parts are currently in various rounds undergoing proofing or formatting; and several parts of each volume have made it through to PPing though they won't be finalized until all parts are done--that may take awhile depending on how many newbies we get.
- Volume 31 is in P1: Waiting, Volumes 14 and 32 are in P2: Available, Volumes 6 and 9 are in F2: Available; Volumes 11 and 21 are available for Post-Processing; Vols. 3 and 18 have completed PPing. There are several in New Project being prepared for the P1: Waiting queue.
- 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 all in the P3 waiting queue.
- Seven volumes have been posted to PGC:
- 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 5: The Seigneurs of old Canada: a Chronicle of New World Feudalism,
- Volume 8: The Great Fortress: A Chronicle of Louisbourg 1720-1760,
- 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
Vol. 65: Lower Canada, Mississippi Valley, 1696-1702, our first, is currently in F2: 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 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 now in P1: Available.
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 six issues currently undergoing proofing or formatting with one in P1: Waiting. Six issues have been posted to PGC and/or PG-Int.
Year two will be coming in due course.
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.
Three issues are in PP with two completed, three issues are undergoing proofing or formatting. Warmheart also has three in P1: Waiting and the final four of the first year are in prep.
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. That one sure went fast … I hope Simon has more being prepped. :wink:
We've started a wiki page for it: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/Periodicals/Scientific_American. I've also been told that Tizz has agreed to co-PM/PP it.
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 is in post processing.
- 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 707 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 | |
|---|---|
| July 2009 | 10 |
| 2009 Q2 | 55 |
| 2009 Q1 | 168 |
| 2008 total | 235 |
| 2007 total | 239 |
| Total to date | 707 |
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 35,000 pages in a round:
- uwe-joachim in F2
Completed 30,000 pages in a round:
Completed 25,000 pages in a round:
- rolands in P3
- Team USA in P3
Completed 20,000 pages in a round:
- Foofers' Corner in F2
Completed 15,000 pages in a round:
- Team Canada in P1
Completed 10,000 pages in a round:
- Bibi in P3
- De2164 in F1
- Team Canada in P2
- Team German in F2
- Foofers' Corner in F1
- LOTE Flotes my Bote in F2
Completed 5,000 pages in a round:
- Adair in F1
- Daniel G in P1
- rcool in P1 and P2
- snowseraph in P1 and P2 NEW!!!
- supo88 in P2
- Warmheart in F1
- yajeulb in F1
- hugger1935 in F1 and F2
- Team USA in P2 and F2
- Team Canada in P3 and F1 NEW!!!
- Team German in P3
- DPing with Cats 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 June:
- P1 completed over 94,000 pages
- P2 completed over 85,000 pages
- P3 completed over 75,000 pages
- F1 completed over 75,000 pages
- F2 completed over 60,000 pages
Great work, people!!!
Proofing & Formatting Stats
Okay, 2 weeks to go (though more than 50% through July) … P1 is in the lead with F1 very close behind; P1 has reached their July page goal: Way to go, P1!!! F1 should reach their page goal within a day or so; P2 and P3 are more than half way to their page goals; F2 has just passed the 50% mark, but all three rounds will still have work to do to meet their page goals. Next issue will be the 31st of July with less 24 hours left in the month--we'll know then if any page goals won't be met.
| Round | P1 | P2 | P3 | F1 | F2 |
| July goal | 3,410 | 3,410 | 3,100 | 3,410 | 3,100 |
| *July to date | 3,782 | 2,091 | 2,187 | 3,398 | 1,599 |
| July to date % | 110.91% | 61.32% | 70.55% | 99.65% | 51.58% |
*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 199 Gold Star books posted to PGC or PG-Int (with 7 in PPV). Fantastic work, all.
There are currently 156 Silver Star projects in post processing and 142 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 currently have 24 teams; more are always welcome. The newest team is "L'Arche"; the team description is: Anyone who is "Becoming Human" … sounds interesting,… I think….
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....
