July 18, 2008
From DPCanadaWiki
Issue #16--July 18, 2008
(Full listing of previous issues is available at DPC Newsletters)
Book Preview
By IonaV
The Federation of Canada, 1867-1917; this is a series of four lectures delivered at the University of Toronto in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of Canada. The lectures are by George M. Wrong, Sir John Willison, Z.A. Lash and R.A. Falconer. If Mr. Wrong's name seems familiar, it is--he was co-editor of the Chronicles of Canada series which DPC is working on.
These lectures are especially interesting in that they give a view of how people regarded Canada in 1917, how they felt it had done so far and how it would do in the future. Even 90 years ago, there was much discussion as to the ongoing differences between the French and English founding peoples and their ideas--nothing changes, does it?
These lectures are currently being proofed in P3; though, I expect, will shortly be in F1 since it is a short book (149 pages) and it has quickly gone through P1 and P2. I look forward to seeing it completely finished and posted to PGC.
Editorial
Server slowdowns and outages--Did you get "caught" when the server went down the other day? It was caused by a fire in the power lines that serve our server. Simple Simon's comments: http://pgdpcanada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=5617#5617 . But we are still have occasional slowdowns; Simon has more comments about it in his Simon Says... article.
What are you going to do over the summer?--Think about it; I'll ask again at the end of August. Comments can be as simple/short as: Sunbathed, Read X books, Typed my fingers to the bone while proofing, Travelled to..., etc. Nothing long or fancy. Thanks for the idea, Warmheart.
ÜberProjects--see the update on The Young Folks periodiocal under ÜberProjects #4. Sounds like it's going to be very interesting: all those classical authors....
Revisions to the Formatting Guidelines--Simple Simon is still working on them; see his comments in his Simon Says... article.
Comments regarding bad links to FAQs and Guidelines--coachmike is still at work on this; though some other things have slowed down the process, it will get done. We just have to be patient. Considering all the other things that have ended up on his plate in recent weeks...some things must wait.
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...
And now it's time for...some housekeeping. They say you should shovel out at least once every six months, so here I go:
1) As you all know, we've been having some problems with server response time, and then yesterday a massive "downtime" by our hosting company. We are pushing them rather hard right now, because we're not entirely happy with their service, and because they aren't the best communicators--they just don't let us know if there's a problem. The ultimate solution would to switch ISPs--but that's rather ugly, since every one of 'em has their own idiosyncracies, and we've just got used to this particular set.
2) Another solution we're considering is to go to what's called "co-location". Essentially the ISP just provides an environment for our server hardware to reside in (power, air-conditioning, power backup, emergency service, and bays for the computers to fit into) plus a massive great "pipeline" to the Internet. We provide everything else--computers, disk space, load balancers, software and support. This is where we're ultimately going--but we'd have to "build" a complete server environment--the ISP doesn't even handle email for us. So I don't think this is going to happen until after we "synch up" our site and production software with DP-INT.
3) Speaking of which--synch-up is going rather slowly (even though we want it desperately). There is simply no point in trying to use the same software (exactly) as DP-INT, unless we make sure that all the tools and features we need to be UTF-8, multi-lingual, and low maintenance are available at the same time. And we have to carry the ball on any development work needed to get to that point. Meanwhile DP-INT keeps on cranking in new features (good for them)--we cannot simply grab these features, much as we'd like them, we have to get to synch-up. Then all the things you know about, including WordCheck, come in the package. But, for example, when WordCheck was developed, it was not made compatible with UTF-8, so all the same problems we have with SpellCheck would carry over. We have to get UTF-8 integrated first, then modify WordCheck.
4) We also want to initiate a bunch of new features of our own, including a really spiffy graphic interface for the website navigation--this is actually being tested right now, so it'll be compatible with every combination of browser, operating system, and "skin" that can be used with DP software.
5) Then, in the background, coachmike and I are working on the design of what I call our "display site", which will include several sets of functionality:
(a) it will allow us to post all of our own books--in parallel to PGC, of course, we have no intention of cutting off our relationship there, we're joined at the hip;
(b) it will function as an additional "mirror" for every free e-book we can get our hands on that meets our standards--virtually everything from PG-INT, PG-AUS and PG-EUR, and many from other e-book archives around the world--incidentally, this is massive (and thus ties into item 6) below;
(c) it will become a repository for many features linking books and reading to history, archeology and other sciences, with ideas like history timelines, with huge numbers of illos, links to relevant books, cross-links to hundreds of relevant websites, book reviews, author bios....
This will be the subject of a separate article next issue, and a new Forum thread I'll be starting soon to encourage discussion and suggestions.
6) We will soon start a campaign to raise funds for DPC, and its expanded activities, on three fronts:
(a) just like other members of the DP-PG community, we will welcome donations by members and the public, with tax exemptions where feasible;
(b) we will be approaching major foundations and private donors to establish an "endowment" fund for DPC activities--only the income from investment of the donated funds would be available, so that eventually we would be self-sustaining financially--funds will be managed and invested by an independent financial fund manager;
(c) we will be seeking methods to generate income from some spin-off ideas we have--more on this when it's more advanced.
7) Starting at the end of the Summer, we will launch a recruiting program for new members--it has been suggested that we "tap into" the modern "social networking" phenomenon by creating DPC entries on FaceBook, Flickr, YouTube and several other Web 2.0 and "crowd-sourcing" organizations/sites. Anyone doing this now? What experience do you have, what do you recommend?
Now you know why I haven't yet finished updating all the Guidelines/FAQs...
Tell me your news--this isn't intended to be a monologue, but a multi-logue. As Doctor Frasier Crane would say, "I'm listening..."
Revisions to Guidelines, FAQs and the DPC site code
Revisions to the Formatting Guidelines. Simple Simon started a thread ( http://pgdpcanada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=479 ) for comments. He promises to get on with the revisions very, very soon.
He has also reiterated his promise that he will put together a combined Proofing/Foofing wiki page for those Formatters who like to have only one document open at a time but also want to be able to check on certain Proofing Guidelines
Of course, we'll keep working our way through all of the FAQs and Guidelines, one by one--does anyone have any suggestions for other areas/activities that should have Guidelines or FAQs prepared?
Guidelines translations--Simple Simon has found a translator for the French version of our Proofing Guidelines which, since we plan to be a bilingual site, is the most important. Translators for other languages are still needed, so…send a PM to Simple Simon if you would like to help. All that's necessary is the translation--we can put them into wiki page format.
As Simple Simon notes in his Simon Says… article, there are lots of things to get properly converted/coded before we upgrade and synchronize our site code with that of DP-INT or at least as close as we can since DPC is a UTF-8 site where DP-INT works in iso-8859-1. We must thank coachmike for all his hard work and try not to get too frustrated with the waiting....
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.
- Volume 3: The Founder of New France, A Chronicle of Champlain is in F2: Available. Volume 18: The Adventurers of England on Hudson Bay, A Chronicle of the Fur Trade in the North, is in the P3: Available. Volume 1: The Dawn of Canadian History is in P1: Waiting. Volume 27 is listed as a New Project. Volume 2 is in Post-Processing.
- 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. There is currently some discussion on Index formatting. Once that is decided upon, it will be added to the PP standards.
- 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.
- Three volumes have been posted to PGC: 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
We've been working on our test volume (Vol. 65: Lower Canada, Mississippi Valley, 1696-1702) for just over 5 months now; it's 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.
Simple Simon has downloaded Vol. 66: Illinois, Louisiana, Iroquois, Lower Canada, 1702-1712 and is in the process of prepping it. It will be 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 has been confirmed as 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 are 4 volumes currently undergoing proofing and/or formatting: one each in rounds P1 and F1 and two in F2. The 5th volume is now waiting in the wings....
In the starting block…--(that is, being prepped…)
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.
As promised, more details:
- Some prolific contributors--how many of these classical authors do you recognize?:
- Louisa M. Alcott, Horatio Alger Jr., Jane G. Austin, J.H.A. Bone, Charles Carleton Coffin, Mrs. Lydia Maria Francis Child, Abby Morton Diaz, Charles Dickens, Isaac Hayes, Henry W. Longfellow, Oliver Optic, Harriet Beecher Stowe.
- The editors were:
- Gail Hamilton, Lucy Larcom and J.T. Trowbridge--they also contributed to the periodical.
- Stories both short and serialized--the serialized stories which ran over 2 or more issues are going to be produced "whole".
- Stories, poetry, songs, games, illustrations, etc. all geared to young people aged 8-15 years.
- More information on contributors can be found at: http://www.merrycoz.org/MAGS4.HTM#folks
- There are over 100 issues altogether and each issue is 65-80 pages in length.
We plan on producing (processing) this series in three ways.
- As individual issues (January to December of each year)
- An Omnibus... which will combine all issues of each year into a single ebook.
- To produce ebooks of the serialized stories from the issues.
We will be looking for help in a variety of ways, PPers to help with the individual issues and the serialized stories. Hoping that the illustration team will chime in with any advice for the rebuses in the omnibuses.
De2164 has graciously CPed the first year, and Warmheart will PM the first year. Warmheart and Simple Simon will share the PPing of the first volume to set up PP standards. From that point we will see how well these take off, which we are confident they will.
Warmheart has started a wikipage for the Periodical where she also notes standard instructions for proofing, formatting and PPing: http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/Our_Young_Folks.
However (there's always a "however" isn't there?), this isn't the only periodical 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
We Grow Every Day
We are now up to 412 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 2008 | 4 |
| Q2 2008 | 63 |
| Q1 2008 | 106 |
| 2007 total | 237 |
| Total to date | 412 |
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 "10,000 pages" totals Team German has the most F2 pages (because of uwe-joachim) and Team USA has the most P3 pages (because of rolands). Another reason to join a team or two....
Completed 10,000 pages in a round:
- rolands in P3
- uwe-joachim in F2
- Team German in F2
- Team USA in P3
Completed 5,000 pages in a round:
- yajeulb in F1
- hugger1935 in F2
- Team Canada in P1, P2 and F1
Great work, people!!!
Proofing & Formatting Stats
Unless, one of the other rounds starts working harder, P1 will repeat last month's stats: they are sitting at just under 92% with the other rounds ranging from 68% to 79%. However, with just under two weeks to go, anything is still possible.
| Round | P1 | P2 | P3 | F1 | F2 |
| July goal | 3,100 | 3,100 | 2,325 | 3,100 | 2,325 |
| *July to date | 2,845 | 2,458 | 1,700 | 2,121 | 1,673 |
| July to date % | 91.77 % | 79.29 % | 73.12 % | 68.42 % | 71.96 % |
*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 64 Gold Star books posted to PGC (with 6 in PPV). Fantastic work, all.
There are currently 60 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 have 16 teams; but 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....
