May 9, 2008
From DPCanadaWiki
Issue #11--May 9, 2008
(Full listing of previous issues is available at DPC Newsletters)
Newsletter Logo--Time to vote....
There were 2 entries for newsletter logo. You can view and vote on them here: http://pgdpcanada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=4672#4672
Editorial
Revisions to the Proofing Guidelines--The revised Guidelines are done. Please see the comments below.
New article: Book Preview--Simple Simon has provided a short article about a book that he is PMing and that is currently being proofed--basically, it's an advertizement to come have a look and proof some pages. Anyone else who would like to "preview" or "advertize" their projects is welcome to do the same.
My apologies for a short newsletter--I'm still unpacking boxes and "reminders" from my house move. :wink:
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.
Featured Book Review
By kraester:
Irish Ned, the Winnipeg Newsy is a novella by Reverend Samuel Fea (1872-1943), then Rector of St. Peter's in Winnipeg. Published in 1910, it relates the melancholy (some might say melodramatic) story of the short life of the title character. At the age of seven, Ned became the primary supporter of his grandmother and due to his intelligence, pluck, faith, and hard work, soon became the prince of the newsboys, but eventually that wasn't enough to keep his life from being cut short.
As far as I've been able to determine, this is the only work by Rev. Fea that has been published, and I stumbled upon it almost by accident when browsing TIA-Canadian Libraries looking for the next project I wanted to CP/PM at DPC. With its shades of "The Little Drummer Boy" and faith-filled content (as well as its obvious Canadian connections and short length), it seemed to be a great project that I could quickly get prepped and ready to run through DPC around the Christmas season. I'm quite glad that happenstance called it to my attention.
Here is the link to the HTML version of the book on PGC: http://www.gutenberg.ca/ebooks/fea-irish/fea-irish-00-h-dir/fea-irish-00-h.html
Book Preview for "Foster's Skat Manual"--now in P1
http://www.pgdpcanada.net/c/project.php?id=projectID47f3bb933dc3e&detail_level=3
by Simple Simon
Try proofing this strange little book--it has several features you won't find in most other projects:
- a number of little diagrams and mini-tables, used to detail the hands being discussed
- symbols for suits and cards need to be represented in text form
- slightly archaic language (from the 19th century US vocabulary) and grammar
- amusing attempts to explain a complex card game in words that anyone can understand (see below)
Games, and card games in particular, are one of my many hobbies. DP Canada has grown far beyond being a hobby, but I still try to engage in gaming when I can. In fact, I'm going to attend a games convention, "CanGames 2008", in Ottawa next weekend--72 hours of late nights, competition, and undoubtedly junk food.
So, I'm planning to research, harvest/scan, and launch projects about games, starting with card games, as a kind of unofficial "UberProject", over the course of the next year. The "Skat" book is just the first of these. Skat was one of a number of foreign games "adopted" by the United States between 1880 and 1920--Mah Jongg, pinochle, several kinds of whist and rummy, including a weird thing called "bridge whist"--and Skat. Edmund Hoyle and Richard Foster were the champions of this movement, writing books to popularize the games they imported.
Skat is, in my opinion, the world's best card game for exactly three players, including elements of chance, strategy and rules that combine in a charming way to produce results that don't automatically favour the best player, but offer rewards for skill and daring. It is still widely played in Germany, but not according to the rules in this book.
So jump in and proof, then read the book when it's complete--you might find a new fascination.
Revisions to Guidelines, FAQs and the DPC site code
The revised version of the Proofreading Guidelines has been "finalized"--at least, only minor typographical changes will be made until the next official revision. Simple Simon consolidated many excellent and useful suggestions into the draft that he and IonaV had created. The revised Proofing Guidelines are available on the Wiki at http://www.pgdpcanada.net/wiki/index.php/Proofreading_Guidelines. They are official as our first DPC Guidelines release and effective for at least 6 months. Please note: all Mentoring and Advanced Qualifications will be adjusted to them from May 14, 2008 onwards.
Next up will be the Beginning Proofreader's FAQ. We would ask experienced proofers and mentors to examine these, not only for accuracy, but also in the light of a "roadmap" for a completely new member of DPC.
After that will be the Formatting Guidelines. Could everyone think about ideas they'd like to see included, or changes to the existing DP-INT Guidelines that should be made to match our procedures, and send them to the Documentation Forum--Simple Simon has started a thread ( http://pgdpcanada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=479 ), please pass your comments and suggestions. And don't forget about those things that annoy you--those are very important, too. After all, they can't be revised if we don't know that they are annoying....
Of course, we'll keep working our way through all of the FAQs and Guidelines--does anyone have any suggestions for other areas/activities that should have Guidelines or FAQs prepared?
We've already lined up some of our members to translate the various Guidelines documents into other languages, which will also be available from the Wiki page.
And the final step will come when we upgrade to synchronize our site code with that of DP-INT. At that point, we'll be able to add more complete services in other languages, and effectively translate much of the site.
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 has been very busy prepping new volumes; there are 9 ready for uploading by PMs.
- Volume 3: The Founder of New France, A Chronicle of Champlain is in P1: Available. Volumes 18 and 27 are being prepped for proofing.
- There are two volumes (5 & 20) in the PP pool waiting for someone to pick them up. 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.
- Two volumes have been posted to PGC: 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 started our test volume (Vol. 65: Lower Canada, Mississippi Valley, 1696-1702); it's currently in P2. 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 also sees no reason that we should not go ahead with additional volumes--this first volume has bee reasonably well received and does not appear to move any slower than other "specialty" material.
There were some very interesting posts in the discussion forum mostly about how to proof the various non-standard characters. 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.
Potential ÜberProject #3: Governor General's Award Books
Warmheart has created an ÜberProject page for this potential 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....
Three Came to Ville Marie by Alan Sullivan and which won the GG Award for fiction in 1941 was posted to PGC on May 4, 2008. The HTML version is here: http://www.gutenberg.ca/ebooks/sullivan-three/sullivan-three-00-h-dir/sullivan-three-00-h.html
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.
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 379 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 | |
|---|---|
| May 2008 | 9 |
| April 2008 | 27 |
| Q1 2008 | 106 |
| 2007 total | 237 |
| Total to date | 379 |
Proofing & Formatting Stats
All rounds exceeded their April goals: P3 more than doubled their goal, F2 almost doubled theirs (can they do better in May?); while P2, F1 and P1 were not far behind.
We're just under one-third the way into May and already P3 has a wide lead over the other rounds. Well, they are creating lots of work for F1 and F2--come on, you formatters, get working....
| Round | P1 | P2 | P3 | F1 | F2 |
| May goal | 3,300 | 3,300 | 2,500 | 3,300 | 2,500 |
| *May to date | 1,325 | 1,361 | 1,936 | 1,177 | 717 |
| May % | 42.74 % | 43.90 % | 83.27 % | 37.97 % | 30.84 % |
| April goal | 3,000 | 3,000 | 2,250 | 3,000 | 2,250 |
| **April final | 4,415 | 5,045 | 5,454 | 4,941 | 4,437 |
| April final % | 147.17 % | 168.17 % | 242.40 % | 164.70 % | 197.20 % |
*Numbers accurate to "press" time.
**Numbers may be out a page or two.
For more statistics and related links go to: Statistics Central.
For May, we are implementing a slight increase in our page "targets". They will be: P1=3,300; P2=3,300; P3=2,500; F1=3,300; and F2=2,500.
Books In Process And/or Posted To PGC
At press time, we had 45 Gold Star books posted to PGC (with 5 in PPV). Fantastic work, all.
There are currently 56 Silver Star projects in post processing and 70 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....
