October 9, 2009

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The Beaver Bulletin / Le Bulletin du castor


DP Canada: Recycling Dead Trees into Living Text
DP Canada: Nous recyclons les arbres morts pour en faire des textes vivants


Volume 2, Issue #48--October 9, 2009
(Full listing of previous issues is available at DPC Newsletters)


Contents

Simon Says...

New ÜberProject

This week launched the first of a series of projects by or about John Graves Simcoe, (in my opinion) one of the true founders of Canada, leader of Upper Canada in both the political and military sense.

John Graves Simcoe (February 25, 1752 – October 26, 1806) was the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (modern-day southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior) from 1791-1796. He founded York (now Toronto) and was instrumental in introducing institutions such as the courts, trial by jury, English common law, freehold land tenure, and for abolishing slavery in Upper Canada long before it was abolished in the British Empire as a whole (it had disappeared from Upper Canada by 1810, but was not abolished throughout the Empire until 1834). Boigraphical information courtesy Wikipedia--see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Graves_Simcoe for more complete info.


Editorial

Display Site web page--Simon has been working on the "specs" for our display site. He has some great ideas--but will be asking us for input, too. He promises a major article soon in order to lay out his ideas about everything that he'd like to see posted to it.

* * * * *

After last issue's appeal from Simon about the need to do more P1 and P2 work, P1 proofers certainly took it to heart. They are already more than three-quarters of the way to their October page goal and, therefore, are pushing projects through to P2. Thanks, P1.

* * * * *

PLEASE NOTE: The "new" FAQs and non-English Guidelines, including the Proofreading Guidelines and Formatting Guidelines, that you can access through the new FAQ Central page contain DP-Int content. These are in the process of being revised for DPC.

* * * * *

Proofreading and Formatting Guidelines--Simon and IonaV are working on Version 2 for each of the Guidelines. They will be much closer to what DP-Int's currently are; though we'll still have our basic "match the scan" policy when it comes to things like ellipses.

* * * * *

Server and site issues--We've had our new server for about 3 months now and, naturally, some problems did crop up though several of our old problems did disappear. We've had a forum for posting problems and concerns: Code Update Aug 2009 - reports of possible issues thread. Simon promises to review of all reported problems and concerns; then he'll report back as to what has been or will be done about them.

Naturally, if further problems do crop up, you can still add them to the forum thread or send a PM to Simon.

Unfortunately, due to "real life" matters, there is a further delay in getting the new site code up and running. No firm date as yet. We'll keep you advised as we learn more.

* * * * *

Checklists--Several months ago, Simon was producing basic checklists for PPers--though he has taken a break while other matters occupied his time. 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. He also advises that there could be some slight changes to what he has done in order to integrate his lists with our new FAQ wiki pages.

Of course, eventually, checklists for CPing and PMing will eventually be done.

* * * * *

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.


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.

* * * * *

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.

* * * * *

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 7 is in P1: Available Volumes 10 and 31 are in P2: Available, Volumes 15 and 32 are in F1: Available; Volumes 6, 9, 11, 14 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 with a couple more 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, 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, 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, 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 P2: 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: Waiting. 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 currently undergoing proofing or formatting. Ten issues have been posted. The second year has started now with one in the proofing rounds and five 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.

Three issues are in PP, five issues are undergoing proofing or formatting. Warmheart also has one in P1: Waiting, and two of the first year are in prep. 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:

  1. published before 1860 to avoid the need for copyright checking
  2. good quality scans of a reasonable number of issues (preferably in whole volumes=a year)
  3. 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.


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 P1 Waiting: 7.

Simon has more prepped or waiting to be prepped.


We Grow Every Day

We are now up to 738 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
October 2009 6
September 2009 15
August 2009 4
July 2009 16
2009 Q2 55
2009 Q1 168
2008 total 235
2007 total 239
Total to date 738


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 40,000 pages in a round:

  • uwe-joachim in F2

Completed 35,000 pages in a round:

  • no one at present...

Completed 30,000 pages in a round:

  • rolands in P3

Completed 25,000 pages in a round:

  • Team USA in P3
  • Foofers' Corner in F2

Completed 20,000 pages in a round:

  • Team Canada in P1

Completed 15,000 pages in a round:

  • Team Canada in P2
  • LOTE Flotes my Bote in F2
  • Foofers' Corner in F1

Completed 10,000 pages in a round:

  • Bibi in P3
  • De2164 in F1
  • Team Canada in F1 NEW!!!
  • Team German in F2
  • Team USA in F2 NEW!!!

Completed 5,000 pages in a round:

  • Adair in F1
  • Daniel G in P1
  • gmiller in P2 NEW!!!
  • rcool in P1 and P2
  • snowseraph in P1 and P2
  • stygiania in P3 and F2
  • supo88 in P2
  • Warmheart in P2 and F1
  • yajeulb in F1
  • hugger1935 in F1 and F2
  • Team USA in P2
  • Team Canada in P3
  • Team German in P3
  • Infomaniacs in P2 and P3 NEW!!!
  • Foofers' Corner in P2
  • P3 Pros in P3 and F2
  • P2 Expediters in P3 and F2
  • DPing with Cats in P1, P2 and F1 NEW!!!

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 September:

  • P1 completed over 111,000 pages
  • P2 completed over 99,000 pages
  • P3 completed over 88,000 pages
  • F1 completed over 89,000 pages
  • F2 completed over 72,000 pages


Great work, people!!!


Proofing & Formatting Stats

Despite concerns to the contrary, ALL rounds managed to reach their September targets--several by very large amounts. Great work, proofers and foofers!!!

9 days or ~30% of October has gone by ... so, now,... who is where?...

Well, P1 proofers have certainly taken Simple Simon's request in the last issue to heart--they have already done more than 80% of their October pages. Way to go P1!!!

Round P1 P2 P3 F1 F2
October goal3,4103,4103,1003,4103,100
*October to date2,7671,175872736738
October to date %81.14%34.46%28.13%21.58%23.81%
September goal3,3003,3003,0003,3003,000
September final5,7514,8253,3913,3594,454
September final %174.27%146.21%113.03%101.79%148.47%

*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 230 Gold Star books posted to PGC or PG-Int (with 2 in PPV). Fantastic work, all.

There are currently 178 Silver Star projects in post processing and 161 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.


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....
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