009 News... E-version tests

[Hobby]

I notice in that latest News that Alan Rolfe is looking at an E-version of the News. As one of the ones who wanted one rather than the paper version can i volunteer to act as one of the Guinea Pigs to test it out on? If someone could let Alan know to contact me by PM!

(PS Please note I don't want this thread to start up the old debate yet again, I'm just using it to volunteer my services!!)

[tebee]

I'd like to volunteer as well, as my News is currently going to my other address, rather that the one I am at !

Tom

[tedp]

Since the 009 News arrives here slightly later, I haven't yet read it. But I would gladly take part in testing.

[invercloy]

I've no idea what plans Alan has for testing, but I will let him know of your kind offers, thank you.

[alan]

Thank you all for your offers to help to test an electronic delivery. I'm a little way off yet being able to get this to a stage when I'm ready to do any "real world" testing but I will keep you in mind when I come to do some testing outside of the Committee.

Thanks.

[Graeme Dunbar]

I'm interested too. I am about to embark on digitizing (or rather digitizing again) the newsletter of the now defunct Forth Interest Group UK (programming language, not the river, bridge etc!) as I am left holding the archive.

An electronic version of the 009 News is interesting and it is definitely not a project to be rushed as there is a lot that can be done. Free text searches and content tagging is one. There are also plenty of opportunities given the high image content: re-sizable images and tagging to make them searchable.

I am less impressed with some electronic documents that set great store in making what appears on the screen look like pages turning yet have none of the benefits of electronic documentation.

[alan]

Graeme

We're just thinking of PDF copies. We don't have the resources to do anything more fancy.

[Hobby]

That's all I want!  ;)

[Scott Rixon]

Agreed...

[petersmith1942]

I get PDF versions of Mags/Newsletters from some of my memberships. I tend to read them from end to end on receipt and thats it. Ialso get complimentary electronic versions of a couple of mags but have never so far read any in that format
009 News is a mag I really enjoy picking up and putting down with a cup of tea or coffee. I would go PDF if it helped the Society save costs and try to change my reading pattern to suit. For preference I would stick with the paper version
I understand the limitations of our Society of volunteers and do not expect more but in all the electronic versions I would like some "added value" in terms of more or higher resolution photos, drawings etc to hopefully make me more determined in my reading of "e" versions
I have a laptop that is in reality a desktop and an ipad but rarely use the ipad as an ebook for a number of practical considerations, such as reflections on the screen, horizontal/vertical switching when I dont want it etc
Just one members views
Peter Smith

[Hobby]

Peter, please refer to my OP, I don't want this to become a discussion on the pros and cons, I admit I didn't help matters with that last post but I felt it just needed clarifying to Alan that's all I wanted, we have discussed it elsewhere at great length, can we please use this thread purely for those wishing to take part in any test if the Society feel they want to do one... If anyone wants to discuss it can they start a new thread...

I'll shut up as well!

Ta, Blair

[Frank]

I'd like to volunteer for trying the electronic version.

Frank

[petersmith1942]

Blair
understood, sorry
Peter

[Alan Feldon]

put me down as a volunteer when available.

[Graeme Dunbar]

Graeme

We're just thinking of PDF copies. We don't have the resources to do anything more fancy.

I would hope there is an implied "at present" in that statement. Software is becoming more sophisticated and I doubt that it will be that far distant before Acrobat or its successor will incorporate many features automatically that presently require careful preparation of the source material. I think the most important thing is to make sure that the "digital masters" are archived for future conversion.

Images need particular care. Another group has an electronic archive and the images in older issues are compressed to the extent that they are very "jaggy". The trouble is that members' Internet access varies widely so it is a matter of compromise as to what is acceptable. Unfortunately that changes quite rapidly over time with improvements to Internet access.

I have played about with scanning (not relevant for new issues of the 009 News) and scanned a page of a recent issue with my Cannon scanner and saved it as a PDF. The PDF document is clearly an image (when magnified the letters in words are clearly scanned images and not "fonts" but I can do a free word search on the content so presumably behind the image there is an OCR'd document lurking inside the file. I'll have to see what happens if I scan the page squint. I imagine that in a few versions time the scanner software will recognize or generate its own font or fonts from the image and recreate something approaching the original document. Even sooner I expect I will be able to "hover" over an image on the document and it will enlarge automatically.