Re: Catalog Scanning Project

["Robert Pries " <101p@rewrite.aisboard.org>]

I would be happy to see Johnbs project proceed if it can also aid my project the Encyclopedia and not restrict it.

It is hard to give a picture of what the Encyclopedia can do until it has done at least a sample. I was hoping to have enough put up to demonstrate at the upcoming board meeting but presently there are only over 300 articles and catalogs in the literature list. I expect there to ultimately be more than 20 times that. But let me try to describe the potential possibilities. 

Let us start with the historic list. (http://wiki.irises.org/bin/view/Hist/ArticlesOnHistoricIris) I have not been creating lots of links to this area because it is really not ready for prime time but here is the plan which may improve as I see how it works. Every year for the last two hundred years will have a page the lists all the Iris literature for that year including catalogs. Each year may have 10-20 journals listed with all the bclippingsb of Iris articles, books, catalogs, etc. for that year. If you are doing research on iris you could do a search of the historic web and get all references to that iris through history. The reference would not only be listed but displayed along with a transcript. As one moved forward in time into copyright, references may be listed but only a summary provided. I would hope that this archive would be of enormous to any researcher but also interesting to the average gardener. Of course all mentions of cultivars, hybridizers, nurserie!
 s, etc. would be cross-referenced (linked) to their pages. 

Finding material is not always easy. I have been working on catalogs for some time but have been limited by what was available to me. Two years ago I put up a fragment of a Tom Craig catalog and that has been one of the top visited pages for many months. This spring the Biodiversity Heritage Library saw accessions from the US Dept. of Agriculture Library of old catalogs. So far only about 6 companies, but one of these was Cooleybs up to 1975, which seems to be copyright expiration for that type of literature.  

Since its onset I have been incorporating off-copyright literature into the wiki, but until I started working in earnest on the Historic section I did not seek permission from current publishers. I secured permission from Schrienerbs and Cooleybs to incorporate ALL of their catalogs and have been looking for sources of these and other catalogs. I had been negotiating with Anne for the Lowe collection. So it came as a bit of a surprise when John announced his plan.

Johnbs plan would speed my work enormously if he would be willing to share with the Encyclopedia. To have all of these scanned and OCRd would save me lots of time. Even with the Pdfs and OCR available to me the ultimate presentation on the Encyclopedia would be a longer process since it takes a great deal of time to correct the OCR and insert all appropriate links. That is what will make it useable and valuable because it can be searched and related to other topics. So even if I had the results that John is paying for there would still be another time as much work to incorporate it properly. But I would be grateful to have that workload reduced. 


----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan Grigg" <101d@rewrite.aisboard.org>
To: aisdiscuss@aisboard.org
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 12:21:16 AM
Subject: Re: [AISdiscuss] Catalog Scanning Project

I also think that it will be of great benefit to have the catalogs on 
the IE. Bob has begun scanning the Cooley catalogs with permission from 
the heirs, and can use the features of the IE to provide searches and 
links to other material in the IE. I don't think it's too repetitive to 
have the scanned catalogs *both* places, on the AIS website and on the 
IE. I agree that this will help the AIS Foundation's requirement for 
now, so I'm in favor of that; but let's also begin to plan ahead for 
projects that will keep AIS growing and vibrant. We need some forward 
thinking, imagination and dedication to find new ways to move AIS back 
to prominence. Bob is doing this free of charge to AIS, and I'm sure 
that John and Bob can find a way to work together on this important 
project. What a great treasure to have for irisarians in the future!
Susan Grigg

On 9/29/2014 9:32 PM, Michelle Snyder wrote:
> I think John's proposal is the right way to go.  Not only does it go 
> towards fulfilling the AIS Foundation's requirement but having a 
> professional service scan the catalogs will provide us with very good 
> product and one that can be completed in a timely manner, just as the 
> scanning of the bulletins did.
>
> Michelle
>
> Michelle
>
> On 9/26/2014 7:40 AM, John Jones wrote:
>> I am sorry, Bob, That is not what Anne indicated to me. A simple 
>> phone call to me could have gone a long way to deal with this issue. 
>> I certainly am not going to put Anne in the middle of some conflict. 
>> I was merely reacting to an opportunity to provide another great 
>> online database for the AIS Library.
>>
>> All that aside, the real issue here is how to get the catalogs 
>> scanned, OCRd and in PDF format in a timely, professional product, 
>> and  efficient manner. No one doubts your dedication to the wiki, and 
>> the multitudinous other projects you have taken on, nor your 
>> willingness to take on and provide a good product.
>>
>> By your own admission, aside from the first phase of scanning and 
>> OCRing the catalogs, there is the complicated process of getting the 
>> pages integrated into the wiki with cross references etc. You had 
>> asked for only a couple of catalogs to be sent to you because of the 
>> amount of time it would take you to scan them. I can only guess that 
>> it would take you a long time (years perhaps) to scan 10 boxes of 
>> catalogs while still having to keep up with your commitments to all 
>> the other projects you have taken on such as the 100th Anniversary 
>> edition, the TWOI and the rest. Yes I know you have an army of 
>> docents to do things but not everything can be farmed out.
>>
>> As Registrar, and for those doing research on iris heritage,  I can 
>> see great advantage in having the catalogs available in a more 
>> expeditious timeframe. Nor would you have to wait to the end of the 
>> project to have access. There would progress deliveries at which 
>> point the catalog PDFs could be provided to you.
>>
>> I don't know what scanning software you have, but I do know from my 
>> own (not unsubstantial) experience that the quality of the OCR is 
>> highly dependent on the capabilities of the scanner and the quality 
>> of the OCR software. Additionally the process of superimposing the 
>> page images over the searchable text so readers can easily associate 
>> text with pictures is an additional complicating, but significant 
>> feature. The professional service software has this capability built 
>> in, witness the job they did on the AIS bulletins.
>>
>> Ron said "Free is hard to beat." That often is true but in this case 
>> free probably has a much longer time frame associated with it. What I 
>> have proposed to the AIS Foundation is a project that benefits both 
>> the Foundation and AIS. I am not one for wasting money even if it is 
>> not mine. The Foundation is trying to recover their full 501 (c) (3) 
>> qualification. To do so they need to grant a significant amount of 
>> money each year. This project will benefit the AIS Library, one of 
>> the major tenets of the AIS Foundation Charter, and the Foundation.
>>
>> I never said or implied that I was against the final product being on 
>> the wiki. I am not against catalogs being on the wiki and other 
>> places, particularly older catalogs. What I said was it was up to the 
>> board. The wiki is an AIS sponsored product just like the website, 
>> and the content of any AIS sponsored product is up to the AIS Board. 
>> I may be wrong but I don't think I have ever heard a proposal to the 
>> board to put catalogs on the wiki. Certainly we have advertising in 
>> the Bulletin, but that is open to everyone.
>>
>> This is just a project that can benefit every aspect of AIS, its 
>> members, irisarians, and the general public. I see an opportunity to 
>> get an additional product in a timely manner if the Foundation is 
>> willing to fund the project.
>>
>>
>>
>> John
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Robert Pries" <101p@rewrite.aisboard.org>
>> To: aisdiscuss@aisboard.org
>> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 4:56:17 AM
>> Subject: Re: [AISdiscuss] Catalog Scanning Project
>>
>> I am confused, I have talked to Anne several times since Mike's death 
>> and she had said she was sending me the catalogs to put onto the 
>> Encyclopedia. I had already contacted Schreiner's and The Cooley 
>> heirs and obtained permission to do this. My intent was to scan them 
>> myself nondestructively and then to send them on to the library.
>> I already have the off copyright Cooley's catalogs up on the wiki in 
>> pages linked to their source and planned to put them onto the 
>> Encyclopedia proper. This would allow them to be searchable also.
>>
>> copyright
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "John Jones" <100h@rewrite.aisboard.org>
>> To: aisdiscuss@aisboard.org
>> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 12:14:49 AM
>> Subject: [AISdiscuss] Catalog Scanning Project
>>
>> Over the years Mike and Anne Lowe collected a large repository of old 
>> iris catalogs. The collection includes all the Schreiner and Cooley 
>> catalogs, Muhlestein, Plough, Whiting and many others.
>>
>> Anne has agreed to donate the collection in Mike's honor (about 10 
>> banker's boxes) to a project for AIS to
>> non-destructively scan, OCR and convert to a searchable PDF all the 
>> catalogs much as I did for the collection of AIS Bulletins.
>>
>> To that end I have made a Grant Request to the AIS Foundation to fund 
>> the project.
>>
>> Once the project is completed the AIS Board can decide whether the 
>> files should be made part of the AIS Electronic Membership, or made 
>> available to the General public or...
>>
>> I will keep you all informed when I hear from the foundation.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> John
>> AIS Registrar/Recorder
>> Chair AIS Electronic Services
>>
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>
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-- 
Bob Pries
Zone 7a
Roxboro, NC
(336)597-8805

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