Dia dhaoibh, a chairde! > It seems that Apple2list works again. I forward a message I tried to > send a couple months ago (and couldn't because it was rejected by the > server with an strange message about an exceeded quota). Ah, so that's what happened! A few months ago, I joined the list and sent out a message, but nothing happened, and then I didn't have time to follow it up. So if I could, I'd like to present it again in condense form.
I am a linguist working for a langauge revitalization project run by the Penobscot Nation, a Native group indigenous to the Penobscot River watershed in central Maine. In the 1980s a 495-page dictionary manuscript of the Penobscot language was typed up on an Apple II (IIe, by all guesses) using the Gutenberg word processing application. Unfortunately, all of the disks (about 30) went missing for 20 years, during which Penobscot language workers were stuck photocopying out printouts, since OCR would have created a big mess: two of the distinctive characters in the Penobscot font set were distinguished by just *one* dot on the old dot-matrix printout. Happily, these disks have now turned up, and, extra luckily, they even have a copy of the Gutenberg application with them. We are of course now beginning the process of shifting all of this information over into a more modern format (primarily hoping to end up on OSX). Once we recover the basic text file (complete with weird 1980s formatting tags!), we'll be shifting the format-centric dictionary layout data into a more powerful XML-tagged form. The Penobscot Nation is working hard to revitalize their language---at present, only two living native speakers are left---and this dictionary is central to this work. Since time is of essence, in this project we're looking to avoid making time-consuming mistakes that others may have discovered, and also minimize our wheel-reinventing, so that we can get from the text-recovery stage to the hand-dandy flexible XML stage as soon as possible. As such, I am wondering if any of you out there have had any experience in the realm of text recovery/transfer from the Apple II era up to more recent systems, or otherwise have suggestions (or warnings!) about how to carry out this kind of work. Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated! Sla/n, bhur gcara -- Apple2list is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... / Buy books, CDs, videos, and more from Amazon.com \ / <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/lowendmac> \ Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Apple2list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/apple2.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/apple2list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
