There has been some discussion on this group over the last few days concerning the AOS project digitization of the Bulletins from 1932 to present and offering them on a DVD. The project has not been abandoned as some have indicated. The project is being done by me and Helga Gray. It is progressing although more slowly that we had hoped. This is due to the time it takes to work in an organization that meets one every six month, due to schedule demands of my work, other projects that Helga is working on and due to the fact that there is just a lot of work to do. I want to emphasize that the AOS is aware that there are products that they can produce which are of great interest to the orchid community. Indeed one of the reasons that I was asked to join the AOS Information Committee was to bring the expertise that Helga and I have in producing the Wildcatt database to other projects that the AOS can offer to the orchid community. The other reason was that I was tired of complaining that the AOS never did anything - it was time to do it.
What has been done? The Bulletins from 1970 through 1985 are scanned and in electronic form. We are in the process of scanning the Bulletins from 1955 through 1969. The user interface that manipulates the index searches and the display of the relevant pages from the Bulletin is complete. The reader program has gone though a beta review. We received final approval to complete the project based on the beta review. It is now a matter of scanning and integrating the images into the reader program. A comment was made about whipping this project off in a month or two, so let me briefly say what has to be done. First we are scanning each page at 300 dpi with resulting file sizes of 1.5 to 2.5 Meg per page. There are approximately 84,000 pages in the 70 + years of the publication. Each page is being compressed to 100-200kilobytes. Doing the arithmetic shows that we are now in the range of a few gigabytes for the entire set - a range manageable on DVD's. In this compression process, the yellow background is removed while monitoring the clarity of the color and black and white images. Each page is reviewed, since in the printing process the ink can be darker or lighter thus affecting the image quality for a given compression. An electronic index of the subjects, authors and pictures is then generated. This is a searchable index allowing a user to find topics and the articles. We have written a graphical interface that integrates the search index with the display of the image making up the article of interest. When will it be done? I'm very hesitant to predict when a software project will be complete, especially when it is being done in available free time. This is the large part of the reason that we have not announced this project earlier. I hate hearing about promised software only to see the vapors of the promise. The plan is to complete the 1955 through 1969 issues and then do the 1986-2000. This way we can have an initial volume released (late this year?), while we locate and scan the rarer 1932-1954 volumes. I also want to make a financial point clear, the cost to the AOS is the scanning of the 84,000 pages. We are donating the license for the display program, the electronic index of all of the Bulletins and the time to prepare the images into a usable format. We have contracted with a company to do the scanning; a special reduced cost was arranged by allow the scanning to be done in slower times. I should point out that in no way has the project been delayed by this scan rate. The Trustees agreed to return a part of the monies generated from offering this product to Information Committee projects. Harvey makes the AOS sound like it is making a profit from this and that somehow that 'profit' is dirty. I can assure everyone that if we felt this way about the attitude of the AOS, we would not be donating the effort put into this project. I will remind everyone that generating products such as a Bulletin on a CD and other offerings requires resources. If this 'profit' can bootstrap more projects, that's great. I invite everyone on this list to find something that they can do to help or to just do the thing that you always thought needed to be done by someone. Don't say that the AOS won't respond. I have found that they will if you make the effort. To this point I can say that all those who have complained that the AOS isn't interested in listening to and in inviting comment, you have your opportunity. Contact me, I am trustee; you know, one of those who never listen. Joe Gray Wildcatt Database Co. _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
