Well, gosh... John Carmichael's lament about the NASS Sundial Registry suggests some clarification is needed for all of us.
I serve as Sundial Registrar for NASS, responsible for maintaining and growing the NASS Sundial Registry, a Microsoft Access database comprising some 3 GB of data including its Image Archive. In my tenure, I have striven to use the best high-resolution images available from dial submitters; I process all images in Photoshop and this processing works best when original camera files are submitted. But, the NASS Sundial Registry I maintain is *NOT* what is seen on-line at the NASS website and what I refer to as the On-Line "Sundial Register" because that is how its web link is named. What is seen on-line may be what many folks assume is the NASS Sundial Registry, but that is not correct. The Sundial Registry and the "Sundial Register" are two different, though related, entities. In fact, I submit the updates to the NASS Registry that I have processed to the NASS webmaster who determines what will be seen in the On-Line "Sundial Register." In truth, I have neither authority nor power over what the NASS webmaster chooses to use, or not use, in the updates to the NASS Sundial Registry I send to him. Generally, textual descriptions, technical data and image resolutions are reduced for what is seen on-line. The NASS Sundial Registry is not accessible by the public. One reason is that the Registry includes many private sundials whose owners have chosen to direct NASS to not show on-line; those private dials I simply do not include in the updates I send to the NASS webmaster but they remain in the Registry. I agree with John Carmichael that the detail seen in the On-Line Register is lamentable. I wish the NASS Sundial Registry were more available to the public. There is an effort within NASS to develop an on-line database tool that will allow such access, but that task is daunting and has not yet succeeded. Why is such access desirable? The full Sundial Registry includes for most dials more information than is seen on-line currently. Further, there are often more pictures and the pictures (for several years at least) are of much higher resolution and image quality than is seen on-line. I'm sure this is what John Carmichael meant to explain fully in his 8/19/2008 email. Larry McDavid Sundial Registrar North American Sundial Society --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
