NYB, Thanks for reminding me - this slipped my mind in amongst my other work. The brief outline I did is at https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Digitisation.
The problem is that digitisation - proper digitisation - is not something that can really be done without employing staff to do it. First there's the scanning, obviously - which is simple enough. IMO the Coolscan is the best for this (for under £5k anyway), but it's difficult to get hold of, and we don't really have the technical skills to maintain it. Tempting though - but we'd need to prove that it was worth the cost. WMDE did a full review into it and worked out that, with the number of slides that need scanning, it's best (ie most cost-effective) to hire something like a Hasselblad X5 for a day. The other problem - and it's a big problem - is, as POTW says, the post-processing and indexing. A good scanner will automatically post-process for you (to a degree). And you'll need your own offline database - Commons is not great for actually storing images because they tend to be deleted if you're not careful, and you can't control the categorisation (or indeed, much else - the community controls it) A few examples from the one we have in our office are at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Files_generated_with_WMUK_Ion_Film2SD_Pro. The slides are from a 1970s camera, so they're not amazing to begin with. But it gives you an idea. Richard Symonds Wikimedia UK 0207 065 0992 Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.* On 19 February 2014 00:34, Newyorkbrad <newyorkb...@gmail.com> wrote: > I'm surprised not to see any replies to this particular thread. It seems > to me to be a "no-brainer" (to use a nonce-word that I hate) that imaging > equipment for local wiki organizations in a position to make good use of it > to upload free content for the projects should be a high priority for > funding at whatever level. > > In the next funding cycle, maybe someone should propose a pilot program of > allocating $10,000 and making ten $1,000 micro-grants for this purpose, > with the application process to include discussion of what or whose free > content would be made available to the projects if the equipment were > provided. > > Newyorkbrad > > > On Sat, Feb 15, 2014 at 3:04 PM, David Gerard <dger...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > A message I just sent in a wikimediauk-l thread about photographic > > negative scanners, which I thought might be of general interest to > > Wikimedia organisations. > > > > tl;dr: an archival-quality negative scanner has potential to be a > > white elephant* (a donation that is actually a liability), but could > > be a useful thing that an organisation could use to make very good > > friends with GLAMs and individuals. > > > > > > - d. > > > > > > * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant > > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > > From: David Gerard <dger...@gmail.com> > > Date: 15 February 2014 20:00 > > Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] WMUK slide scanner > > To: UK Wikimedia mailing list <wikimediau...@lists.wikimedia.org> > > > > > > On 15 February 2014 19:52, geni <geni...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On 15 February 2014 15:23, David Gerard <dger...@gmail.com> wrote: > > >> On 15 February 2014 15:09, Andy Mabbett <a...@pigsonthewing.org.uk> > > wrote: > > > > >> > Change of plan: Thank you, but I've been offered the use of one of > > >> > these: > > >> > http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/scanner/scoolscan_4000/ > > >> > by a friend who lives locally. > > > > >> Oooooooooooooh you lucky bugger. That's the level of archival-quality > > >> piece of kit we could do with for WMUK. Though it would have to live > > >> in the office. > > > > > A nikon product at the WMUK office? Is that wise: > > > > > > https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canon_EOS_DSLR_family_(selection).jpg > > > > > > :-) > > > > Seriously, though: if you want archival quality, the way to go is a > > CoolScan. Not only would we be able to scan negatives ourselves > > (though it'd be tied to the office, rather than being a loanable > > item), we'd be able to make very good friends indeed with GLAMs that > > have random piles of unscanned negatives. > > > > It'd be nice if someone with a few hundred quid bought a CoolScan, > > scanned their collection, then donated the kit to WMUK when done with > > it. > > > > The way it usually goes is: someone buys a CoolScan on eBay, scans > > their negative collection, sells it to the next person. WMUK would be > > a suitable end point for such a chain. > > > > The main catch is for it to be *someone else's* problem to make sure a > > decade-old piece of kit is in usable condition not to be a white > > elephant - donating something that turns into a liability is helpy > > rather than helpful. CoolScan IV/4000 use FireWire, V/5000 on use USB > > ... software and supported OS is an interesting question as well ... > > III/3000 and earlier do archival-quality scanning, but often have > > weird hardware requirements. I think the I and II needed their own ISA > > card. This is the sort of white elephant *not* to inflict on a small > > charity. > > > > If I had ~£500 to spare I would happily be that person. I'm not though > :-) > > > > I'll borrow the Ion (a rather less fragile piece of kit, so > > borrowable), but if I had access to a CoolScan I'd happily do 'em > > again. > > > > > > - d. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
