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Re: Because of a lack...
Patrick,
That is not nice, but may be true.
Gunner :V)
Patrick,
That is not nice, but may be true.
Gunner :V)
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Re: Because of a lack...
Earl: what is needed to move the objective data that NCRS has and will collect in the future into the 21 century is VOLUNTEERS with the know-how to devote their computer expertise to get it done. Us ole flatus generators, who VOLUNTEERED thruout the 70's, 80's and 90's to create the current ncrs judging system and the judging manuals, are content to utilize existing 20th century documents. I have no objection to the young computer bucks stepping up to the plate and improving our hobby. Actions always impressed me more than verbal duels.Go for it, dude. regards, mikeComment
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Re: Because of a lack...
Back to the original topic at hand - electronic copies of judging guides... I'd of thought even by 20th century tech - they'd have been done certainly sometime within the closing decade in electronic form even if not offered to folks like myself.
Presuming they are ostensibly typed by volunteers and presented to a Kinkos or whatever in non-electronic paper form for photo-copy and spiral binding... Well I can be reasonably fast at typing but... I just got a new scanner and tried a few OCR passes w/ it last month - it's getting better than previous generations of OCR which weren't all that bad themselves. So if I were to volunteer - I could probably work an electronic copy but don't hold me to it until I get around to actually doing a few scans w/ these fonts. I can't find my ancient adobe license so no PDFs but I've got good ol trusty Word. 'Course I also have a thoroughly out of date '70-'72 manual.
Are we in need of volunteers like me equipped w/ scanners and editing skills to convert to electronic?
If the original source images are available - electronic copies could include color instead of b&w for the few images provided - possibly in better resolution than print too. Handy items might include reasonably accurate color charts on electronic media (presuming your graphics adapter and monitor are accurately calibrated.
But if they already exist in electronic form - then what is there for a potential volunteer to do?
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At $30 a copy for these volunteer efforts - would the electronic copy likely be any cheaper? Are these a revenue source when sold at member rates or does cost strictly cover printing and administrative overhead?
I suspect the cost to have a batch of CDs burned to be less than paper. They also qualify for media mail rates like books and their shipping weight would be about insignificant on that scale. It may also be one of the those socially responsible things old car fans do for the tree-hungger crowd.Comment
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Re: Because of a lack...
If volunteers are really all that's needed, I would volunteer my time and equipment as well. If the current revisions are being created in word processing software of some kind, then conversion to some sort of non-editable electronic format (like PDF) should be (dare I say) trivial.
If whomever is typing them out is not using a computer, then the OCR scanning is another option. As Todd said, the software for this is getting better and better.
Who would I contact to talk about this? Seems only proper, since I started this whole thing (this time around, at least).
Jon #10673Comment
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Re: Because of a lack...
That's my whole point - all this talk about needing volunteers - do they actually need help getting it into electronic format??????? Volunteers for that each time there is a new edition???
In this day and age I find it hard to believe anybody is not generating the original body of work electronically in the first place. Given that, it is indeed trivial to convert to something like PDF given a copy of the adobe s/w. But if it is indeed manually generated on something like on a typewriter - then yes I can understand why there would be a plea for volunteers to convert to electronic which should really be trivial.
Let us hope this is not being typed as this call for conversion volunteers might suggest - But just in case - I'd be happier teaching the existing volunteers how to work w/ computers and word processors than volunteer my time to convert stuff to electronic format every time there is a new document version. A one(1) time conversion perhaps but never again.
I think everyone know's this one: "Give a man a fish, and he has food for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime."Comment
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