Re scanning Fractal Creations 2nd Edition: John Wilson did what in my opinion is a very successful experiment scanning the first few pages of Fractal Creations 2nd Edition (FC2). With a quick spot check of his results, I couldn't see any obvious typos. I expected much worse. John, could you tell us what OCR software you used? And thanks to John for his effort in this regard. John initially posted his results on his web site and I may have embarressed him because I was a bit panicked that I hadn't thought through my policy on allowing book drafts on the internet, and I asked him to take the web site down. He graciously did so and emailed the files to me so I could look at them. I've now thought about the policy for publically posting FC2 and this is the result. My concern is that I don't want poor quality or incomplete copies spread around without a clear statment of the legal status of the copies. I don't anticipate trying to make another commercial publication of FC2, and I certainly favor "publishing" a free copy in electronic form. I'll need to give some thought to the legal status of the eventual complete copy. I'll want to retain the copyright in some form. I would like any working copies of FC2 to be posted only with my permission, and with the following readme: <start README start:> 1. These files represent a work in progress of a volunteer effort to scan the book "Fractal Creations Second Edition" with the permission of the author and copyright holder Tim Wegner, who does not give up his rights by the posting of these files. 2. Because these files represent a work in progress, they necessarily have a short life and will be replaced with better/more complete versions, they should not be posted elsewhere without permission of Tim Wegner, twegnerATfractint.org. <end README> I hereby grant John Wilson permission to post the FC2 files he has already created and any others he cares to create. I'll extend the same permission to anyone else who wants to contribute work to this effort and post the results, but please ask me first so we can keep the effort reasonably centralized. I don't mind if the files are publically viewable on the internet as long as the README above is present. I've had offers of FTP access with login for a few team members, but I don't think this degree of security is needed. On the other hand, I don't think we should publicize this effort more broadly than this list until it's done. Followups to the FC2 OCR discussion and the related "Fractint CD" topic should be on the fractdev list, since the discussion will only be pertinent to those who actually want to contribute, and would be wasted bandwidth for others. So if you want to discuss or lurk, you should join that list. Tim
Tim Wegner wrote:
John Wilson did what in my opinion is a very successful experiment scanning the first few pages of Fractal Creations 2nd Edition (FC2). .....what OCR software you used?
I believe John stated on at least two emails to the FractInt List that he was using "ABBYY" as the OCR software.
I've had offers of FTP access with login for a few team members, but I don't think this degree of security is needed.
After your initial reaction to John's making those few pages available, my offers to have an FTP access with login was only to help assure you of some form of security. Now that this will not be necessary, maybe a few others will have some free time this summer to assist in the effort. Sincerely, P.N.L. ------------------------------------------------- http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/PNL_Fractals.html http://www.Nahee.com/Fractals/
Jonathan asked:
Is part of this effort going to include cleaning up the typographical errors? I know that is a long ways off, but it should be considered.
Of course we can fix whatever typographical errors are identified, though my guess is we'd create more than we fix. However it's not at all obvious that the project will get off the ground. It's a lot of work. Tim
What about selected chapters? -----Original Message----- From: fractdev-bounces+fractals=hiddendimension.com@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:fractdev-bounces+fractals=hiddendimension.com@mailman.xmission.c om]On Behalf Of Tim Wegner Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2004 12:32 PM To: Fractint developer's list Subject: Re: [Fractdev] Fractal Creations OCR Jonathan asked:
Is part of this effort going to include cleaning up the typographical errors? I know that is a long ways off, but it should be considered.
Of course we can fix whatever typographical errors are identified, though my guess is we'd create more than we fix. However it's not at all obvious that the project will get off the ground. It's a lot of work. Tim _______________________________________________ Fractdev mailing list Fractdev@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractdev
Tim Wegner wrote:
Of course we can fix whatever typographical errors are identified, though my guess is we'd create more than we fix.
I fixed a ton of those problems in my MS-Word and RTF versions of the FractInt v.20.2 Documentation. Plus, cleaned up a lot of the layout and grammatical errors as well: http://www.Nahee.com/FractInt/Master_Word_Doc.zip and http://www.Nahee.com/FractInt/FractInt.rtf I find this easier to do than the actual scanning and OCR portion. And I do not mind doing this portion of the project as well. I was basically trying to do this with John Wilson as he did the scanning and OCR work. I was also going to do any graphs, charts, and tables.
However it's not at all obvious that the project will get off the ground. It's a lot of work.
Well, after the public comments about what John Wilson had already accomplished (and not hearing anything from him since, either publicly or privately), one of the valued workers seems to now have been lost. It may be a lot of work, but I guess we need to make sure there are not more rules and complications before people volunteer to try and do something useful for such projects. I would hate to see more efforts wasted. Sincerely, P.N.L. ------------------------------------------------- http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/PNL_Fractals.html http://www.Nahee.com/Fractals/
Paul wrote:
I fixed a ton of those problems in my MS-Word and RTF versions of the FractInt v.20.2 Documentation. Plus, cleaned up a lot of the layout and grammatical errors as well: http://www.Nahee.com/FractInt/Master_Word_Doc.zip and http://www.Nahee.com/FractInt/FractInt.rtf
Unfortunately in order to help us, we need to know what those fixes are in the help*.src files. Otherwise we can't flow the fixes back into the original files. (BTW editing the docs directly does not require any programming skills, only a text editor, and a willingness to cope with some very simple hypertext commands.)
Well, after the public comments about what John Wilson had already accomplished (and not hearing anything from him since, either publicly or privately), one of the valued workers seems to now have been lost.
I have corresponded with John off line. He has unsubscribed from all the fractal lists he is on and is spending his time on other interests. He has not indicated any reason. It might have been because of embarrassment over having posted FC2 files without permission or not. We simply don't know.
It may be a lot of work, but I guess we need to make sure there are not more rules and complications before people volunteer to try and do something useful for such projects. I would hate to see more efforts wasted.
Over the years many dozens of people have contributed on a volunteer basis to fractint. The team has never been demanding of any volunteer and has been generous with acknowledgement. People have come and gone as their interests and circumstances have changed. I've learned not to worry about it. If John wants to contribute he can. If not, that's his decision. We shouldn't second guess John's motivations since we don't know what all is going on in his life. I hardly think there are an excess of "rules and complications". It is manditory to have a clear understanding about the posting of copyrighted works. My request of posting a small readme file with any book scans is probably naively simple by hardly an onerous requirement. John was unlucky in being the first to post files, thereby necessitating a decision on my part. Scanning FC2 is not a simple project and will be a big effort if it's done. I'm not sure myself if it's worth the effort. Since John isn't going to post his own files, maybe I should. Looking again, there definitly is some editing needed in chapter one. Tim
Tim,
Is part of this effort going to include cleaning up the typographical errors? I know that is a long ways off, but it should be considered.
Of course we can fix whatever typographical errors are identified, though my guess is we'd create more than we fix. However it's not at all obvious that the project will get off the ground. It's a lot of work.
Yes, I'm sure the scanning will introduce a whole new set of errors. I was referring, in an obtuse fashion, to the marked up copy I sent you. Jonathan
participants (4)
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Jonathan Osuch -
Paul N. Lee -
Ron Barnett -
Tim Wegner