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Moderator
Curtis Jacobson
Portland Oregon
(4576 posts)

Registered:
10/12/2007 02:16AM

Main British Car:
71 MGBGT, Buick 215

authors avatar
Digitization of Old Articles (How It's Being Done)
Posted by: Moderator
Date: January 15, 2009 03:09PM

Did you know there are ~180 classic articles from our back issues that haven't been digitized yet?

It takes a surprising amount of time and effort to do the job right, and we've been busy growing the site in other ways.

But you can help build our archive! If you're interested in seeing old articles digitized, you can "sponsor" them. (That's a cool idea because it means the most interesting articles/topics will probably get digitized first.)

Here's how it works:
1) use PayPal to make a contribution to the BritishV8 operating budget.
2) while in PayPal, in the "notes" section, simply indicate what article you'd like to sponsor.

It's that simple. Okay... it's almost that simple. First you need to pick a specific not-yet-digitized article. Just visit the Article Index and choose from among the article titles that AREN'T already hyperlinks. (They'll be shown in black print instead of underlined blue or purple print. You'll have to scroll down to them.) Copy and paste that title into your note. Just one article per contribution... but we invite you to make as many contributions as you like!

Notice: most of the old "MG V-8 Newsletter" articles have small, grainy, black-and-white photocopied photos. If you can e-mail us bigger, better, color photos or illustrations it would be a huge help! Of course this particularly applies to old "How It Was Done" articles - we like LOTS of photos for those!

Unless you specifically ask to remain anonymous, you'll be credited two places.

All contributions are listed here: Contributor List

You'll also be credited in the article you sponsor. (example article-sponsor banner)

---

Moderator: the following posts have been split away from the "Support Digitization of Back-Issue Articles" thread to accommodate discussion that was off-topic. For clarity, I edited the "subject line" of this post to make it clear that this is a different topic.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/2009 11:19AM by Moderator.


mowog1
Rick Ingram
Central Illinois
(1523 posts)

Registered:
10/17/2007 09:36PM

Main British Car:
1974.5 MGB/GT 3.9l Rover

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Re: Support Digitization of Back-Issue Articles!
Posted by: mowog1
Date: January 15, 2009 05:39PM

re: Notice: most of the old "MG V-8 Newsletter" articles have small, grainy, black-and-white photocopied photos. If you can e-mail us bigger, better, color photos or illustrations it would be a huge help! Of course this particularly applies to old "How It Was Done" articles - we like LOTS of photos for those!


But....that's what was available to us....and is it right to "edit" original format when going digital?

I think that historically, the articles should be scanned as originally presented.

It might be one thing if the IDENTICAL, ORGINAL pictures and verbiage were used....but I have doubts if that would really happen.

FWIW - YOMV


Moderator
Curtis Jacobson
Portland Oregon
(4576 posts)

Registered:
10/12/2007 02:16AM

Main British Car:
71 MGBGT, Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: Support Digitization of Back-Issue Articles!
Posted by: Moderator
Date: January 15, 2009 06:32PM

This article is from the second edition of "The MG V-8 Newsletter": GM 215 Aluminum V8 Engine Identification - Please note that the original article didn't include any photo at all. IMHO, the photo adds a great deal of value for the reader. It shows concisely (a) where the engine ID numbers appear on the engine block, and (b) how to tell a Buick and an Olds block apart at one glance. The digitized version of the article clearly indicates that the photo was added in 2006.


mowog1
Rick Ingram
Central Illinois
(1523 posts)

Registered:
10/17/2007 09:36PM

Main British Car:
1974.5 MGB/GT 3.9l Rover

authors avatar
Re: Support Digitization of Back-Issue Articles!
Posted by: mowog1
Date: January 15, 2009 08:35PM

That's not my point.

Would you "remaster" the Declaration of Independence?

:)


Moderator
Curtis Jacobson
Portland Oregon
(4576 posts)

Registered:
10/12/2007 02:16AM

Main British Car:
71 MGBGT, Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: Support Digitization of Back-Issue Articles!
Posted by: Moderator
Date: January 15, 2009 09:52PM

We're talking about presenting information in a format that will be attractive, entertaining and useful for a new generation of readers. If you're concerned about preserving the back issues as if they were the Declaration of Independence, just hold onto your old paper copies. However, if you review the reprinted articles in the "Factory MGB GT V8 Information Archive", you'll notice that many of them have photos amended onto or into them (as indicated by parenthetical entries in the "photos" column, and by notes in the articles). Photos that weren't suitable for reprinting have been replaced with better photos. I haven't yet received one single complaint about that editorial decision.


BMC
Brian Mc Cullough
Forest Lake, Minnesota, USA
(383 posts)

Registered:
10/30/2007 02:27AM

Main British Car:
1980 MGB '95 3.4L 'L32' SFI V6, GM V6T5 & 3.42 Limi

authors avatar
Re: Support Digitization of Back-Issue Articles!
Posted by: BMC
Date: January 15, 2009 10:18PM

For a search feature to work with the site, you must place things in text format. It also takes less space in text than it does in .pdf or other picture formats. For a more searchable record, its best to place it in a modern format. Also, most browsers are capable of enlarging lettering with a simple command (apple) + or -. This feature sure helps on this board when i am reading what i write in the reply box which always seems about half the size I prefer. It also helps if the text comes in different sizes on various websites.

-BMC.


Moderator
Curtis Jacobson
Portland Oregon
(4576 posts)

Registered:
10/12/2007 02:16AM

Main British Car:
71 MGBGT, Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: Support Digitization of Back-Issue Articles!
Posted by: Moderator
Date: January 16, 2009 12:25AM

Brian's points are excellent.

With regards to "search", there are two kinds to consider: searches that originate here and also searches that originate elsewhere (such as from Google's website). Google and Yahoo refer a tremendous number of new readers to BritishV8. The GM 215 engine identification article I mentioned above brings over 800 Google referrals to BritishV8 each month. It's ranked number one in Google for the search term "Olds 215" and the term "Oldsmobile 215", plus number three for the search terms "Buick 215" and "aluminum v8" respectively. As we digitize more articles, we'll match more keyword combinations and we'll get more search engine referrals - but only if digitization is done in a "Google-friendly" way.

But it takes time and effort...


mowog1
Rick Ingram
Central Illinois
(1523 posts)

Registered:
10/17/2007 09:36PM

Main British Car:
1974.5 MGB/GT 3.9l Rover

authors avatar
Re: Support Digitization of Back-Issue Articles!
Posted by: mowog1
Date: January 16, 2009 08:37AM

Yes...I am concerned about maintaining the original content of the authors.

Before changing their articles, I feel that their permission should be granted.

If you digitalize the articles VER BATUM and use the original pictures as presented in the original articles, this would be a "no brainer".

You probably haven't received/won't receive too many complaints during this "netamorphosis"...because most folks don't really care.

:(


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: Support Digitization of Back-Issue Articles!
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: January 16, 2009 09:35AM

Well Rick, I don't really know what you're complaining about. As a contributing author, my perspective is that it really is the writing that is important, the photos are just there for the sake of illustration. If a color photo is available that is an improvement. Now if it was something I was showing that was unique to a particular car I would prefer that a shot of the same car be used, But I wouldn't object to editing of the article and photos. Unless I'm mistaken that privilege was granted when the article was first submitted. I say full speed ahead. Oh, and for my part at least, it is a burden to come up with the illustration photos. That was something I really appreciated from Kurt, he would often find suitable photos for the articles. So in many cases those photos aren't the author's work anyway.

Jim


mowog1
Rick Ingram
Central Illinois
(1523 posts)

Registered:
10/17/2007 09:36PM

Main British Car:
1974.5 MGB/GT 3.9l Rover

authors avatar
Re: Digitization of Old Articles (How It's Being Done)
Posted by: mowog1
Date: January 16, 2009 02:41PM

Jim...I am not complaining.....and if the original authors have no problem with this "upgrade", I certainly do not have a problem with it. There should also be a footnote on these articles that they have been "edited/augmented".

But...read the second sentence of my 1/16/09 8:37am post.

I don't believe that one can "assume" (and I hate that word) that editorial license has been granted simply through submission of an article to MGV8 or British V8.


Mr. T
Tony Andrews
Kent Island, Maryland
(153 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 03:59PM

Main British Car:
'75 mgb, '74 grille, morspeed bumpers Rover 3.9

authors avatar
Re: Digitization of Old Articles (How It's Being Done)
Posted by: Mr. T
Date: January 16, 2009 06:59PM

Curtis,

Use my dinero anyway you see fit - cause....YU da Man!


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: Digitization of Old Articles (How It's Being Done)
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: January 16, 2009 11:34PM

You are probably right Rick. But it is also probably true that reasonable efforts to maintain the integrity of the original article and reasonable efforts to obtain approval of the author would be adequate in any case.

Jim


mwillis3
Michael Willis
Peoria, AZ
(2 posts)

Registered:
07/25/2008 05:28PM

Main British Car:
1978 MGB w/ Chrome Conversion Future Ford 302

Re: Digitization of Old Articles (How It's Being Done)
Posted by: mwillis3
Date: April 21, 2009 02:06PM

Curtis,

What an excellent idea! I am with you, man. Just left PayPal helping to sponsor two of Dan Master's articles from 2002.

A thought: Didn't the original article contributors effectively give tacit approval to use the article as the Editor would see fit just by submitting it in the first place?

Michael


mowog1
Rick Ingram
Central Illinois
(1523 posts)

Registered:
10/17/2007 09:36PM

Main British Car:
1974.5 MGB/GT 3.9l Rover

authors avatar
Re: Digitization of Old Articles (How It's Being Done)
Posted by: mowog1
Date: April 21, 2009 09:26PM

What's wrong with scans of the originals?

An index could be made available for searches.

Additonally, new pictures could be published via an appendix, noted in the index.

Historic value remains intact that way.


Moderator
Curtis Jacobson
Portland Oregon
(4576 posts)

Registered:
10/12/2007 02:16AM

Main British Car:
71 MGBGT, Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: Digitization of Old Articles (How It's Being Done)
Posted by: Moderator
Date: April 23, 2009 11:53AM

Thank you Michael!

Here's the first of the two newly sponsored articles... Fuel Pump Installation, by Dan Masters

To reiterate... advantages of converting the article into website format (instead of scanning it and uploading an image) are many and varied. The article will soon be indexed by Google, so it will match up to countless keyword searches from the search boxes that appear in the upper righthand corner of every single page of this website, plus searches conducted from other Google sites. (These "referrals" will bring new visitors to the BritishV8 website.) Modern browsers also have a "find in page" feature that will let you go right to any keyword you care to search for in the body of the article. The converted article will print out better than a scan. Article text can be easily enlarged using the zoom features that are built into every modern web browser. Vision impaired users have browsers that can convert the text to speech, and new browsers are coming that will convert the text to foreign languages.


Moderator
Curtis Jacobson
Portland Oregon
(4576 posts)

Registered:
10/12/2007 02:16AM

Main British Car:
71 MGBGT, Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: Digitization of Old Articles (How It's Being Done)
Posted by: Moderator
Date: April 26, 2009 03:06PM

The second of the two newly-sponsored articles has now been uploaded: Intake Manifolds, by Dan Masters

Thanks again, Michael!


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