We've done a lot of good work already, and it doesn't take a lot of people or time to get good content. This time, I'd like to see if we can do more with the content we produce, so The_ed17 is organizing a little taskforce on-wiki for the editors who can't make it to help with adding images to articles, categorizing, and so on: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:The_ed17/NARA%3E.

It'll be a few days before we really get a lot of images uploaded, though, especially since we are dealing with large files.

Dominic

On 6 January 2012 00:16, aude aude.wiki@gmail.com wrote:

On Jan 5, 2012, at 11:26 PM, Sarah Stierch sarah@sarahstierch.com wrote:

Unfortunatly I'm unable to attend the ExtravaSCANza (best name ever!) - but, is there a place where specific images are being uploaded so we can follow progress?

We will miss you!

Here is the category:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:NARA_ExtravaSCANza

I expect battleships on Saturday to be super cool!

Cheers, Katie

PS - if anyone needs a ride from Montgomery County or from the metro (PG Plaza), please let me know.

I'm extremely bummed I had to miss the women's theme day :(

Thanks Dominic for putting so much effort into this, your work throughout the past months as resident have been wonderful.

-Sarah

On 1/5/12 5:35 PM, aude wrote:

You are invited to the NARA ExtravaSCANza, on Saturday, January 7 at NARA 2 in College Park. We will be digitizing photos and records of battleships.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/NARA_4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/NARA_4

If you can't make January 7, we will also be at NARA 2 tomorrow evening, and hope to do more scanathons in the next months at NARA & elsewhere.

Items scanned can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, for use in Wikipedia and elsewhere.

Hope to see you there!

Cheers, Katie

-- Katie Filbert President, Wikimedia District of Columbia http://wikimediadc.orghttp://wikimediadc.org filbertk@gmail.comfilbertk@gmail.com @filbertkm / @wikimediadc

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-- Sarah Stierch Consulting -- Historical, cultural, new media & artistic research & advising. http://www.sarahstierch.comhttp://www.sarahstierch.com

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On 1/6/12 9:30 PM, Bruce R. Gilson wrote:

2012/1/6 Dominic McDevitt-Parks <mcdevitd@gmail.com mailto:mcdevitd@gmail.com>

We've done a lot of good work already, and it doesn't take a lot
of people or time to get good content. This time, I'd like to see
if we can do more with the content we produce, so The_ed17 is
organizing a little taskforce on-wiki for the editors who can't
make it to help with adding images to articles, categorizing, and
so on: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:The_ed17/NARA>.

It'll be a few days before we really get a lot of images uploaded,
though, especially since we are dealing with large files.

When I was there last time, I found I could not be of much use. There was nobody to explain how to use the machines that NARA provided, and it seems that only people who had their own scanners (which I didn't) could do much. I helped one person hold the items he scanned, but that was not much of a contribution. So for me, I think these trips are not very useful.

To be fair, the scanning was a small part of what we did previously. I think anyone who's come to the first three days this time (nine so far, and I expect more tomorrow than on the weekdays!) will testify that it's gone pretty smoothly. I think the way we've changed the format shows we've learned from some past experiences. That's why this time we've selected a particular topic beforehand, we're all staying in the same place, and I and others who have done it before have a good idea of what we're doing with the machines. We've also got slightly better scanners this time, and special NARA loaner laptops, so the equipment really does work. If we had a learning curve before, I we're better now because of it. I think our earlier events were important in their own ways, by exposing Wikimedians to the archives behind the scenes, to the Archivist of the United States, and to the work Wikipedia is doing with NARA. We scanned some, but there was too much going on for it to be a focus. That's the idea behind the ExtravaSCANza, though.

Of course, I'm also a little wary of measuring the "usefulness" of meetups. Primarily, it's a chance to sit around a table and chat with other Wikimedians and get to see handle really cool historical photos that have rarely been seen before. I think that's the main draw; I've enjoyed it, and all of you that have come, immensely so far.

Plus, the 25 gigabytes of files on my drive says we've at least been a little useful, too. :-)

Dominic

On Jan 7, 2012, at 10:07 AM, "Bruce R. Gilson" brg1942@gmail.com wrote:

2012/1/7 Dominic McDevitt-Parks mcdevitd@gmail.com [...] To be fair, the scanning was a small part of what we did previously. I think anyone who's come to the first three days this time (nine so far, and I expect more tomorrow than on the weekdays!) will testify that it's gone pretty smoothly. I think the way we've changed the format shows we've learned from some past experiences. That's why this time we've selected a particular topic beforehand, we're all staying in the same place, and I and others who have done it before have a good idea of what we're doing with the machines. We've also got slightly better scanners this time, and special NARA loaner laptops, so the equipment really does work. If we had a learning curve before, I we're better now because of it. I think our earlier events were important in their own ways, by exposing Wikimedians to the archives behind the scenes, to the Archivist of the United States, and to the work Wikipedia is doing with NARA. We scanned some, but there was too much going on for it to be a focus. That's the idea behind the ExtravaSCANza, though.

Actually, the part where I got to see the archives and hear the Archivist was quite interesting. I had meant to say that the part of the trip I made which involved the scanning seemed pretty useless to me. And this seemed to be all that the ExtravaSCANza was about. Assuming that, I didn't see much point to coming this time.

We are working to improve the process, including having extra laptops and scanners available. And can see what we can do to document and explain the process better.

For videos, believe it or not, it's super simple to copy them... no laptop required (except we have a Google Doc spreadsheet to keep track of where the last person stopped... I'm sure we could also keep track on paper). There are six DVD copy machines and it's harder for one person to manage them all at the same time. Yet it will be awesome to get the videos on Wikipedia! Where I left off on Wednesday, some of the next ones to copy look super interesting (e.g. Corona satellite program).

Anyway, we will miss you this time but hope you can join another time and find it worthwhile.

Cheers, Katie

--

Bruce R. Gilson brg1942@gmail.com

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