I've downloaded and played around with FamilySearch Indexer, and I must report that it's really impressive. Initially I was dismayed by the idea of collaborative transcription on a thick (desktop!) client, but my trial run showed me why it's necessary for their problem domain. Simply put, FSI is designed for forms, not freeform manuscripts like letters. The problem … [Read more...] about FamilySearch Indexer Review
Archives for May 2007
Progress Report: Zoom
Zoom is done! It took me about a week of intense development, which translates to perhaps 8-10 hours of full-time work. Most of that was spent trying to figure out why prototype.js's Ajax.Request wasn't executing RJS commands sent back to it. For the past year, I've been concentrating on automating the process of converting two directories of 180ish hastily-taken images into … [Read more...] about Progress Report: Zoom
FamilySearch Indexing
Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter enthuses over the news that FamilySearch.com, the website of the Utah Genealogy Society of which Dan Lawyer is PM is putting public archives online. This service is provided through FamilySearch Indexing, which is a sort of clearinghouse for records transcribed by human volunteers. FamilySearchIndexer is not quite true image-based … [Read more...] about FamilySearch Indexing
Name Update: Renanscribe?
Both my friends Prentiss Riddle and Coulter George have suggested that I resolve my software name quandry by looking for placenames in Julia Brumfield's diaries. I like this suggestion, since it retains the connection to the project's origin and has potential for uniqueness. The most frequently mentioned placenames in the diaries are "Renan", "Straightstone", "Mount Airy", … [Read more...] about Name Update: Renanscribe?
Feature: Zoom
Scanners and modern digital cameras can take photos at mind-bogglingly high resolutions. The 5 megapixel Canon SD400 I've used to capture the diary pages results in enormous files. Displaying them at screen resolution, the images are several times the size of the average monitor. This kind of resolution is fantastic for resolving illegible words — from my testing, it seems … [Read more...] about Feature: Zoom