Talk:Submissions/Open hardware and Open Source for Open Content: GLAM, the DIY Book Scanner community and Wikimedia digitalize public domain books. Case study from Argentina

From Wikimania 2014 • London, United Kingdom

First impressions

The idea of a DIY scanner made out of wood is very intriguing and could be a Steam Punk project. I do not see just the use of a scanner could be a good topic. This would be great to get the curators of GLAM to hold scan-o-thons and other events. Hopefully, the presenter will have step action table to help with outreach. Geraldshields11 18:30, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

Expresión de apoyo

Os escribo desde Valencia, España, sede del Archivo del Reino de Valencia. Se trata de un edificio de nueve plantas que contiene quince kilómetros de estanterías dedicadas a los archivos del Reino de Valencia y de algunos de sus organismos sucesores. Algunos wikipedistas de aquí estamos intentando que liberen fondos, lo que está siendo bastante complejo por diversos motivos. Pero en las conversaciones con el director de la institución nos comentó que uno de los problemas que tienen es que no pueden digitalizar muchos documentos porque tienen formatos extraños, generalmente tomos muy gruesos. Aunque no voy a asistir a vuestra ponencia porque me faltan conocimientos técnicos, no puedo por menos que animaros en vuestra tarea. ¡Si en lugar de estar en Argentina estuvierais aquí! ¡Cómo molaría aparecer en el Archivo al grito de tenemos el aparato, danos los fondos libres! Así que mucho ánimo desde aquí y un abrazo. B25es (talk) 19:58, 26 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hola B25es, de hecho no es tan difícil hacer algo como lo que estás pidiendo. En este momento estamos trabajando en hacer un modelo para libros más grandes (actualmente, el modelo que tenemos sólo sirve para libros más o menos comunes, siendo la medida máxima del libro alrededor de 30x36 cm), pero hay algunos desarrollos en curso, por ejemplo este. El problema que tiene es que un modelo más grande necesariamente implica cámaras más grandes, que por lo tanto son un poco más costosas que las que venimos usando nosotros en Argentina (son todas cámaras Powershot, compactas o de bolsillo). Pero en total, algo como eso no te saldría más de 4000-5000 USD, y si lo vas rotando entre las instituciones es una inversión muy barata a cambio de obtener fondos que pueden ser muy interesantes. Yo les puedo ayudar desde acá con los aspectos técnicos, pero es algo perfectamente realizable. Si te interesa escribime a scannopolis [at] gmail.com y continuamos la conversación por privado. Perdón por la demora en responder pero no me había dado cuenta de que habían dejado comentarios en la página de discusión. --Scann (talk) 02:26, 16 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
A ver si hablo con los muchachos de Wikimedia España. Porque a mí la tecnología me pilla muy lejana. Muchas gracias. Nos vemos en Londres. B25es (talk) 16:01, 16 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Dear Scann and B25es , Yes if a custom built scanner can handle unusual sized objects then that would be a great help. Perhaps, build the scanner so the scanning electronics can be easly removed and a module to plug into a different frame depending on the size of the object. Plug and play system are the best. Geraldshields11 (talk) 14:18, 17 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Geraldshields11 That's actually not the problem, I mean, once you get a really big camera then putting that camera inside a smaller frame is easy (see what this guy has done). The thing here is that building a bigger frame has a lot of design issues that aren't fully overcomed -we are working on it, but definitely is not something that would be solved by the next two or three months. About the plug and play systems, actually buying a bigger camera has the positive side that they are more useful for plug and play systems, because they already have a lot of software inside them that allows you things like remote capture. Right now, for the powershot cameras (those are the ones that we are using) there's a lot of work that needs to be done before even being able to start scanning, for example, you need to install CHDK (Canon Hackers Development Kit), a special firmware that has been developed by some canon enthusiasts in order to expand the functions of the camera; then, you need to build something for remote control, etc., etc. Right now, we are working to develop a system that uses Raspberry PI and that in the future will be able to work with different types of cameras in a "plug and play" system. That software is called Spreads and is mounted, of course, on the RPI. We are getting closer to that idea of a "plug and play" system, but there's still a lot of work that needs to be done. Anyway, I think this is not a "technical issue" (going back to what B25es was saying), I'm not a hacker, not a programmer, not a person with a lot of skills in working with wood, etc., but I have been able to do all of this stuff by myself, so is not actually that complicated. I think the only thing you need to have is not such a big technical knowledge (at the end, that's something you can acquire easily), but having a lot of enthusiasm and patience is something more useful to develop this kind of project. And of course having a clear sense of the scope and effect of this project helps tons. --Scann (talk) 23:05, 20 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for the response. Geraldshields11 (talk) 01:01, 21 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]