Books, Noisebridge and Fungi

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kallampero
Posts: 19
Joined: 19 May 2012, 22:35
Number of books owned: 500
Country: USA

Books, Noisebridge and Fungi

Post by kallampero »

Hello DIYBS,

I am devoutly interested in the taxonomy of macrofungi, specifically that of the neotropics. Starting in early 2008, this interest culminated into annual excursions to an assortment of Andean and Amazonian territories from across Ecuador and Bolivia, areas of the world where mycology (the study of fungi) is even more endangered than the habitats themselves. There are no teachers, no students, no curricula, no education, no understanding. I'm of the mind that the inability to access contemporary literature is, at least in part, at the heart of this problem; a problem suffered by even the most well established in the mycology world. My goal is to begin the long process of bringing everything from the most central to the most esoteric of our texts into the 21st century, bowing mycology's fully fruit-laden branches low enough for anyone with the inclination to finally be able to reach.

Step one is to build a book scanner. That will be done with an as of yet undetermined degree of cooperation/support from both the Mycological Society of San Francisco and Noisebridge (hackerspace in The Mission). Those of you who live in/near this neck of the woods are more than welcome to join forces and contribute whatever/however you please, especially because I currently have next to no idea what I'm doing. This idea is very, very far from fully fleshed out. Baby steps.

Here's to a bright book scanning future.

-Danny
If you see something, scan something. The public domain begins at home.
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daniel_reetz
Posts: 2812
Joined: 03 Jun 2009, 13:56
E-book readers owned: Used to have a PRS-500
Number of books owned: 600
Country: United States
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Re: Books, Noisebridge and Fungi

Post by daniel_reetz »

OK. I've met a couple great folks at Noisebridge and recommend contacting Miloh there. He has been my #1 contact there and I am excited to get a DIY Book Scanner installed there. Ace Monster Toys actually has one already and they are showing it at Maker Faire right now.

Basically, the easiest way to do this is either to borrow the one from AMT or to have someone with a TechShop membership cut one on their Shopbot. I designed it specifically for this purpose. It's not going to be that bad to get the basics out of the way, that way.

Noisebridge definitely needs a scanner and if I had been in the Bay just a few months longer they would have gotten one. I am glad to have you on this mission. Let's make it happen.
kallampero
Posts: 19
Joined: 19 May 2012, 22:35
Number of books owned: 500
Country: USA

Re: Books, Noisebridge and Fungi

Post by kallampero »

Checking back in...

I now have the time and resources to actually begin work on this. I'll look for Miloh, either in person or on the Noisebridge mailing list, and see what I can do about gaining access to AMT. A fellow funguser has friends there. We've been talking about paying a visit for some time now.

More soon.
If you see something, scan something. The public domain begins at home.
kallampero
Posts: 19
Joined: 19 May 2012, 22:35
Number of books owned: 500
Country: USA

Re: Books, Noisebridge and Fungi

Post by kallampero »

no word back from Miloh. going to the save noisebridge party tonight. i'll see if I can't bend some ears on this topic with whoever wants to listen. as a side note, when will more kits be available?
If you see something, scan something. The public domain begins at home.
User avatar
daniel_reetz
Posts: 2812
Joined: 03 Jun 2009, 13:56
E-book readers owned: Used to have a PRS-500
Number of books owned: 600
Country: United States
Contact:

Re: Books, Noisebridge and Fungi

Post by daniel_reetz »

bummer about that. The AMT people are more responsive - send me an email and I'll connect you with them.

I'm working on kits now. Drowning in them. I'm also totally revamping my production process - which is my highest priority right now. I hope to have kits in the store within two weeks.
kallampero
Posts: 19
Joined: 19 May 2012, 22:35
Number of books owned: 500
Country: USA

Re: Books, Noisebridge and Fungi

Post by kallampero »

Hello Again, DIYBS.

Quite a bit to report since last I posted, and quite a bit more to come over the coming weeks/months/years.

An entity called the Digital Archivists Group is now active at Noisebridge (https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Digital_Archivists). The group was founded to pursue a wide variety of interests along the lines of digital archivism, chief among them (for now) being the construction of a DIYBS Reetz Kit Scanner, as well as establishing hardware, software, and usage protocols for hackerspace scanners worldwide. (Don't let the meager meeting notes fool you. We meet more often than those dates imply. Updating the wiki has been simply been neglected up until now, a problem which will soon be remedied.)

Image

The kit was cobbled together over adult beverages via the accompanying PDF assembly manual. Glass was salvaged from some lonely flatbeds, and just as we began looking into camera options, John Shutt had the bright idea to attend one of the Friday open lunches at the Internet Archive as an opportunity to network, ask questions, and, ideally, collaborate.

Much to our chagrin, we got the interest of the books department, who have for the past several weeks been tooling away on the scanner, outfitting it with high end DSLRs and some other assorted hardware & software tweaks, all of which will be documented in detail in an upcoming thread. Everything is modular, which will allow us to keep, add or remove components as needed.

For those of you who are in the Bay Area and looking to become a part of the NDAG, send me a PM or write us/subscribe at digitalarchivists@lists.noisebridge.net. We are few in number with large and exciting undertakings in our future. There is a ton to learn and do on all fronts; hardware, software, documentation, metadata, copyright and fair use, not to mention good old fashioned volunteering.

Stay tuned...
If you see something, scan something. The public domain begins at home.
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