Still scanning Michael the Syrian part 3

And boy is it hard work!  Just lifting and turning the heavy volume itself is tiring.  Just scanned p. 165.  I find that I have to play games with myself, to avoid giving up.  So at the moment I’m saying, “only a couple more to 170; you can pause there.”  When I get to 170, of course I have 171 open.  So I tend to just scan the extra page — just turn the book and lower it on the scanner.  Then, “well, may as well do a couple more.”  And so on.

We tend to take for granted how all those books on Google and Archive.org got scanned.  But it was hard, slow, back-breaking work.  When we grumble about missing pages, perhaps we should think of some low-paid person, very tired.

P. 173 done.  Maybe I’ll just do as far as 180…

UPDATE.  p.269.  Wonder if I can get to 300 tonight?

UPDATE2. p.361.  But I’m missing One Tree Hill!  Still, when the pages are turning and the pain-level is low, you have to keep rolling.

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8 thoughts on “Still scanning Michael the Syrian part 3

  1. Just remember that you are doing a great service to the cause of human knowledge.

  2. It’s a nice idea, and doesn’t involve the hands. I’ve spent the evening reading blogs, in between turning the book, and it passed pleasantly and quickly.

  3. Roger,

    A big accelerator to the scanning process–for me at any rate–are some scripts I wrote to automate various aspects of it, especially mouse clicks. Your countryman, Jon Bennet, created a wonderful Basic-like software called AutoIt and gave it away to the public. It has since become hugely popular for automation tasks especially.

    I worked 20+ years as a computer programmer, but I think anyone could learn AutoIt in a day or two. It comes with examples, and a terrific helpfile. There is also a remarkable forum.
    http://www.autoitscript.com/forum/index.php?

    You can download the product at:
    http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/

  4. Maybe it would be easier to lift the scanner, and let the book just lay there. 🙂

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