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forcheville · 03-25-2010, 06:47 PM

I'm currently scanning a paper book that I purchased so that I can read it on my portable device. It's around 600p and I've been doing about 100p/week and correcting as I go.
It's a lot more work than I expected when I started as the print quality in this particular volume (a recent edition of a European classic first published in 1902 and still in print) is appalling. It is printed on coarse paper such that the ink often seems to bleed out beyond the letter outline. There are other problems as well, and they all make for a high density of errors even with the best OCR software I can find.

I'm pretty close to finished and one of the things that has kept me going in this labour-intensive task is that I'm really enjoying the book. Of course I could have just stopped scanning-correcting and at any time and just finished the book on paper, but that would have felt like defeat.

By the time I'm done I'll have a pretty perfect scan, but I'll also have read the book in the process of producing it.

The question is, given all the work that went into producing the ebook it seems a waste to just file it away on an SD card. I'm probably going to release it on the darknet somewhere instead. I think there are places where it will be appreciated by people who actually read, and it will do a little to maintain this writer's posthumous reputation which may have slipped a little in recent decades. The translator is also deceased, but I doubt that he was given any share of royalties.
There is also the advantage of having an easily found back-up copy.

I know that releasing it in this way (should I eventually choose to do so) will be illegal, but it just feels right.

Who will cast the first stone?

03-25-2010, 06:47 PM	#112
forcheville Zealot Posts: 104 Karma: 672100 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Sony prs650, Boox M92, Samsung Slate 7	I'm currently scanning a paper book that I purchased so that I can read it on my portable device. It's around 600p and I've been doing about 100p/week and correcting as I go. It's a lot more work than I expected when I started as the print quality in this particular volume (a recent edition of a European classic first published in 1902 and still in print) is appalling. It is printed on coarse paper such that the ink often seems to bleed out beyond the letter outline. There are other problems as well, and they all make for a high density of errors even with the best OCR software I can find. I'm pretty close to finished and one of the things that has kept me going in this labour-intensive task is that I'm really enjoying the book. Of course I could have just stopped scanning-correcting and at any time and just finished the book on paper, but that would have felt like defeat. By the time I'm done I'll have a pretty perfect scan, but I'll also have read the book in the process of producing it. The question is, given all the work that went into producing the ebook it seems a waste to just file it away on an SD card. I'm probably going to release it on the darknet somewhere instead. I think there are places where it will be appreciated by people who actually read, and it will do a little to maintain this writer's posthumous reputation which may have slipped a little in recent decades. The translator is also deceased, but I doubt that he was given any share of royalties. There is also the advantage of having an easily found back-up copy. I know that releasing it in this way (should I eventually choose to do so) will be illegal, but it just feels right. Who will cast the first stone? Last edited by forcheville; 03-25-2010 at 06:50 PM.