Topic: Magazine article Database? (Read 19512 times)

tigertiger · « **Reply #50 on:** February 07, 2009, 02:08:44 am »

Quote from: Colin Bishop on February 06, 2009, 08:49:10 pm

Looking at Bryan's post Martin I think he has simply scanned in the articles. but I could be wrong.

Colin

I think the same.

So a simple catalogue of articles and key search terms.
The output of a search could be just an issue no, article title and page no.
If they are scanned on CD that is about the level of detail that is most suitable.

Getting the search terms correct will help.
And boolean search would be helful, to find most relevant.
For example if we searcehd for anything on 'pins' we could end up with 1000 articles, not good.

Also if somebody wants to search 'soldering brass', perhaps only those articles that deal specifically with the techniques (perhpas even the subject of the article) should be tagged.

There are some more major condsiderations, that I can see.

1/ People need to re-read every article. If they are only looking for the headline content, and not reading everyword, this work is made easier.

2/ Task 1 will be made easier with a predefined set of tags. This list can get bigger than Ben Hur, but in reality 100 tags could do it. This list needs to be decided on before work starts fully.

3/ Data capture bodies need some training. This can be done via forum chat, just to make sure we are all on the same page (so to speak). And some kind of Test Text, to see if we have a shared understanding of how tags are used, and what tags should be assigned where.

4/ The biggy.
Copyright. If the scanned articles become part of the data set. And if this is going to be of open access.

Martin (Admin) · « **Reply #51 on:** February 07, 2009, 04:01:41 am »

Quote

2/ ... predefined set of tags. This list can get bigger than Ben Hur, but in reality 100 tags could do it. This list needs to be decided on before work starts fully.

4/ The biggy.
Copyright. If the scanned articles become part of the data set. And if this is going to be of open access.

2. Yes. My list was just a test/rush job, can we suggest some better tags?

4. As we are just creating a list, an index, does copyright come into it?

tigertiger · « **Reply #52 on:** February 07, 2009, 04:15:45 am »

Quote from: Martin - Forum Admin on February 07, 2009, 04:01:41 am

Quote

4/ The biggy.
Copyright. If the scanned articles become part of the data set. And if this is going to be of open access.

4. As we are just creating a list, an index, does copyright come into it?

If all we are doing is a list that is OK.
But if we are using scanned articles, on CD or other media, there would be an issue.

The scope of the work needs to be settled before anything starts.

A question for Bryan
What is your intention and what outputs do you envisage?
or to put it another way what do you want to achieve?

Martin (Admin) · « **Reply #53 on:** February 07, 2009, 04:58:15 am »

Topic renamed.

Seaspray · « **Reply #54 on:** February 07, 2009, 10:09:16 am »

Right I don't know much about computers nor do I wish to but I do like them to work for me. A magazine article database would be a great help for many of us if not all of us boaters.

Hopefully the thread's replies won't stop that from happening as everybody has their own ideas and experiences in this field. Which could lead to contradiction and falling out with each other.

As a suggestion, can I propose an idea of the best people ( team 1) chosen to build this database and aiders (team 2 ) to cross reference and check everything is going to plan.

If the forum (majority) wants this database then I think it should be construct behind closed doors till it is up and running .On occasions a release of what has been done to see if the feedback is acceptable.

Just an idea cos I don't want 2 loose this opportunity.

Seaspray

funtimefrankie · « **Reply #55 on:** February 07, 2009, 12:30:47 pm »

The copyright notice in the front of MB says

The publishers written consent must be obtained before any part of this publcation may be reproduced in any form whatsoever including photocopies and information retieval systems.

So I would think that would include article titles etc.

Maybe the best way to procceed would be to to contact the editor and do it in co-operation with the mag.

Bryan Young · « **Reply #56 on:** February 07, 2009, 03:26:41 pm »

My little brain is now getting a bit overloaded.
So. For a start all the mags "collected were due to be ditched or sent to land-fill or something after the owners had finished with them.
The copyright issue has bothered me slightly, but as they are all "rescue" items and there has never been any intention whatsoever to sell anything, more to give people access to otherwise unavailable information (within TMBC). I suppose that an open (and internationally available) database would have to be sanctioned by whoever owns (or has owned) the publishing rights. Others will know more about that than me.
Anyway, my first thought was to put everything on DVD, but the thought of having to meander through 7gb of material sounded even more time consuming than searching the actual magazines. So I went for CDs, and with the earlier issues when there was little or no colour I was happily managing 3 years issues per CD.
Also I only scanned items that were either only of interest to me or people I know with similar interests, so the mags still have reams of stuff in them that would appeal to the wider readership of this forum.
Being pretty ignorant (about computers) I did just scan each page that took my fancy and saved in JPG format just adding the year/month /page as a field. ie 081-feb-157. The next stage was to transfer all the contents pages and underline the items I have saved. This will appear on a seperate "contents" disc. Still takes a bit of browsing but a darn sight quicker than doing it "the old way".
My long term wish is about the same as Tigers. A relatively straightforward, upgradeable "thing" that wouls respond to a request for "planking", "ventilators", "HMS Warrior" and so on.
Like some on this forum I have many issues of "Model Shipwright", They have published at least 2 indexes in booklet form which I have found invaluable, so really and ideally an electronic version of that would be pretty good. Sorry to take up your time again.
Brian Yung.

Colin Bishop · « **Reply #57 on:** February 07, 2009, 03:48:29 pm »

Dear Brain Yong,

Thanks for explaining that, it clarifies things a lot. It also leaves me wondering whether OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software could be successfuly applied to the scans to turn them into text. If so then we really would be motoring as a search facility could pick up the individual words. There may also be a possibility of negotiating something with the magazine owners to mutual benefit. You never know!

Niloc

Bee · « **Reply #58 on:** February 07, 2009, 04:58:53 pm »

The articles text is obviously copywrite but the originals, not copies, can sold like any book, but not turned into another format, like CD, for sale.
They have included the index probably when the accountant saw CDs of indexes being sold eg for Model Engineer, so copies or cd scans of the index page would also be copywrite.

However the information the idex page contains is in the public domain becasue they have been published. I am not a legal expert but I think you can freely take such information and retype it into a new publication in your own words with a credit to the source. That is just the same as a citation or reference being put in an article or technical journal.
Have you tried googling "model engineer index" or "Railway modeller index" then "model Boats index". Looks like the boaters are behind the times.

Typical record from the ME index:
Volume","Issue","Page","Category","Title","Part","Author","Notes"

"121,,,,"All rights unless specifically released reserved Bill Phillips and Chris Orchard 1998-2009",,,
121,3031,8,"Workshop","Changing the Cellar into a workshop",,"Denis Horler","Vibration, secure fixing, single line distribution diagram, curves showing cutting speeds"

funtimefrankie · « **Reply #59 on:** February 07, 2009, 05:06:59 pm »

Quote from: Colin Bishop on February 07, 2009, 03:48:29 pm

There may alsoould be some be a possibility of negotiating something with the magazine owners to mutual benefit. You never know!

Niloc

That's what I was thinking, do you know anyone who has the editors ear?

Bryan Young · « **Reply #60 on:** February 07, 2009, 05:42:04 pm »

Quote from: Colin Bishop on February 07, 2009, 03:48:29 pm

Dear Brain Yong,

Thanks for explaining that, it clarifies things a lot. It also leaves me wondering whether OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software could be successfuly applied to the scans to turn them into text. If so then we really would be motoring as a search facility could pick up the individual words. There may also be a possibility of negotiating something with the magazine owners to mutual benefit. You never know!

Niloc

Oops. Lost me again, Colin. Sorry. Young Brain.

over_powered84 · « **Reply #61 on:** February 07, 2009, 06:35:42 pm »

Guys If It's Suitable I'll Run An Excel Sheet And For Ease Of Use, Those With Magazines Can Post There Articles From The Mags They Have And Through Time I Can Add Them As Long As I'm Not Bugged (I Do have A Social Life

) And When I Get It Done I Can Email I To Those Who Wish It Or The Details That Someone Is Looking For

Best Point Being ONE Person Updates It And Distributes It And Keeps It Consistent
Rules Are Though (If Possible)
FULL Magazine Name (With Scanned Cover)
FULL Article Name And Persons Name Doing The Article (With Scanned Page(s)
Page Number
Month Issued
Issue No
And Your Name For Kudos

Or If You Have Time Do Your Full Magazine

If Theres A Double Article Kudos To The Person Who Follows Full Rules

Oh Aye PM The DetailsAswell Guys

Colin Bishop · « **Reply #62 on:** February 07, 2009, 07:03:08 pm »

Quote

That's what I was thinking, do you know anyone who has the editors ear?

Yes, me maybe, but the changes currently going on in the Model Boats company mean that it won't be possible to raise the matter for a week or two at the earliest.

Colin

Seaspray · « **Reply #63 on:** February 08, 2009, 07:57:53 am »

Colin Tell them its more income for the magazine , they'll jump at it.

Does a copyright have a time limit on it like a patent ?

Is it the author that has the copright or the magazine ?

Roger in France · « **Reply #64 on:** February 08, 2009, 08:07:29 am »

Normally the publication will have the copyright. If they have agreed to the author owning the copyright (it is negotiable) the individual article will have to carry a copyright dedication.

Roger in France

funtimefrankie · « **Reply #65 on:** February 08, 2009, 11:08:46 am »

http://www.ipo.gov.uk/

malcolmfrary · « **Reply #66 on:** February 08, 2009, 11:51:53 am »

Hi Bryan
OCR is a magical application. When you scan a text document in, you get a picture of the document. When you pass this picture through the OCR program, it spots anything it can recognise as a letter, and uses this to build a typed document. A well mannered one let you check it out both automatically and manually for any questionable marks such as bits of dead fly that were on the original or on the scanner glass that alter the recognition. For magazine articles, it's best to scan a column at a time.
The result is that the information is now in (usually) a Word document that you can do anything to that you could do with one that you typed in, but without the copying in in the first place. Much liked by students plagiarising dissertations, but it does have legitimate uses, as well.
OCR is often bundled with a scanner, I have been using a freebie Abbey4 that was on a magazine cover several years ago, but there are others. They usually need better than 400 DPI resolution from the scanner.

Bowwave · « **Reply #67 on:** February 08, 2009, 03:45:31 pm »

Just to add to what has been said re-indexing Model Boats articles. There already exists an index , not I hasten to add as comprehensive as that proposed on this board. It's used commercially , it's free and provides general content for the Model Maker magazines between 1959-1966 and Model Boats between 1966-2004. I find it very useful if not a little long winded as there is no provision for typing in and going to search. But this is a minor deficiency. http://www.payhost.net/modelling/acatalog/Model_Maker.html . Hope this provides some food for thought.
Bowwave.

Bowwave · « **Reply #68 on:** February 08, 2009, 04:05:08 pm »

To add further to this discussion It may be unwise for Mayhem to consider copying the contents of any article from any magazine . There is the problem of production copyright and that relating to the originator of the article ie photos or text or both . I see no problem whatsoever with any form of detailed indexing but Martin may run into some problems if Mayhem reproduced any of the contents from a magazine with out acquiring the necessary permission no matter how well meaning or altruistic the motives.
Bowwave

Colin Bishop · « **Reply #69 on:** February 08, 2009, 04:55:35 pm »

I strongly recommend that everyone takes a look at the link provided by Bowwave. Looks like somebody has already done the job in a manner that would satisfy a lot of people.

Colin

Martin (Admin) · « **Reply #70 on:** February 08, 2009, 05:13:48 pm »

Quite right Bowave. I have no intention of reproducing any part of any magazine, just an index of articles that anyone
can use to look thinks up and then find the magazine in their own possession, borrow from a friend, ask at the club,
ask on here or purchase from the publishers or other sources.

As I keep reiterating, this is an exercise in collecting the data. If the Mayhemers all contribute a just a couple every week,
it would soon grow into a pretty comprehensive list!

We a can all think or a thousand reason why this can't, shouldn't, won't be done but in reality, why would anyone want to?
The list won't be for commercial gain and if you have a requested magazine you can offer it for loan or sale.

http://www.modelboats.co.uk/
http://www.traplet.com/
http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=14084.msg134874#msg134874
http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=14101.msg135030#msg135030
http://www.payhost.net/modelling/acatalog/Model__Boats.html
www.ebay.co.uk/

Martin (Admin) · « **Reply #71 on:** September 22, 2009, 12:46:50 pm »

Found this today: http://www.marinemodelmagazine.com/search/search.aspx?cid=3852

Seaspray · « **Reply #72 on:** September 22, 2009, 02:44:04 pm »

I see Model Boats has a Digital Archive system, subscribers only. There isn't much on this site now that isn't subscriber only.

Never on it now.

Seaspray.

Colin Bishop · « **Reply #73 on:** September 22, 2009, 04:32:44 pm »

Quote

I see Model Boats has a Digital Archive system, subscribers only. There isn't much on this site now that isn't subscriber only.

Come on Seaspray! That's an exaggeration. I run the site and we have added subscriber only material as requested by the publishers and I mean added, not substituted! The previous free content is still there and continues to be updated - I know because I do it!

The digital archive is indeed very useful for finding anything anything going back to January 2007. But you can't expect MyHobbyStore to just give all their stuff away - they do have a company to run with shareholders and staff to pay who have mortgages etc.! The digital archive has been added to encourage people to take out subscriptions, these help pay for the magazine - no paying readers - no magazine. People who just buy it occasionally or browse the juicy bits in W H Smith are not enough I'm afraid.

Colin

Seaspray · « **Reply #74 on:** September 22, 2009, 05:17:24 pm »

Sorry Colin I think its dying a slow death and has been for sometime now.

Shame I use to read it instead of doing me homework.

Seaspray

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Author Topic: Magazine article Database? (Read 19512 times)

Bee

over_powered84

Roger in France

Bowwave

Bowwave