Wikipedia talk:Meetup/NARA 2

Scanning party

So what does said "scanning party" entail? I recently acquired a scanner, and if it works out that I can go, I'll bring it along with my netbook. Is there any homework that I need to do prior to attending to determine what we will need to scan? What exactly is the process? Could someone fill me in, so I don't inadvertently come unprepared? SchuminWeb (Talk) 02:13, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

The idea is simply to scan NARA's documents so we can upload new, historically significant images to Commons. :-) No preparation is necessary! However, if you are so inclined, you might want to search the catalog for records (not already digitized) that would be useful to your projects on Wikipedia, or which you have a particular interest in. This would make the activity especially rewarding. There is an incredible variety of subjects, so it's worth searching. If we don't get a lot of requests beforehand, we can simply have NARA staff pick a smattering, like we did last time, which seemed to work well enough.

You'll need a current ID to get in the research room. Please also check and make sure your scanner fits NARA's specifications before you come. These exist to protect documents, and it would be quite an annoyance to only find out after having brought a device that it is not allowed. Feel free to edit the language on the main page if anything could be made clearer. Dominic·t 02:53, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

This is the scanner that I bought. Reading through the requirements, it sounds like it ought to meet NARA's requirements for scanners. What do you think? SchuminWeb (Talk) 13:06, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Cool! It does look good to me, but I'm no more an expert than you. Dominic·t 19:57, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Smart choice of dates

You know DC has a large Jewish student population, many of whom probably edit Wikipedia. It was a nice idea to pick Yom Kippur as the day of this event thus ensuring as few Jewish Wikipedians as possible will attend. :p Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 27 Elul 5771 19:24, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

There will always be conflicts with people's schedules, unfortunately. We had many different issues to juggle, including available space and staff at the Archives (especially David Ferriero's schedule) for a Saturday and other DC Wikimedia events going on in the same time period. This turned out to be the best available date. We'll just have to have another event in the future if you can't make this one! Dominic·t 19:44, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

There's a big difference between a scheduling conflict and putting it on the holiest day in Judaism that involves fasting and abstaining from any sort of work or pleasurable activity. :p In the future y'all should check for such things. :p Maybe I'll come to a later one. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 27 Elul 5771 20:02, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

The sarcasm isn't useful. As I said, this was the best available date. It's not a matter of not having checked. Honestly, I am not sure how many people you are expecting that we are missing out on out of a likely turnout of a couple dozen. There will be a few, yes. But whatever it is, it is likely less than if we had scheduled it the week before when there is already a DC meetup planned, or on a weekday. The first NARA event had to be held during Wikimania, when we also knew a segment of the population wouldn't be able to attend (which was held, by Israelis, during The Nine Days as well as the Shabbat, and Ramadan, for that matter). While we don't ever want anyone to feel excluded, we simply have to accept that there is no perfectly optimal day and hope that it doesn't happen repeatedly to anyone who wants to attend events. Dominic·t 20:24, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

I was not being sarcastic. I was being serious as this undoubtedly a pleasurable activity that also involves doing what would be considered work. I just put :p's to lighten it up a bit so you wouldn't feel bad. :p A lot of Israelis are secular tbh, though if they were kharedim, now that would have been something. The Nine Days thing typically isn't as well-observed as Yom Kippur (in fact it's mostly among kharedim, orthodox and some Conservative Jews). Shabbat isn't as widely observed either (or if people do, they just have the dinner and ritual), and for our Muslim brothers, the Holy Month of Ramadan would not prevent them from attending this event as the prohibition is only on "eating, drinking, smoking and sex" (unless this ain't just a scanning party ;)), and most of my Muslim friends attended school quite regularly during the holy month (they just abstained from consuming anything while they did it). You are right that you don't know how many you could miss out on, and who knows, could be a few. I hope that the optimal times are on more convenient days in the future. I hope that the documents scanned will make wonderful RSs and article images. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 27 Elul 5771 21:58, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

If you weren't being sarcastic, then that means that you seriously think it was a smart idea to choose Yom Kippur, because we wanted to ensure as few Jews as possible could come? I find that hard to believe. In any case, I think we are getting off-topic with the talk about religion. My point is simply that I tried to make the event accessible to as many people as possible and this the date we decided upon. I understand if you are frustrated, but there will be more chances to get involved in the future. Thanks. Dominic·t 22:14, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Oh, haha, I thought the sarcasm thing was about my second message, not my first (I thought of stuff in that indent as only being a reply to my second message). I was having fun about that, but I said that an unintended result of the day choice would be that happening, not that you'd want to have none of us there; that would be silly because then that would mean you'd have no funny people. :p Well, now you know a bit more about Jewish holidays and can plan accordingly for future events in areas with signifcant Jewish and Muslim populations - The more you know.jpg . I'll look into future events. :p Best of luck! Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 27 Elul 5771 22:24, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

WP:JAZZ

I found a number of items that could be of interest to WP:JAZZ. I didn't want to clutter the front page, so for now, I've made a potential "wish list" at User:Gyrofrog/NARA 2. Thanks, -- Gyrofrog (talk) 20:09, 29 September 2011 (UTC)

I also left a note at WT:JAZZ. -- Gyrofrog (talk) 23:22, 29 September 2011 (UTC)

I've gone ahead and listed a few on the main page. I figure that I really need to look into making subsequent visits. -- Gyrofrog (talk) 14:58, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

The audio-visual items I had requested weren't available in the research room, but I did find four other DVDs (five programs) with (or about) Willis Conover. I now have digital copies of these, but unfortunately, I'm not sure we will be able to use any of them on Wikimedia. Some of the videos are from commercial television news broadcasts (including advertisements in one case). Another is from C-SPAN, which I had thought was a government (or "quasi-government") agency but they did assert ownership/copyright of the material. And another item (identified in ARC as a silent film about Eddie Condon, or perhaps more likely, I found a different item than I had thought) was a 1950s film version of Conover's program (i.e. produced by the US Government) – by itself, this should be public domain, however it did include musical content that I am fairly certain is still covered by copyright. (Another possible issue, regarding Conover's programs in general: it turns out that Conover was not an employee of USIA nor VoA, but was a contractor. I wasn't sure if PD would still apply.) -- Gyrofrog (talk) 03:36, 9 October 2011 (UTC)

Event category?

I'm starting to upload the images that I collected from our time in the room, so far, so good. Just need to know what event-specific categories that I need to place these in. I boldly created Commons:Category:October 2011 NARA Backstage Pass for photos of the event if nothing else, but I wasn't quite able to figure out where all the files we came out with need to go with absolute certainty. Any guidance would be appreciated. SchuminWeb (Talk) 17:35, 9 October 2011 (UTC)