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[Feel free to redistribute this announcement to other forums whereon-topic, such as scanning, graphics, books and publishing, libraryand archives, etc. Thanks.]Everyone,Several people privately expressed interest in the "DistributedScanners" (DistScan) idea I recently outlined to the Book Peopleforum. So, I've taken the next step and created a Yahoo discussiongroup to further explore this idea -- to see if it has any legs. Youare invited to join -- refer to the info at the end of this message.)To summarize the idea: Is there interest and need for avolunteer-driven, large-scale distributed scanning project of publicdomain books and other documents modeled after (where applicable)Distributed Proofreaders?The full group description, and the current expanded summary of theidea (which will undoubtedly change and improve over time as we betterunderstand the various issues) is given at:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/distscanTo be clear, this group does not actually launch the project, butrather serves only to bring together sharp, like-minded people toexplore the idea -- to see if there is a "working formula" that makessense, and if we can assemble a core group of people with the neededskill sets and interest to be able to successfully launch the project.The goal, of course, is to accelerate the high-quality scanning ofpublic domain texts. It is not intended to be competitive with otherprojects to scan the public domain, such as those managed by theInternet Archive (e.g. OCA), but rather to augment and possibly evenwork in cooperative fashion with those projects (includingDistributed Proofreaders.)Please read carefully the group description at the above URL. If youwish to comment on this message, I encourage you to join the group andpost your comment there. Or, email it to me in private and I maypost it to the group (with your identity removed unless requestedotherwise).Anyone interested in scanning the public domain (whether a privateindividual or representing an institution) is invited to participate.We definitely need people with expertise in a very wide range ofareas. Since DistScan will likely have many components, you areprobably expert in one of them! Do join and contribute to thediscussion.Thanks!Jon Noring(p.s., there are three ways to subscribe to the DistScan group:1) Use your YahooID and click on the "Join This Group!" button at theabove URL.2) Send a blank email to: distscan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com(No need to get a YahooID to subscribe this way.)3) Ask me to subscribe you with the email address you want to use. Noneed to get a YahooID to subscribe this way.)