"walk arounds"

[Mark Adams]

Hi All,

This thought just occurred to me. I am an avid modeler. I build aircraft and 1/35 armor as well as paint figures. In the modeling world, we have what are called "walk arounds". This is usually a photo essay of a particular aircraft or tank. It covers general layout as well as the differences between variants.

Why not create a database of the various types of canoes? There are constantly requests for pictures of this or that detail on canoes. I know we all have photos stored in out computers of whatever restoration project we have done, are working on, or just pictures we have collected along the way. I get them off eBay, where ever. Michael Grace has a TON! Lets think about centralizing them all.

Food for thought!

 

[Benson Gray]

Hi Mark,

This is a great idea and similar concepts have been suggested before. The previous efforts have struggled with the details like: how do you organize it, what software tools are best, how do you tag the images so that they can easily be located, who will manage it, where will it be stored, etc. We can add new sections to this forum if you want to have it hosted here and just let everyone add their own canoes. What do you (or anyone else) have in mind?

Benson

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Benson,

Take a look at how the OWWM site collects/searches for data.
They are building a library, both pics and catalog scans of any/all old wood working manchinery, a much larger data set then old canoes.

http://www.owwm.com/

Dan

 

[Benson Gray]

Hi Dan,

You suggested the OWWM site before at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=2121 when this question came up a few years ago. It does seem like a good approach although it is not clear what software package they are using and how it is all being managed. The numbers of canoe manufacturers are much smaller so we could easily start right here with the existing forum software. Who wants to be first or is there a volunteer who wants to set up and manage a more sophisticated alternative?

Benson

 

[Mark Adams]

It seems that the system is in place. Now, granted, I am a total computer idiot. I know what I know and that ain't much! Seems all we would need is another "slot" (Header?) to put the photos under with sub categories like manufacturer and model. I don't know how many photos can be uploaded at one time, but it seems that something on the order of 10 pics or less per canoe would be good. That, and a suggested list of things to focus on. (no pun intended). Things like name plate, deck and thwart shape, stem profile, oddball detail like sailing hardware, (thinking of my Willits sailing canoe), construction details like gunwale/stem intersect so on.

Ideas?

 

[Woodchuck]

I have made many databases in my past life but I do know that Access by Microsoft could handle it very easily. The "tables" can all be linked together and there is no limit to the number of data you might want to save. You can sort on about any field and display in about any format but I don't know how to put it in a forum. I have the software and I would start building one if all of you provide the information. Probably the best place to start would be a new category so there would be a common place to get and send data. My mind is running crazy right now thinking about all the info you could have available for searches, etc. Let me know if Access can be imported into a forum and if this can be done, I will take a shot a developing the database. The help I would need is grouping the data. Kick it around and let me know...
CYA, Joe

 

[Michael Grace]

Remember? This was actually done a couple of years ago. A new section was added to the web site, and various people began adding material relevant to different manufacturers, models, etc. But it didn't last long. I can't remember the rationale, but it was dismantled and the section removed from the site along with its contents.

 

[Mark Adams]

I remember the Photo gallery, but not something like a database of photos. Am I sniffing too much stripper again?

Mark

 

[Mark Adams]

Hey Michael, Whats the new avatar? Did you get something else really cool???

 

[Michael Grace]

Boy, nothing escapes that vice-like visual grasp of Mr. Mark Adams, canoe hunter of the high desert! But no, that's just an old, broken down Old Town HW that I recently "accessorized" by nailing on a few brass widgets, slapped on a bit of polyurethane and so on...

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Mike,

The difference between the old photo gallary and the other site I mentioned is the search capability, collecting data is good, but unless it's retrievable, it's not as usefull.

Dan

 

[Michael Grace]

Good point, Dan. Searchability would be a very useful feature. But does anyone remember why the previous attempt was taken down? I don't remember a clear reason. The section seemed to be generating interest, and it certainly didn't overlap other features of the website. There must have been a compelling reason to remove it entirely, but I can't remember or imagine what that reason could have been.

M

 

[Benson Gray]

Searchability would be a very useful feature. But does anyone remember why the previous attempt was taken down?

I have set up a test forum at http://forums.wcha.org/forumdisplay.php?f=32 titled Canoe Photo Index under the Research area which has already drawn some examples. The previous attempt was intended to be a series of moderated forums to keep everything organized but I think that we never got enough volunteers to manage them all so Dan finally deleted it. This new one is completely unmanaged so we'll see how it goes. We can reorganize it by manufacturer or other categories later if it becomes more populated and successful than the previous attempt.

I would also like to see more of the canoe shown in Michael's new avatar.

Joe and others are welcome to load this information into a database with Access or another software package but the web forum approach will probably be easier to search and manage for most people. Let me know if anyone has other suggestions.

Benson

 

[Dan Miller]

Good point, Dan. Searchability would be a very useful feature. But does anyone remember why the previous attempt was taken down? I don't remember a clear reason. The section seemed to be generating interest, and it certainly didn't overlap other features of the website. There must have been a compelling reason to remove it entirely, but I can't remember or imagine what that reason could have been.

M

The original experiment was set up as a moderated forum, the idea being to capture the information in a concise manner and have it be vetted prior to posting. It wasn't really working in the manner I had hoped when I set it up, and the information was not deleted, but integrated into the other forums.

This current set-up may work just fine. Searchability will be an issue, but posters can help by choosing keywords in their message carefully. Usability will be greatly affected by both the quality of photos and quality of information accompanying the photos. Its usefulness for identification will be limited as well, as users can only use the hunt-and-peck method of comparison.

A true database like the OWWM will be ideal. Set up properly it could be a powerful tool for documentation and identification. However, to do so will take time and/or money, and so far no one has stepped up with either.

Before this goes on too long, someone should develop a set of suggested standards as a basic guideline to posting - e.g. the recommended views and angles for photographs, a list of data that should be provided (LOA, age, condition, etc.) - the more conisistency between posts, the more useful the data will be.

 

[Canerodz]

Fantastic! Thank you for getting this section up and going. If you would like to go back through the archives and bring existing pics here I'll volunteer to help.

 

[Kathryn Klos]

I hope folks feel free to add to threads already started there... the canoes don't have to be restored to provide information.

We could even start a thread for UFOs...