Accurate in an average way
Yes, this pronouncement by our supervisor has me scratching my head also! Accuracy denotes perfection – no errors and as Johnny Bench some years ago in a TV ad, advertised for the paint company with the slogan, No runs, No drips, No errors. So just what is accuracy? It means that you are in perfect focus – at all times. It means no blurs or blurring of images. It means no reworks. I’m all over that one. Well, as it was explained to us today – a last gasp effort to polish the pearl that we have been given, you can focus the camera as best you can, the computer makes algorithm driven guesses and then you pray that it is accurate and to check it you use a straight edge, such as the one on the “M” on the Kodak Greyscale Card. Look for the fully blocked pixels (they are very dark and form a backbone for the letter you choose) and then you count to see if there is a “halo” of one to one and one half pixels from the blocked pixels. Yes, I know this is very technical, but in the years that follow this mission we are doing, this camera we are using will be a total dinosaur………………..They will probably have developed some wonderful “capturer of dreams type camera” that will just point and shoot………..AAAAHHHHH! I do like point and shoot cameras – just like my Iphone. I am afraid that Blurring is part of life. If not so, then we would be victims of all its hard edges. Blurring is caused by movement of the capture cradle. We fixed that by putting rubberized shelf liner under the little runners that it sits on…………hence no more movement sideways and less chance of blurring. However, one of the re-works we did today may just come back for rework again – it has very tight binding and the words disappear down the ‘gutter’ which is what they call the very center of the book where the pages extend out from the binding. There is little we can do about it. No Reworks is the goal.
Now about Average – well that is described as being the best of the lousiest and lousiest of the best. What more can I say? Still I scratch my head over the “Accurate in an Average way.”
We had an in depth conversation with our supervisor over cultural influences and how they shape our view of life and our approach to problem solution. His rapid fire questioning in the past has left me rattled to the point that I cannot think what is next. Each tidbit of computer knowledge that comes to stay in my brain, is a hard won tidbit to be sure. When I am approached with rapid fire questioning and the statement “Now, I just told you that yesterday/this morning/one hour ago or even last week or last phone conversation,” I am left searching my brain for that particular answer and cannot find it under such an “immediacy” kind of request. The problem seems to be in the Urgency with which he speaks, his sincerity, and the objective to get people trained, but the cultural difference throws up a wall and makes things difficult. I had the same problem when I was in Japan. I wanted to get the message out, but was grabbing at straws to understand and be understood that I trod on cultural toes, and things did not go well. In any case, we cleared the air, and things went a lot better after that.
A question has arisen regarding the accuracy of the algorithm that operates the camera for focus. Our Supervisor took an image from the book we were working on, and he fine tuned it and re-worked it and he captured it on a thumb drive and he sent it to the head examiner in SLC and it came back ‘BORDERLINE’ out of focus. He was devastated. I guess a new version of dCamX is coming out in the new year that is supposed to fix all these inconsistencies. I hope that it magically focuses and that it eliminates re-works altogether.
So, when we go back to the Archives on Tuesday, we will have to re-orient the camera so that it will accommodate the single page capture of the books we are working with right now. These books have to be done page by page with huge clips holding them down and the pages have to be smoothed, and then put the spirit level on them to check that they are perfectly horizontal and that they are level with the camera. This requires lots of bending over the book, squeezing the clip to open it to grab the page, smooth the page, check and re-check the focus every 50 pages (so as to retain the focal plane for optimum capture). Once we get into the rhythm of the single page capture, I think that things will go quickly……..or at least I hope it goes quickly.
I just had to get out of the building for a breather. It is becoming very hard not to be able to be out in the sun. So, after our supervisor left, I walked out into the sunshine. It is wonderful to be able to breathe fresh air – recycled air and air conditioning is hard to me to cope with. I walked over to the State House and went to the top floor, saw the rotunda, next floor down was the senate and house of representatives rooms, next floor down was the hall of flags and the next floor was the ground floor. The guard directed me to go down one more level and see the wild animals that they have there. I walked through the tunnel that connects the state house with the office building and saw the cafeteria they have there. Sure is a pretty interesting place. Went back outside and saw the sunshine and walked a few blocks before returning to work at the archives.
Still trying to figure out ‘accurate in an average way.”
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