Time: 
2016-04-23 10:45-2016-04-23 12:15
Room: 
CC-236

Experience level

Newcomer

Session Track

Open Hardware

Building Book Scanners without Breaking the Bank

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Post-presentation follow-up:
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The slides for the talk can be downloaded here: http://adunumdatum.org/documents/presentations/2016-04-23-linuxfest-northwest-building-book-scanners/Building_Book_Scanners_with...

The slides are contained in an HTML file. They can be opened (and downloaded) using any web browser.

The slides use reveal.js; you can navigate through them using the up- and down-arrow keys on your keyboard for within-topic slides transitions, and the left- and right-arrow keys for major topic transitions.

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Links of note:
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A full write-up of the scanner shown during the presentation: http://adunumdatum.org/an-introduction-to-the-non-destructive-guillotine-ndg-book-scanner.html

The DIY Book Scanning community: http://diybookscanner.org/


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Original presentation information:
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Have you ever wondered about scanning entire books quickly and easily? Especially when traveling, it can be cumbersome to carry large numbers of papers and books in one's luggage; however, ebooks aren't always easily accessible, and sometimes cost as much as the books you've already bought in hard copy. This talk is about constructing book scanners using open hardware designs, easy-to-obtain parts, and open-source software. Book scanners take print books and turn them into text-searchable ebooks (in PDF, DJVU, or EPub formats). We will cover the history of the DIY Book Scanning movement, including some legal issues surrounding it. We will also cover (and demonstrate) how to develop and build a ready-to-use, collapsible scanner out of inexpensive parts and open-source software using a new hardware design released into the public domain by the presenter. This new scanner design builds on lessons from the DIY community, doesn't require experience with power tools, and relies on a type of camera you might already own. Book scanners like this can typically get through 800 pages per hour, and utilize free and open-source software to semi-automatically create a nice-looking, searchable ebook or PDF document from scanned material. They can be used to preserve community historical materials, make educational materials more accessible, and simply to make it easier to travel with one's personal library.