Converting The Other
Israel to an online archive
About 60% of
the Other Israel remains to be converted from original print into
digital documents for inclusion in this archive. The goal is to obtain a
plain text document without any graphics for the page headers and
margin lines that are common in a printed newspaper.
The process of conversion consists of scanning each
printed page into optical character recognition
software (OCR). The OCR generates some regions of scrambled
characters that correspond only to graphical symbols in the
original printing; these areas are easily identified and deleted. The
remain text from OCR is very readable but contains
occasional errors which are obvious by reading in
context and by direct proof reading against the original. The OCR
process generates one letter at a time and most errors consist of
infrequent single letter misspelling. Although spelling errors can
be corrected with the assistance of a spell checker, the better method
is proofreading in context in a single pass along with reference
to the original where necessary.
Volunteers for the conversion project are needed in 2
phases: The scanning phase requires a scanner, OCR software
and email access. The proof reading phase can be done separately
with web access and basic text editing tools. For
an example of original page layout and final text
layout follow the links for Issue #1 text and images at the archive opening page
The exercise of proof reading an issue is a
visit to the peace issues at the time of publication . The process
is highly recommended for any student or interest group reviewing the
history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Contact: archive@israelipalestinianpeace.org