We need some tech help

Post by **bwmatz** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:11

We are looking for members, or friends of members, who might be able to help us out with some electronic document management.

As you know, Aeronca has undertaken the massive job of scanning all the drawings that were donated to the NAA and in the care of John Houser. This project has been completed. We are also in the process of scanning miscellaneous technical materials, including over 1200 pages of pre-war Aeronca info from Bill Pancake.

We need a way to manage all of these electronic documents so they can be of use to the membership and Aeronca enthusiasts for years to come. They are of no use if we can't get to them and distribute them efficiently.

Joe and I are pretty adept at computers, but this is beyond us. We want to do it right...and do it once. So...if anyone out there can help us out, we would appreciate it.

Contact me directly at bwmatz11ac@yahoo.com if you can help in any way.

Thanks

Post by **joea** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 13:28

Might add to this that most of the documents are in a .PDF Adobe format. We are talking about 5000+ documents, so organization is a must.

When someone is looking for one or several specific blueprints, with this many to choose from, you cannot just start looking through the items.

Carl Prather · Post by **Carl Prather** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 07:04

Brian,

Is Todd Trainor involved here? As you probably know he has already created a CD with nearly 1000 Aeronca drawings. I would think he is the best resource here although 5000 documents seems staggering.

If there is a way I can help, even if its only financial, let me know. I am partucularly interested if Todd is involved.

Tx,

Carl Prather

pablo · Post by **pablo** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 22:28

Guys:
That is an incredible voluminous and technically challenging job.
I have no computer skills at all. I suggest to hire somebody with proven expererience to solve the problem. Maybe we can start a voluntary fund for that purpose. To make the donations appealing, the $$ could be labeled as credit for payments in case of needing the information.
Pablo

Post by **joea** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 22:51

Carl,

Todd is not involved at this stage. To tell the truth Todd is so busy with his part of restoring the blueprints and other things, that I doubt that he has the time to take on anything else.

Every one of the NAA board of directors has a full time job and we do this as a "labor of love" so have to fit this into our lives somehow.

Pablo,

Thanks for the comments and thats something to think about getting a fund together to assist in organizing this. We are just having enough trouble getting renewal notices out right now that setting up a fund is a ways away, but its possibly a good idea.

We have not gotten to the stage of working out how to do this but for sure active NAA members will be getting copies of the drawings way ahead of anyone else. The drawings now belong to the NAA and all of you have supported us for many years, so its time to give these back to everyone for their support.

Nathan K. Hammond · Post by **Nathan K. Hammond** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 12:55

Brian, have you seen the Northland cd for Cubs? It was a very simple program that could direct you to drawings on the disk. I may have a copy floating around somewhere.

I'm old fashion and would simply break it down into folders like on a hard drive. Say.....

50
65
7AC
11AC etc.....

then break it down by component per airplane.

Wings
Tail
Landing Gear
Fuselage etc....

And then you could sub those folders even more...

Ribs
Fittings
Ailerons
Spars etc.......

I can't do programming, but I could help organize the files and come up with a directory of sorts.

nkh

Dusty · Post by **Dusty** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 18:11

Email sent a couple days back - let me know if it didn't make it...

Post by **bwmatz** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 21:35

Got your email Dusty...intersting suggestions and am looking into the options you pointed out...

David Johnson · Post by **David Johnson** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:03

Gentlemen, we are very happy the project is going forward. I stay pretty busy too, but will help any way I can. A bunch of us in Georgia have been compiling everything we get are hands on for the last few years. If someone gets a new manual, or other documentation or photos, we put it all together and make a CD/DVD for everyone to use. It has been resorted several times, but has been very handy so far. When I started messing with Champs, everyone I talked to would give me anything they had, just to help. I am pleased this is still the case. Having all this stuff in one place is wonderful. I can scan into pdf files or sort or whatever. Give me a shout and I will be glad to work on whatever part of the project you guys need me on. David Johnson

David Johnson · Post by **David Johnson** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:21

P.S. Just an idea....Since Aeronca part numbers and print numbers are the same, It wouldn't matter to me if the prints were in one big master list. All you would have to do is use the parts manual to look up a part and go directly to it within the list(it's always in decending order). I have my junk sorted by the area of the plane, per Nathan's suggestion. I have manuals and documentation sorted by plane type. Idea's anyone, David Johnson

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We need some tech help

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