I’ve finally started work in earnest on Unbindery. After several false starts on the look, I came up with this, which I like:

I also wrote the login system this afternoon. Development is going a little slower than I’d hoped, but it’s still not bad. I expect to have a prototype up and running within a few days (assuming I put in the time, that is; I’m also trying to finish those plays for the “Long Ago and Far Away” NPP set, so time is limited).

Since it’s been a while, I suppose I ought to mention what Unbindery actually is. :) In a nutshell, it’s a book digitization web app — you see an image of a page on your screen and you type in what it says. (I’m also planning to use it for OCR cleanup.) It’s effectively the same sort of thing as Distributed Proofreaders, except that I’m trying to create a more aesthetic and fun user experience. Something more modern and not so 90s. :) I’m also trying to make it easier to produce non-English texts (like Thai).

Anyway, I’ll announce when the prototype’s up, and everyone’s welcome to try it out — I want all the feedback I can get.

Back in May, I decided to start digitizing the Welsh Book of Mormon (Llyfr Mormon), dubbing the endeavor Project Cymru. It was going along pretty well for a while, but then I got bogged down over the summer and kind of forgot about the project. I did (and still do :)) have two volunteers helping me, so we made some headway, but overall the project’s been hibernating pretty tightly.

Not for much longer, though. I’m working on getting a spit-and-barbed-wire version of Unbindery up soon so we can do the OCR clean-up easily, and even get more people to help out. Once that happens, it won’t take long to finish the text. And then I’ll be typesetting it into three different versions: one similar to the original Welsh text, one versified (ala the Doubleday edition of the English Book of Mormon), and a parallel English-Welsh text.

Here’s a page from the versified 1 Nephi:

And here’s a page from the parallel edition:

This’ll be Unbindery’s maiden voyage. Humble beginnings, but she’ll go far. :)