
It Is Done - kryptiskt
http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/4728
======
bane
It's hard to unroll the importance of this effort, and the work Jason Scott
and archive.org does...but think of this.

Today, we look back at the development of mass manufacturing from a historical
perspective, there are entire museums dedicated to nothing but preserving and
educating people about this technological transformation...and we still learn
modern lessons from it every day.

For example, you can go to Harpers Ferry, WV and see a small museum with a
_working_ workshop that's capable of converting nothing more than raw
materials and river power to guns.

To wit, an impressive amount of my career has been about nothing more than
applying mass manufacturing techniques to previously bespoke work, and I'm
proud to say that it has transformed the way some organizations approach
certain classes of problems. And it's often nothing more than me coming into a
workplace and saying "let's see if we can get this problem up-to-speed with
the industrial revolution"

These manuals are not so much about how an individual can operate outdated
equipment as that they capture how humans dealt with complex technical
challenges over decades. In a hundred years, historians looking at the digital
scans of this archive might find a "first of" known process or technology that
turns into a later technological revolution that we might not even be aware
that we're part of right now that could transform all of humanity.

Astonishing work and well done.

~~~
dboshardy
I completely agree. Perhaps it's my "more data is good data" approach, but the
more we save of our history (no matter how seemingly inconsequential), the
better.

~~~
sounds
Just one: the effect this might have on patent law prior art...

------
mey
Context earlier on the site \-
[http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/4683](http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/4683)

------
jszymborski
Jason Scott does it again... I love that guy, and am inspired by the passion
with which he seems to undertake everything.

I've been following this, and if I didn't live eons away, would have been
there in a flash.

------
keithpeter
Sounds like OP had a blast. A few takeaways from OA...

 _But this went down in less than a week, and here we are._

And what an achievement! And how many new 'converts' made? Might pay dividends
down the road as we begin to lose the paper archives.

 _I took the word of someone standing right there over someone on a forum
bloviating about the One True And Right Way._

Situated knowledge wins every time. Listen to the ones doing it and
moderate/evaluate the feedback.

 _Like it often is with professionals, they didn’t whine, grate, or sniff when
faced with a room of boxes – they just got to it._

I, as part of a team, aspire to this smooth well articulated action.

~~~
db48x
It seems that this might be the start of a trend:
[http://archivecorps.com/](http://archivecorps.com/)

------
Animats
Nice.

Of course, once they started throwing money at the problem, it went better.
Boxes were purchased and quickly delivered. Trucks were rented. A storage
space was rented. Professional movers were brought in. Then it's no problem.

OK, now what's the plan for the next phase?

~~~
ersii
I'd say there's currently no plan, but to figure out a plan. I recommend
keeping an eye out on the blog for further news - although it'll probably be
published to HN as well.

------
namuol
Jason Scott is a real-life Indiana Jones of the digital age.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
That's a rather insulting way to describe him! :p

(Indiana Jones is a pretty terrible archæologist)

~~~
namuol
Maybe, but he's a badass hero!

------
Osiris
Is the plan to scan all those manuals to make them accessible online?

~~~
stonogo
The plan is to come up with a plan. This was the first step, shared by all
possible archival plans: don't let the manuals be thrown in a landfill.

------
pavs
Those moving guys are very photogenic!

~~~
textfiles
Or I'm a good photographer. :)

------
cwkoss
Jason Scott (and all who helped), thanks for all of your work!

------
eljimmy
So, forgive me for being naive, but I am left wondering... why do this at all?
Is there a demand for this stuff?

~~~
mindcrime
_So, forgive me for being naive, but I am left wondering... why do this at
all? Is there a demand for this stuff?_

In terms of "is there market demand to sell copies of these manuals for a
profit" or whatever? Probably not, which is why they were slated for disposal
in the first place. But do they serve an important role in maintaining the
historical record and connecting the dots across time? Absolutely? Are they
invaluable to at least a handful of individuals out there "right now"? Almost
certainly. Will they be of value to somebody else "down the road"? I'd wager
yes.

It's not just 50,000 old manuals, it's a huge body of knowledge, much of which
probably _isn 't_ yet in digital form, and a large portion of which would
probably be lost for good if this trove of manuals had gone to the landfill.
Now, IF all the things can happen that would need to happen (raising money,
blah), and this collection can be scanned and digitized and placed online,
you're talking about a real treasure trove of useful knowledge.

Imagine the kid at J. Random Hackerspace who finds an old oscilloscope at a
flea-market for $15.00. What a wonderful project it would be to fix that thing
up, get it working, and watch a circuit work using it. But what if he wasn't
able to find a parts list, schematics, or operators manual? But if this batch
of material is truly saved, how much better is his chance of finding what he
needs? How could someone's life be changed by participating in a project like
that? A lifetime of interest in electronics, engineering, making, and building
could be sparked (heh, pun intended) by something like that.

So yeah, these manuals do fill a useful, if indirect, role. Jason and the
other volunteers are "doing FSM's work" as far as I'm concerned.

See also, bane's comment above. He puts it much more eloquently than I do.

------
bmir-alum-007
Community archivism FTW (with a dash of leadership, out-of-pocket $, project
management and planning).

------
leax
it's javascript in python style

------
adamkochanowicz
Setting up context fail.

~~~
MereInterest
Primarily due to the requirement that post titles be identical to article
titles. If a post is intended for a small audience who are already aware of
what is going on, then little additional context would be needed.

If Hacker News allowed modifying titles, a reasonable one would be "Over
50,000 Old Technology Manuals Rescued".

~~~
gus_massa
The strict requirement of using the exact title as the article was lifted a
few months ago, but it doesn't mean that someone can editorialize freely the
submission title. I think that the preferred alternative is one sentence of
the subtitle / opening paragraph / abstract of the article.

In this case I can't find anything useful. I guess a correct alternative is to
use the title of the previous submission to provide context so my proposal is

"Saving 25,000 Manual: It Is Done"

Anyway, the mods can disagree and change it back to the original, so YMMV.

(Note 1: They saved more than 25,000 :).)

(Note 2: I think your proposed title is good, but I tried to create one using
cut&paste text from the article.)

~~~
DanBC
> The strict requirement of using the exact title as the article was lifted a
> few months ago

The title thing seems to have caused confusion. dang has said that there
hasn't been a change in policy (nor in the way the policy has been applied)
and that the policy has always been "the original title is preferred except
when it is misleading or linkbait."

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8227198#up_8228566](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8227198#up_8228566)

But this meme of "you must only ever use the original title, even if it's
terrible" is pretty strong.

I think people don't understand that HN seems to prefer titles that convey
little meaning over titles that create kneejerk reactions. There are plenty of
posts on HN from people who are responding to the title, and who haven't read
the submitted article.

(EDIT: I think I upvoted you. I meant to. I might have accidentally downvoted,
and I'm sorry if I did).

