I'm going to go ahead and get started gathering information, as it is never too early to do so. We are definitely going to have to set up a day and time to run a Google Hangout, or set up a forum of some kind, to work out what to do after the information is gathered and set up in a primitive webpage. It's imperative to archive each submission as links and blogs aren't permanent, and I will be doing that as they are submitted. I also had some basic ideas for tagging the submissions by manufacturer, model, and repair type.
Scour your own blogs/sites for repairs! If each of us does a fraction of the work, it will be simpler for me (!) and progress faster. If you don't have much time to do so, just including the link will be fine. If you have more time, also include a little about the submission, as in this example:
http://phlsphthght.blogspot.com/2013/06/mystery-solved-frozen-facit-starring.html (plain text link)
Fixing frozen carriage and ribbon advance with a solvent (repair/adjustment description)
Facit TP2, Facit 1620 (if machine specific, manufacturer and models)
Showing posts with label community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community. Show all posts
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Outline for the Typewriter Repair Resource
There is a weakness to forming the project over blog posts, as Rob mentioned. It's not as easy to be collaborative here, but we'll try our best. It's a simple enough project.
Will pointed out that this is an attempt to preserve repair knowledge, which it is exactly. I just couldn't find the right words. We have a tremendous amount of information that is exponentially growing, but it lacks good organisation. When a body of knowledge grows quickly, without being consolidated, organised, and maintained, that knowledge has the potential to be lost!
Ted mentioned the Typewriter Database as a candidate to host and arrange the links. It would be best to get the information sorted separately first, in case the wiki idea is later pursued, saving him hours of work on the website that could be eclipsed within the fairly near future. If the wiki shows no signs of interest, then that might be considered!
There are two possible suggested ways of organising the repair information—by brand and model, or by repair type and subtype. Both have their merits. When I first conceived this project, the main types of repairs I had in mind were the common Olympia carriage problems and the frozen Facits—very machine-specific knowledge. Mike had in mind over-arching repairs like platen replacement and character alignment adjustment. These are less machine-specific operations that can be more easily applied to a wider range.
It would probably be best to arrange the repairs using both methods. Most repairs could be grouped by typewriter. A separate section could group them by repair type. There would be much overlap, but some of the links would be present in only one section. The actual format of the repair entries will include a short description of the problem, and how it is addressed, as well as the link.
Will pointed out that this is an attempt to preserve repair knowledge, which it is exactly. I just couldn't find the right words. We have a tremendous amount of information that is exponentially growing, but it lacks good organisation. When a body of knowledge grows quickly, without being consolidated, organised, and maintained, that knowledge has the potential to be lost!
One of the goals of the typosphere is to preserve not only typewriters, but all the knowledge that must accompany them. Why must we do this? Because these machines deserve it! They have lasted this long and will continue to fulfill their original purpose for decades. Try saying that about the MITS Altair 8800. Wait...that didn't really have any useful purpose other than to show that working microcomputers could be built by hobbyists. A better example would be the Apple II. If you were an Apple user in 1980, your computing needs were met with that product. Today an Apple II would be largely useless in fulfilling the computing needs a user demands (whether it was an excellent product or not).
There will be a time in the future when there is nobody left who has grown up around manual typewriters and learnt from the experts about repairing them. That legacy is already disappearing, but it is being replaced with something with the potential to become even greater. The majority of typewriter users now are enthusiasts, and also their own repairperson. Knowledge is freely shared amongst, as it should be.The idea of a wiki has been brought up, originally last year by Shordzi, and now again. I was on a bit of a typosphere hiatus at the time, so I can't say from experience—but I can imagine that didn't take off because there was not a solid base of organised information from which to create the wiki, and there weren't enough people with the time or inclination to develop it. I'm not advocating re-starting that idea yet—rather, we should keep this as simple as possible. Once the pieces have been gathered together, then a wiki can naturally spring forth from that information base with all the focus on re-organising it into wiki format, rather than having to worry about information gathering.
Ted mentioned the Typewriter Database as a candidate to host and arrange the links. It would be best to get the information sorted separately first, in case the wiki idea is later pursued, saving him hours of work on the website that could be eclipsed within the fairly near future. If the wiki shows no signs of interest, then that might be considered!
There are two possible suggested ways of organising the repair information—by brand and model, or by repair type and subtype. Both have their merits. When I first conceived this project, the main types of repairs I had in mind were the common Olympia carriage problems and the frozen Facits—very machine-specific knowledge. Mike had in mind over-arching repairs like platen replacement and character alignment adjustment. These are less machine-specific operations that can be more easily applied to a wider range.
It would probably be best to arrange the repairs using both methods. Most repairs could be grouped by typewriter. A separate section could group them by repair type. There would be much overlap, but some of the links would be present in only one section. The actual format of the repair entries will include a short description of the problem, and how it is addressed, as well as the link.
I propose that as long as there are no other major suggestions, as it seems best to keep this as simple as possible to begin with, we should spread the word and individually link to our repairs in the comments. I'll wait a day or two for any further discussion, and then create another post to collect the repair links!
One last thing. We need a better name than the long-winded "Centralised Typewriter Repair Resource", Something concise and meaningful. Of course we could just call the page "Repairing Typewriters".
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Creating a Centralised Typewriter Repair Resource
Collectively, the typosphere has made great progress in solving many of the age- and repair-related complications plaguing our typewriters, finding out that major problems often have simple solutions. These fixes often are not specific to the one typewriter that has been fixed, but apply to all within that model range. It's about time we set up a way to keep these repairs organised by brand and model in a central location!
Imagine this: you've discovered a beautiful Olympia SM3 with a fantastic typeface, but it is plagued with a carriage problem that you don't know how to repair. Maybe you've seen someone post on it before and can't remember where or when. Perhaps somebody has solved this problem, but you just don't know about it. You could Google it, and you might find what you're after. Suddenly you remember! (How could you have ever forgotten?) You look up "Olympia SM" on the Typosphere's repair page and scroll to the "carriage" section. After checking out the linked blog posts, an hour later your SM3 is functioning perfectly.
My first thought was to create a page on this blog, listing typewriters alphabetically by manufacturer, then chronologically by model. Underneath each section would be links to various helpful repair blog posts. (As well as a separate area for fixes that apply to multiple typewriters.) That is my suggestion. Let's hear yours!
After it is decided, I'll make another post where you can submit your own repair posts for inclusion. For now let's just focus on how to best host and arrange them.
—N Beland / Philosophothought
Imagine this: you've discovered a beautiful Olympia SM3 with a fantastic typeface, but it is plagued with a carriage problem that you don't know how to repair. Maybe you've seen someone post on it before and can't remember where or when. Perhaps somebody has solved this problem, but you just don't know about it. You could Google it, and you might find what you're after. Suddenly you remember! (How could you have ever forgotten?) You look up "Olympia SM" on the Typosphere's repair page and scroll to the "carriage" section. After checking out the linked blog posts, an hour later your SM3 is functioning perfectly.
After it is decided, I'll make another post where you can submit your own repair posts for inclusion. For now let's just focus on how to best host and arrange them.
—N Beland / Philosophothought
Friday, May 18, 2012
Typosphere Keyword-o-Rama
(Idea shamelessly stolen from the munchkin wrangler)
Besides obsessively reloading the stats on my own blog, I thought all you fine folks might want a little view behind the Typospherical curtain. Here are the keywords folks used to locate this fine site this past week:
typosphere Hi! Yes, you found us! Unless you were looking for the Web Home of Science Fiction Writer Ron Collins or the Ruby language blogging software. Then you might be a bit lost and very confused. typewriters for sale Not here, sadly. If you have deep pockets, you can look at Mr. Typewriter or My Typewriter. If you're in the New York City area, maybe Brady & Kowalski can hook you up. If you're fortunate enough to live near a repair shop, I'm sure they have some machines you can come in and try: Tom at Cambridge Typewriter spreads typer-joy, as do the fine folks at Blue Moon Camera and Machine. Or Mesa Typewriter Exchange. A good search engine will be your friend here. Don't discount local, though. Flea markets, church bazaars, yard sales, thrift and charity shops. Typewriters are uncommon until you start finding them. Oh yeah, and that big auction site, but be wary of careful packing. Typewriters are fragile critters. custom typewriter Maybe you're thinking of Richard Polt's "silver surfer" technique? Or just spend some time clicking around the blog links over on the right: lots of us have painted or decorated our own machines. I'm currently taking a hard look at a grubby old Skyriter after seeing this racing-inspired customizing. welcome to the typosphere Hi, yes. We've met. 10-characters-per-inch pica 87 font You probably want to go look at Ted's scans of the NOMDA blue books, which have typeface styles. Sounds like you got in reallly close and read that little number on the typeslug. You've got better eyes than I do. bicycle typerider nyt You must mean Maya Stein. Isn't this a great thing? We already know that typewriters like to be photographed out-of-doors, but who knew they liked interstate bike rides, too? christopher lockett seattle Chris is the director of the typewriter documentary "The Typewriter in the 21st Century." He's a nice guy, too, and I'm not just saying that because he ran a microphone up my shirt. Amazingly soft hands, Chris has. dean jones kasbah mod And speaking of customized typewriters. I get itchy to buy paint and noxious chemicals when I take a look at these machines. hammacher schlemmer manual typewriter "is probably crap." There, I finished that for you. http://www.typosphere.info/ Little old us once again. Thanks for visiting! |
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Two Weeks to Go Time
November is just under two weeks away. Have you thrown your hat into the Typewriter Brigade ring? Consider using a typewriter for your draft this year, so you don't get trampled by this guy:
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Brother, Could You Spare a Typewriter?
Shameless begging time here, everyone:
Gary Nicholson -- producer of the typewriter documentary that's being filmed now -- is looking for ways to separate otherwise hardworking people from their cash, though he's calling it "securing a round of funding," which is some kind of made-up movie-guy talk. (Hi Gary!) They're exploring the idea of setting up a project on Kickstarter to crowd-source funding. I am told that in no what whatsoever will Gary and Chris The Director be blowing this cash on lattes and grillz and such, but will use it to fund a trip out to the east coast of the U.S.: the details of their wish-list are outlined on their web site (scroll down near the end.)
Anyhow, Gary asked if I would write something -- and I bet he's regretting that decision right now -- to see if anyone would be willing to part with a good condition, operating typewriter as a reward for a level of Kickstarter pledge. For those not familiar with Kickstarter, each project typically offers tiers of rewards based on the pledged amount, from a sticker or postcard for lower-level amounts, all the way up to a (thing) for the higher levels, where (thing) is the (thing) being funded. (A gadget, or a piece of art, or whatever.) Gary's idea is that the first person to pledge at a certain level will receive a typewriter offered up from the vaults of the Typosphere itself. In return, the machine donor will get:
Gary's offered to send a UPS label to the machine donor if they make their funding goal, so you'll hang on to the machine until that happens. Doing a little research on proper machine packing isn't a bad idea, either, as we don't want this to turn into a horror movie.
So, Typosphere, here's your chance to pare down the collection by one. Up to your ears in Silver Surfers? Keep stumbling across mid-1960's Smith Coronas? Consider offering it up to Gary and some lucky bidder, and get a little ego-stroking in return.
Gary Nicholson -- producer of the typewriter documentary that's being filmed now -- is looking for ways to separate otherwise hardworking people from their cash, though he's calling it "securing a round of funding," which is some kind of made-up movie-guy talk. (Hi Gary!) They're exploring the idea of setting up a project on Kickstarter to crowd-source funding. I am told that in no what whatsoever will Gary and Chris The Director be blowing this cash on lattes and grillz and such, but will use it to fund a trip out to the east coast of the U.S.: the details of their wish-list are outlined on their web site (scroll down near the end.)
Anyhow, Gary asked if I would write something -- and I bet he's regretting that decision right now -- to see if anyone would be willing to part with a good condition, operating typewriter as a reward for a level of Kickstarter pledge. For those not familiar with Kickstarter, each project typically offers tiers of rewards based on the pledged amount, from a sticker or postcard for lower-level amounts, all the way up to a (thing) for the higher levels, where (thing) is the (thing) being funded. (A gadget, or a piece of art, or whatever.) Gary's idea is that the first person to pledge at a certain level will receive a typewriter offered up from the vaults of the Typosphere itself. In return, the machine donor will get:
- An "associate producer" credit and special thanks on the film
- A warm, fuzzy feeling that you've infected some other soul with the typewriter bug
Gary's offered to send a UPS label to the machine donor if they make their funding goal, so you'll hang on to the machine until that happens. Doing a little research on proper machine packing isn't a bad idea, either, as we don't want this to turn into a horror movie.
So, Typosphere, here's your chance to pare down the collection by one. Up to your ears in Silver Surfers? Keep stumbling across mid-1960's Smith Coronas? Consider offering it up to Gary and some lucky bidder, and get a little ego-stroking in return.
Monday, March 14, 2011
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