Lexical Database Archiving Questionnaire

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It's true!

I am asking around on different mailing lists to gain some insight into the archiving habits of linguists who use lexical databases. I am specifically interested in databases created by tools like FLEx, ToolBox, Lexus, TshwaneLex, etc.

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Thanksgiving can start now

I am thankful that our car did not get towed last night. Lately she's been rather cranky at night and it is cold. We were out with some friends and she would not start after dinner. We got a ride home, but had to leaver her in a three hour parking lot for longer than three hours. Fortunately every morning she starts up on the first try (so far). Not quite sure what is wrong, there is some heavy rattling in the engine.
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Lexical Data Management helps (with SIL software)

This is a quick note to record some of the things I have learned this week about working with lexical data within SIL's software options.

  1. There is information scattered all over the place:
  2. What should the purpose of the websites be? to distribute the product or to build community around the product's existence?

Business Intelligence

I was reading this article Buckle Up: Apple’s Next 3 Years Will Be Insane by Mike Elgan 2:49 pm PDT, Nov 9th 2013, On Cultofmac.com about Apple's business practices.

It reminds me, that regardless of which business we are in, we need to understand the problem space in which we are trying to make a difference. We could think about interactions through the eyes of web design and ask questions like, where are people having difficulties or where are they having less than satisfying experiences? We can ask these sorts of questions in a variety of business endeavors/markets on levels like scripture engagement and our experiences surrounding scripture engagement. We could ask the same type of question about academic and language-based materials. At all levels of inquiry and service delivery, an organization with strategic goals still needs to know: what the market is, and what the market member's pain points are. Additionally an organization needs to have the freedom creatively alleviate those pain points. Just because we can do something doesn't mean it's the right time to do something. Knowing when and how is still very important. By thinking strategically, one can make sure that the tools are in place to respond at the next opportunity. Acting strategically is carrying through with what was planned when the opportunity comes.

Adding white space to PDF after cropping

I have a PDF that I would like to crop to text and then add consistent white space (margin). The PDF was generated by a Bookeye 4 scanner. Which exported the content straight to PDF. So, I am trying to do this with Adobe Acrobat 9.2. SIL Americas Area Publishing suggested that I use ScanTailor - An excellent program, but one which I find crashes on OS X.

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