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February 2, 2006

scanning text with adobe acrobat

Any tips on adjusting the settings when scanning text into Adobe Acrobat so that you get crisp contrast between the black text and the white background in the resulting image? Currently, the background looks kind of dishwater gray, and the text can be a little fuzzy.

Update: The scanner in question is an HP Scanjet 5550C. Here's the simple solution:

  1. On the "Start" menu in the lower lefthand corner of Windows XP, point to "Programs," point to "Hewlett-Packard," point to "Scanners," and select "Photo & Imaging Director."
  2. When the Director opens, make sure that "HP Scanjet 4500c/5550C" is selected in the drop-down list.
  3. Click on "Scan Document"
  4. Select "Text as Image"; Destination: "Save to File"
  5. Click "Scan"
  6. When the scanner is finished, click "Accept," give the file a name, and save the file.

You can also use that dialogue box to adjust the settings for the "Text as Image" option.

Posted by at 10:55 AM | | Comments (3)

July 18, 2005

secret decoder ring sold separately

One of the diaries I examined during my research trip featured a shorthand system I couldn't crack. I have to admit, though, that I didn't pore over the problem for hours on end. Given more time, I would have devoted more effort to this particular puzzle. Consulting a couple of different eighteenth-century guides to shorthand systems didn't provide any solutions. (See this page and this page, for example.)

Richard Heitzenrater was the first contemporary scholar to explain the system used by the early Methodists at Oxford University, but that was not the system being used in the diary, either.

For the diarist, shorthand offers three advantages:

  1. It keeps information unreadable by the snooping eyes of those not familiar with the system.
  2. It allows information to be recorded much more quickly than would standard alphabetic letters, a feature which would be useful when engaged in aural/oral exchange.
  3. It takes up less space, allowing more information to be stored on the page or in unusual locations such as in the margins or squeezed between other lines of text.

Can you suggest any other advantages?

Posted by at 7:00 AM | | Comments (2)

word becomes flesh

Update from Shelley Jackson regarding her Skin project.

If you live in or near Seattle, then volunteer to be tattooed--or just come hang out--at the SKIN installation at the Bumbershoot Festival, September 2-5.

In addition to an exhibition of photos and documents from the project, we'll have a local tattoo artist inking words on the spot. You must already have been assigned a word--I won't accept walk-ins!

Skin Exhibit, 12-8 pm daily, at The Ink Spot
Shelley Jackson reading, Alki Room Saturday 5:30
Panel on "Word Becomes Flesh", Alki Room Sunday 3:30

Meanshile, on the other side of the country, Jackson takes part in the following recently opened exhibition:

INKED!
An exhibition of tattoo-inspired art, curated by Kóan Jeff Baysa
SICA: Shore Institute for the Contemporary Arts
Long Branch, NJ
July 15-August 20, 2005

Artists: Amanda Church, Don Ed Hardy, Joel Hilgenberg, D. Dominick Lombardi, Michelle Lopez, Betsabee Romero, Steed Taylor, Anna Tsubaki, Mark Dean Veca, and Shelley Jackson.

Posted by at 6:25 AM |