Dingo Lady Project - Update

I thought I'd give you an update on the digitising and preservation of Berenice's records. 

The Dingo Lady Project is not limited to writing her biography but a commitment to preserving her records. 

This has been an enormous task to date and we've still got a long way to go. 

Most of the papers have been sorted and filed into broad categories; as have the photos and slides. For several months I have been doing a second sorting and filing at the same time scanning them. Many of them are carbon copies, thermal paper, have lots of handwritten notes or in some other condition that makes reproduction to PDF imperfect. These I have also been transcribing as best I can. (reading Berenice’s hand writing is a challenge at times) 

After sorting the photos according to size and subject I have catalogued about 10%. There is a lot I still need to identify.

We had started scanning them but the scan quality wasn't what we had hoped for. We also had a small slide scanner and actually got through scanning most of the slides (they take up a whole plastic tub on their own) but we were even more disappointed with the results so we have purchased, and just installed, a new super duper scanner and hoping it will give the quality we are hoping for. It is also capable of scanning 120mm film of which there is a handful of negatives mostly from her early life. 

We just set up a spare computer in the garage, with video card installed and hooked up to my old stereo. We are using this to copy the 100 or so videos and audio cassettes to the computer then after some editing they will be copied to DVD.

We will need to find someone who can copy 8mm film to DVD. There is only four but seem to be from the early days of the society or earlier.

I have often said that writing Berenice's biography is a two year project and even after all the time I have put in it is still two years before I can see it published. On top of all the scanning, recording etc, as we go through everything I am noting points relevant to Berenice's biography, reading constantly about Dingoes to update my own knowledge as well as maintaining the website, Facebook page and this blog. 

Obsessed? Maybe just a little but I see it as a labour of love for both Berenice and the Dingo. I hope when the project is complete more people will appreciated her lifetime commitment and hope it will bring about a greater understanding of the Dingo.