Data Hoarder

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We are digital librarians. Among us are represented the various reasons to keep data -- legal requirements, competitive requirements, uncertainty of permanence of cloud services, distaste for transmitting your data externally (e.g. government or corporate espionage), cultural and familial archivists, internet collapse preppers, and people who do it themselves so they're sure it's done right. Everyone has their reasons for curating the data they have decided to keep (either forever or For A Damn Long Time (tm) ). Along the way we have sought out like-minded individuals to exchange strategies, war stories, and cautionary tales of failures.

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How can I scan old newspapers at home? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I need to legibly scan/digitize whole newspapers. The sheets are roughly 34 x 24 inches (86 x 60 cm). The scanner on my printer is way too small. I've tried several (Android) phone apps, but they only operate on single photos, making small text illegible.

It feels like there should be an app for this. A document scanner that stitches images together like a panoramic photo. But I haven't found anything quite suitable.

I would greatly prefer a free (or cheap) solution. This is hopefully a one-time thing. I don't want to buy a flatbed scanner or send the documents away to some company.

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If you have a decent phone, I’d simply use its camera and a PDF scanning software. On my iPhone, I use the free Adobe Scan to create OCR:d (searchable) scans of newpapers. The quality is surprisingly good.

Only problem is with winkles/creases — if you’re serious about this, I guess you could try to put a glass or plexiglass ”window” on top of the newspaper to keep it flat?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I've scanned thousands of video game manuals- I have the pane of glass out of an 8"x10" picture frame for flattening pages. Works wonders.