Sue Waters

This one’s driven me crazy!

My challenge had been deciding how to digitize a publication from 1929 so that others can easily read it.  Isn’t as simple as it sounds!

You can view larger versions of any image in this post by clicking on the image — once enlarged clicking on the image zooms it in closer.  

Background

I have a copy of “The Western Mail” Centenary Number publication which was published in July, 1929 to commemorate the 100 years of the founding of Perth and the establishment of the Swan River Colony, the first permanent European settlement in Western Australia.

The 80 page publication highlights development and history of Western Australia from 1828 to 1929 in Perth and country towns.  It includes photos from 1800’s to 1929 comparing changes in the city, towns, Parliament, transport, sport, fashions, primary production.   The publication was sold for 1/6 in July, 1929.

It’s packed full of content that could be used with students and will be helpful for those interested in history.

Below are some sample pages from the publication!

You can view larger versions of these images by clicking on the image — once enlarged clicking on the image zooms closer.  

Ideas for using with students:

You could ask students to share their thoughts of the following photo of the artist’s vision of what the future might look like in 2029 from page 39 of the Western Mail Centenary Number publication.

Key points:

• Size , shape and number of planes as well as a helicopter looking plane.
• Airship – Hindenburg disaster occurred in 1937
• Narrows bridge – built opened 1959.

Below is what Perth looked like to the artist when he drew his vision of Perth in 2029:

And this is what Perth now looks like:

Advertisements could also be used for class discussions.

Viewing the publication

I’ve uploaded my copy of the “The Western Mail” Centenary Number publication to a shared Google Photo.

Click on the image or link below to view my copy on Google Photos.

Western Mail Centenary Number 1929

63 new photos · Album by Sue Waters

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My mother inherited two copies of the publication from my grandparents (or great grandparents).  Her complete publication was stolen when she lent it to a friend for an event.   The copy I photographed is missing some pages from the front and back (pages 1-8 and pages 71 to 80).

You also find “The Western Mail” Centenary Number publication on Trove.

Sharing Options

Below is a summary of what I considered when sharing the publication for those facing similar challenges.

My key priority is to share the publication so others to easily read it.  The text in the article is fairly small. The sharing option needs to include the ability for readers to easily zoom into read text and photos closer.

The following options were considered after taking a photo of each page using my digital camera:

Option	Pros	Cons
Flickr slideshow	Can create a Flickr slideshow that can be embedded into a post. Readers can flip through slideshow directly in a post or page.	Zooming functionality requires readers to view the photos directly on Flickr. Flickr has advertisements on slideshows of free users. Change to Flickr ownership could impact Flickr usage.
Upload photos to blog	All images hosted on my site which enables readers to view them directly on my blog.	Zooming functionality harder to set up and isn’t as good as Google Photos or Flickr.
Shared Google photos album.	Easy to create a shared album and can add text within the album to provide context to the photos. Very easy for readers to zoom in on any photo using any device.	Isn’t possible to embed a Google Photos Album or Google Photos Slideshow directly in another website. Can embed a card using Embed Code Generator or link to a shared album.

All photos uploaded to this post have been set up so when you click on the image you view the larger version of the image and when you click on the enlarged version you can zoom into the image.

I’ve achieved it using the Lightbox for Images plugin with script for zooming the image once it loads with in the lightbox added using the Advanced Settings plugin.

Test how zooming works on the following photo by clicking on it!

• Once loaded in the lightbox you’ll see a zoom icon when you hover your mouse over the image.
• Holding the left mouse after zooming allows you to drag the image to view specific parts.

What else?

Leave a comment below if you have other ideas of how I could have shared the publication or if you have any other questions.

This post was written in response to Give it Away Now! – #EdublogsClub Prompt 14.