User talk:Durova

Hello Durova, welcome to Wikisource! Thanks for your interest in the project; we hope you'll enjoy the community and your work here.

You'll find an (incomplete) index of our works listed at Works, although for very broad categories like poetry you may wish to look at the categories like Category:Poems instead.

Please take a glance at our help pages (especially Adding texts and Wikisource's style guide). Most questions and discussions about the community are in the Scriptorium.

The Community Portal lists tasks you can help with if you wish. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me on my talk page! John Vandenberg (chat) 11:39, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

Your recent work
Hey Durova - in regards to your recent upload "Kiss Me, My Honey, Kiss Me": please make sure to add a license tag at the footer of the page, like or PD-1923. In addition, please, if possible, try to look for another source; in general, .com sites are really not reliable. Cheers, and best of luck! &mdash; Anonymous Dissident  Talk 07:34, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
 * All right; added PD tags for now. Mainly I'm uploading material for a featured sound candidate and noticed some redlinks by the same composer.  When restoration is complete you'll have the original musical score for "I Want to Go Back to the Farm".  Some of the others may be possible to locate also--yet that's hours in Photoshop and I thought I could get you started with other lyrics in just a few minutes.  Best wishes, Durova (talk) 07:43, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

You're doing fantastic work; a fan of Irving Berlin, or simply focusing on him out of curiosity? Any chance I can convince you to stick around even after all 900 Berlin songs are hosted? ;) Sherurcij Collaboration of the Week: Author:Isaac Brock 04:39, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Hi, thanks very much. I'm doing historic media restorations with a team of editors.  One of our goals is to provide a recording, a score, and a portrait for as many composers and songwriters as possible.  In order to help out Wikisource I've been uploading more material for some of the artists--the idea is to reach critical mass so that people have a reason to stay and help out once they're here.  We may be giving the media restoration undertaking an outpost on Meta because it's becoming increasingly cross-project.  Best, Durova (talk) 05:26, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Cylinders
Hi,

Because you seem to be working a lot with historic songs, I don't know if you know about this site, but it might be something worth investigating. It's a cylinder preservation and digitization project at UCSB's library. The songs in the original WAVs are under no copyright protection (but are also not restored in any way so have lots of clicks). And I've done a search and quite a few Irving Berlin songs are available for download in case you ever need more songs from him or other early performers.

I think your DYK is really neat and love the fact that you're doing old songs. :) —Zhaladshar (Talk) 18:03, 4 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Thank you, and yes we've been using that archive. They claim copyright on the restored versions, and although the claim isn't likely to hold water under American law we've been taking the unrestored files and restoring them ourselves. :) Durova (talk) 18:19, 4 October 2008 (UTC)
 * I like to think I sometimes get better results, anyway. Not always, but they often leave some distortion in that's fairly easy to remove. =) Adam Cuerden (talk) 20:56, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

missing handwritten page

 * From here

We have the first and last handwritten pages of the Morrill Act (1862): Page:Morrill Act - First Page.jpg and Page:Morrill Act - Last Page.jpg. Any chance you know where we can find the middle page, and higher res versions would be great. (the printed Statutes at Large edition is easy to obtain, but it is the handwritten one I would find valuable.) John Vandenberg (chat) 11:53, 13 October 2008 (UTC)
 * It looks like the National Archives hasn't digitized the entire manuscript. I'd suggest contacting them and explaining the request.  If a Wikisource regular is actually in Washington, D.C. and can visit in person that would be even better. Durova (talk) 17:29, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

"Unsorced"
Please don't read any criticism into my comments that isn't there. Battle Hymn of the Republic has stated right from the beginning that it is from the Atlantic Monthly of 1862. One could add that it is from the February issue. That is source information. When it seemed that you were asking about a scan, I merely pointed out that there was already one in the Wikipedia article. It appears that John has cofused things by putting both the scan and the text at Page:Battle Hymn of the Republic.jpg, and transcluded the text back into the proper article. The text does not match the scan! The poem which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly did not include the chorus for any of the verses, so it was not even OCR'd from the original.

I think that the proper original poem should appear on the article page where it can be a starting point for documenting subsequent variations, which can be linked by footnotes. It would be enlightening to have Julia Ward Howe's changes from her 1890s memoirs. The Atlantic Monthly article does not help us with the attribution of the work because it does not mention the name of the author, a practice which was all too common in publications of that day. According to Mark Steyn at www.steynonline.com/content/view/1281/30/ Howe only received $4.00 for her efforts.

Nobody is expecting perfection when you are working with imperfect material; it is enough that you contribute in good faith. In this case you ran into some problems that could have plagued anyone, new or old. This article has been misleading from the time it was first; you should be thanked for drawing attention to the problem. I think that your project to add sheet music is fantastic, and I absolutely support it. The fact is that in the past there has been no sustained effort to deal with musical material, certainly not enough on which to base any substantial and reliable conventions. Your being new should not be an impediment to your participation in the development of those conventions. If you happen to make mistakes that's no big deal. Fixing them up later is a simple fact of life in an imperfect world. Without mistakes innovation is severely restricted, just as much as it is by mindless adherence to convention. Eclecticology (talk) 05:08, 17 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Thank you very much for the thoughtful reply. As a relative newcomer I'm often shy about these things, wondering whether this or that question has been solved a dozen times before.  So I ask, and as often as not it turns out I'm treading new ground.  So I hope I don't ask too many questions and certainly don't want to step on any toes.  It's reassuring to see that response, and consider yourself welcome to implement any appropriate changes to the upload I did yesterday.  For the composers and songwriters subproject it seemed like the perfect fit to add Julia Ward Howe (our first female), but not being all that familiar with the full history of the song it came as a surprise to see the matter that complex.  Best wishes, Durova (talk) 05:18, 17 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Page:Battle Hymn of the Republic.jpg was created because an anon was "fixing" the text, (see User talk:69.107.107.43) but they didnt keep going. (And Ec. will probably/rightly say that is because it is too technical - not newbie friendly)  I have now proofread it, and heavily revised Battle Hymn of the Republic. -- John Vandenberg (chat) 08:36, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Wow, that looks good. :) Durova (talk) 10:40, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Congrats!
You are now a sysop! Let me know if you have any questions.--Birgitte SB  02:36, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Thank you! Durova (talk) 03:26, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

CotW: McCrae
In Flanders Fields would be a gem to clean up; I have a more interesting one coming... John Vandenberg (chat) 07:55, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
 * What do you have in mind for it? Durova (talk) 08:24, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

... moar sheet music. :-) John Vandenberg (chat) 09:36, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Music scores extension
There was mention of this on the Wikisource mailing list. You probably already know about it, but I thought I'd point you at it just in case. Hesperian 01:11, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

Hello I need you
Hi D, Want to invite you to join http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author_talk:John_Keats Um Audio Poetry ... poems by John Keats Please join us, Thankies, IDangerMouse (talk) 11:09, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
 * That sounds wonderful. I'm taking a few days' rest.  Will look into this when I return.  Cheers! Durova (talk) 15:14, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Song of the day
As it seems that you're one of the main people behind Song of the day, I was wondering if you think you're going to be able to keep this main page feature running. We've had a few days this month where there was no song of the day, and a few people have commented on Talk:Main Page, wondering where it was. I've also noticed that there aren't many more songs in the queue, so I'm a bit concerned but hope you're able to continue to help keep this feature alive. Thanks! --Spangineerwp (háblame) 02:19, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning, Oh How I Hate to Get up in the Morning
Hi Durova. One of these is yours, and you may want to make the decision on which should be kept. -- billinghurst (talk) 02:05, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Not to worry, John has merged it. -- billinghurst (talk) 04:30, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Knowing your predilection for music ...
Hi Durova. Congrats and welcome back. Do you want to have a look at Wikisource talk:Proofread of the Month especially the part about the Extension. I am interested in seeing if we can get it on the wiki, and at least test drive it. [FWIW River Tarnell the author seems to be in sweet with Toolserver community and the behind the scenes crowd] What are your thoughts?
 * Thanks for the link, will take a look soon. :) Durova (talk) 04:12, 7 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Thinking it over, I'll have to put it on the back burner for a while. Am taking a departure from music for two projects which ought to take a while to complete.  The first is the Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont.  It's an enduring reference work that still goes into republication, and it's quite long with a large number of illustrations.  When that's finished I hope to get to work transcribing the Mary Wollstonecraft's Original Stories from Real Life.  This should be a treat for two reasons: it appears this would be the first online version of the 1791 edition, and the Library of Congress has digitized William Blake's original drawings of the illustrations that he did for the 1791 edition.  Both of these are ambitious projects so it'd be best to focus for a while.  Thanks very much for thinking of me. :) Durova (talk) 18:03, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Suggestion
Hello! I think you suggested somewhere along the way, I give this project a try, and so I have signed up. How might I help? Best, --A Nobody (talk) 04:38, 30 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Hello. :) It depends what your tastes are; there's plenty to do.  Basically this project hosts public domain and free license texts.  I've spent most of my time here on music; Irving Berlin wrote hundreds of songs before 1923 and we've barely scratched the surface.  See User:Durova/Sheet music loading guide for step-by-step suggestions.  If that doesn't fire your imagination, let's talk about what else does.


 * Something worth mentioning: William Butler Yeats's works will be entering the public domain this coming January 1. Plus the work of most other Europeans who died in 1939 including Sigmund Freud and Ford Madox Ford.  Intrigued? Durova (talk) 06:37, 30 November 2009 (UTC)


 * How can we tell for sure if something counts as public doman or free license? Would any old song lyrics count, or say work by Poe, for example?  What about primary sources by people like Napoleon and his contemporaries (my real area of expertise)?  Best, --A Nobody (talk) 19:50, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Administrators confirmation
Gday Durova. Confirmation time and as I added it I noticed that you come up as inactive against the criteria. Not sure whether you wish to add a statement to your confirmation. — billinghurst  sDrewth  03:45, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

Userpage
Hi Durova, jsut wanted to inform you there is something wrong in the George M. Cohan section of your userpage. The file isn't there for obvious reasons. :-) Lotje ツ (talk) 09:58, 19 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Please elaborate. The only thing obvious is that an unspecified link is broken. Most of us are not in the habit of remembering exact filenames uploaded four years ago.
 * It looks as if the file has been deleted, although the absence of any associated link or filename it is difficult to conjecture why. It was a 1918 recording of Enrico Caruso singing a George M. Cohan composition.  Cohan published in the United States so the composition meets the pre-1923 US copyright rule; so does the performance.  Caruso died in 1921 so it also satisfies the life + 70 rule if the recording were made in Europe.
 * So this looks cryptic rather than obvious. Durova (talk) 00:01, 21 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks, cryptic is a better word indeed! Lotje ツ (talk) 05:55, 21 January 2013 (UTC)
 * lol, well it's amusing to get agreement. Not very useful but certainly good for a chuckle.  Best regards. Durova (talk) 16:10, 21 January 2013 (UTC)