project thoughts- a WSS loose leaf manual

koyote

koyote

Joined
Mar 29, 2007
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I've been messing with radios this weekend, giving a few of my girls a workout to do an in depth review of the fr-200 and the mini 300PE. Several things came up and jelled with some earlier thoughts I've had.

I'd like to work on a project to have a members maintained and built customisable field manual. The basic idea follows the lines of some of the custom pocket organizer and 3x5 card organizer projects online.

What these projects do is provide printer templates and systems for making your own planners, with options for things like quick reference cards and such.

I've also got several pocket encyclopedias for various trades and professions, and while all are useful, none are RIGHT. As in proper to my needs. Survival or shop.....

So, here's the proposal:

We take a format that we can agree upon- my favorites are 4x6 photo prints or business cards. Then we start adding data, making the pages or cards to suit ourselves and to share. This can be broad based- I'd add repeater directories and ham/ares/red cross/shortwave radio pages, myself. But plant ID, surival data, weather patterns, nav aids- anything goes. Because we can carry what we need!

Using the business card size format, you could carry loose like a deck of cards, or have a single hole punched in the corner and carry on a ring. Or even enlarged and carry in a small 3 ring binder. I like business card size because anyone with a printer can print business cards out, and if there's enough use, cards can be mass printed.

The 4x6 photo option is also great- anything can be saved as a .jpg file and taken to a drugstore for a 10 cent a copy full color printout (but you won't get double sided, which you CAN get with business card printing). The size format is a bit larger and I really like smaller formats if the information can be written to fit.

My knifemaker business cards are actually done with the photo printer method, I print 4 cards on a 4x6 photo and cut them to 2x3 and they are gorgeuous. full color printing gives a lot more options for plant ID and such, but you can do that on business cards, too.

I'm floating this as a brainstorm, and would love to hear responses. the image files can go up on a website for easy access, and one of us could probably take finalized pages and start printing them for distribution if it gets that far.....
 
I'm in! I like the idea of full color cards. I'd be glad to help out with the website as well, I have plenty of space on my host.
 
I guess the first part is getting people to put data out there. For photo format you'd need to produce a jpeg, or type up stuff and have someone with gimp or photoshop make the photo image. for business cards it might be a bit easier or a bit more difficult. I don't know of a business card format as such.
 
I really hope something like this gets done. Being a "n00b" myself, it'd be great to have something to reference to.
 
I love that idea and would be glad to hep out however I can. I have quite a bit of time.
 
That would be fantastic, I know I have trouble finding info for edible plants, loacal parks for certain cities, natural cumbustable materials (most of them are knowen, but you get the idea)

I would be in to pitch in what I know and can find out.
 
Oh, is there a thread that could be stickeyed that all put info on to start the accumulation of information on the site, then move to info avalible on buyable cards?
 
Maybe we could start by asking people to suggest their favorite thread(s). We could get a list of threads, fold the best parts into a pps, ask for opinions, etc.. I know the bibliography alone would be pretty massive. It's amazing the list of books, movies, youtube clips, articles, and web pages people here can come up with...Once a list of threads is more or less complete, I'd bet we'll find that there is enough material to fill several massive books. I think we could fill up a deck of 4x6 cards, for example, just regarding ignition sources, their associated modifications, means of transport, techniques of application, etc. if you really wanted to do justice to the topic. There is truly an enormous amount of material in WSS.
 
Have you considered the Rite in the Rain Leaf Copier Pages?

http://www.optactical.com/riinraloleco.html

This format is large enough that sketches and notes can be taken, as well as print jobs from the forthcoming WSS notebook cannon.

The pre-perforated (holes) margin allows using a binder as an option, or the pages can be bound together by A&P Mechanic rings.

Lastly, a standard format like this means pages can be traded about when a download format won't work (high resolution pictures, etc).

Pilots approach pockets are also an option, but those tend to collect water and dust.

Food for thought...
 
that's not a bad format. For formatting my real concerns are avilability and "openness"- I don't use nor have windows or mac OSX anywhere in the house, for example.

Business card format is small, but otherwise works well in a lot of ways. the 4x6 photo format works well because nearly any drugstore these days can take the jpg image file and print it at low cost in a self serve kiosk.

This slightly larger format is good, especially the material, and there's no real reason it can't work WITH the 4x6 format, as well. I worry mainly about supply and accessibility (to printers and software)
 
But what we really need to start with is data- First aid, plant ID, skills....

For an example, if Doc-Canada did something with small photos and instruction notes on bassic structural knots, then basic net making, etc.- we could, whoever like photoshop or gimp work, make cards up for that.

If we all took photos of plants we DO forage, with our knowledge of region and seasonality, that would be a good one to start. Obviously we need QC and checks against field guides and such. But plant lore- both edible and "making" would be a really good use of the power of a group of people.

First aid, basic stuff like rescue symbols, firemaking, shelter building, weather data. We've got a lot in here. There's no reason we can't put out a LOT of pages, the joy of single sheet pages is the ability to tune your personal carry encyclopedia to your environment, kit, and goals.
 
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