The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.32           September 14, 1998 
 
 
Volunteers Digitize First Pathfinder Book Cover-To-Cover  

BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS
Malcolm X on Afro-American History, the first book to be prepared in electronic format by volunteers in its entirety - from cover to text and internal graphics, is on the presses in Pathfinder's print shop.

"That's something worth celebrating," said Greg Sack in a September 3 telephone interview from his home in Cincinnati. "It's quite an amazing feat, something we couldn't have imagined was possible five years ago," he added, referring to the international effort to put into digital form the entire back list of 350 titles Pathfinder Press publishes or is responsible for keeping in print and distributing. "Developments in both politics and technology have made this possible," Sack added. "Because of the new kind of resistance by working people in this country and around the world to the effects of a capitalism system in deep crisis, which more and more people see, a lot of supporters of the Socialist Workers Party like myself who had drifted off from activity for a while have come back to the party and are looking for ways to advance the struggle."

Greg Sack, who has been working in the graphics arts industry for about 30 years, is part of a team of volunteers digitizing the covers and internal graphics of Pathfinder books. It took him and his wife Bobbi Sack about 45 hours to manipulate the digital files of photos, lay out the pages, produce high quality proofs, and correct errors. "We were careful with quality control," Greg Sack said, "though we still have to absorb the lessons of our first book."

Nearly 150 supporters of the communist movement around the world, organized by the Pathfinder Volunteer Steering Committee in the San Francisco Bay Area, are involved in the endeavor to digitize Pathfinder's arsenal of revolutionary literature. This has already made it possible to reduce the staff in Pathfinder's print shop by nine workers by virtually eliminating highly skilled and labor-consuming processes such as stripping film - enabling the publisher to keep its back list in print with less labor and at a lower cost for short runs.

Print shop workers are using the digital files of the books prepared by volunteers to produce film flats, through a recently acquired upgraded imagesetter, which are then used to burn printing plates. This step will also be bypassed when the shop acquires computer-to-plate technology that makes possible the production of plates directly from the electronic files. A capital fund has been launched to get this equipment, and $235,000 has been raised so far. (For donations to raise the additional several hundred thousand dollars needed write Pathfinder at 410 West St., New York, NY 10014.)

Greg Sack stressed that much of the effort spent in digitizing the cover and illustrations of the book by Malcolm X was a one-time expenditure of labor time to work out the kinks and set proper procedures and quality controls. "We believe our efficiency rate will go up precipitously as our organizing efforts gel," he said. "We are, after all, simultaneously setting up a whole new brigade of people digitizing graphics."

The Sacks worked through the Internet with another team of volunteers based in New York, organized by Mike Shur and Arthur Hughes, who have taken on the responsibility of organizing the production flow of digitizing the graphics for Pathfinder's back list. Shur scanned the art work for the cover and 23 illustrations inside Malcolm X on Afro-American History and sent the original files by e-mail to the Sacks. Many other volunteers in several cities scanned, proofread, corrected, and formatted the text of the book.

Members of the Young Socialists, the SWP, and other supporters and friends of the communist movement from a dozen cities in North America are volunteering for a Red Weekend at the Pathfinder building in New York September 6-7 to prepare materials needed by those digitizing covers and internal photos of Pathfinder books.

Red Weekend at Pathfinder building
More than 50 volunteers will assemble, carefully clean, and catalogue film with photos and other art work used in the 350 titles on Pathfinder's back list. These materials are now pasted on 5,000 film flats that will be disassembled over the weekend and prepared to be sent to the volunteer digitizers as they need them. Some of the supporters of the communist movement involved in digitizing Pathfinder books are also coming to help with the tasks at hand.

A couple of dozen of those participating in the Red Weekend will also clean up salt residues from the inside of the east wall of the building that houses Pathfinder's editorial facilities and print shop. That wall, which had been leaking every time it rained, was repaired this summer and is now sealed off from water penetration. Volunteers will also clean up and organize the tools and maintenance area in the basement of the building.

These steps will help maintain the structural soundness of the Pathfinder building, and improve the appearance of the physical plant and working conditions in the editorial and other production departments.

Many of those coming to join the volunteer effort will also have a chance to participate in political and social activities during the Labor Day weekend.

These include the Million Youth March in New York on September 5, a Militant Labor Forum in Brooklyn that night titled "Washington is the world's number one terrorist; speak out against the U.S. bombings of Sudan and Afghanistan," a class on the vanguard role of the Black nationality in the coming American revolution sponsored by the New York Young Socialists and SWP at the Brooklyn Pathfinder bookstore at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 6, and the Caribbean Day festival in Brooklyn the next day.

Anyone who would like to participate in the Red Weekend can contact Pathfinder supporters in your area, listed on page 12.

 
 
 
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