[MR] RE: A (Probably Ridiculous) Heraldic Suggestion

[Mark Bush (personal account)]

Disclaimer: This is NOT a commercial, ... just a quick evaluation of an idea
which falls in the realm of my professional expertise. If it seems
otherwise, I humbly apologize.

In my professional life, I sell document management systems which make
documents (read: "pictures of heraldry") available to view over the
Internet. The cost of such a system to store and view heraldry is probably
prohibitive unless the system might be in use by the Kingdom or the Society
for another purpose or purposes. (Did I hear someone say that keeping up
with all these waivers is a real b*&%#?) 

If it WERE in use for some purpose, all that would be involved is coming up
with some way to index the heraldry (maybe Kingdom, SCA Name, Mundane Name,
and use a Keyword field which could hold the blazon (text description of the
drawing?). That way, if you wanted to look up all heraldry with a rampant
lion in Atlantia, all you would have to do is enter "Atlantia" under the
Kingdom field, and "rampant lion" under the Keyword field. All documents
(drawings) which are registered to members in Atlantia which include
anywhere in the blazon the words "rampant lion" would show up and you could
then browse through them to see the graphic. 

I think that this could be a GREAT way to assist the Kingdom and Society
heralds and make coming up with new heraldry much easier. The O&A is great!
Don't get me wrong, but how much better would it be to SEE the heraldry
while you are conflict checking. All that is required would be for the
Society's designee to scan the art and save it into the system. Granted,
there would be a large backlog which would need to be scanned, but it would
be much easier to start with current submissions and backfill as staff is
available to scan. My company does backfile conversions as a service to our
clients and most choose to use a "day forward" strategy for document
scanning. 

There should be a financial advantage however for this to be a smart project
to undertake. Can we free up office space by eliminating filing cabinets?
Can we do work faster or with less demand for resources? Can we put a value
on speed in submissions or finding paperwork for whatever business purpose
might arise? Only then would it be advisable to seriously investigate how it
could be used.

If someone with authority wanted to explore uses for Document Management
systems within the Society or Kingdom, I would be glad to consult on the
project (gratis). I do it professionally and would be glad to contribute any
way I could for the Kingdom or Society.

William of Glencoe
Barony of Black Diamond
Mka Mark Bush
Old Dominion Data Systems, Lynchburg/Roanoke, VA


-----Original Message-----

Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 21:12:00 -0400
From: adams at coastal.edu
Subject: [MR] A (Probably Ridiculous) Heraldic Suggestion
To: Merry Rose <atlantia at atlantia.sca.org>
Message-ID: <1115860320.4282ad605cbb3 at mail.coastal.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

First let me say that I honor the Heralds for their learning and for the
magic they do - however...

When I was deciding on a device a few years ago, the problem that bothered
me most was that I had no visual images representing the devices that were
already registered by those older-than-me-in-the-SCA.  I know that the OP
has the blazons in Herald-speak, but I am not multilinguial.

I thought first of a centralized databank of images, but someone would have
to be in charge of it (don't look at me, I don't speak computer-code
either), and it would be a huge responsibility.  Also, at one time, I would
have said that any such visual database was (way, WAY) beyond the existing
technology, but things have changed for the better.  Most groups that I've
searched for inside and outside of Atlantia seem to have an internet
presence.  Wouldn't it be neat if each group could create a set of pictures
or drawings of their members'
devices and badges, and put them online?

If this happened, anyone could find images of lots of devices to get an idea
of both the possibilities and the things to avoid.

On reflection, I bet that this has been discussed before, and rejected for a
variety of reasons.  But maybe it's time to revisit it.

What do you all think?  Mistress Alisoun and Master Eldred especially, wade
in here, please.


Can never leave well enough alone - Lina St Albans (Wanna hear my plans for
reforming the law of gravity?  That's next)