The simplest goal at hand here is to replace or repair the failing Waterford website. Keep it as simple as that and you eliminate impossible goals and lofty aspirations of "Every person actually working together towards a common goal."
The steps needed to make this happen are as follows:
Collect raw data.
Only actual undisputable Schwinn Company
printed material with main focus on displaying
one image at a time, or perhaps just start with
the data from the Waterford Server with plans
to update. Have an open discussion with the
Waterford folks about how they approached it
and the potholes that they hit.
Compile raw data into a useful/universal digital format. Have a database of image files on a hard drive.
PDF? Black and white or color? Watermarks?
Headers? Footnotes? Page numbers? Years?
OCR, searchable text for quick search?
Embed links to discussion about inherent
catalog flaws! This would be later in process.
This will be the most tedious part of the work,
but is something that can honestly be done
from a mobile phone, making sure at least an
entire individual catalog is scanned by the
same person so that related image files look
and perform the same. Once the conversion to
digital is done, the preservation is done for as
long as the hard drive will last. The valuable
aspect is when all of that raw data is put
together in one place and made accessible.
Organize a reference system. This will be the digital space linking between the images.
Html? Java?
Keep it as simple as possible while
maintaining searchability.
Build a website that will function from the
computer it is currently hosted on.
Find a hosting platform.
By this point you will have a rough idea of the
size of the data you intend to publish to the
web.
Find funding for the web hosting.
Decide on advertising, paid subscription, or a
one time fee.
Decide on being able to update the site when new information is available and determine who maintains that information and/or a group to vote on these changes. PLAN FOR SUSTAINABILITY.
You could stop at the first two steps and go straight to individual purchase of a digital download or paper copy. I feel like digital format is the way to go for accessibility and searchability. Moving forward, younger generations have been using less and less paper copies, though I do know the value of holding all that information in one hand. In college, having a word searchable PDF version of a 1000 page document was such a time saver! A word search could be direct and to the point and more comprehensive than browsing pages for hours on end while your eyes are growing tired.
I know the BikeHistory org website is full of it's flaws and ads that make it unusable, but I like it's layout for doing research, with a link for catalog scans of just one bike model in one place, or just the one particular year. A separate more defined accessory section would be nice, as well as a section for yearly Retail Price Guides that show the models(have that as a basis for links?). I'd say the downside to that site is lack of listening to it's users' input to maintain correct information. The way I see Waterford was successful was just presenting original data with limited bias.
I'd be willing to work on some of the transition from paper copy to digital format. I can contribute what little catalogs that I have if a project is started. I am willing to work at it until it feels like a job or a boss that I no longer want!
It would be nice for the Waterford site to remain functional, but I've not heard of any representatives of the site mention what is currently happening and I believe quite a few folks would like to see an overhaul.
Also not trying to step on what
@SirMike1983 said, but he finished his post before me. Ha
