File talk:Meyers b1 s0001.jpg

This is the talk-page for File:Meyers_b1_s0001.jpg.

Updated scope as Book 1 page 1

06-March-2009: I have updated the description to indicate that this image is the first page (among the total 16,600 pages) of the German illustrated encyclopedia Meyers Konversationslexikon, 4th edition, volume 1 (1885-1890). Note that the source-pager template is set to designate the "prior page" as also "0001" to prevent backup to page zero:

{{PD-Meyers-pages|1 |0001 |0002 }}

Nearly the entire 16 volumes (averaging 1,025 pages each) have been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as 16,600 images of either the German text or ~190 illustrations. The missing pages (as of May 2009) are the final 500 pages in volume 4 (near page File:Meyers_b4_s0536.jpg). The illustration pages should be page-number linked by letter-suffixes, such as on page "0148b":

{{PD-Meyers-pages|1 |0148a |0148c }}

For the 190 illustrations, estimate 3*190=570 such lettered page-links (count 3 for pages before/on/after each illustration). -Wikid77 12:56, 9 May 2009 (revised)

Priorities: Why Meyers is important

09-May-09: The Meyers Konversationslexikon encyclopedia (4th edition, c.1885-1890) is a well-known, illustrated encyclopedia (with some color images) which exists on Wikimedia Commons to provide public-domain data for images and German text circa 1885-1890. Two later volumes were written (not yet on Commons), from 1891 & 1892 (as appendix "update pages") but the main volumes stop at 1890. Those 16,600 page images can be used for many purposes, for example:

• Page images can be used to illustrate old Germanic "runic" font.
• Page images show Latin used Latin alphabet, not Germanic-runic.
• Page images show the printing styles of Leipzig/Vienna in 1890.
• Page images can be quoted as sources (I used Vol. 1 page 1 for WP en:A.E.I.O.U., as independent source #2 fixing "cite-needed").
• Many pages confirm German writing used hyphenation in 1890 (using a trailing "=" sign), such as "Sauer= kraut" or "Beetho= ven" (to wrap "Beethoven").
• Many pages confirm old German writing used "th" for modern "t".
• The illustrations, themselves, are a sort of "Gray's Anatomy" cult-level collection of drawings from the era, showing many plant species, but also the machines and technical diagrams pre-dating 1890.

Many later editions of Meyers encyclopedia have been created (not yet public-domain), written all through the World Wars, so the current images on WM Commons also allow comparisons to those proprietary editions, as well. In short, this is a high-priority collection of images, with much current and expected future use. That's why the bother to maintain 16,600 page descriptions +source +date +author, +image links, etc. -Wikid77 12:56, 9 May 2009

Readership: 15,000 pages read weekly

09-May-09: Perhaps the most surprising fact is that the whole Meyers is read on Commons, every week (well, at least 15,000 of the 16,600 pages, in my estimate). Most pages are read by various people every week, averaging 1-6 pageviews per week. Obviously, with 16,600 total pages, individual people are not each reading all the pages, each week. (Who would read 15,000+ pages in a week, anyway?) And hence, the pageview stats confirm the pages are read on scattered days:

Pageview stats Vol 1 p.   1: stats.grok.se-b1_s0001.

Pageview stats Vol 1 p. 99: stats.grok.se-b1_s0099.

Pageview stats Vol 8 p.734: stats.grok.se-b8_s0734.

Pageview stats Vol 16 p.98-99: stats.grok.se-b16_s0098, stats.grok.se-b16_s0099.

Most pageviews are not consecutive pages read on one day, or by a bot-reader assigned to check each page, in sequence. No, the total of 15,000 pages (weekly) is read by 15,000 scattered reader requests.

Despite the pages being written in old German "runic" font, they tend to all be viewed, by someone somewhere, every single week. Volume 1 page 1 is read the most (File:Meyers_b1_s0001.jpg), averaging ~8 times per day. So, no text page is truly "popular" (in the sense of modern photos viewed 100x per day); however, on balance, the entire Wikimedia Commons version of Meyers encyclopedia is being read every week. -Wikid77 (talk) 12:56, 9 May 2009 (UTC)