Posting Journals

imported
#1

Maybe I just missed it but have been searching for info on the most practical way to post my journals.
I see where there are people who volunteer to transcribe journals. Can anyone tell me about the most common techniques or point me to a place on the web where I can learn what has proven practical? Have even considered carrying a Palm Pilot but don’t want the weight.

Guess I now plan to post for myself when I get to town - using library computer or internet cafe type facilities if available. I could send paper notes home to my wife to post for me. Will carry small digital camera. How do people handle digital pictures?

Am considering practice of sending flash cards home for safe storage then receiving them back empty with other mail drops. Will Libraries allow you to upload pictures? I have a very light weight card reader but do not want to carry unless absolutely necessary.

John B. Braswell

#2

upon how much of a journal you keep and how current you want it to be. Several of us (Liteshoe, Goldberry, Footslogger et al) carried an 8 ounce Pocketmail. I know I spent an hour or so each night doing a good page. Cost was $149 plus 49.95 3 months service (1st 3 months included in 149) I believe Liteshoe talks about hers in one of her wrap up entries. Because I did mine religiously every night, I sent it as soon as I hit a phone and it was kept fairly current. I emailed it to my wife who then cut and pasted.

Some people write them out and send them snail mail…but that takes a lot of work by your transcriber and you can get behind and never get caught up. Having said that, some like Big Red did it this way and kept a great journal.

Many of the town libraries had limited computer access(some as little as 20 minutes a day), especially in the north. If you are days behind you won’t have enough time to post all of your entries.

One thing about doing a journal, once you’re through eating, cleaning up, and doing your journal the day is about shot, your tired and ready to crash.

Take care & Hike On.

Skeemer

#3

I suggest either using pocketmail or handwriting your journal and sending it to a transcriber. You simply won’t have the time to type it yourself when you get to town. Town time is important for relaxing, eating, resupplying, eating, showering, eating, doing laundry, and eating. I would think that your journal would become a low priority and you would eventually stop posting it. Also, computer time at libraries is limited, usually either 30-60 minutes, and that’s not enough time to enter 5 days’ journals.

I’ve kept 4 online journals and used 3 different transcribers, none of whom I have ever met in person. They all volunteered on the site, and I was lucky to always find transcribers who kept my journal up to date. You have to remember that transcribers have lives, too, and they will go on vacation, have work/family crises, etc. There will be times when your journal is not the most important thing in their life.

If you handwrite and mail your journal to a transcriber, you run the risk of losing an envelope in the mail. This has only happened to me once in 4 thru-hikes. If you use pocketmail, you run the risk of having something happen to your device, and you would lose what you’d entered. I’d suggest sending the pocketmail journal to two different email addresses, just in case something happens to the first one.

Two common threads that most journalists live by is to NOT write about trail romances, and to NOT mention other hikers by name/trailname when writing negatively about that person. These online journals are very popular, and you don’t want to hurt someone because of what you wrote.

There will be nights when you don’t feel like writing. When that happens to me, I write a few notes about what happened that day, so that when I eventually write about that day, I’ll remember what happened. Be honest in your journal. If the day sucked, write that. If your blisters hurt, write about that. There will be way more good things than bad things, but I think it’s important to write about everything. When you get home, and it’s December, you’ll enjoy reading about everything that happened to you on the trail.

Good luck with your journal, and have a good hike!

yogi

#4

I have been looking at a wide variety of pocket pc’s, telephones with internet access, etc. What type of reception do you have if you are using a cell phone with internet access to record your journal. Nextel has a phone with a really easy to use fold up keyboard. It will record approximately 500 words per page. What electronic equipment do you the experts use by brand name to record your journals. There is so much to choose from. Thanks.

wuzfat

#5

I volunteered for Crockett & Pasta this past summer. Crockett carried a pocketmail and saved all his emails until he could get to a phone then sent them, magically if you ask me, to my regular email address where they appeared, voila just like a regular email. All I had to do was spellcheck them, correct very few errors, and then copy and paste them into the journal section of the website. He gave me his password which let me edit, add, whatever I needed to do. A few times he snail mailed photographs to me which I scanned in for him and then uploaded to the site. It all worked seamlessly. The only time I got behind was because of schedule, not him. And it was just a few days. I think if you find the right volunteer and get the pocketmail you just can’t go wrong. A few times I had to e mail him back and ask him a few questions. I was supposed to do another hiker’s journal next year but I’ve lost touch with her, not sure what her plans are. If you don’t find anyone else keep in touch with me and I might be able to help you out. I enjoyed the whole process a lot. Take care. Allyson

AquaAllie

#6

Thanks loads for the response to my question about journals. What about the pictures? Seems that last year lots of pictures made it into journals rather quickly. Were people doing these from library computers or generally sending film home to be processed and scanned.
Any recommendations on how to handle digital photos?

I want to take pictures at high resolution but probably need to convert shots to be posted to small jpeg files. To me this means sending flash cards home for processing because libraries may not have the software to make conversions, etc.

Thanks for the comments on not having time to mess with all this journaling in town.

John B. Braswell

#7

I sent my journal snail mail, and I had a problem with the postings not being put up. I am currantly waiting to get my pages back so I can finish posting them. Pain in the butt! If you have someone who could just copy and paste on the web it would be easier. As far as pictures go, get an extra card, you could have them put on a disk at wallmart, or you can mail it to your wife. Just list the pictures for the day. Best of luck!:girl

Buttercup

#8

How do you find a transcriber??

my pocketmail died, so i’m trying to get a new one… and if I cant get it replaced in time, itll have to be handwritten! :slight_smile:

but I have no idea how to go about getting it put up?

Bloody Cactus

#9

All you have to do is ask…But I’m tied up, soory. As far as doing with a Pocketmail you just send your journal to whom ever and they can copy and paste it to Word or some other office program to cleam up the grammer/spelling if necessary and them paste it to your journal. Look at ours; www.trailjournals.com/rudolf We start with mile point, how far we’re going that day and from where and to.
eg; mile point 997.6 Barney Rubble Shelter, Burney Rubble to Betty Rubble Leanto 16.4. The journal has a mileage calculator built in so if you start out correctly it up dates itself. If you look in the Admin section of your journal, you have one right?, you just fill in the blanks. If you don’t have one yet e-mail Lief or Zip for details and a login and password.

Bushwhack