[Clipart] OCAL identified by IBM as resource for Linux migrations

Thu Dec 30 11:30:22 PST 2004

Well, I think we should start the focus on this for OCAL next xmas season, 
however I can see how cards are needed year round. I'm not sure about providing 
full printed cards however, as this requires manufacturing/assembly. I do think 
that if you all are interested this should be added to the repository. Maybe 
there would be a way to automate this process of making cards as well. This 
might take the form as well as a wizard (template) for Inkscape (maybe an 
extension).

However, I also think that OCAL needs to stay specific and on target with its 
mission statement and I see how moving to developing cards and card automation 
would be possibly a little far from the goal of the project.

But, this might be a good little sub-project to help drive OCAL's usage.

On a personal note, I find kinds totally annoying, but I think the best 
sentiment is a personal one. I have started in my family to make waves in 
noticing how generic cards are constructed now. I make all the cards I give out 
and even have custom cut card stock paper and folded it and have envelopes ready 
for the times when cards are to be sent out. If  you all are really interested 
in this, I recommend we make a section on the wiki for this type of template and 
how to automate the creation of postcards (as well as some templates with text) 
for use in Inkscape.

Jon

Bryce Harrington wrote:
> On Mon, 27 Dec 2004, Jonadab the Unsightly One wrote:
> 
>>Bryce Harrington <bryce at bryceharrington.com> writes:
>>
>>>I happened to be reviewing IBM's recently published book on
>>>migrating to Linux desktops and got to section 4.3.3 Standardization
>>>issues.  They mention that the company logo and other brand graphics
>>>need to be part the standardized desktop, and that simple bitmap
>>>graphics are not really state of the art.  They then go on to
>>>describe SVG, and they list www.openclipart.org, along with a
>>>screenshot of our clipart!
>>
>>Very cool.
>>
>>I do believe that a library of open SVG clipart is a compelling thing.
>>I wouldn't have put the time into this project that I have if it
>>weren't useful to me, and I suspect that if it's useful to me, it'll
>>be useful to others too.
> 
> 
> *Nod*
> 
> Along those lines, I have a proposal.
> 
> One of the reasons I myself put time into the project was because I
> wanted to be able to use Inkscape to produce Christmas cards, yet had no
> artistic talent.  This was also the motivation for doing the theme-based
> releases.  Sadly, due to the freedesktop.org compromise and my inability
> to get it back up and running quickly, the outage meant we could not
> collect Christmas clipart, so once again I had to resort to commercial
> bought Christmas cards this year.
> 
> Now, you'll probably think me a nut but I get really angry buying
> Christmas cards.  My family takes giving Christmas cards very
> seriously.  My mom finds the sentiments expressed to be very important,
> my dad loves the imagery, and my sister the humor.  Yet shopping for a
> card is a royal pain, because these days there are so few options!  Only
> the best stocked Hallmark stores have more than a couple choices per
> relative.  Heck, I had to go to _three_ stores to find *any* cards for a
> grandmother (and she doesn't even remember who I am so I could probably
> give her *any* card).  Finding a card for an adult, unmarried sister
> from a brother is *quite* a challenge; fortunately, she appreciates the
> humor of having an imaginary (and occassionally god-fearing) husband.
> 
> I can definitely see why stores stock so little choice - they know that
> if you're buying a card for a given relation, by and large you'll choose
> whatever they give you; they can maximize their profits by maximizing
> the number of holidays and number of relations in a given amount of
> space, and thus want to minimize the space per relation/holiday.
> 
> Of course, this is not to mention the _prices_.  Five dollars for a
> card??  I could understand that for those fancy cards with cellophane,
> high quality paper, and professionally done art and poetry, but these
> days they're just cheap cardstock with generic recycled platitudes and
> forgettable artwork. 
> 
> This year when we were passing the cards around, my family all shared in
> my feelings, and we determined that next year we want better choices.
> 
> For Christmas 2005, I want to be able to create all my own Christmas
> cards, with personalized phrasings of my own choosing, printed with Free
> art, and printed on good paper.  I have no idea how to do this, and in
> fact I don't even have a color printer, but I figure I've got a year to
> do it.
> 
> I think this would be an excellent thing for the community, and would
> love to share this effort through OCAL.  I'm sure my cards would be too
> specific to my family, but perhaps others could reuse the process, share
> art, adapt the wording, etc.  Maybe working together at it, cards for
> other holidays could be created, too.
> 
> Would anyone else be interested in collaborating on figuring out how to
> do this?  I figure it would involve experimenting with good ways of
> printing the cards, creation of a good template, and accumulation of
> some high quality holiday artwork.  Perhaps we could figure out how to
> emboss cards or add cellophane and such to make them look a bit more
> professional.  
> 
> Bryce
> _______________________________________________
> clipart mailing list
> clipart at lists.freedesktop.org
> http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/clipart
> 
> 

-- 
Jon Phillips

1528 Alice St. Apt. #4
Oakland, CA, USA 94612-5004

USA PH 510.499.0894
jon at rejon.org
http://www.rejon.org

Inkscape (http://inkscape.org)
Open Clip Art Library (www.openclipart.org)
CVS Book (http://cvsbook.ucsd.edu)
Scale Journal (http://scale.ucsd.edu)	