This video comes from the official Internet Archive TikTok page. I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse lol!

https://www.tiktok.com/@weareinternetarchive/video/7329355972428696874

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://www.piped.video/watch?v=QThaHpkFVzw

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

Gotem

I think this is one of those things that seems like it should be easy to automate, but actually has lots of hidden complexity.

They probably don't use this to scan commonly available books, because for those you can just cut the spine off the book and scan the pages in a regular scanner.

This is likely used for books that need to be preserved and can't be damaged during the scanning process.

How do you make a machine that will always turn exactly one page and never tear a page, while adapting for different page sizes and thicknesses, and avoiding the static charge that can make pages stick together? All for less money than it costs to pay people to operate this machine.

We should start doing charity style TV ads.

"You, too, can help us build page turners and save the lives of dozens of archivists. Just £2 a month will allow Margaret to finally rest."

I'd just use a bandsaw to cut off the spine and stick it in a document feeder.

Do you remember the results of those speed scans? Crooked pages, parts of the document cut off, blurry scans, etc.

It was a lazy method that resulted in a lot of junk data.

Google have digitised a lot of books using some more advanced tech, though they started out with something a little like this.

That would be interesting to see!

This is probably the method that gives you the best quality (deskewing, lighting) without cutting the back of the book and feeding it into a scanner. (AFAIK)

I saw a book scanner similar to this one that used a vacuum to turn pages but otherwise same principle.

And limited to 25 years. This 100 years is bull shit.

I also learned that you can copy a video link and paste it into VLC media player and it will play!

You can also use this trick to download YouTube videos without the need of a 3rd party website!

1. Copy the URL of the YouTube video you wanna download

2. VLC / Media / Open network stream... And paste your URL

3. Once the video has opened, Tools / Media Information

4. Copy the URL in the "Location" field and paste it into your web browser, you should have the option to save the video

It's a couple of steps but once you memorize what you need to do it's a million times faster (and I'd wager equally times as private) than finding one of those websites to give you a link.

Meditation practice helps with this kind of thing.

What OS are you on? The video plays fine for me in Firefox on both Windows and Android.

Also I think the codec is more likely to blame than the hosting provider.