It took one trip in 2001 for Danny Orr to fall in love with Cape York. Since then, the intrepid historophile has made it his mission to preserve the region’s characters, legends, and myths for generations to come through book digitisation.
The first frontier
Aside from its Indigenous Australian inhabitancy, the exploration of Queensland – and its elusive northernmost tip of Cape York – is well documented in chronicled literature. But it was the quantum leap from analog to digital that proved the real challenge for Danny Orr, Managing Director of the Cape York Telegraph.
If only social media had been around in those times.…
Not all superheroes are from The Cape
Luckily, Danny Googled scanning services and found the next best thing – the Avantix solutions team – who soon discovered the problem to be threefold: the books were no longer in publication, the authors had mostly passed on, and the stories were evaporating into the ether, no thanks to the infamous local humidity.
If only social media had been around in those times…
Scanning the pages of history
Thankfully, Avantix know a thing or two about bringing old publications back into circulation. Utilising the latest technology for bound book digitisation, the books were scanned to high resolution images then converted to text searchable using a specialised form of Optical Character Recognition (OCR). With such a treasured set of titles – the goal was about preserving stories for future generations.
If only social media had been around in those times…
Colourful characters come to life
The final piece of the publishing puzzle was converting all of the titles to e-Pub and Kindle formats, bringing the authors and their legendary yarns into the modern era. Suddenly, a fading William Carron cover pops to life in pixels, a Glenville Pike tale graces the palm of the hand, and a Frank Jardine journey comes to life at the touch of a fingertip.
If only social media had been around in those times…
Gather ‘round the digital campfire
If social media had been around in the 1800s, it might have made Danny Orr’s mission to preserve the written history of Cape York a bit easier. As luck would have it, Avantix was there to help bottle his rare library into a unique digital archive, ensuring the spirit of adventure endemic to the region is now enshrined in ones and zeros, to be endured for decades to come.
Avantix specialises in historic bound book digitisation and paper record scanning into digital formats; like Cape York Telegraph Online Collection of Historical Books. Contact the Avantix team today on 1300 119 939 or info@avantix.com.au
