GC transcript

[fish]

Hey guys!

I'm currently trying my hand at a transcript of GC. Mainly because I want to bring back the word count awards but am to lazy to count the words "by hand". So, naturally, my idea was to first painstakingly transcribe every word of the story, and then count them with a word count function or something. Would still be a hassle, but less of one.

Otherwise a transcript might be helpful if you are looking for a particular page but only remember a bit of dialogue, for example.

Now there is only so much time I can spend on mindlessly typing down words. I can at most manage 20 pages per week, depending on the wordyness. At this rate I would be doing this for two years, and I don't think I can stick to this rate. However, if, say, 25 people were to do 20 pages per week, we would be done in a month... *cough*

So, if you see any merit in a transcript of the story, have some time to kill and don't mind mindless transcription work, here's a link to the google document I'm writing it in. Any additions, suggestions and comments are welcome: transcript

Anyways, have a nice weekend, everybody!

[Gotolei]

I wonder if the data from this could be incorporated on louisxiv 's site when it's done. Would be extra handy.

If it weren't on gdocs I'd be pitching in, but for some reason that page runs like garbage for me.
Personal opinion a bit, but I feel like having it in table format instead of just plaintext or whatever isn't all that necessary. Might be easier to parse through and edit / add to in the long run if it were just kept simple.

[fish]

Alright, I'll try how it looks without the table.

If anybody has feedback about the formatting in general, I'm all ears. I'm basically doing whatever I like right now, but it's better if someone points out inefficiencies early on.

[Runningflame]

Nice! I put in some typo fixes.

SPOILER: Click to show

... And also noticed a few questionable typographical decisions by Tom... of which the clearest error was "girl's dorm" instead of "girls' dorm" on page 32.

Suggestions:

• You could use the left column to clarify things like "NO RUNNING" or "snap" with notes such as "Sign" or "Sound effect".
  
• It might be worthwhile to indicate that Shadow 2 is spelling out words with his shape, rather than speaking them.
• I think it would be helpful (though extra work) to separate between different speech bubbles of a single character. It's kind of odd sometimes, when there are several silent panels of action between two utterances by the same character, to have those utterances right next to each other in the transcript with no indication of the pause in between.
• For characters who get names later in the story (particularly Red and Ayilu, but this also applies to people like Basil whose names we don't know at first), should the eventual name be used from the start, or some description like "Red fairy" or "Minotaur"?
• (Not really pertinent to the above, but for what it's worth, Tom has separate entries on the cast page for the two fairies vs Red and Ayilu.)
• What are your thoughts about including the author notes in the transcript?

And a general question: Is the purpose of this project to create a searchable index of all the words in the comic, or is it to have a transcript that a person could follow, like a movie script? If the latter, it would need some descriptions of action as well as the words.

[fanofts]

Mar 3, 2017 19:03:56 GMT fish said:

...

Any additions, suggestions and comments are welcome: transcript

I like this a lot.
I needed to append the "?hl=en" to force google to use English - I travel in non-English locales and google frustrates that by insisting on the local language. The URL I use is docs.google.com/document/d/19oASQzDDyAydbpDEJfeOrGzrz-W8_NVsKCpSAx8gA9I/edit?hl=en

[fish]

Mar 4, 2017 6:48:01 GMT Runningflame said:

Nice! I put in some typo fixes.

SPOILER: Click to show

... And also noticed a few questionable typographical decisions by Tom... of which the clearest error was "girl's dorm" instead of "girls' dorm" on page 32.

Thanks for fixing the typos, I should probably run a spell checker from time to time, haha.

Suggestions:

• You could use the left column to clarify things like "NO RUNNING" or "snap" with notes such as "Sign" or "Sound effect".
  
• It might be worthwhile to indicate that Shadow 2 is spelling out words with his shape, rather than speaking them.
• I think it would be helpful (though extra work) to separate between different speech bubbles of a single character. It's kind of odd sometimes, when there are several silent panels of action between two utterances by the same character, to have those utterances right next to each other in the transcript with no indication of the pause in between.

Yep, those are good ideas, gonna do that.

• For characters who get names later in the story (particularly Red and Ayilu, but this also applies to people like Basil whose names we don't know at first), should the eventual name be used from the start, or some description like "Red fairy" or "Minotaur"?

I've been thinking about that. The best thing would probably be to call them by their name only after we've learned it. I want to be consistent but I don't want to call the blue fairy Ayilu right from the beginning. But then I'm gonna have to come up with temporary names for some characters, like Snuffle for example. Oh well, have to get that far, first.

• (Not really pertinent to the above, but for what it's worth, Tom has separate entries on the cast page for the two fairies vs Red and Ayilu.)
• What are your thoughts about including the author notes in the transcript?

Completely forgot about those! Since I want this to be a search tool mostly, adding the author comments might be a good idea!

And a general question: Is the purpose of this project to create a searchable index of all the words in the comic, or is it to have a transcript that a person could follow, like a movie script? If the latter, it would need some descriptions of action as well as the words.

My initial idea was the searchable index of every bit of text in the comic. To make it into a script that, say, a visually impaired person could follow with some text reading software, would be cool of course, but considerably more work. I'd like to finish the simple transcript before I dabble further, but if anyone wants to use what meager spoils of labor there are right now, go ahead!

[louisxiv]

How about making it a simple text or csv file for easy import/processing elsewhere, rather than a gdoc formatted as fixed width - is that easy to export?

I played with the transcript idea a while back with a view to adding it to the index, but time (and some concern over copyright) discouraged me from continuing.

What I came up with as a first pass at a flexible processable format was simply tab separated text. Example:


1 Annie My name is Antimony Carver. I would like to share with you the strange events that took place while I attended school at...
1 Title Gunnerkrigg Court Chapter 1: The Shadow and The Robot
2 Annie Gunnerkrigg Court does not look much like a school at all.
2 Annie It closer resembles a large industrial complex than a place of learning.
2 Annie Within the first week of my attendance, I began noticing a number of strange occurrences.
2 Annie The most prevalent of these oddities being the fact that I seem to have obtained a second shadow.
2 Notice NO RUNNING
3 Annie At times I would see this creature jump from shadow to Shadow
3 Annie once in a while hiding in the dark recesses of the Court.
3 Annie This made difficult my attempts to convey the situation to members of the faculty
3 Annie as my uninvited guest seemed to shy away from attention.
3 Annie More often than not, however, this Grim Spectre matched my every step.
3 Notice Study
3 Annie One evening, during solitary study
3 Annie I decided to confront the being.
3 FX snap
4 Annie Hello. Can you understand me?
4 Shadow Yes
4 Annie What do you want from me?
4 Shadow HELP
4 Annie Help?
4 Shadow ESCAPE
4 Spider !
4 Annie You want to escape? Where are you trying to go?
4 Notice Solitary study means just that

1275 Kat huh?
1275 Kat Is that... Annie?
1275 Kat Oh, she's running away...
1275 Kat I- I better deal with that...
1275 Kat Laterrrrrr
1276 Birds Chirp Tweet
1276 FX Clink
1276 FX Vrrrr
1276 Kat Annie!


CSV might be better as a resource for easy import/export to databases and/or spreadsheet.

Oh, by the way, that simple page number format breaks if you want to include the side comics...

You can get a lot of first (or significant) dialogue lines and some author comments from the source file for the character index, on GitHub, which might save a bit of retyping.

[Gotolei]

We're still kinda playing around with it in the Discord, but something like this seems to be the consensus so far:

#0200: Herein lie familiar faces.
Chapter 12: Mainly Involves Robots

#0201: Shadow2 and Kat hangin' out.
Annie: *Kat!*
Sound: SLAM!
Kat: Hi Annie! Take a look at this!
Kat: I figured out how *Shadow 2* talks!
Kat: See it turns out he isn't really a shadow at all.
Kat: He has a very slight mass on the molecular level that is so then it might as well be a layer of *light.*
Kat: Or *dark,* in his case.
Kat: He can make a noise by vibrating on the surface.
Kat: That's why the noises he makes are different depending on what surface he is on.
Shadow2: BWAAH! FNAR!

#0202: So "he" is talking with a girl's voice?
Kat: But watch this!
Kat: Hello Annie!
Sound: BUZZ
Shadow2: Hello Annie!
Annie: Kat, that's wonderful! He even sounds like you!
Kat: Yeah, he's really smart too. He's remembered a bunch of stuff already.
Kat: He understands words, but not how to make the sounds.
Kat: We could probably teach him english real fast.(colon seperator, mostly, with page numbers being the only lines to start with #, and chapter/bonus pages simply described)

Not sure how extra comics could be handled, yeah, but they're not exactly handled brilliantly on the site itself either. Letter in page number #A002 means side comic, and increment up to 26 times? Could just have them in different files or something, maybe.

And I'm not sure about transcript comments/commentary either. For a searchable tool, it might be productive to keep stuff that isn't strictly words in the comic out of it? That and it's much faster than figuring out ways to describe things like chapter 11.

[warrl]

Does Google Docs do spreadsheets? Or actual databases?

[louisxiv]

Mar 5, 2017 18:03:44 GMT warrl said:

Does Google Docs do spreadsheets? Or actual databases?

Google “Google Sheets” rather than Docs…

(Other cloud providers also exist)

[fish]

You guys are amazing, volume 1 is done already!

The most difficult part so far has been coming up with a consistent format, mainly because we can't all meet at the same time and hash it out. Once we do get a consensus on the formatting I'll be more than happy to go back and revise every chapter, for now we can focus on getting the chapters done.

I've made an overview of the chapter progress. As a Goolge spreadsheet, of course, because everybody loves Google producst: GC transcript progress

As I see it, after the first draft we need to double check a chapter for spelling mistakes, transcribing errors and formatting revisions, or something to that extent. I know some people have already gone over some chapters with a keen eye, but we should probably coordinate this somehow, so we don't end up doing work somebody else has done already.

[twilightfire]

is there a discord to talk about the transcript?

[Runningflame]

Mar 7, 2017 0:01:53 GMT twilightfire said:

is there a discord to talk about the transcript?

Discussion has been taking place on the GKC Discord under #general.

[greggorievich]

I ended up signing up for this thread specifically (though it's been sort of a long time coming and I look forward to jumping into discussions for new pages).

I don't know if the copyright on GKC allows this, but would it not be faster to find some good OCR software, or an online service? I have to imagine it'd reduce the workload a great deal, just pump all the comics through it, and then clean up/edit the output text.

[warrl]

Mar 7, 2017 20:42:54 GMT greggorievich said:

I ended up signing up for this thread specifically (though it's been sort of a long time coming and I look forward to jumping into discussions for new pages).

I don't know if the copyright on GKC allows this, but would it not be faster to find some good OCR software, or an online service? I have to imagine it'd reduce the workload a great deal, just pump all the comics through it, and then clean up/edit the output text.

Copyright would not be a different issue for that approach as opposed to manually reading & retyping. Either way, you're copying a substantial part of the work.

OCR, if it works well, would produce a usable extract of what is said. It would NOT tag each line with who's saying it, or give the setting, or describe actions. So it would be pretty limited.

Also, you can't scan a page at a time - you need to scan a frame, or even a speech bubble. Otherwise, two pieces of text on approximately the same horizontal line obviously belong together.

But I've done a handful of experiments, and "works well" is not a description I would offer. Between having to do a separate select-and-scan operation for each text item (if I try to do two at a time, the "it's on the same horizontal line so it goes together" rule applies even between separate scan areas), and the extraneous and incorrect characters (on the sample page I picked from another comic, the line "Hey, look at the window. It's morning. We've been playing all night..." became "FHey Lnok am the wlnflaw: Irs mnmlng We've been 7“ playing all nlgnt/"), I really think manually typing would be faster.

[Runningflame]

Speaking of copyright--does anyone have plans to ask Mr. Siddell for permission on this? If he gives it, we're in the clear. If he doesn't, we should probably stop now before spending more of our time on it.

[fish]

Mar 8, 2017 3:23:10 GMT Runningflame said:

Speaking of copyright--does anyone have plans to ask Mr. Siddell for permission on this? If he gives it, we're in the clear. If he doesn't, we should probably stop now before spending more of our time on it.

Damn, should have thought of this sooner. I'll write him an email right away.

[greggorievich]

Mar 8, 2017 1:02:19 GMT warrl said:

..."works well" is not a description I would offer...

Understood. I suppose I never considered that. Thanks for the enlightenment.

[Runningflame]

Mar 8, 2017 8:28:59 GMT fish said:

Mar 8, 2017 3:23:10 GMT Runningflame said:

Speaking of copyright--does anyone have plans to ask Mr. Siddell for permission on this? If he gives it, we're in the clear. If he doesn't, we should probably stop now before spending more of our time on it.

Damn, should have thought of this sooner. I'll write him an email right away.

Any update on this?

[Daedalus]

Mar 8, 2017 8:28:59 GMT fish said:

Mar 8, 2017 3:23:10 GMT Runningflame said:

Speaking of copyright--does anyone have plans to ask Mr. Siddell for permission on this? If he gives it, we're in the clear. If he doesn't, we should probably stop now before spending more of our time on it.

Damn, should have thought of this sooner. I'll write him an email right away.

Fair warning - I've tried contacting Tom Siddell like ten times to ask for his blessing on the GKC Spanish translation. He's never responded - the man is a ghost. Eventually we just threw up our hands and decided to do it anyway, while being sure to properly attribute it.

[keef]

It's a fan project, so maybe just treat it the same way as fan art. You don't need Tom's permission as long as you do not sell it/ make a profit out of it/ pretend it is yours.

Jun 27, 2012 22:48:09 GMT jombra said:

Jun 27, 2012 12:59:10 GMT Tom Siddell said:

I'll say it again:

Fan art is great! Everyone should draw fan art! I wish there was more fan art of my comic all the time!

Just don't sell it.

Do not sell it.

Do not sell my stuff!

It's amazing how much this needs to be repeated in order for people to understand.
HERE:

SPOILER: Click to show

Since this comic is technically fanart, the only right I have is to say who can use it, except Tom can use it even without my permission because it involves his intellectual property. (Neopets does this all the time with beauty contest entries and comics.)

But it's a silly comic, so you can all use it!

[keef]

I'm translating "Spring Heeled part 2" at the moment. I'm not certain if I'm going to translate the blocks of Gamma's telepathic monologue on page 729 but I made a transcription of the first block to see if I can make it work.
More may follow:

SPOILER: Click to show

isn’t it are you tired we can rest do you have a headache look out for the busses remember to cross when the green man

king but not when he is dancing I'll help you across that is a funny sign don’t you think can you tell me what it says I think

ps here are better than the ones on the other side of the bridge right I think they look nicer do you like the colours Zimm

ope you do do you remember when they put all the lights up at Christmas time and everyone is busy rushing here and there

the one time of the year you don’t mind all the people and that makes me so happy to see you happy like that Zimmy I rea

n’t wait for Christmas again and everything looks so different and all the strange food they have and the different sound

zzing in the air but not in a bad way in a way that makes you close your eyes and just listen to the sounds like the sound

e air vents behind the buildings when they are just humming and humming and it’s almost like you’re drunk but again not in

I should have known... It was already done when the page was published first...

Here, almost complete

[fish]

Jun 6, 2017 21:33:58 GMT keef said:

I'm translating "Spring Heeled part 2" at the moment. I'm not certain if I'm going to translate the blocks of Gamma's telepathic monologue on page 729 but I made a transcription of the first block to see if I can make it work.
More may follow:

SPOILER: Click to show

isn’t it are you tired we can rest do you have a headache look out for the busses remember to cross when the green man

king but not when he is dancing I'll help you across that is a funny sign don’t you think can you tell me what it says I think

ps here are better than the ones on the other side of the bridge right I think they look nicer do you like the colours Zimm

ope you do do you remember when they put all the lights up at Christmas time and everyone is busy rushing here and there

the one time of the year you don’t mind all the people and that makes me so happy to see you happy like that Zimmy I rea

n’t wait for Christmas again and everything looks so different and all the strange food they have and the different sound

zzing in the air but not in a bad way in a way that makes you close your eyes and just listen to the sounds like the sound

e air vents behind the buildings when they are just humming and humming and it’s almost like you’re drunk but again not in

I should have known... It was already done when the page was published first...

Here, almost complete

Oh! Thanks for the resource!

[Runningflame]

Updated links, since I don't see them anywhere on this thread:

• Volume 1 - Orientation
• Volume 2 - Research
• Volume 3 - Reason
• Volume 4 - Materia
• Volume 5 - Refine
• Volume 6 - Dissolve
• Volume 7 - Synthesis
• Volume 8 - Catalysis
• Transcript Progress

[gpvos]

Mar 4, 2017 22:34:40 GMT Gotolei said:

We're still kinda playing around with it in the Discord, but something like this seems to be the consensus so far:

Too late now probably, but it might be an idea to conform to the format of the transcripts in OhNoRobot: www.ohnorobot.com/

[Runningflame]

I just transcribed the best page in Gunnerkrigg Court. It was... quite an experience.