Crowdsourcing A Stamp Album

So, I had this idea...

I now have a script that will create boxes with descriptions, titles and pictures for a stamp album. I also have a tool where you simply enter stamp information and hit submit and it updates a file, allowing for the creation of stamp pages pretty quickly.

What I really don't have is time.

What I have done for Ukrainian stamps, I would like to do for Irish stamps also: create a nice album with descriptions that's free to download and use.

So my thinking was, if someone picked a country and entered all the data and emailed me the data file and stamp images, then I could lay out the pages and make a PDF rather quickly. If I could find a bunch of Irish philatelists willing to do this, we could probably create a complete album in less than a year.

EDIT: If someone picked a YEAR, not a country. I would hope multiple people would get involved in a country.

That is a great idea and someday when I retire I would love to be part of the effort for whatever country you are working on at the time.
Nick

I hear ya. I'm 43 with a 9 and 11 year old. I'm shocked I have time to crank out what I do.

You turn out some very nice album pages. Unfortunetly, Ireland is not in the family tree. I've been trying to do the US airmails using EZStamp/AlbumGen and it is harder than I was hoping for. Perhaps it is just the learning curve. I'm going to keep pushing until I'm happy with a product. One of the issues is, when the fall into my lap, I'll take PNS over singles and that requires a custom box and scanned image. All these things take an extraordinary amount of time and attention to detail.

I'm 75% Ukrainian and 25% German. My wife is 100% Irish. But we were both born and raised in the US. A lot of the people and events on these stamps are kind of meaningless to us, since we don't live in those countries. That's why descriptions are so important.

I have the choice of making my own pages for Ireland or buy the White Ace pages.

On page 2 of 2001 you show "Daniel of Galicia" who became King of Gilicia in 1205. My maternal grandfather was born in Galicia. I can remember my mother telling me my maternal grandfather was Polish while my maternal grandmother was Ukrainian. They were from a village in Galicia which presently straddles the border between Poland and Ukraine. The Polish/Ukraine border moved back and forth across Galicia during the WWI to WWII period so it was possible to come from one village but claim allegiance to either country. All this was further complicated post WWII when all of Eastern Europe became part of the Soviet Block. So, there, that's at least one tie in for me. And, that's why my family makes Pierogies & Gwumpkies for dinner every Christmas Eve!

Both my parents are from Galacia (known as Halychyna in Ukrainian). My dad is from a town called Yaniv and mom is from Sudova Vyshnia. My grandfather's sister married a Polish man and the family disowned her. My parents lived through WWII and managed to make it on foot from Ukraine to Germany and then by military boat to the US. The stories they tell are mind boggling. I remind my kids when they whine too much that their grandparents were lucky to even have FOOD when they were this age, let alone a game to play.

What data columns would you need - I might be able to provide some information as a start. (and possibly images)

I can give you an XML file and a Java app that will input the data. Send me an email and I will give you the details.