Catalog and organize all the things!
October 29, 2015 2:05 PM Subscribe
I enjoy what you might call "putting things in order": cataloging, editing, sorting, organizing, compiling information from disparate sources into a single uniform format, arranging things into sets, etc. What hobbies or pastimes might I enjoy?
Examples of what I mean: finding all the collectibles in a video game; contributing to wikis and online databases (especially ones that seek to catalog and document all the specimens of category X); applying HTML markup to a complex written work (à la Project Gutenberg). Nothing too rote or paint-by-numbers (so, no Sudoku), but nothing too demanding, either—just an outlet for that urge to turn mess into order, hopefully with some kind of concrete and lasting result to show for it.
It's a nerdy thing, but there are times when I find it relaxing—I guess it comforts me to know that, amidst the chaos and discord of the world, at least this one tiny little corner of it is orderly, harmonious, and judiciously edited and cross-referenced.
Bonus points if it contributes to the world in some small way, like Gutenberg.
Thanks!
Examples of what I mean: finding all the collectibles in a video game; contributing to wikis and online databases (especially ones that seek to catalog and document all the specimens of category X); applying HTML markup to a complex written work (à la Project Gutenberg). Nothing too rote or paint-by-numbers (so, no Sudoku), but nothing too demanding, either—just an outlet for that urge to turn mess into order, hopefully with some kind of concrete and lasting result to show for it.
It's a nerdy thing, but there are times when I find it relaxing—I guess it comforts me to know that, amidst the chaos and discord of the world, at least this one tiny little corner of it is orderly, harmonious, and judiciously edited and cross-referenced.
Bonus points if it contributes to the world in some small way, like Gutenberg.
Thanks!
The Smithsonian is looking for digital volunteers to transcribe their collections: https://transcription.si.edu/
posted by galvanized unicorn at 2:18 PM on October 29, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by galvanized unicorn at 2:18 PM on October 29, 2015 [8 favorites]
Jigsaw puzzles scratch this itch, tho obviously they're not particularly pro-social. To solve big 1000+ piece ones, you categorize the pieces into color groupings first, and then you can do subcategorizations as you become more aware of fine distinctions.
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:23 PM on October 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:23 PM on October 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
you could learn to program. i am pretty sure this is part of what i enjoy about programming (and i do it in my free time as a way of relaxing and enjoying myself).
ps. although i guess it may be a steep learning curve before the "being tidy" part is more important than the "what on earth am i doing?" part.
posted by andrewcooke at 2:44 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
ps. although i guess it may be a steep learning curve before the "being tidy" part is more important than the "what on earth am i doing?" part.
posted by andrewcooke at 2:44 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I am a web developer. :) But, yeah—exactly that itch.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 2:46 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by escape from the potato planet at 2:46 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
stamp collecting
proofreading for gutenberg
catalog documents for local historical society
galaxy zoo or that type of thing
posted by irisclara at 3:13 PM on October 29, 2015
proofreading for gutenberg
catalog documents for local historical society
galaxy zoo or that type of thing
posted by irisclara at 3:13 PM on October 29, 2015
I volunteer at a charity-run used bookstore. My favourite days are the ones when a section has got too messy and I get to basically take everything off the shelf and put it back in order. But the other tasks I do (sorting newly donated books into categories, and then shelving them in the right place) scratch a similar itch.
posted by une_heure_pleine at 3:15 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by une_heure_pleine at 3:15 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Maybe some of these citizen science projects in the zooniverse. Many of them involve classifying.
(There are other places online to contribute to these kinds of projects as well.)
posted by spbmp at 3:25 PM on October 29, 2015
(There are other places online to contribute to these kinds of projects as well.)
posted by spbmp at 3:25 PM on October 29, 2015
Must it be online? You might enjoy collecting National Park Passport Stamps or postage stamps.
posted by OrangeDisk at 4:05 PM on October 29, 2015
posted by OrangeDisk at 4:05 PM on October 29, 2015
There are online crowdsource projects at the British Museum that you might try. Perhaps a museum or library near you has a digitization project going on that you could volunteer for if you want to get out of the house.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 4:20 PM on October 29, 2015
posted by Monsieur Caution at 4:20 PM on October 29, 2015
volunteer library page, yo. if you have kids, see if their school library has any need for this - many public libraries won't want you, but schools are usually strapped.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 5:14 PM on October 29, 2015
posted by goodbyewaffles at 5:14 PM on October 29, 2015
Magic card collecting. It's the closest thing I've seen to turning library shelving into a hobby. You don't even have to get serious about, just start buying packs and sorting them.
posted by fiercekitten at 5:26 PM on October 29, 2015
posted by fiercekitten at 5:26 PM on October 29, 2015
The Smithsonian is looking for digital volunteers to transcribe their collections: https://transcription.si.edu/
Similarly, the US Geological Survey is crowdsourcing transcription for its fascinating North American Bird Phenology Program:
The North American Bird Phenology Program houses a unique and largely forgotten collection of six million Migration Observer Cards that illuminate migration patterns and population status of birds in North America. These handwritten cards contain almost all of what was known of bird status from the Second World War back to the later part of the 19th century. The bulk of the records are the result of a network of observers who recorded migration arrival dates in the spring and fall that, in its heyday, involved 3000 participants. Today, those records are being processed and placed online where volunteers, worldwide, can go onto the BPP website and transcribe these images into our database for analysis. This information will be used, along with recently collected arrival times of migrant birds, in conjunction with historical weather data to show how migration is affected by climate change.
posted by ryanshepard at 5:35 PM on October 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
Similarly, the US Geological Survey is crowdsourcing transcription for its fascinating North American Bird Phenology Program:
The North American Bird Phenology Program houses a unique and largely forgotten collection of six million Migration Observer Cards that illuminate migration patterns and population status of birds in North America. These handwritten cards contain almost all of what was known of bird status from the Second World War back to the later part of the 19th century. The bulk of the records are the result of a network of observers who recorded migration arrival dates in the spring and fall that, in its heyday, involved 3000 participants. Today, those records are being processed and placed online where volunteers, worldwide, can go onto the BPP website and transcribe these images into our database for analysis. This information will be used, along with recently collected arrival times of migrant birds, in conjunction with historical weather data to show how migration is affected by climate change.
posted by ryanshepard at 5:35 PM on October 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
Oh hi, I'm a software engineer and organization freak. I'm not even *that* organized in my everyday life... but how much do I love sitting down in front of my bookshelf every year and coming up with a new shelving scheme, oh yes. (Have you been to the Container Store? Heaven.)
One way I scratch the itch is collecting and tagging recipes from food blogs into Evernote, which is a great way to organize information. I've also volunteered to reshelve books during library book sales; being a page is great if you can swing it. Some small nonprofit libraries or museums might train you as an archival cataloger, which has a small learning curve but you'll pick it up quickly if you like coding.
posted by serelliya at 7:18 PM on October 29, 2015
One way I scratch the itch is collecting and tagging recipes from food blogs into Evernote, which is a great way to organize information. I've also volunteered to reshelve books during library book sales; being a page is great if you can swing it. Some small nonprofit libraries or museums might train you as an archival cataloger, which has a small learning curve but you'll pick it up quickly if you like coding.
posted by serelliya at 7:18 PM on October 29, 2015
+1 puzzles. I have a flat puzzle keeper under the couch I can slide out whenever I need to organize. (It also let's me put the mess away)
Knitting also scratches this itch. It's methodical, and you slowly watch as a messy ball of yarn slowly becomes fabric.
posted by politikitty at 7:32 PM on October 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
Knitting also scratches this itch. It's methodical, and you slowly watch as a messy ball of yarn slowly becomes fabric.
posted by politikitty at 7:32 PM on October 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
Do the genealogy and history of an entire small town. Preferably your small town, if you live in one, or the small town your parents or grandparents came from, but maybe just any small town where you know no one. Just the town you happen to live near or that you visited once or whatever.
How you approach it will depend on you and the resources available to you. But you could go and photograph and transcribe every stone in every cemetery in town, or just in one cemetery if you have a favorite, but make sure you make it all available online through Find a Grave or you own web site or both. This alone could make you a hero of anyone doing genealogy research in the area. And the way stones and entire cemeteries deteriorate and vanish, you would be doing a favor for historians. You would be an historian.
Now that you have some raw data, get some free genealogy software and start creating trees based on the headstones. If you do a web site, make sure it can output trees as web pages.
You might not get far with stones alone, but you could then start researching interesting people through other sources. Search for births, marriages, and obituaries in old newspapers. Match a gravestone you photographed to a real person who was born, went to school, was on the something team or in the something club, got a job, got married, had kids, lived, and died.
Get old maps of the town. They often have names on the properties. Match them to families you read about in the newspapers.
Local historians and genealogists would probably be happy to help you help them.
posted by pracowity at 1:51 AM on October 30, 2015
How you approach it will depend on you and the resources available to you. But you could go and photograph and transcribe every stone in every cemetery in town, or just in one cemetery if you have a favorite, but make sure you make it all available online through Find a Grave or you own web site or both. This alone could make you a hero of anyone doing genealogy research in the area. And the way stones and entire cemeteries deteriorate and vanish, you would be doing a favor for historians. You would be an historian.
Now that you have some raw data, get some free genealogy software and start creating trees based on the headstones. If you do a web site, make sure it can output trees as web pages.
You might not get far with stones alone, but you could then start researching interesting people through other sources. Search for births, marriages, and obituaries in old newspapers. Match a gravestone you photographed to a real person who was born, went to school, was on the something team or in the something club, got a job, got married, had kids, lived, and died.
Get old maps of the town. They often have names on the properties. Match them to families you read about in the newspapers.
Local historians and genealogists would probably be happy to help you help them.
posted by pracowity at 1:51 AM on October 30, 2015
Help your messy friends get organized. Books, clothes, kitchen cabinets, files. If you like doing that you could set up a business.
posted by meijusa at 6:59 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by meijusa at 6:59 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Just another vote for knitting. Keep in mind that if you take this on as a hobby, you will have a LOT of stock to organize. Fibre, tools, etc are a challenge for me to keep organized. Do you want to come over and catalogue my stuff? Ravelry is just one of the options for keeping track of your material.
posted by Gor-ella at 7:05 AM on October 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Gor-ella at 7:05 AM on October 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
Goodreads! I add all the books I've read and rate them. Then, look at the author's other books and add them as want-to-read, etc. Having this info organized and occasionally updating and just knowing my big list is there is delicious to me. And useful!
posted by mirabelle at 8:28 PM on October 30, 2015
posted by mirabelle at 8:28 PM on October 30, 2015
You could transcribe, review, and/or geotag historical restaurant menus for the New York Public Library.
posted by carrioncomfort at 9:38 AM on October 31, 2015
posted by carrioncomfort at 9:38 AM on October 31, 2015
Tell the denizens of the Wikipedia Teahouse about your favorite topics and they'll help you find articles and media to categorize and sort.
posted by brainwane at 3:54 AM on November 2, 2015
posted by brainwane at 3:54 AM on November 2, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by chainsofreedom at 2:06 PM on October 29, 2015 [3 favorites]