Judy Misner just sent out an email saying that the office has around 400 computer printout binders with crosstables of past events, each of them several inches thiick. (Many of those binders will be for events that are already in MSA, though.)
Just a thought on entering the old data: Minimum wage summer internship for some local students.
Funny about OCR: I ran a data entry department for years. For my department, the error rate for name input (Often complex Asian names) was about 0.5% for which I was heavily bashed by the office manager. In fustration, he installed a mid-90s OCR reader. It looked to me like the error rate of the ORC reader was 3-5%.
He was happy as a clam. Oh well,…
The USCF office did a test about 12 years ago, scanning several pages from the rating supplements with a desk-top flat bed scanner.
The OCR software that came with that scanner had an error rate of about 3% on those pages.
Perhaps OCR technology has improved since then.
If the estimate of 5 man-years of effort to process around 100,000 sections is accurate, at the federal minimum wage of $7.25, that would be around $72,500, plus payroll taxes.
There has to be a chess enthusiast independant contractor who would do the project for a LOT less money ( and no payroll taxes).
Heck I’ll move to TN and do it myself. I’m getting tired of Florida anyhow.
Anyone else want to team up? PM me.
Dan
That’s nice, but who pays??
I think putting old Crosstables in MSA would be a worthwhile place to spend some of USCF’s money. It would be a nice trip down memory lane that a lot of people could enjoy.
Michael Smith
So prioritize for me.
Is it more worthwhile than updating the web site?
Sending the team to the Olympiad?
Redoing the 5-8 year old computer infrastructure in the office?
Working on a turn key club program?
Lots of folks have worthwhile programs that are indeed worthwhile. The issue is priority.
What will best build and serve the community?
Prioritizing is part of your job description Allen. You have to make the hard choices of what to do with limited resources, and have a far more intimate knowledge of the USCF’s finances. I’m not quite dumb enough to get into a financial argument with the treasurer. That said, I think the preservation of our history is important. I realize people who did not play prior to 1991 may feel differently. Anytime an organization can do something that gives a lasting benefit to a large amount of its members, that is an investment you won’t regret. It may not happen today or tomorrow, but if it’s possible to add the pre 1991 crosstables, it should be on the to-do list.
I wasn’t arguing - just asking for input.
- Website
Then questions: Please define “redoing the computer infrastructure” and “turnkey club program”?
Related: Status of 501(c)-3?
Kevin
Among other things, it means updating the USCF’s main database server, which is currently running on a Dell server purchased in early 2007.
The phones are on a system purchased in 2002 (one no longer supported by the maker.)
Both of these, if they fail, would create serious disruption of USCF services.
Bill Hall reported on the status of the 501(C)(3) application in Vancouver: The application has been filed, the IRS should be getting around to looking at it in early 2013.
Until the IRS looks at it, there’s not much happening.
When they do look at it, they could:
- Approve it
- Reject it
- Ask for more information, possibly requiring a re-filing of the application
Wanna give odds on #3?
What is a “turn key club program” ???
(NOTE: I’m looking at only the five programs discussed in the quoted post. I’m also considering these issues from a cost-benefit perspective - namely, what gives the most members the biggest bang for the buck.)
Were I the Cincinnatus of USCF, this is what I’d do.
First, update the office infrastructure.
Then, update/redesign(?) the website.
Then, finance the Olympiad.
Then, start a turnkey club program.
Then, get the pre-MSA data online.
Reasoning: As much as I think we need to see the website (or, more accurately, the loose confederation of separate sites that make up the current hodgepodge known as “USChess.org”) fixed…
I had a conversation with Bill Hall and Mike Nolan in Vancouver that covered a number of these topics. I’m genuinely worried about our office infrastructure after that conversation. We absolutely cannot afford to have a DB server or an office phone/computer system as far out of date as ours is. Yes, the website is bad. But the folks in Crossville need these systems to properly service the membership - and we would be SOL on a number of critical services if either of these systems fails.
Keeping the office running smoothly, updating the main DB server and refreshing the website would most directly and immediately help the members.
Financing our Olympiad teams is important. A big part of what we’re supposed to do as a federation is promote and support chess excellence. The Olympiad is the premier international chess competition (in terms of number, quality and diversity of representatives), and we need our best players there to represent us.
The turnkey club program also serves our mission. However, that can be developed with a lot of (free!) member input. I’m not sure we have to spend all that much to get that up.
I believe the only cost-effective way to get the pre-MSA data up (based on the above-referenced conversation) will also involve a lot of uncompensated sweat equity and eye strain. A lot of these printouts are older, and OCR probably won’t help much on a lot of them - fixing the errors is likely to take at least as much time, and be more expensive, than simply inputting the events manually.
Moderator Mode: Off
A turnkey operation is one that is set up completely and all the person taking it over has to do is figuratively turn a key, or literally step into the situation and it is fully operational.
A turnkey chess club would be one that someone in a town could get and literally have a fully operational chess club without having to research and set up all the details as that is already done.
In this case I could envision a set program that would tell you to: a. procure a site, b. fill out this form and send it to the local newspaper(s), and radio and television stations for publication telling of the new club starting, c. Have a form and list of what to do at the first meeting, etc.
Ron Suarez
A ‘turnkey’ program won’t do much good unless there are people out there willing to do the work to get the club started and KEEP IT GOING.
Jerry Nash once noted that nearly every chess program out there is just one retirement, death or job change away from collapse.
Moreover, what works in Boise won’t necessarily work in Baltimore, so a turnkey approach would have to give a variety of options for each step, leaving it up to the local person to decide which (if any) to use.
Working at the USCF office doesn’t imbue one with wisdom, my suspicion is the readers of this forum could list all the individual pieces needed to put together a turnkey package, but someone has to organize it into a coherent useful document. I’m not sure the office has someone with that skill, either, but I suspect at least one reader of this post does.
IMHO, the biggest challenge is finding an affordable site that’s available every week/month and the second biggest challenge is staffing it. I was president of the local chess club for several years, which generally meant being the first one there and the last one to leave, which gets old in a hurry.
In many ways it is not that different from organizing chess tournaments. Everybody wants more tournaments, but most chess players just want to play in them, not do the grunt work.
Yes - and it was not my idea - I have seen it mentioned in various Forums over the years by multiple peole. All have a little different vision as to what it is, but the thought keeps bubbling back up.
I agree with the above. So I feel it is important to give as many aspiring organizers as possible as good a toolbox as possible, with the goal of starting as many clubs as possible. Yes, many will not last. That’s why I would want to plant as many seeds as possible, in the hope that a relative few might bloom.
I think this is correct too - which is why I consider this a piece that really needs to be built with volunteer labor. There are a number of projects currently awaiting development that I think we could find volunteers among our membership to undertake. Given our financial situation, I am surprised we haven’t moved more aggressively in that direction.
Let me rephrase the infrastructure question:
-
What do we want the infrastructure to be? (What are the necessary servers, desktops/related software?)
-
What is the estimated cost?
I have no involvement with USCF desktop/laptop computers, that’s Phil Smith’s job.
The Board has received several recommendations from me over the years for a next generation database server, none of them have been funded or even seriously contemplated.
Until the Board says there is money available for the project, what’s the point of debating what it is we’re not spending money on?
Anyway, to basically replace what we have with newer equipment of roughly the same speed is probably in the $4000-$8000 range, to come up with something faster and set up some good redundant servers might be more like $50,000, or about 10 days worth of membership revenue or less than half of the cost of the Olympiad. 