Category Archives: Oversight

Last year, I had the good fortune of finding a Pfaff 130 on the curb. These machines are famous for their power and durability. By this, I mean that they are just as comfortable sewing through five layers of canvas … Continue reading →

The DIY Book Scanner community has been crazy-active lately. Seems like a new scanner build happens almost daily (though I’m sure it’s less than that). First and Second builds by Alumrich. Possum’s simple and awesome build (lots of neat ideas). … Continue reading →

As Tox pointed out below, our NYE celebration occurred under odd celestial circumstances: a blue moon, which created the most gorgeous winter halo and moondogs. This is his picture:

Tox and I have a tradition: we bring in the New Year by torching the Christmas tree. This year was no exception; it was exceptional. See: See also: Couldn’t have had a better birthday party. Thanks. 2010 and 28 begin, … Continue reading →

The year began on fire. I rocked the Winter Carnivale. Built a book scanner. And another. Baked bread. Studied math in the early hours. Published. Made music. Made machines. That make machines. Drowned. Saved books from drowning in Valley City. … Continue reading →

NDSU posted some official information about the collapse, though of course the back-channel email communication is far more interesting. I made an animation from their webcam images. Note particularly the steam in the stairwell — the steam heat in the … Continue reading →

The first is January 12th, 2010 at the First Annual World Fair Use Day in Washington, DC. I will be going over our community’s work and our projects that fall under, and enhance, fair use principles. I couldn’t be more … Continue reading →

Photosynth is a “Photo Tourism” application that lets you seamlessly navigate all 728 high resolution images I took of the Minard Hall collapse. Requires Microsoft Silverlight, sorry. Don’t miss the “Collapse of Minard Hall” post below, featuring enormous high-res panoramas … Continue reading →

Instructables.com has announced their “Best of 2009″ winners and the DIY Book Scanner Instructable was in the top ten in the category “Most Viewed”.

Recent construction-related excavation work on Minard Hall caused the North face of the building to collapse, exposing faculty offices and engineering incompetence in one fell swoop. Minard Hall (formerly Science Hall) has a concrete foundation which rests on a bed … Continue reading →

Priya Ganapati wrote an article about the DIY Book Scanner project on Wired Gadget Lab, a column dedicated to emerging technologies. I’m particularly pleased to see this quote from Pam Samuelson, who I had the pleasure of meeting at D … Continue reading →

I’m posting this both to danreetz.com and futurepicture.org — future posts will not be double-posted in this manner. Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed over at Futurepicture, there’s much more in store. This is, in fact, just a … Continue reading →

I was quite pleased to see this wonderful article from Los futuros del libro, a Spanish-language blog dedicated to the future of the book, which puts the DIY Book Scanner effort into a global context. I wonder if the real … Continue reading →

So, Engadget held a contest to win a Kindle 2. The idea was to make artwork for the back that was totally amazing. I won the contest. I also decided to make my design public domain. So if you want … Continue reading →

Cameras and photographic image-making thread through just about everything I do, and at this point it’s safe to say it’s grown into an all-consuming obsession. An obsession with great aesthetic surplus, and one that has led to some great things, … Continue reading →

My talk at D is for Digitize is now online, along with all the others. I was on the panel “C is for Culture” — my talk begins around 45 minutes into the video stream. I’m sorry, but you have … Continue reading →

Fakeproject on Twitter.

Dan’s day: 06:00 :Wake up. Go to check my email. Curse Qwest for their obnoxious antics. The anger subsides; I feel myself getting desperate. 06:15 : Digging through boxes. I know I have this shit somewhere, I just need to … Continue reading →

The good people at Public Knowledge have asked me to appear in a panel discussion in Washington, DC as a part of World Fair Use Day. The venue is TBA, but the date is set: January 12th. I’ll be talking … Continue reading →