An Unusual Web Indexing Record
Recently, while my wife was indexing, she encountered a record that was mirror-imaged (flipped) across the Y (vertical) Axis. She discovered that she could read it by looking in a mirror held up along one edge of the record. I recall using my phone to screen-shot the image. By mirroring (flipping) the image across the Y-axis it became readable. But I suspect taking a photograph like this is a discouraged practice, so I deleted the photo. Also, I realized that if the image had been rotated 180 degrees that it could have been read with the mirror held horizontally underneath the resulting view.
Perhaps a "Mirror" feature could be added to Web Indexing to simply flip such an image across its Y-axis so that it can be indexed. Simply rotating the image is not good enough. Such an image could also be declared "Unreadable" (which is what I think my wife did after calling Family Search and discussing the issue). What really needs to happen is that the record needs to be un-mirrored so that researchers (perhaps years later) will be able to read it easily. If Family Search already takes a look at "Unreadable" images, and corrects them (where possible), then all is well. But if that is not what generally happens, then, during indexing, "Mirror Image" could be declared, you would be flagged, and the probability of correction would be increased.
Comments
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This is an extremely rare event. Incorrectly rotated images are found from time to time, but I've never seen a mirrored/flipped image before. The problem is probably not common enough for FS to spend resources on a solution.
Taking a photo of images when indexing is definitely "discouraged" if you use the images for non-indexing purposes. In fact, it violates the FamilySearch Indexing Program Terms and Conditions.
If in the future you encounter a flipped image, I suggest simply marking the image "unreadable" and quickly moving on to the next image or batch.
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Have they imaged the wrong side of the film? (My brain has problems predicting what this would look like but I think it shows the thing as a mirror...)
If they've imaged the wrong side of the film, then the whole film would be unreadable...
Imaging the wrong side would presumably also result in the images being in the wrong sequence (maybe?) but this might not be noticed because some stuff was filmed in the reverse order...
If it's just a one-off then I have zero idea how that happens.
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