This is more geeking than actually useful, but the hole-sorting system you're describing is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge-notched_card
You could buy spiral-bound index cards and remove the spiral: https://www.staples.com/oxford-spiral-index-cards-3-x-5-50-cards-white-40282/product_26031 This gets you 19 categories per card. This should be plenty for contra dances, though is well below what a traditional edge-notched card might offer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge-notched_card#/media/File:Edge-notched_card.jpg (I don't call much anymore, but when I do I just use my phone. If I was going to be doing a lot of calling again I'd write an app (with offline capability) for showing and searching dances) Jeff On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 8:50 AM Gregory Frock via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Hi Joe, > > The most important thing is to have a sorting system that allows you to > find a dance fast when you need it. The key elements of this system would > thus be based on how one programs and how frequently one calls. For > example, a caller who programs in advance and calls one dance per quarter > pretty much does not need to worry about a sorting system. Each dance > program can be carefully hand crafted with main dances and alternates > should the dances turn out to be particularly new or experienced in a given > night. Sorting becomes more important for callers who call frequently and > program more ad-hoc. I call about 30-40 dances per year, and lean toward > the ad-hoc programming approach, tempered by a standard slotting framework > I use that governs. So, being able to just look through a short subset of > dances for a particular slot is important for me to do on the fly. So, > "slot" is my first organizational criteria. After that, I generally use > Diane's hook categorization, but also consider the opening figures and > whether a dance works better for warm or cold weather (important > consideration for my home hall, which is not climate controlled). > > I can detail my programming framework process, but this is long enough, I > think. > > Hope this provides some additional insight. > > Best, > > Greg > > > > > > > > > > > > On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 12:44 AM Joe Harrington via Contra Callers < > contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > >> The short version of this post is, how should I organize my dances? But, >> I'm sure if I ask that, the thread will have 100 replies and lots of >> confusion. My search of the list archives and web were surprisingly spotty >> on this question, with lots of anecdotes and no summary or comparison. And >> I'm not just asking for myself. While I've got a whopping 15 evenings of >> dance calling under my belt, I'm being called on to train some students to >> call for our college club, and they're asking the same question. >> >> So, I'm looking for one or more summaries from those wiser than I (ok, >> low bar!) of the kinds of systems for cards. This might better be asked >> as, what are the different approaches to programming dances, and what >> organizing systems make each of those easier? >> >> In a workshop of his last summer, Bob Isaacs related his system of >> colored cards for easy, hard, bouncy, flowy, sweetheart, and >> divorce-reconcile dances (I think those were the categories). Call easy >> dances first, call a sweetheart right after the break when they're most >> likely to dance with the person they came with. Save hard for festivals. >> Give them variety. >> >> But, I've wanted more categories, and what about finding the bouncy >> sweethearts? I'm really busy, so the idea of re-copying a hundred or more >> cards to make a new system doesn't thrill me, if I don't like my initial >> system. Maybe I'll get a database system to select dances with, and then >> have a set of alphabetized printed cards for the actual calling, though >> what if I'm wrong and need to change my program, as has already happened a >> few times when a ton of newbies shows up? I'm interested in hearing about >> anything particularly clever or efficient, especially if it doesn't involve >> a computer or tablet. >> >> A comparison of the different computer systems would also be welcome. >> I'm aware of programs by Will Loving and Colin Hume. I asked on one >> Facebook group for a comparison of these but got no response. Is the >> Caller's Box up to real-time dance selection at an event? That presumes >> wi-fi, of course, or at least cell signal. >> >> I'll toss in one amusing and possibly workable paper system, for a >> dedicated and extremely nerdy caller, which might be me... >> >> I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical sorting >> system based on the Jacquard loom concept that became the Hollerith punched >> card system. I've never seen it in use. Does anyone do this? >> >> Figure out the ten or so characteristics you might want to sort on. For >> example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners, sweetheart >> (keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of cards and drill holes near >> the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can drill a stack of cards if >> you sandwich them between wood and clamp them). Now, on a given card, >> punch out the rest of the paper between the hole and the edge of the card >> for each hole the card DOESN'T match. So, for an easy dance, you'd punch >> out the rest of the paper for the medium and hard holes (among others), but >> leave the easy hole intact. If you make a mistake, just fold a piece of >> tape over the gap above the hole to close the gap. >> >> Now, when you want to look at your easy, flowy, sweetheart dances, flip >> the stack so the holes are up, push a pencil or knitting needle through the >> "easy" hole and lift. Then, in the ones you pulled, push through the flowy >> hole and lift, and finally for that set poke through the sweetheart hole >> and lift. Those are the easy, flowy, sweetheart dances. If you want the >> medium or hard dances that are bouncy and that separate partners, you pull >> first the medium and then the hard dances, combine them, and then pull the >> bouncies from that set and the separators from that third pull. And so on. >> >> Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you are >> a real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30 holes around the card >> edges, but that would limit the writing space. >> >> I predict this will be all the rage, post-apocalypse...at least until we >> run out of cards. ;-) >> >> --jh-- >> Joe Harrington >> Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance >> Faculty Advisor, Contra Knights, the UCF contra dancing club >> contraknights.org >> FB, Ig: Contra Knights >> contradancer...@gmail.com >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net >> To unsubscribe send an email to >> contracallers-le...@lists.sharedweight.net >> > _______________________________________________ > Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net > To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-le...@lists.sharedweight.net >
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