This month’s update is a bit more technical than usual, but we think it’s important. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at how bot traffic—often related to AI training—impacts platforms like FromThePage and the digital infrastructure of cultural heritage institutions more broadly. Over the past year, FromThePage has experienced three major service outages caused by waves […]
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Recent Posts from FromThePage
Can LLMs Help With Boring Forms?
Two weeks ago, I looked at Ben and said "What we obviously should build next is field-based AI-Assist." Transcribing forms or "spreadsheet-like" ledgers and rolls is not as much fun as transcribing letters or field books, so anything that makes the process easier might appeal to volunteers. And because the text is more "data" than […]
Have you seen FromThePage's new Find A Project?
We've revamped this overall view of FromThePage to make it easier for you to find projects you're interested in: Find projects by category -- be it "vital records" "railroads" or "African American History" or many more! Find the organizations you love to contribute to in the alphabetical organizations list. Find new collections, just posted with […]
Introducing Read-only Document Sets
Over the last several years, FromThePage has supported document sets to allow project owners to aggregate a sub-set of works in a collection. The feature has been used these ways: Mount Auburn uses document sets to make it easier to find particular types of documents The Frederick Douglass Papers has some documents in public sets […]
Enhanced Search in FromThePage
When we met with some of you at our first FromThePage user group meeting at SAA in late July of 2023, we asked you to vote on features you'd like to see in FromThePage. The overwhelming winner was "Better Search", which astonished us. We had only added it the list day before, after a discussion […]
Who Are the Best Prompt Writers? A Surprising Insight from the Humanities
In our conversations about AI's applications, we've unearthed a small but interesting trend: the most adept prompt writers often hold Ph.D.s in history. Why? Skilled historians are articulate and bring a depth of context that enhances LLM (Large Language Model) interactions significantly. Particularly those with a hacker's mindset – those ready to experiment and adapt […]