I don’t think I have been on a team since high school. Who knew that competitive transcription would inspire a sense of exhilaration and shared purpose that I had not experienced in decades? I forgot to eat. I slept poorly. I neglected my job. I talked to old friends unexpectedly and made news ones. It was wonderful. What a rare thing to create such a welcoming space for people to practice at their various skills levels and contribute to something meaningful that has the potential to be useful to many. What a joy to wake up and find that one’s teammates across the ocean have solved a puzzle while you slept. Over the span of the competition, Old French verses once difficult to decipher became nearly as easy to read as words on a modern printed page. I marveled, and am still marveling, at how things came into focus.
— ANNE LATOWSKY, via The Image du Monde Challenge