I was approached recently by colleagues who’d received a complaint about ethnic slurs in material they’d transcribed, asking for guidance on what to do. We don’t have a firm answer to this question, so I looked around at projects on FromThePage and among the documentary editing and archives communities to see what they’re doing. In traditional print publications, one must … [Read more...] about How to Handle Racial or Ethnic Slurs & Offensive Language in the Sources We Transcribe
crowdsourcing
On Competitive Transcription
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 … [Read more...] about On Competitive Transcription
The Decade in Crowdsourcing Transcription
Nine years ago, I summed up 2010 as "the year that crowdsourced transcription finally caught on." This seems like a good time to review the big developments in the field over the decade that 2010 launched. What the field looked like in 2010 It's interesting to look back at 2010 to see what's happened to the projects I thought were major developments: FamilySearch … [Read more...] about The Decade in Crowdsourcing Transcription
Transcribathons
Let's talk transcribathons Hosting a transcribathon is a great way to build excitement around a project, deepen engagement, and have fun while getting work done! In August, the University of Virginia held the second annual Julian Bond transcribathon which brought the University and the local community together to help increase access to the papers of the civil rights … [Read more...] about Transcribathons
The Stagville Accounts in DEPCHA: Plantation Financial Records as Linked Data
On March 8, 2018, I presented this talk at a conference at Michigan State called "Enslaved: People of the Historic Slave Trade". The conference was live-streamed, so a video recording of all presentations is available on the MATRIX YouTube channel. My presentation starts at 1:04:55 and is embedded below, followed by slides and text. It's important to begin by … [Read more...] about The Stagville Accounts in DEPCHA: Plantation Financial Records as Linked Data