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Errors

GlennCarly

I counted at lease 30 errors in one document alone today!  I wonder if the Archives have ever considered proofreaders who do nothin but review and correct texts before they are entered forever.  I would be up for it.  Also, I do correct them when I find them.

  • 0

    Thank you for your comment. Where are you finding these errors? 

    Are you looking at errors in the original record that has been digitized and added to the Catalog?  If this is the case we are unable to make edits to an original record.

    Are the errors in the transcription panel? If this is the case you are welcome to edit any other volunteer's work to make it more accurate.  We do not consider any transcription completed, approved, or closed - edits are always possible. We use transcription to enhance searchability so even if it isn't perfect, every word transcribed helps.

    If you found the errors in the Extracted Text panel, this is OCR data which is rarely completely accurate.  The OCR data is a layer of technology used to enhance searchability that we have recently started to display when it is available .  Volunteer Citizen Archivists are welcome to use Extracted Text as a starting point to review and edit to help transcribe a page. Instructions on how to do this can be found on our HELP page linked at the top of every page in the Catalog.

    You are welcome to share the URL of the page in question and we're happy to answer any additional questions you may have,

    Sincerely,

    Community Manager, National Archives Catalog

  • 0 in reply to National Archives Catalog

    The errors I mentioned were found in the transcripted data of a record from Georgia.  Errors amounted to misspellings, misunderstood text, and items listed as illegible which were, in fact, legible.  I corrected them following the original script.  I just wonder if these transcriptions are edited before being accepted as final versions.

  • 0 in reply to GlennCarly

    Thank you for making those edits, it is exactly what Citizen Archivists often do. Since we do not mark anything as completed and/or final versions we do not have a secondary editing process.  We find that for the most part our volunteers do a good job.  Occasionally there are volunteers who may be out of their depth and continue to transcribe some of our more challenging records.  Luckily we do have records at different skill levels that we hope Citizen Archivists will select records that are the best fit for their skill set.

    Sincerely,

    Community Manager, National Archives Catalog