Correcting Errors

I have been transcribing Mary Church Terrell. I have misread one item numerous times and today finally got a document that was more clearly written. She was a member of a Matron's Whist Club. The problem is that I had read it as Watrous, mistaking her M for a W and n for a u. I just wanted to alert the board in case someone is reviewing my documents in her diaries from 1905,1908 and 1909.

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  • Henry, I've had that experience, too.  In an effort to prevent that happening in my own work, I had to change my approach.  At first, I would transcribe a page, and then as soon as I was done, submit it for review.  Then I had the experience of realizing what a word was that I'd at first misunderstood or left as question.  Now if I have a page with a mystery word, then I don't send it for review until I have transcribed all pages of the document.  Sometimes, after going back and rereading it as a whole, I found that the word would suddenly make sense.  It's the funny way the mind works, or at least the way mine does.

    I know your example works across many documents, and it makes me wonder if I should hold back more documents until all hope of figuring out the mystery word is gone.  But then I realize that sometimes I just have to let it go and hope the reviewer can figure it out.

    I hope that in the future, the developers create a way for someone to open up a document again when there has been a mistake that is discovered after the document has been submitted for review or after it's been completed.

  • Oh! I've been wanting to engage in this question!

    Julianne, when I started, I began doing what you're doing, which is to have a few things open and in progress, but at some point it seemed that I was holding things up, or it seemed as if someone else had jumped on, and I got confused and stopped doing that.

    Is it possible for two people to pick up a "work in progress" and move it along? Is the file locked if someone is actively in it?

    I intend to go with my gut and try it again. As a neophyte, who knows what I did back then! I might not have been logged in, or I might have inadvertently closed it, sent it to review, who knows!

    I very much like Henry's suggestion of being recognized as the transcriber. Goodness knows I blush at my first few transcriptions where I... oh, I won't even admit to what I did..!!

    I was also mulling the idea of having groups that review each other's work. This would be especially helpful in moving something along when the transcript is clean except for a word or two. To be able to pass it on to an individual just for that final check would speed up some easy "completes".

    Suz.

  • Hi Suzanne,

    A page is only locked when someone has the tab open and has made a save within the last 10 minutes. If you enter text, click save, and then navigate away from the page it will become free within 10 minutes.

    As for attribution Henry Rosenberg, we think it's important for volunteers to be able to see what they have transcribed in their own profile, but that many people prefer privacy and the chance to learn as they go. Attribution might make that awkward or lead to unhelpful back and forth between volunteers who develop a distrust of one another's work--this happens in a lot of online spaces unfortunately. That said, we might be able to implement the option for people to display their identification as transcribers on their work, if there was high demand down the line. We might be able to discover if there were demand via a survey. This would take a lot of careful thought and testing. We'll be sure to involve you and other volunteers if and when the time comes.

    The community managers have been chatting about your wonderful threads here on HH and want to encourage your ideas of asking one another to review your transcriptions and of looking out for things that are of particular interest to one another. Perhaps a buddy system or interest group is in order? We leave it to you to design that in whatever way best meets your needs. We're happy to help if there's anything we can do.

    Happy transcribing and reviewing!

Reply
  • Hi Suzanne,

    A page is only locked when someone has the tab open and has made a save within the last 10 minutes. If you enter text, click save, and then navigate away from the page it will become free within 10 minutes.

    As for attribution Henry Rosenberg, we think it's important for volunteers to be able to see what they have transcribed in their own profile, but that many people prefer privacy and the chance to learn as they go. Attribution might make that awkward or lead to unhelpful back and forth between volunteers who develop a distrust of one another's work--this happens in a lot of online spaces unfortunately. That said, we might be able to implement the option for people to display their identification as transcribers on their work, if there was high demand down the line. We might be able to discover if there were demand via a survey. This would take a lot of careful thought and testing. We'll be sure to involve you and other volunteers if and when the time comes.

    The community managers have been chatting about your wonderful threads here on HH and want to encourage your ideas of asking one another to review your transcriptions and of looking out for things that are of particular interest to one another. Perhaps a buddy system or interest group is in order? We leave it to you to design that in whatever way best meets your needs. We're happy to help if there's anything we can do.

    Happy transcribing and reviewing!

Children