Progress update, 25 February to 2 March 2012

Welcome to the progress update for the period 25 February to 3 March 2012, during which time the rate of transcription has remained high, we have increased the overall proportion of locked and complete transcriptis, and we are closing in on yet another landmark.

2,906 manuscripts have now been transcribed, an increase of 61 on last week’s total. At the current rate of transcription, we should reach our 3,000th transcript during the week after next! Of these transcripts, 2,684 (92%) are now complete.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

• Box 2: 322 manuscripts transcribed of 532 (60%)
• Box 27: 260 of 350 (74%)
• Box 35: 228 of 439 (51%)
• Box 50: 52 of 92 (56%)
• Box 51: 48 of 940 (5%)
• Box 62: 51 of 565 (9%)
• Box 70: 166 of 250 (47%)
• Box 71: 471 of 665 (70%)
• Box 72: 243 of 664 (36%)
• Box 73: 123 of 156 (78%)
• Box 79: 76 of 199 (38%)
• Box 95: 45 of 147 (30%)
• Box 96: 516 of 539 (95%)
• Box 97: 23 of 288 (7%)
• Box 115: 241 of 307 (78%)
• Box 139: 38 of 38 (100%)
• Overall: 52% of the 5,580 manuscripts uploaded to the website have been transcribed thus far.

Box 71 was the most heavily transcribed once again, with 7% of its manuscripts being worked on this week. Box 96 has been making good progress, with volunteers helping finish off this 95%-complete set of material. As you will also notice, more than half of the material currently uploaded to the Transcription Desk has now been transcribed! We hope to have some new material available to work on soon.

A UCL Podcast, featuring Prof Philip Schofield and Dr Tim Causer of the Bentham Project, is now available for download here.

The increased rate of transcription on the project is now very noticeable. Since Transcribe Bentham was launched in September 2010, an average of 36 manuscripts have been transcribed per week; however, during the last five weeks, the average number of transcripts per week has increased to 62! This is a tremendous achievement on the part of TB volunteers, and is making great strides in transcribing material which has yet to be explored from this vast collection, and widening access to it for all.

We remain enormously grateful for all of their efforts in ensuring the continued success of Transcribe Bentham.