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Progress update, 6 to 12 October 2012

By Tim Causer, on 12 October 2012

Welcome to the progress update for the period 6 to 12 October 2012, during which time further excellent progress has been made and the project has reached another milestone.

4,520 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially transcribed, which is an increase of 65 on last week’s total. Of these, 4,286 (94%) are fully complete and have been locked, which is up 62 on this time last week.

We are delighted to be able to say that Transcribe Bentham has reached another landmark, after its 4,500th manuscript was worked on this week. The rate of transcription has increased markedly since the project’s early days, and so these milestones are now more frequent: the chart below provides some idea of the current rate of transcription.

It generally took from thirteen to eighteen weeks to transcribe 500 manuscripts in the early days of the project (the nine-week aberration for going from 501 to 1,000 transcripts was owing to the New York Times article, published in December 2010). Since January 2012, it now generally takes just eight to ten weeks for 500 manuscripts to be worked on. Volunteers have already worked on 2,000 manuscripts this year, at an average rate of 50 per week! This is a terrific amount of work, and we are extremely grateful.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

  • Box 2: 344 manuscripts transcribed of 532 (64%)
  • Box 27: 348 of 350 (99%)
  • Box 35: 273 of 439 (62%)
  • Box 50: 69 of 92 (75%)
  • Box 51: 349 of 940 (37%)
  • Box 62: 53 of 565 (9%)
  • Box 70: 176 of 250 (50%)
  • Box 71: 651 of 665 (97%)
  • Box 72: 606 of 664 (91%)
  • Box 73: 151 of 151 (100%)
  • Box 79: 198 of 199 (99%)
  • Box 95: 98 of 147 (66%)
  • Box 96: 526 of 539 (97%)
  • Box 97: 34 of 288 (11%)
  • Box 98: 12 of 499 (2%)
  • Box 100: 99 of 433 (21%)
  • Box 115: 265 of 307 (86%)
  • Box 116: 230 of 864 (26%)
  • Box 139: 38 of 38 (100%)
  • Overall: 56% of the 8,068 manuscripts uploaded to the website have been transcribed thus far.

Box 51 was again the most heavily-transcribed, while Box 50 is moving quickly towards to completion. As yet, no-one has been brave (foolhardy?) enough to attempt the last manuscript in Box 79 (JB/079/047/001) – I certainly value my eyesight too much to have a go right now.

Thanks again to all those who have made suggestions on how to modify and improve the Transcription Desk in order to make the transcription process simpler. We have had some great ideas, and look forward to hearing any more that anyone might have.

Thank you, as ever, to all those who have given their time and effort so generously to Transcribe Bentham during the last seven days. It remains greatly appreciated.

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