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Archive for June, 2013

Progress update, 22 to 28 June 2013

By Tim Causer, on 28 June 2013

Welcome to the progress update for the period 22 to 28 June 2013, which has proven to be a rather busy time. During the last week, some 10,235 words of Bentham text have been transcribed by volunteers, along with a further 4,154 words of TEI XML mark-up.

5,729 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially-transcribed, which is an increase of 19 on last week’s total. Of these transcripts, 5,454 (95%) have been accepted by project editors and locked.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

  • Box 2: 433 manuscripts transcribed of 753 (57%)
  • Box 27: 350 of 350 (100%)
  • Box 35: 282 of 439 (64%)
  • Box 41: 26 of 528 (4%)
  • Box 50: 136 of 198 (68%)
  • Box 51: 359 of 940 (38%)
  • Box 62: 53 of 565 (9%)
  • Box 70: 286 of 350 (81%)
  • Box 71: 663 of 663 (100%)
  • Box 72: 609 of 664 (91%)
  • Box 73: 151 of 151 (100%)
  • Box 79: 198 of 199 (99%)
  • Box 95: 120 of 147 (81%)
  • Box 96: 527 of 539 (97%)
  • Box 97: 59 of 296 (19%)
  • Box 98: 214 of 499 (42%)
  • Box 100: 150 of 422 (33%)
  • Box 107: 380 of 538 (70%)
  • Box 115: 276 of 307 (89%)
  • Box 116: 419 of 864 (48%)
  • Box 139: 38 of 38 (100%)
  • Overall: 60% of the 9,497 manuscripts currently uploaded to the website have been transcribed thus far.

We are delighted to say that beta testing of the upgraded and forthcoming Transcribe Bentham user interface, developed by our colleagues at the University of London Computer Centre, is now underway. We have already received some excellent feedback from volunteers for further refinements, and if you would like to examine the new interface, and give us your opinion on it, you can visit our survey which will provide you with the relevant links and instructions. Any and all feedback is useful, and we are would greatly appreciate any you might have.

And thank you, as always, to the Transcribe Bentham volunteers who have given their time and effort so generously this week. We remain extremely grateful.

Testing times: Transcribe Bentham’s new interface

By Tim Causer, on 26 June 2013

We are delighted to say that the new, upgraded Transcribe Bentham platform is now available for testing, thanks to the hard work of our colleagues at the University of London Computer Centre.

We are contacting Transcribe Bentham‘s regular transcribers to gauge their opinions about it, but are also looking for others who might be willing to test out the interface for us. If you are interested in assessing it, please do drop us an email at transcribe.bentham@ucl.ac.uk.

The new interface  will also be available as a documented package for others to use and customise, so likewise, do contact us for more details about that too.

 

Progress update, 15 to 21 June 2013

By Kris Grint, on 21 June 2013

Welcome! After a very busy week here at UCL (of which more below), I am delighted to bring you the Transcribe Bentham progress update for the period 15 to 21 June. 10,751 words of Bentham text have been transcribed this week, along with 5,616 words of TEI XML. The TB conversion rate has remained at a very healthy 95% – this means of all transcripts worked on by volunteers, nearly all have met the required standards and have been locked.

5,710 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially transcribed, which is an increase of 34 on last week’s total.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

  • Box 2: 429 manuscripts transcribed of 753 (56%)
  • Box 27: 350 of 350 (100%)
  • Box 35: 282 of 439 (64%)
  • Box 41: 21 of 528 (3%)
  • Box 50: 136 of 198 (68%)
  • Box 51: 359 of 940 (38%)
  • Box 62: 53 of 565 (9%)
  • Box 70: 286 of 350 (81%)
  • Box 71: 663 of 663 (100%)
  • Box 72: 609 of 664 (91%)
  • Box 73: 151 of 151 (100%)
  • Box 79: 198 of 199 (99%)
  • Box 95: 120 of 147 (81%)
  • Box 96: 527 of 539 (97%)
  • Box 97: 58 of 296 (19%)
  • Box 98: 214 of 499 (42%)
  • Box 100: 150 of 422 (33%)
  • Box 107: 373 of 538 (69%)
  • Box 115: 276 of 307 (89%)
  • Box 116: 417 of 864 (48%)
  • Box 139: 38 of 38 (100%)
  • Overall: 60% of the 9,497 manuscripts currently uploaded to the website have been transcribed thus far.

This week the Bentham Project at UCL along with our colleagues at the Centre for Digital Humanities and the University of London Computing Centre hosted a meeting of tranScriptorium partners at Bentham House. This exciting project – funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme – aims to develop innovative handwritten text recognition (HTR) technology to help in the transcription of historical manuscripts. We were fascinated to see some of the preliminary test results on Bentham manuscripts, and are looking forward to future progress in this area.

We are also delighted to announce that, as of Monday 24 June, the brand new version of our Transcription Desk software will enter into beta testing, with an intended public launch date in mid-July. The updated software contains many improvements both behind-the-scenes and in the user interface. We will be contacting volunteer transcribers over the next few days to invite them to try out the new Transcription Desk. If you would like to register your interest in becoming a beta tester of the new software, please email us at transcribe.bentham@ucl.ac.uk.

Finally, our sincere thanks, as ever, to all those who have given their time and effort in transcribing manuscripts during the last seven days. It remains greatly appreciated by us all.

Progress update, 8 to 14 June 2013

By Tim Causer, on 14 June 2013

Welcome to the progress update for the period 8 to 14 June, during which time further good progress has been made by Transcribe Bentham volunteers. 7,100 words of Bentham text have been transcribed this week, along with 2,619 words of TEI XML. We are also delighted to say that the TB conversion rate has increased further, so that 95% of all transcripts submitted by volunteers have met the required standards, and have been locked. This is a fantastic achievement, particularly so given the difficulty of reading Bentham’s handwriting.

5,676 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially transcribed, which is an increase of 23 on last week’s total. Of these transcripts, 5,368 (95%) are of the required standard and have been locked, up 30 on this time last week.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

Perhaps the most interesting find this week was a manuscript transcribed by Jonathan Targett and Rob Magin, in which Bentham tells us how to bake bread.

Thank you again, as ever, to all those who have given their time and effort in transcribing manuscripts during the last seven days. It remains greatly appreciated by us all.

 

Progress update, 1 to 7 June 2013

By Tim Causer, on 7 June 2013

Welcome to the progress update for the period 1 to 7 June 2013, during which time further steady progress has been made by TB volunteers. 7,128 words of Bentham text were transcribed this week, plus another 3,050 words of TEI XML. Yesterday was the 181st anniversary of Bentham’s death in 1832, and he would be delighted to see that his works were still of such interest.

5,653 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially-transcribed, which is an increase of 17 on last week’s total. Of these transcripts, 5,368 (94.9%) have met the required standards and have been locked, up 18 on last week’s total.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

In other TB-related news this week:

Thank you, as ever, to all who have given their time to Transcribe Bentham during the last seven days. It remains greatly appreciated by us all.