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Archive for May, 2014

Progress update, 24 to 30 May 2014

By Tim Causer, on 30 May 2014

Welcome along to the progress update for the period 24 to 30 May, during which time Transcribe Bentham volunteers have broken another record. This week has been the busiest ever seven day period, with 214 manuscripts transcribed or partially-transcribed; this just beats the previous record of 212, received during the week commencing 12 April 2014! We have also been able to lock our 8,000th transcript this week. These are two further fantastic achievements on the behalf of transcribers.

We do have to apologise that we haven’t quite been able to check all those transcripts submitted this week, but are working to get through the backlog – apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

8,685 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially transcribed, of which 8,132 (93%) have been checked and approved by TB editorial staff.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

 

Box No. of manuscripts worked on No. of manuscripts in box Completion
Box 1 96 794 12%
Box 2 465 753 61%
Box 5 157 290 54%
Box 15 34 914 4%
Box 18 2 192 1%
Box 27 350 350 100%
Box 29 3 122 2%
Box 31 9 302 2%
Box 34 16 398 4%
Box 35 286 439 65%
Box 36 14 418 3%
Box 37 6 487 1%
Box 38 28 424 6%
Box 39 4 282 1%
Box 41 74 528 12%
Box 42 63 910 6%
Box 44 50 201 24%
Box 50 159 198 79%
Box 51 372 940 39%
Box 57 5 420 1%
Box 62 55 565 10%
Box 70 295 350 84%
Box 71 663 663 100%
Box 72 612 664 92%
Box 73 151 151 100%
Box 79 199 199 100%
Box 95 123 147 83%
Box 96 534 539 99%
Box 97 84 296 28%
Box 98 217 499 43%
Box 100 183 422 41%
Box 107 472 538 87%
Box 115 276 307 89%
Box 116 497 864 57%
Box 117 263 853 30%
Box 118 88 880 10%
Box 119 195 990 19%
Box 121 121 526 22%
Box 122 282 717 38%
Box 139 40 40 100%
Box 150 105 972 10%
Box 169 153 728 21%
Add MSS 537 419 744 56%
Add MSS 538 186 858 21%
Add MSS 539 279 948 29%
Overall 8,685 21,451 34%

Thank you, as always, to everyone who has given their time and effort to Transcribe Bentham during the last week. Your generosity remains, as always, greatly appreciated.

 

Progress update, 17 to 23 May 2014

By Tim Causer, on 23 May 2014

Welcome along to the Transcribe Bentham progress update for the period 17 to 23 May, during which time transcription has continued at a terrific pace. 65,014 words were transcribed this week, including the TEI mark-up, which is a phenomenal effort on the part of volunteers: that such a consistently high rate of transcription has been maintained since the turn of the year is testament to the enormous amount of work they have put in.

8,471 manuscripts have now been transcribed, up 176 on last week’s total. Of these transcripts, 7,977 (94%) are complete and have been locked, which is an increase of 195 on this time last week.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

 

Box No. of manuscripts worked on No. of manuscripts in box Completion
Box 1 96 794 12%
Box 2 465 753 61%
Box 5 153 290 52%
Box 15 30 914 3%
Box 27 350 350 100%
Box 29 1 122 1%
Box 31 6 302 1%
Box 34 12 398 3%
Box 35 286 439 65%
Box 36 8 418 1%
Box 37 2 487 1%
Box 38 12 424 2%
Box 39 2 282 1%
Box 41 71 528 12%
Box 42 59 910 6%
Box 44 48 201 23%
Box 50 159 198 79%
Box 51 372 940 39%
Box 57 2 420 1%
Box 62 55 565 10%
Box 70 295 350 84%
Box 71 663 663 100%
Box 72 612 664 92%
Box 73 151 151 100%
Box 79 199 199 100%
Box 95 123 147 83%
Box 96 534 539 99%
Box 97 82 296 27%
Box 98 217 499 43%
Box 100 183 422 41%
Box 107 471 538 87%
Box 115 276 307 89%
Box 116 497 864 57%
Box 117 245 853 28%
Box 118 71 880 7%
Box 119 169 990 17%
Box 121 120 526 21%
Box 122 281 717 38%
Box 139 40 40 100%
Box 150 102 972 10%
Box 169 149 728 20%
Add MSS 537 395 744 53%
Add MSS 538 163 858 19%
Add MSS 539 244 948 25%
Overall 8,471 21,451 34%

As we mentioned earlier this week, colleagues at the Edvard Munch Museum in Oslo have launched their project to crowdsource the transcription of Munch’s correspondence. We were thrilled to see that the Munch platform is an adapted version of the TB Transcription Desk, and wish them nothing but success in their endeavours. If you are thinking about crowdsourcing a manuscript collection, the code for the Transcription Desk is available on an open-source basis via GitHub.

Needless to say, we are hugely grateful to everyone who has contributed to Transcribe Bentham during the last seven days. Your efforts are, as always, very much appreciated by us all.

Transcription Desk code implemented by the Edvard Munch Museum

By Tim Causer, on 20 May 2014

We were thrilled to learn that this week sees the launch of the Edvard Munch Museum’s online transcription platform, which is an adapted version of the TB Transcription Desk wiki developed by the University of London Computer Centre. Via the Edvard Munch Texts Digital Archive you can access the first batch of the 5,482 letters owned by the Museum, and transcribe them. The Munch team have adapted the transcription toolbar used in Transcribe Bentham to allow the marking-up of names, places and so forth, as well as TEI XML. Most of these letters are in German and the Scandinavian languages, and so the website is mainly in Norwegian and German.

Needless to say, we are delighted to see the Transcription Desk being reconfigured in this way. If you are thinking of crowdsourcing the transcription of a manuscript collection the code for the Transcription Desk is available on an open source basis, and do email us if we can provide any advice on implementing it or if you have any questions. Code re-use has always been an ambition for us all at Transcribe Bentham, and we wish our colleagues at the Munch Museum nothing but success with their transcription platform!

Progress update, 10 to 16 May 2014

By Kris Grint, on 16 May 2014

Hello and welcome to the progress update for the period 10 to 16 May 2014, where I’m delighted to report that TB volunteers have continued to sustain the very high rate of transcription we have seen since the start of this year.

This week, our figures rose to 8,295 manuscripts transcribed or partially-transcribed (up 120 on last week) and 7,782 manuscripts (94%) completed and locked (up 96 on last week). This translates to 18,450 words of Bentham, his secretaries, and his correspondents transcribed by our volunteers, with a further 4,592 words added in the form of TEI XML tags which enrich the description of the manucripts.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

Box No. of manuscripts worked on No. of manuscripts in box Completion
Box 1 95 794 11%
Box 2 465 753 61%
Box 5 153 290 52%
Box 15 24 914 3%
Box 27 350 350 100%
Box 29 1 122 1%
Box 31 2 302 1%
Box 34 7 398 1%
Box 35 286 439 65%
Box 36 7 418 1%
Box 37 0 487 1%
Box 38 0 424 1%
Box 39 0 282 1%
Box 41 71 528 12%
Box 42 58 910 6%
Box 44 17 201 8%
Box 50 159 198 79%
Box 51 372 940 39%
Box 57 1 420 1%
Box 62 55 565 9%
Box 70 295 350 84%
Box 71 663 663 100%
Box 72 612 664 92%
Box 73 151 151 100%
Box 79 199 199 100%
Box 95 123 147 83%
Box 96 533 539 98%
Box 97 80 296 27%
Box 98 216 499 43%
Box 100 182 422 41%
Box 107 468 538 86%
Box 115 276 307 89%
Box 116 497 864 57%
Box 117 235 853 27%
Box 118 65 880 7%
Box 119 142 990 14%
Box 121 120 526 21%
Box 122 281 717 38%
Box 139 40 40 100%
Box 150 98 972 10%
Box 169 145 728 19%
Add MSS 537 361 744 48%
Add MSS 538 155 858 18%
Add MSS 539 235 948 24%
Overall 8,295 23,881 34%

Box 537, the first box of material to be added to Transcribe Bentham from the collections of the British Library, is just a few manuscripts away from being 50% complete. This is fantastic progress, especially as the box has only been available for transcript since the beginning of March. We will be introducing more fascinating  manuscripts from the collection over the next few weeks – stay tuned!

Continuing on the theme of the British Library material, the highlights from the transcripts submitted by volunteers this week show that Sir Samuel Bentham, brother of Jeremy, intrepid explorer in Russia and naval architect, is fast-becoming a star of the whole Bentham show:

‘I dont know whether I told you or not of my discovery with respect to bodies floating down a river with the stream’, writes Samuel from Siberia to Jeremy in 1783. Thankfully, this was strictly a scientific observation, as it applied to any object floating down a river, rather than corpses.

As Jeremy was preparing to visit Samuel in Russia in the early 1780s, the younger brother wrote to proffer some sensible fashion advice: ‘A pair of boots large enough for me you might wear on the road with 2 pairs of warm stockings under them.’

Meanwhile, Samuel estimated Jeremy’s travelling costs as possibly as low as £30, if Jeremy could come in an ‘economical way‘, involving travel by sea ‘as far as Dantzic or even Merinel’ and overland sledge via Riga. Our thanks to transcriber Ohsoldgirl for all three of these contributions!

Our gratitude is also extended, as always, to everyone who has contributed to Transcribe Bentham during the last week.

Progress update, 3 to 9 May 2014

By Tim Causer, on 9 May 2014

Welcome to the progress update for the period 3 to 9 May 2014, during which time further excellent, relentless progress has been made by TB volunteers. Just under 20,000 words (including TEI XML) have been transcribed this week.

8,175 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially-transcribed, which is 93 up on this time last week. Of these transcripts, 7,686 (94%) are complete and have been locked after being checked by TB staff. The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

 

Box No. of manuscripts worked on No. of manuscripts in box Completion
Box 1 95 794 11%
Box 2 465 753 61%
Box 5 152 290 52%
Box 15 18 914 2%
Box 27 350 350 100%
Box 29 1 122 1%
Box 31 0 302 1%
Box 34 6 398 1%
Box 35 286 439 65%
Box 36 5 418 1%
Box 37 0 487 1%
Box 38 0 424 1%
Box 39 0 282 1%
Box 41 70 528 12%
Box 42 57 910 6%
Box 44 17 201 2%
Box 50 159 198 76%
Box 51 372 940 39%
Box 57 1 420 1%
Box 62 55 565 10%
Box 70 295 350 84%
Box 71 663 663 100%
Box 72 612 664 92%
Box 73 151 151 100%
Box 79 199 199 100%
Box 95 123 147 83%
Box 96 533 539 98%
Box 97 79 296 26%
Box 98 216 499 43%
Box 100 182 422 41%
Box 107 467 538 86%
Box 115 276 307 89%
Box 116 497 864 57%
Box 117 231 853 27%
Box 118 62 880 7%
Box 119 129 990 13%
Box 121 120 526 21%
Box 122 280 717 38%
Box 139 40 40 100%
Box 150 98 972 10%
Box 169 145 728 19%
Add MSS 537 345 744 46%
Add MSS 538 149 858 17%
Add MSS 539 174 948 18%
Overall 8,175 21,451 34%

On the basis that everyone likes a graph, below (please click for a larger version) is a chart showing the rate of transcription since TB began in September 2010 to 2 May 2014, broken down into eight-week chunks. As you can see, the volume of work done by volunteers during the last few months is quite incredible, and the average number of manuscripts worked on each week has increased markedly.

Rate of transcription, 8 September 2010 to 2 May 2014

Rate of transcription, 8 September 2010 to 2 May 2014

As always, we are grateful to everyone who has contributed to Transcribe Bentham during the last seven days. It is as greatly appreciated as ever.