Project update – master Bentham’s handwriting with Transkribus Learn

Over the years, our volunteers have developed an enviable expertise in deciphering Bentham’s decidedly difficult handwriting.  They can even transcribe pages like this! By contrast, many newcomers are understandably daunted by Bentham’s scrawl – they may start transcribing a page one day but then never return.

A new e-learning website, produced by the University of Innsbruck as part of the READ project, promises to help anyone and everyone get to grips with all kinds of historical handwriting. Transkribus Learn does not replace systematic paleography training but it allows users to practice reading and transcribing individual words, learning as they go.

To try it out:

• Register for a free Transkribus account
• Login at Transkribus Learn (works on web or mobile)
• Explore the site and choose a document to practice on

Transkribus Learn has two transcription modes – ‘Study’ and ‘Test’.

In the former, users can guess and then reveal the transcription of individual words in a manuscript.  In the latter, users will be prompted to transcribe the missing word in a series of examples. At the end, you receive your score and a list of correct and incorrect answers. You can keep studying and testing yourself, as often as you like.

There are two Bentham collections on the site – categorised as ‘easier Bentham (containing writing by Bentham and his secretaries) and ‘difficult Bentham’. Both collections are an ideal training ground for new volunteers, offering the opportunity to practice transcribing different words in rapid succession.

We recommend that new volunteers start with the ‘easier Bentham’ and move onto the more difficult pages once they feel ready.  I hope some of our long-standing volunteers might also have a play and challenge themselves to ready some of Bentham’s nastiest handwriting!

Access the Bentham material in Transkribus Learn:

• ‘Easier Bentham’ collection
• ‘Difficult Bentham’ collection

As one of the partners in the READ project, the Bentham Project helped to develop Transkribus Learn. But there’s so much more than Bentham to discover on the site. The site currently contains scripts from the 12th to the 19th centuries in a range of languages. Users can also upload their own documents to the platform as a training exercise for students or volunteers.

The Transkribus team look forward to helping a broad range of people learn valuable new transcription skills!  They welcome any feedback or questions (learn@transkribus.eu).