Transcribe Bentham

Welcome along to the progress update for the period 18 to 24 May 2013, during which time further steady progress has been made by Transcribe Bentham volunteers. 9,022 words of Bentham text were transcribed this week, along with 4,736 words of TEI mark-up.

5,605 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially-transcribed, which is an increase of 20 on last week’s total. Of these transcripts, 5,324 (94.9%) have met the required standards and have been locked.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

• Box 2: 409 manuscripts transcribed of 753 (54%)
• Box 27: 350 of 350 (100%)
• Box 35: 282 of 439 (64%)
• Box 41: 6 of 528 (1%)
• Box 50: 135 of 198 (67%)
• Box 51: 359 of 940 (38%)
• Box 62: 53 of 565 (9%)
• Box 70: 270 of 350 (77%)
• Box 71: 663 of 663 (100%)
• Box 72: 608 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: 55 of 296 (18%)
• Box 98: 213 of 499 (42%)
• Box 100: 149 of 422 (33%)
• Box 107: 339 of 538 (63%)
• Box 115: 276 of 307 (89%)
• Box 116: 404 of 864 (46%)
• Box 139: 38 of 38 (100%)
• Overall: 59% of the 9,497 manuscripts currently uploaded to the website have been transcribed thus far.

Thank you, as always, to everyone has taken the time to transcribe something over the past seven days. It remains greatly appreciated by us all.

Welcome along to the Transcribe Bentham progress update for the period 11 to 17 May 2013, during which time further good progress has been made by volunteer transcribers. 8,526 words of Bentham text have been transcribed this week, along with 3,469 words of TEI mark-up.

5,585 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially-transcribed, which is an increase of 16 on last week’s total. Of these transcripts, 5,303 (94.9%!) are complete and locked. We are achingly close to reaching a completion rate of 95%.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows

• Box 2: 409 manuscripts transcribed of 753 (54%)
• Box 27: 350 of 350 (100%)
• Box 35: 281 of 439 (64%)
• Box 41: 6 of 528 (1%)
• Box 50: 135 of 198 (67%)
• Box 51: 359 of 940 (38%)
• Box 62: 53 of 565 (9%)
• Box 70: 267 of 350 (76%)
• Box 71: 663 of 663 (100%)
• Box 72: 608 of 664 (91%)
• Box 73: 151 of 151 (100%)
• Box 79: 198 of 199 (99%)
• Box 95: 120 of 147 (81%)
• Box 96: 526 of 539 (97%)
• Box 97: 55 of 296 (18%)
• Box 98: 213 of 499 (42%)
• Box 100: 149 of 422 (33%)
• Box 107: 324 of 538 (60%)
• Box 115: 276 of 307 (89%)
• Box 116: 404 of 864 (46%)
• Box 139: 38 of 38 (100%)
• Overall: 58% of the 9,497 manuscripts currently uploaded to the website have been transcribed thus far.

One interesting find from the last week was JB/107/117/001, entitled ‘Expressing an image by colours’ (or ‘painting’, for the non-Benthamic among us). In this manuscript, Bentham offers tips on how various objects should be represented by artists, including how lighting, distance, opacity and so on (or ‘Opticks’) have to be taken into account. Particular attention is paid to where the ‘image to be expressed is of animated matter’, and that the artist must account for anatomy, movement, and the ability to discriminate ‘the effect produced upon the body by the general character of the mind of the individual’. The manuscript concludes by suggesting that a painter ‘should be a naturalist & a phisiologist [sic]‘. Thanks to Jonathan Targett for transcribing this one!

Thank you, as always, to everyone who has given their time and effort to Transcribe Bentham over the past seven days. It remains greatly appreciated by us all.

Welcome to the progress update for the period 27 April to 3 May 2013, during which time great further progress has been made by volunteer transcribers: 9,828 words have been transcribed over the past seven days, including TEI mark-up.

5,549 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially-transcribed, which is an increase of 25 on last week’s total. Of these transcripts, 5,267 (94%) are complete and locked. We are now on the cusp of being able to say that 95% of all submitted transcripts

The more detailed state of progress is as follows

• Box 2: 408 manuscripts transcribed of 753 (54%)
• Box 27: 350 of 350 (100%)
• Box 35: 280 of 439 (63%)
• Box 41: 0 of 528 (0%)
• Box 50: 135 of 198 (67%)
• Box 51: 358 of 940 (38%)
• Box 62: 53 of 565 (9%)
• Box 70: 261 of 350 (74%)
• Box 71: 663 of 663 (100%)
• Box 72: 608 of 664 (91%)
• Box 73: 151 of 151 (100%)
• Box 79: 198 of 199 (99%)
• Box 95: 120 of 147 (81%)
• Box 96: 526 of 539 (97%)
• Box 97: 54 of 296 (18%)
• Box 98: 213 of 499 (42%)
• Box 100: 149 of 422 (33%)
• Box 107: 315 of 538 (58%)
• Box 115: 275 of 307 (89%)
• Box 116: 394 of 864 (45%)
• Box 139: 38 of 38 (100%)
• Overall: 58% of the 9,497 manuscripts currently uploaded to the website have been transcribed thus far.

Box 107 was again the most heavily transcribed set of material during the last week. We are also glad to report that more material is also now available to transcribe: Box 41, containing material pertaining to Bentham’s massive, unfinished Constitutional Code.

Finds this week include Bentham discussing his scheme for counterfeit-proof banknotes (thanks to Joy Lloyd).

Earlier this week, the Bentham Project published electronically the preliminary text of the third volume of Bentham’s Not Paul, but Jesus, which has never been available before. In this work, Bentham discusses sexual morality, and argues that asceticism had been condemned by Jesus, whereas St Paul had taught and encouraged it. Bentham further argues that the reason why so many sexual practices were condemned or subject to harsh criminal penalties was owing to the teachings of Paul. This is an extremely important work, and has been edited by Philip Schofield, Catherine Pease-Watkin, and Michael Quinn, and has been encoded using a TEI schema developed by Kris Grint.

As always, we are extremely grateful to everyone who has taken part in Transcribe Bentham over the last seven days. It is very much appreciated by us all.

We are pleased to say that another batch of new material, this time dating from 1823 to Bentham’s death in 1832, is now available to transcribe. Box 41 contains material relating to Bentham’s massive, unfinished Constitutional Code, the major work of his final years. The Code was addressed to ‘all nations and all governments professing liberal opinions’, as in the course of drafting it, Bentham had been encouraged that the Code might be adopted in Portugal, Greece, and a number of South American nations.

We hope that you find this material of interest, and enjoy attempting to decipher it! Do let us know if you have any queries.

Welcome to the progress update for the period 23 March to 5 April 2013. Over the Easter break a huge amount of transcription and encoding work was carried out by our volunteers, and we’d like to thank them for their patience whilst we worked through the backlog!

5,366 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially-transcribed, which is up 96 on the total before Easter. We also locked our 5,000th transcript – JB/116/651/001. Fittingly, it was transcribed by our leading contributor, Lea Stern. In total 5,091 (94%) transcripts are now complete and locked.

Box 107 continued to prove very popular with our transcribers, who almost doubled the amount of manuscripts worked on in this box from last time’s total.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

• Box 2: 390 manuscripts transcribed of 753 (51%)
• Box 27: 350 of 350 (100%)
• Box 35: 279 of 439 (63%)
• Box 50: 135 of 198 (67%)
• Box 51: 358 of 940 (38%)
• Box 62: 53 of 565 (9%)
• Box 70: 257 of 350 (73%)
• Box 71: 663 of 663 (100%)
• Box 72: 608 of 664 (91%)
• Box 73: 151 of 151 (100%)
• Box 79: 198 of 199 (99%)
• Box 95: 120 of 147 (81%)
• Box 96: 526 of 539 (97%)
• Box 97: 52 of 296 (17%)
• Box 98: 212 of 499 (42%)
• Box 100: 148 of 422 (33%)
• Box 107: 171 of 538 (37%)
• Box 115: 275 of 307 (89%)
• Box 116: 372 of 864 (43%)
• Box 139: 38 of 38 (100%)
• Overall: 58% of the 8,925 manuscripts currently uploaded to the website have been transcribed thus far.

With the completion of over 5,000 transcripts, this is an appropriate moment to offer our thanks and congratulations to all our volunteers for reaching this amazing milestone.