Progress update, 27 August – 2 September 2011, and Happy Birthday TB!

Welcome to the progress update for 27 August to 2 September, again slightly delayed due to attendance at the Ars Electronica festival in Linz (which you can read about in previous blog posts).

1,746 manuscripts have now been transcribed, up 33 on the previous week, and making this the busiest period since the first week of August. 1,475 (84%) of these transcripts are now complete and locked.

The state of play for each box of material is as follows:

• Box 2: 184 manuscripts transcribed of 532 (35%)
• Box 27: 214 of 350 (61%)
• Box 35: 203 of 439 (46%)
• Box 50: 33 of 92 (36%)
• Box 51: 24 of 940 (3%)
• Box 70: 157 of 250 (45%)
• Box 71: 114 of 665 (17%)
• Box 72: 104 of 664 (16%)
• Box 73: 115 of 156 (74%)
• Box 79: 38 of 199 (19%)
• Box 95: 44 of 147 (30%)
• Box 96: 258 of 539 (48%)
• Box 115: 225 of 307 (73%)
• Box 139: 33 of 584 (6%)
• Overall: 1,746 of the 5,262 (33%) manuscripts uploaded to the website have been transcribed thus far.

Boxes 73 and 115 are sneaking ever closer towards completion

It’s a happy coincidence that the update is issued today, as 12 months ago to the day the Transcription Desk was launched to the public to begin crowdsourcing Bentham’s manuscripts. During that time we’ve seen a great deal of publicity around the project, given a number of talks, made significant headway into the material, and rounded off the year with international recognition.

But we’re not about to sit back and congratulate ourselves on a job well done. There is still plenty to be done, and work continues on achieving our long-term goal of creating a searchable digital Bentham repository,  facilitating the publication of volumes of the Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham, and engaging students, researchers, and the public with this vast and remarkable collection. Thanks to one and all who have contributed during the past twelve months.

Here’s to the next year, and beyond!