Welcome to the last of the truncated progress updates, for the period 31 December 2011 to 6 January 2012. TB staff return to the office on 9 January, and during the week will begin working through submissions received over the festive period. Thank you for them all!

2,468 manuscripts have now been transcribed, up 47 on last week. We are, therefore, only a few transcripts away from reaching the next landmark of 2,500 transcripts!

The state of play for each box is as follows:

• Box 2: 270 manuscripts transcribed of 532 (50%)
• Box 27: 240 of 350 (68%)
• Box 35: 227 of 439 (51%)
• Box 50: 46 of 92 (50%)
• Box 51: 44 of 940 (4%)
• Box 62: 28 of 565 (4%)
• Box 70: 164 of 250 (46%)
• Box 71: 290 of 665 (43%)
• Box 72: 163 of 664 (24%)
• Box 73: 119 of 156 (76%)
• Box 79: 72 of 199 (36%)
• Box 95: 44 of 147 (30%)
• Box 96: 476 of 539 (88%)
• Box 97: 17 of 288 (5%)
• Box 115: 230 of 307 (75%)
• Box 139: 38 of 38 (100%)
• Overall: 44% of the 5,580 manuscripts uploaded to the website have been transcribed thus far.

We have also begun looking at the responses to our user survey, and will set about addressing a few issues raised ther, such as problems with the completed folios page.

Thank you, as ever, to all those who have given their time during the past seven days. We look forward to making further exciting progress with you throughout 2012!

Welcome to the (again, slightly shorter than usual) progress update for the period 24 to 31 December 2011. 2,421 manuscripts have now been transcribed, up 38 on last week’s total – we are particularly grateful for these transcripts given that it’s the turn of the year. Speaking of which, since this time last year, some 1,500 manuscripts have been transcribed, a remarkable total.

The state of play for each box is as follows:

• Box 2: 264 manuscripts transcribed of 532 (49%)
• Box 27: 238 of 350 (68%)
• Box 35: 226 of 439 (51%)
• Box 50: 44 of 92 (47%)
• Box 51: 44 of 940 (4%)
• Box 62: 28 of 565 (4%)
• Box 70: 164 of 250 (46%)
• Box 71: 288 of 665 (43%)
• Box 72: 152 of 664 (22%)
• Box 73: 119 of 156 (76%)
• Box 79: 71 of 199 (35%)
• Box 95: 44 of 147 (30%)
• Box 96: 455 of 539 (84%)
• Box 97: 16 of 288 (5%)
• Box 115: 230 of 307 (75%)
• Box 139: 38 of 38 (100%)
• Overall: 42% of the 5,580 manuscripts uploaded to the website have been transcribed thus far.

Thank you, once again, to all those who have given their time and effort in taking part during the last week and, indeed, during the last twelve months. Transcribe Bentham could not be successful without all of your efforts, and we are sincerely grateful. We would also like to wish everyone a very happy 2012!

Welcome to the progress update for the period 15 to 21 October 2011, during which excellent progress continues to be made; since the week ending 16  September, volunteers have been working at the very healthy rate of 47 transcripts per week. Excellent stuff!

2,051 manuscripts have now been transcribed, up 46 on last week. Of these, 1,793 (87%) are complete and locked, an increase of 37 on last week.

The state of progress for each box is as follows:

• Box 2: 192 manuscripts transcribed of 532 (36%)
• Box 27: 234 of 350 (66%)
• Box 35: 224 of 439 (51%)
• Box 50: 39 of 92 (42%)
• Box 51: 35 of 940 (4%)
• Box 62: 22 of 565 (3%)
• Box 70: 160 of 250 (45%)
• Box 71: 229 of 665 (34%)
• Box 72: 118 of 664 (17%)
• Box 73: 118 of 156 (75%)
• Box 79: 58 of 199 (29%)
• Box 95: 44 of 147 (30%)
• Box 96: 311 of 539 (57%)
• Box 97: 3 of 288 (1%)
• Box 115: 226 of 307 (73%)
• Box 139: 38 of 38 (100%)
• Overall: 36% of the 5,580 manuscripts uploaded to the website have been transcribed thus far.

Box 96 proved the busiest this week, with 3% of its manuscripts being transcribed.

We have had some further exciting news this week, as we learned that Transcribe Bentham has been nominated for the 2011 Digital Heritage Award, which this year is focusing on crowdsourcing projects, and which will be presented at this year’s Digital Strategies for Heritage conference in Rotterdam, 6-9 December. Five projects have been nominated and each will present to the conference audience, who will vote for the overall winner. Dr Melissa Terras of UCL’s Department of Information Studies – and part of the TB project team – is giving a paper at the conference, and will also present TB‘s pitch for the award. You can read more about the Digital Heritage Award here.

Needless to say, we are delighted and honoured to receive this nomination; coupled with a our recent award in this year’s Prix Ars Electronica, this really is a testament to the work of Transcribe Bentham‘s volunteers, who continue to make the project a success.

Thanks, as always, to those who have generously given their time and effort in taking part this week.

Excitement is building here, as tomorrow I head off to attend the Ars Electronica festival in Linz. There’s going to be plenty to see and do, including having a look at the quite terrifying Tesla Orchestra – who throw around lightning around for kicks – and listening to talks by some fiendishly clever physicists from CERN.

Of more immediate interest to TB volunteers are three events:

• From 1 to 6 September, TB will be on display in the form of text and screenshots at the Brucknerhaus.
• On 2 September, from 6.30 to 10.30pm (CET), I’ll be attending the prestigious Ars Electronica Gala, where all the prize-winners (including Transcribe Bentham!) will be recognised.
• And on 4 September, from 10.30am to 6pm (CET), I’ll be at the Public Space Squared, which will explore the recent uprisings and revolutions in North Africa and the Middle-East. Between 2 and 2.50pm, I’ll be speaking about Transcribe Bentham, alongside our fellow Award of Distinction winners from X_MSG, and the category and Golden Nica winners from the Fundación Ciudadano Inteligente. You can watch the proceedings of the conference live on DORF.tv.

I’ll be writing a blog each day about the festival and the events, and keeping you updated via the Facebook page and Twitter feed. The relevant hashtags for Twitter are – for general festival news – #ArsElectronica, and for the Public Space Squared symposium, #AEPSS.

Also, keep an eye on the Ars Electronica Facebook page, and their Flickr stream.

Huge thanks to all on the festival organising committee for making the necessary arrangements.

See you in Linz!