Transcribe Bentham
Volunteer Interviews
- Interview of volunteer by Kathleen. Volunteer talks about how it was satisfying to feel like you’re contributing to something. They liked the fact that the project was democratic in that anyone could get involved since the academic world can sometimes be a bit exclusive. Points earned from transcribing were another big motivator.
Other Info
- Project has been covered by many major international newspapers and radios and has won The Award of Distinction in the Digital Communities category of the Prix Ars Electronica- all creation a positive reputation for it in the community.
Assessment
- Volunteers seem more motivated to participate when it involves history. A few have made discoveries into the life of Jeremy Bentham through the transcribing of his manuscripts. The fact that they will be the first people to read these papers since he wrote them is enough to get them involved.
One volunteer described it as a ‘“literary form of archeology”. http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/6/2/000125/000125.html
BIBLIOGRAPHY |
Facts about "Transcribe Bentham"
Developed with | MediaWiki software + |
Has Haklay typology level | crowdsourcing + |
Has address | University College London, 26 Gordon Square, London, WC1. + |
Has citizen science subject area | other + |
Has collective performance feedback | yes + |
Has community manager | N/A + |
Has completion level | Low + |
Has contact person URL | http://transcribe.bentham@ucl.ac.uk + |
Has data types to manipulate | text + |
Has event types | Other + |
Has field of science | Literature + |
Has gaming elements | points + |
Has individual performance feedback | yes + |
Has interaction with objects | Volunteer can see high-resolution images of original manuscript. It is possible to zoom into images. + |
Has interface attractivity | rather not cool/attractive + |
Has interface usability | easy to use + |
Has member profiles | N/A + |
Has participant task description | The volunteer selects a manuscript, and is … The volunteer selects a manuscript, and is presented with a manuscript image alongside a free-text box, into which he or she enters their transcript (which can be saved at any time). Volunteers are also asked to add some basic formatting to their transcripts, and encode their work in Text-Encoding Initiative-compliant XML using a specially designed transcription toolbar. Using this, the volunteer can highlight a piece of text, or a position in the text, and click a button on the toolbar to identify a particular characteristic of that chosen portion. These include line breaks, paragraphs, unusual spellings, and frequent additions, deletions and marginalia present in the manuscripts. When a volunteer is happy with his or her transcript, it is submitted to Transcribe Bentham project staff for checking. From wikipedia rg/wiki/Transcribe_Bentham From wikipedia] + |
Has peer to peer guidance | somewhat + |
Has project access URL | http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project + |
Has project description | Transcribe Bentham is a an award-winning p … Transcribe Bentham is a an award-winning participatory project based at University College London. Its aim is to engage the public in the online transcription of original and unstudied manuscript papers written by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), the great philosopher and reformer, via a transcription interface based on a customised MediaWiki.
"Transcribe Bentham emerged out of initial discussions between Professor Philip Schofield, the Director of the Bentham Project, and Martin Moyle of UCL Library Services, regarding the production of a digital Bentham resource for a forthcoming Arts and Humanities Research Council funding call. Martin proposed the establishment of a resource to facilitate crowdsourced transcription of the Bentham Papers, and a potential partnership between the Bentham Project, UCL Library Services, UCL’s Centre for Digital Humanities, and the University of London Computer Centre. After an initial meeting between Professor Schofield, Martin, Dr Melissa Terras (UCL DH), and Richard Davis (ULCC), hosted by Library Services, the project consortium was formed."(About Us, official project page) formed."(About Us, official project page) + |
Has project name | Transcribe Bentham + |
Has project news site | http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/bentham-project/ + |
Has project news updates | N/A + |
Has project purpose | Digital images of Jeremy Benthams’ published manuscripts are transcribed by volunteers to ensure long term preservation of the Philosophers works. + |
Has project start date | September 8, 2010 + |
Has research progress feedback | no + |
Has screenshot | Bentham.jpg + |
Has social software sites | Twitter + and Facebook + |
Has subject area | Humanities + |
Has team leader | Philip Schofield + |
Has team link | http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/transcribe-bentham/people/ + |
Has team work | N/A + |
Has training sequence | no + |
Has tutorials and documentation | yes + |
Has volonteer computing | no + |
Has volonteer gaming | no + |
Has volonteer sensing | no + |
Has volonteer thinking | yes + |
Is open | true + |
Last edition | September 25, 2013 + |