Smithsonian Transcription Center

An update on the Smithsonian's crowdsourced transcription effort, led by Sarah Allen & Jason Shen, 2013 Presidential Innovation Fellows.

http://transcription.si.edu

1. Crowdsourced Transcription Sarah Allen & Jason Shen Social Media Mtg 8/13/2013
2. Discovering secrets hidden inside our collections that will illuminate our history and our world
3. Smithsonian Transcription Center http://transcription.si.edu
4. Smithsonian Transcription Center http://transcription.si.edu
5. Smithsonian Transcription Center http://transcription.si.edu
6. Smithsonian Transcription Center http://transcription.si.edu
9. Started with a few thousand documents contributed from AAA, SIA, NMNH, NMAH-Archives and others. Early focus has been on full-text transcription of handwritten letters, diaries, manuscripts Already have hundreds of volunteers who have made thousands of transcription edits in the past few weeks. Early progress:
10. Up Next:
11. Botany US Herbarium has 5M preserved plant specimens - and of those 1.3M have digital records Transcription of handwritten labels captures valuable metadata (collector, collection date, location, elevation) Goal of producing searchable database for researchers all around the world to access, study and explore
12. This stuff (structured data)
13. If it’s not digitized - it might as well not exist - Sylvia Orli (NMNH)
14. >> Collection Number 2) Location 3) Date / Elevation USNM Number + Add Collector << ? ? ? 1) General Collector(s) Cultivated? ? Yes Notes
15. State / Territory Notes 3) Date / Elevation District / County / Shire << ? ? ? 1) General 2) Location >> Country Precise Locality Latitude ? ? ° ‘ “ Longitude ? ° ‘ “ ? Select Country
16. Collection Date Elevation (from) << ? ? ? 1) General 3) Date / Elevation 2) Location >> Elevation (to) Collection Date And/To/Or Select Modifier ? ? ? Elevation Unit Select Unit Notes Finished? Use the buttons at the bottom to Save and Finish
17. Save your megaphones (for now!) Aiming for phased roll-out: 1. Live with targeted outreach 2. SI-wide Launch 3. THE WORLD
18. Save your megaphones (for now!) Aiming for phased roll-out: 1. Live with targeted outreach 2. SI-wide Launch 3. THE WORLD We are here
19. If you have specific groups / people you think we should talk to, let us know!
20. transcription.si.edu