Transcription – eLaboratories

Dear Mr. Meredith: Transcribing and Analyzing the Correspondence Received by James Meredith During His Integration of the University of Mississippi

By Katie Blizzard

The long and arduous process of Meredith’s admission into the University of Mississippi captured the world’s attention. As news traveled, James Meredith received hundreds of letters from all over the world. Many of these letters are housed in the University of Mississippi’s Archives and Special Collections and are digitally accessible online, but a new project based at the University of Mississippi aims to make these materials more discoverable. On October 17 at 1:00 PM ET, join project leaders Adam Clemons and Abbie Norris-Davidson as they discuss their methodology in mapping Meredith’s correspondence and their plans for future work on this project.

Your First Crowdsourcing Project: A Webinar with FromThePage

By Katie Blizzard

Join Ben and Sara Brumfield of FromThePage as they step you through your first crowdsourcing project. The session covers selecting material, finding volunteers, developing transcription conventions, keeping volunteers engaged, and what to do with your transcriptions once you’re done.

Public Engagement Tools & Technologies Transcription

Unlocking the U.S. Department of State’s “Consular Cards”: Experimenting with AI Transcription of Handwritten Historical Documents (A Webinar with FromThePage)

By Katie Blizzard

Do today’s latest “AI” models offer capabilities not possible with traditional OCR, for unlocking documents whose handwritten contexts were impenetrable with previous technologies? A decade ago, the Office of the Historian scanned its “Consular Cards file”, a collection of 6,500 handwritten index cards containing listings of officials at all U.S. diplomatic and consular posts from 1789-1960. A unique and foundational source for understanding the history of U.S. foreign relations, the utility of the scanned cards remained limited due to OCR’s inability to extract text from the ornate cursive handwriting on these cards. Experiments conducted this year with multimodal AI tools have produced breakthrough, if imperfect, results. The talk will demonstrate the methodology and results of these experiments and will offer tips and caveats for scholars considering such tools.

Tools & Technologies Transcription

Conceptualizing and Creating a Digital Edition

By Katie Blizzard

Are you looking for a workshop environment to begin planning your edition? Join eLaboratories at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute for the course “Conceptualizing and Creating a Digital Edition.”

Annotation Collection Featured Fundamentals Publication Selection Tools & Technologies Transcription User Experience

Association for Documentary Editing Annual Meeting

By Katie Blizzard

Gathering under the conference theme of “Collaborations,” the Association for Documentary Editing (ADE) will host its annual meeting at the Embassy Suites Downtown in Buffalo, NY from June 20-22. Some presentations include: “The Ethics of Documenting Community: Collaboration Toward the Preservation of US Latina Texts;” a town hall with the ADE’s Education Committee; “Collaborating on and Best Practices in the Digital Realm;” “Textual Tangles in Print and Online Publication;” “Building Indigenous Digital Infrastructure: The Haudenosaunee Archive, Resource, and Knowledge (HARK) Portal at the University at Buffalo;” “From Transcription to Edition: Crowdsourcing the Notebooks of a 17th Century Physician and Vicar of Stratford upon Avon and Discussing Next Steps in a Collaborative Digital Edition;” and more.

Annotation Encoding Public Engagement Publication Tools & Technologies Transcription User Experience

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