NOTE: We’re a bit off schedule: This week we’ve been discussing text encoding and will continue to do so on Wednesday, when you’ll complete a text encoding task in class. Please continue to think about your research project assignment and to post related questions to the blog as they arise.
For Wed: Real-world transcription practice: This assignment invites you to contribute to an ongoing text encoding and transcription project dedicated to the works of utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham.
- To get started, visit the Transcribe Bentham website and create an account (you must complete these steps prior to class Wednesday).
- Then, review the Transcription Guidelines and, if you wish, begin transcribing. (note the diverse project team)
- I’ll provide class time on Wednesday for Bentham transcription but encourage you in advance to try participating in the project on your own.
- Have fun and, on behalf of Transcribe Bentham, thank you!
For Friday, First, could you please write a reaction post describing your response to Transcribe Bentham (share whatever you wish about the experience, from technical to paleographic to thematic comments and beyond)? Then, we’ll review and discuss several crowdsourcing examples and explore how digital humanists (and others) are leveraging the public participation to achieve research goals. Your Task for Friday: Working with a small group, review one of these crowdsourcing examples in-depth and be prepared to explain the concept of crowdsourcing as illustrated by your example to the class (be sure as well to cursorily review all of the crowdsourcing examples on this list):
- Transcribe Bentham & ( Chronicle article on Transcribe Bentham)
- Cathy Davidson: Crowdsourcing Grading in the College classroom
- Paleography example from King’s College & the corresponding Facebook Group
- Recaptcha
- Four Crowdsourcing Lessons
Blog Assignment (due Wed, Nov. 3): How might you use crowdsourcing in your research project for this class (or, if you prefer, in some other context)?