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HOW TO TRANSCRIBE

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Register


To contribute enrichments to Transcribathon, you must first create an account. You can work on all projects using one Transcribathon account.

Follow the instructions on the Registration page to set up your account.

Enrich


Enrichment takes place on the item page.

First, find an item (a single document) you want to enrich by searching and browsing the project collection on the Discovery page. Click on a story (1) and select an item from the story page (2), or select an item directly from your discovery results.

You can only add new enrichments to items marked with the grey (Not Started) or yellow (Edit) statuses.

Tasks for items in the orange and green statuses are explained in the Review section of this tutorial.

Get started by clicking on the pen button in the left menu of the item image. This will open up the full-screen Enrichment Mode.

Enrichment Mode


Edit your workspace view by using the top-right menu.

You can have the white Activity Panel docked to the right (default) , to the bottom , or as an independent overlay . If you just want to view the image, you can hide the panel using the minimise button , and then re-open it with the pen button. Adjust the size and position of your Activity Panel according to your preferences.

You enrich documents by following a step-by-step process.

Make sure you regularly save your enrichments in each step to avoid the risk of losing your work.

Step 1: Transcription


To start a transcription, select the transcription tab at the top menu of the Activity Panel. Click inside the box underneath the heading TRANSCRIPTION and start writing your transcription. When needed, use the toolbar to format your text and to add special characters and tables. A guide to the transcription toolbar is available in the Formatting section of this tutorial.

Identify the language(s) of the text using the dropdown list under the transcription box. You can select multiple languages at once.

If the item has no text to transcribe, tick the checkbox ‘No Text’.

Once you have finished your transcription, click SAVE.

Step 2: Description


You can add a description to the item underneath the Transcription section.

The first task is to identify what type of document the item is: a handwritten or printed document, a postcard, photo, drawing and/or part of a diary. Tick the category which best applies to the item. Multiple categories can be selected at once.

The second task is to write a description of the contents. Click inside the box underneath the heading DESCRIPTION. Here, you can write what the item is, what it is about, and specify the images and objects that appear in the item.

Identify the language of the description text that you wrote using the dropdown list underneath. You can only select one language.

Once you have finished your description, click SAVE.

Step 3: Location


If you find a location mentioned or recognise a place in the item, you can create a geotag and pin it to the item map. Multiple locations can attached to the item.

To tag locations, select the tagging tab at the top menu of the Activity Panel. Click the plus next to the heading LOCATIONS.

Type the location into the search bar and select the result that best applies. A new pin will be placed into the map.

The location name should be a clear georeference, e.g. a country, city or address. Make adjustments to the location name if necessary. You can also adjust the position of the pin by dragging it on the map.

If you want to add further details to the location, you can write a (short) description. This could include extra information about the geotag (e.g. the building name or a significant event that took place at the location) or the relevance of the place to the item (e.g. the hometown of the author).

You can also add a Wikidata reference to link the location to a stable source. Search for the reference using the Wikidata fields.

Once you have finished your location tag, click SAVE.

You can find the place(s) tagged to the item in grey at the bottom of the Location(s) section.

Step 4: Tagging


Below the Locations section is the Tagging section, where you can add the following annotations:


Document Date:
Here, you can add dates that correspond to the item. This could include the dates mentioned in the text (e.g. in diary pages), the date of a related historical event (e.g. the end of WWI), or when the item was created (e.g. from a dated signature on an illustration). You can either define this as a single date or as a longer time frame.

To tag dates to the item, write the start and end dates in DD/MM/YYYY format in the fields or select the dates by clicking on the calendar.

If you only have one date to add, insert the same date into both start and end fields.

If you don’t know the exact days, you can also tag the date on the scale of months (MM/YYYY) or years (YYYY).

Once you have finished your date tag, click SAVE DATE.
People:
People mentioned as creators or subjects in the item can also be tagged. Depending on the information you might have, you can enter the person’s first and last names, as well as their dates of birth and death. There is also the option to write a short description of the person, explaining who they are or their relevance to the item, e.g. the person’s occupation or their relation to another tagged person.

Multiple people can be tagged to one item.

Once you have finished your person tag, click SAVE.


Keywords:
Here, you can freely add keywords related to the topic and content of the item. This could include particular themes (e.g. art, music, war), subjects (e.g. children, cooking, France), or particular historical affiliations (e.g. 20th century, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Fall of the Iron Curtain).

Multiple keywords can be added and they can be written in any language.

Write your keyword tag into the field and click SAVE.
Other Sources:
External websites with information about the item’s content can be linked here. This could include links to further data about a person mentioned, a particular historical event or links to digital versions of newspapers that appear in photos or clippings in a notebook.

To add a link, click the plus next to the heading ‘Other Sources’. Enter the URL into the Link field, and write a short description of this link in the Additional Description field.

Multiple links can be tagged to one item.

Once you have finished your tag, click SAVE.

Step 5: Mark for Review




Once you have saved your contribution, the task will automatically change to the Edit status.

If you think the task is finished, you can mark it for review. Note that you have to be at Runner level or above to do this (see: Miles and Levels).

Click on the yellow circle next to the section heading and select Review in the list that appears.

The task now needs to go under Review by another volunteer.

Formatting

Use the toolbar to format your Transcription text or to add extra details to it. You can format your text using the various styles and alignment tools: Use bold for headings, and italics, underline and strikethrough if they appear in the item text. You can edit the structure of the text using the alignment options  , and, if the item text is arranged in a table (e.g. a registry or list), you can insert a table to mimic this structure. You can also place extra information and markers into your transcription: The missing icon is a placeholder for gaps in your transcription text. Use it to mark words or sections of the text you did not or cannot transcribe, so that the next volunteer can pick up on it. If you are unsure whether a word or section in the transcription is correct, highlight it with the unclear tool. Highlight text using the comment tool to add a remark or to identify wherever an image or any other notable feature appears in the document. You can also insert a special character if it appears in the item text. Use the Clear Formatting button to remove any formatting changes.

Review

All enrichments need to be edited and reviewed by more than one volunteer to ensure that they are as accurate as possible. Only Sprinters and Champions can edit tasks in the Review stage and mark them as Complete. (see: Miles and Levels) You can review a task (Transcription, Description, Locations, or Tagging) when the circle next to the heading is coloured orange . During the review process, pay close attention to the following requirements:  
    1. Transcription: The complete text in the item has been properly transcribed and the transcription is formatted as accurately as possible. The correct language(s) are selected and the transcription contains no missing or unclear icons.
 
    1. Description: The description is accurate and detailed (especially items without text to transcribe, e.g. photos), and the appropriate categories have been ticked.
 
    1. Location(s): All locations have been correctly tagged. The location name is accurate and matches the coordinates and the pin on the map. The description is clear and concise, and the Wikidata reference (if any) is correct.
 
    1. Tagging: Document dates are completed and as precise as possible. All mentioned people are tagged and their data is correct. All added keywords are applicable to the item, and other sources have accurate information and functioning links.
  Once you think a task has fulfilled the requirements and is indeed finished, you can mark the task as complete. Click the orange circle next to the section heading and select Complete in the list that appears. When all 4 tasks in the item are finished, the item status will be fully complete and change to green.

Completion Statuses

 
GREY
1. NOT STARTED
Tasks have not been started.
YELLOW
2. EDIT MODE
Tasks have been started, but not yet finished. Additions and edits can still be made.
ORANGE
3. REVIEW
Tasks are finished, but need final review by Sprinter or Champion transcribers.
GREEN
4. COMPLETED
Tasks have been fully completed and reviewed. No further changes need to be made.

Miles and Levels

Transcribathon is a competitive marathon. You do not enrich documents alone, but compete and work with other volunteers to ensure the quality of your work. When you first create a Transcribathon account, you only have the ability to start and edit tasks. The more you enrich documents, the closer you become to advancing to a higher level, which can unlock abilities like reviewing and completing tasks.
Level Abilities
Trainee Basic abilities: start and edit tasks
Runner Basic abilities: start and edit tasks
Sprinter Basic abilities, mark finished tasks for review
Champion All Sprinter abilities, mark reviewed tasks as complete
You receive points automatically when you contribute to a task (see: Enrich). These points are called Miles, signifying the distance you have run since starting the race. In competitive Runs and on our overall Top Transcribers list, your number of Miles are ranked with those of others.
Tasks Miles Received
Transcription 1 Mile for every 300 characters transcribed
Description 1 Mile for every 5 Descriptions added
Location 1 Mile for every 5 Locations added
Tagging 1 Mile for every 5 Tags added
Reviewing 1 Mile for every 10 items marked as complete

Take part in the Transcribathon

Join the race to transcribe and annotate historical documents

Transcribathon aims to enrich digital cultural heritage using the power of the crowd.

Transcribathon is a crowdsourcing platform that offers you the unique opportunity to work with historical material and become an integral part of their digitisation process. This digital material — scanned images of historical letters, diaries and pictures — has been collected by various cultural heritage institutions and are showcased in our projects. By discovering, reading, and adding transcriptions, tags and georeferences to these documents, you play a vital role in increasing their access and open up their future potential for research and education.

 

You also join the race with other volunteer historians. Work together and compete with our community to make it to the top transcribers leaderboard.

 

Joining is free and all of our projects are open to everyone.
All you need to do is create an account.

366 268 Documents

43 686 360 Characters

117 649 Enrichments

The first prototype of the Transcribathon tool was created in 2014 by Facts & Files and Olaf Baldini/Piktoresk and funded by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM). The tool was further developed in 2016 into the Transcribathon Europeana 1914-1918 website, which focused on the transcription of documents from the Europeana 1914-1918 collection, co-funded by the European Commission. In 2019, the Transcribathon platform was updated, improved and extended within the framework of the Enrich Europeana project, which, among other improvements, now enables the incorporation of multiple digital heritage collections. The Enrich Europeana project is jointly developed by the Austrian Institute of Technology, Facts & Files, Europeana, NET7, Biblioteca Judeteana "Octavian Goga" Cluj, the Austrian National Library and Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center, and co-funded by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union.
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