Digital History workshop: Crowdsourcing in the Humanities and cultural heritage sector. Victoria University of Wellington 23 April 2013
Session: How <del>not</del> to run a crowdsourcing project: lessons from Transcribe Bentham
Presenter: Valerie Wallace
http://wtap.vuw.ac.nz/wordpress/digital-history/events/crowdsourcing-workshop/presenters/
1. ‘How <del>not</del> to run a
crowdsourcing project: lessons from
Transcribe Bentham'
Dr Valerie Wallace, History Programme, VUWDr Valerie Wallace, History Programme, VUW
(valerie.wallace@vuw.ac.nz)(valerie.wallace@vuw.ac.nz)
2. The Bentham ProjectThe Bentham Project
• Established in 1959
• Produces The Collected Works of Jeremy
Bentham (1748-1832), the influential jurist,
reformer, and philosopher.
• First two volumes published in 1968 and to
date, 28 of a proposed 70 have been
published, including 12 of the proposed 14
vols of Correspondence.
3. Challenges facing the Bentham Project:Challenges facing the Bentham Project:
How to speed up editorial production and
create a searchable, accessible digital
resource?
Answer: Crowdsource transcription
In 2010 40,000 of 72,500
manuscripts were
untranscribed
4. The Transcription DeskThe Transcription Desk
http://www.transcribe-bentham.da.ulcc.ac.uk/td/Transcribe_Bentham and
http//:www.ucl.ac.uk/transcribe-bentham
5.
6.
7. Process of checking volunteer transcriptsProcess of checking volunteer transcripts
11. Some results from Transcribe Bentham
• 2410 registered accounts
• 362 active transcribers
• 15 super transcribers
• 5205 transcribed manuscripts (c.2.6 million
words)
(As of 8 March 2013)
12. Manuscripts worked on by volunteers, 8 September
2010 to 8 March 2013
Number of
manuscripts worked
on
Number of volunteers
(percentage)
0 2048 (84.9)
1 225 (9.3)
2 66 (2.7)
3 24 (0.9)
4 6 (0.2)
5 to 20 25 (1)
21 to 50 3 (0.1)
51 to 100 5 (0.2)
101 to 200 3 (0.1)
201 to 500 2 (<0.1)
501 to 999 1 (<0.1)
1000+ 2 (<0.1)
Total 2410 (100)
13. Some tips on project management:
• Don’t get lost in translation. The team must
communicate effectively.
• Don’t underestimate the time it takes to manage
volunteers.
• Simplify the task as much as possible
• Funding runs out fast. Think ahead.
• Tools are quickly rendered obsolete. Be ready to
adapt.
• Secure the right publicity!
14. • Code for Transcribe Bentham MediaWiki plugins:
http://code.google.com/p/tb-transcription-desk/,
last accessed 15 June 2012.
Public Records Office of Victoria
15. For more information see:
• Tim Causer, Justin Tonra, and Valerie Wallace, ‘Transcription
Maximized; Expense Minimized? Crowdsourcing and Editing The
Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham’, Literary and Linguistic
Computing, 27/2 (2012)
• Tim Causer and Valerie Wallace, ‘Building a Volunteer Community:
Results and Findings from Transcribe Bentham’, 6/2 (2012),
http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/6/2/000125/000125.html