UpFront with NGS: crowdsourcing

Showing posts with label crowdsourcing. Show all posts

15 June 2017

Digital Maine & More – Crowdsourcing to Make History More Accessible!

Digital Maine & More – Crowdsourcing to Make History More Accessible!

We always love to hear about records being digitized and when crowdsourcing is used to create full access to the content.

Digital Maine is doing just that …

DMTP started in 2016 as a collaborative project of the Maine State Archives and Maine State Library. The decision was made to open up access to as many digital images of original documents as possible, but staff lacked time to transcribe them.

Building upon other national projects such as those at the Smithsonian and University of Iowa, staff developed this partner project to encourage members of the public to participate. Individuals can now assist us by transcribing the documents which they find interesting and share their work with the world.

Volunteers can work from the comfort of their homes - just create a login and start transcribing!

Many familiar names use crowdsourcing and the article, Crowdsourcing Cultural Heritage: 'Citizen Archivists' for the Future, gives a nice overview of those projects. Since last year, The Huntington Library (CA) has been using crowdsourcing to transcribe Civil War Telegrams.

It’s not just a U.S. phenomenon either. The site Europeana Transcribe is in the process of getting over 22,000 documents transcribed while Volunteers transcribe WWI experiences of Queenslanders [Australia].

So, if you have a few minutes, maybe you can help out one of these projects.

What other genealogy-related crowdsourced projects do you know of?

Editor’s Note: Upfront with NGS has frequently talked about crowdsourcing.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to Dick Eastman for letting us know about this project.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to UpFront@ngsgenealogy.org. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter

14 July 2016

Starts Tomorrow -- FamilySearch Worldwide Indexing Event

FamilySearch recruits 100,000 to save the world’s records

From our friends at FamilySearch …

SALT LAKE CITY (July 11, 2016) — On July 15, FamilySearch International will launch the world’s largest indexing event with a goal of bringing more than 100,000 people from around the globe together online during a 72-hour period to save the world’s records by making them searchable to the public.

“FamilySearch believes everyone deserves to be remembered,” said Shipley Munson, FamilySearch International’s Senior Vice President of Marketing. “All should have the opportunity to find their ancestors, and we provide a simple way for people to make those family connections.”

During the 72-hour indexing period, volunteers participate by downloading the FamilySearch software, a program that stores scanned copies of a variety of old records. Volunteers can then complete as many records as they would like by retyping the information from the scanned images into the program. Anyone with a computer and internet connection can join.

"Family history discoveries online are driven by indexed records. Volunteer indexers make those personal discoveries happen. Without them, much of what we do would not be possible,” Munson said. "We invite everyone to join in this important cause to preserve history.”

Volunteers have made over one billion historic records searchable online since FamilySearch introduced online indexing in 2006. The demand for volunteers continues to grow as millions of historical records worldwide are added online every year and as more people take interest in making personal family discoveries.

To join over 100,000 teammates in saving the world’s records, visit familysearch.org/worldsrecords…

Will you be participating? What records would you like to index and/or see indexed?

Editor’s Note: Check out past Upfront with NGS articles on FamilySearch here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow NGS via Facebook, Flipboard, Google+, Twitter, YouTube

24 June 2016

Want to De-Code Secret Civil War Telegrams? Now is Your Chance!

Want to De-Code Secret Civil War Telegrams? Now is Your Chance!

This sounds like so much fun.

As shared on the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) Facebook page …

Here's your chance to help de-code secret telegrams sent during the Civil War.

With support from the NHPRC, the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens has launched of an innovative crowdsourcing project to transcribe and decipher a collection of nearly 16,000 Civil War telegrams between Abraham Lincoln, his Cabinet, and officers of the Union Army. Roughly one-third of the messages were written in code.

The “Decoding the Civil War” project is a partnership among Zooniverse (the largest online platform for collaborative volunteer research), North Carolina State University’s Digital History and Pedagogy Project, and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

The Huntington acquired the exceptionally rare collection of telegrams in 2012, composed of a nearly complete archive of Thomas T. Eckert, the head of the military telegraph office of the War Department under Lincoln. The archive was thought to have been destroyed after the war and includes crucial correspondence that has never been published. Among the materials are 35 manuscript ledger books of telegrams sent and received by the War Department, including more than 100 communiques from Lincoln himself. Also included are top-secret cipher books revealing the complex coding system used to encrypt and decipher messages. The Confederate Army never cracked the Union Army’s code.

But you can help by joining in at https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/zooniverse/decoding-the-civil-war. They are looking for 75,000 volunteers.

I felt it important that I check out the user experience for y’all (wink wink) and it was great. You are first shown an overview of the process. I found the tools very easy to use. There are a variety of document types and each time I clicked next I was taken to something different.

I am quite impressed with how far crowdsourced projects have come in such a short time!

Whether you have just a few minutes (you literally can do some of the pages in just a few minutes) or longer, you might consider helping with this project.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter

01 February 2016

Virginia Untold:African American Narrative will be unveiled today

To kick off African American History Month, we’ll first talk about the Library of Virginia (LVA).

TODAY – the initial release of this database is supposed to occur. I am so excited to see this that I am blogging about it in advance! As soon as I have an active link to the database, I will update this post.

In the meantime, this database has been supported by a crowdsourced transcription project called Virginia Untold: African American Narrative (this is the link to the transcription page where you can assist in getting these documents transcribed).

The names of millions of African Americans, slave and free, who lived, worked, worshiped, loved, and died in Virginia, are buried deep in the archival records and manuscript collections housed at the Library of Virginia. Untold Virginia: African American Narrative seeks to find these long silent voices. Whether contained in local court and state government records, private papers and business records, or newspapers and journals from the time, the untold narrative of a people is waiting to be discovered.

In support of this new database, there have been a series of blog posts talking about select types of records that will be included:

There is also a helpful related page where the Library of Virginia staff have compiled the raw date for databases part of the African American Narrative. These indexes are presented as comma separate value (CSV) files (will open in Microsoft Excel or similar programs). These files are a great way to see all of the data for each identified database in one place.

Certificates of Importation (csv)
Coroner's Inquisitions (csv)
Deeds of Emancipation (csv)
Free Negro Registrations (csv)
Free Negro Requisitions for Public Use (csv)
Free Negro Tax Records (csv)
Freedman's Contracts (csv)
Freedom Suits (csv)
Indentures of Apprenticeship (csv)
Petitions for Reenslavement (csv)
Petitions to Remain in the Commonwealth (csv)
Slave Requisitions for Public Use (csv)

Do you know of any planned database releases this month as we celebrate African American History Month?

Did you discover a key find in this new LVA database?

Editor’s Note: Related posts ...

o Rosenwald Schools & post Civil War African Americans -- a disappearing legacy that need your support (2015)

o African-American research doesn't only happen in February -- some new resources to check out! (2014)

o “The First Frontier” for African American Research guest post by Sharon Leslie Morgan (2014)

o What's the truth behind the legend in many African American families about having a Native American ancestor? (2014)

o African American Oral History, guest post by Sharon Leslie Morgan (2013)

o African American Researchers Must Dig Deeper, guest post by Sharon Leslie Morgan (2013)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter

27 August 2015

Not just crowdsourcing -- a Crowdsourcing Game Jam!

Crowdsourcing continues to be a popular way to get lots of work done in a short period of time by involving individuals from around the world to participate.

This time, The British Library is putting a bit of a twist on it by hosting a Crowdsourcing Game Jam, 3^rd-11^th September.

The British Library has digitised 1,000,000 historical images and made them freely available, but we don't know as much about what's in them as we'd like. Normally this is the size of task we'd turn to crowdsourcing to tackle, but we're looking to have a bit more fun. So we're hosting a Crowdsourcing Game Jam. Can you help us make crowdsourcing information about this collection fun?

An ideal game draws a random image from our 1-million-strong collection and through gameplay the player tells us something about the content of the image. You might choose from our limited set of tags (flora, fauna, mineral, human portrait, landscape, manmade - eg. machine, buildings, ship, abstract, artistic, music, map), or opt to be more creative...

Do read all the details on what must be the objective of your game and the rules by which your submitted game must operate.

Editor’s Note: Related articles on this topic ...

+ Another Crowdsourcing Project to Benefit Genealogists (2015)

+ Smithsonian expands its crowdsourcing -- it's amazing what we can ALL accomplish in just a few minutes ... (2014)

+ Crowdsourcing -- making recently unimaginable amounts of information available to us at our finger tips! (2014)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter

08 July 2015

Another Crowdsourcing Project to Benefit Genealogists

Got crowdsourcing on the brain after the post last week on the new Freedmen’s Bureau Records project.

The British Library has introduced LibCrowds – a crowdsourcing platform aimed at enhancing access to British Library collections.

Today we launch LibCrowds, a platform dedicated to the hosting of experimental crowdsourcing projects aimed at enhancing access to British Library collections.

Our first project series, Convert-a-Card, is dedicated to the retro-conversion of printed card catalogues into electronic records, in order to make them available to a worldwide audience via our ExploreBL catalogue, which already includes nearly 57 million records.

The initial focus of Convert-a-Card is the Asian and African collections, and the catalogues involved are from the Chinese and the Indonesian collections ...

Read the full PR here.

Besides the Freedmen’s Bureau Records Project and LibCrowds, are you aware of any other NEW crowdsourcing projects that family historians will directly benefit from?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter

28 October 2014

Join the Hive & the New York Times in a New Crowdsourcing Project

Crowdsourcing projects are always neat & fun!

The most recent large-scale one I’ve heard about involves The New York Times. NYT asks readers to help identify print ads, using a platform for crowdsourcing called Hive.

The New York Times’ research and development lab has launched a new project asking readers for help in identifying old advertisements from its print archive — and the project is the first to be built on a new open-source platform for crowdsourcing called Hive

When you visit the Madison interface you can jump right into finding, tagging and /or transcribing ads. Here is some context for the genesis of the project.

The digitization of our archives has primarily focused on news articles, thus the ads have no metadata (company names, product categories, ad text, etc.) that would allow for either discovery or research. Madison invites Times readers to explore the past through these advertisements, and to contribute to the archive by finding, tagging, and even transcribing ads. Your contributions will aid researchers and projects both inside and outside of The New York Times for years to come.

Ads do contain fascinating information, not just for social context and also possibly about the very ancestors you are researching. I have researched many individuals who have placed advertisements in the newspaper about their business. I’ve learned about their business, where is was located, when it went out of business (if it did), where it moved (if expanding), taking on a partner, etc.

Now that we’ve discovered our insatiable appetite for newspaper content, let’s help make sure that we have access to ALL newspaper content and not just the articles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter

30 September 2014

Smithsonian expands its crowdsourcing -- it's amazing what we can ALL accomplish in just a few minutes ...

The Smithsonian always has a place in my heart and I’ve written about it a few times before (see note at end).

It is also an institution that has been working diligently to take advantage of crowdsourcing to make part of its massive holdings available to us. I’ve previously talked about this, Smithsonian + Crowdsourcing Digitization = Lots of really neat stuff available to us!.

It seems that it’s time for an update since The Wall Street Journal published a post, The Smithsonian Works to Digitize Millions of Documents.

In an epic effort to turn the reams of archival material at Washington's Smithsonian Institution into digitally searchable files, museum officials have turned to the crowd: They've created a new Transcription Center that allows any interested person to sift through scanned, handwritten documents and submit their own transcriptions online. On the center's site, which officially launched last month, people ... can click on a photocopy of a document, zoom in, decipher its sentences and send in their typed transcription with a click.

The article also mentions some other crowdsourcing projects for The New York Public Library and the University of Iowa Libraries, amongst others, that are quite relevant to family historians.

Back to the Smithsonian -- when you visit The Transcription Center, you can browse on projects by Museums and Archives or Themes, read about “how to transcribe” (which also includes how to review). Don’t want to transcribe, then someone to review what others transcribed is always needed!

I personally find that transcribing documents can be very challenging between issues of handwriting, unfamiliar terminology, unusual names, and the many other challenges to deciphering what has been written by others. That said, there is nothing more satisfying than putting in the effort to be so challenged and create something that just might make a future researcher’s search that much easier.

It’s really quite simple -- select a project, click on the Start Transcribing (or Start Reviewing), Read the Tutorial for the project (or if you are familiar with the project you can select “I’ve already read through it and I’m sure I know what I’m doing.”) and then you will see a page like this and you are off and running to start transcribing (in the right hand box) what you see in the image to see to the left.

Even if you can only decipher a word or two or a phrase or two – it doesn’t matter! Every single word that is transcribed is one less word for someone else to have to worry about.

With so much material that won’t be transcribed and searchable in our lifetime, nothing says we cannot at least try to get a whole bunch of it done so we can use it

Have you participated in a crowdsourcing project tied to genealogy or family history? What did you think?

Are there other genealogical or historically-themed crowdsourcing efforts (besides those listed below) which family historians might want to participate in?

Editor’s Note: Other articles on Upfront with NGS about the Smithsonian ...

+ Past Imperfect -- Smithsonian Blog with the tagline, History with all the interesting bits left in

+ Don't Overlook the Smithsonian As You Do Your Research!

+ Smithsonian -- Who Had the Best Civil War Facial Hair?

Editor’s Note: Other articles on Upfront with NGS about Crowdsourcing ...

+ Crowdsourcing -- making recently unimaginable amounts of information available to us at our finger tips!

+ FamilySearch Announces International Indexing Challenge -- a crowdsourcing effort of benefit to all genealogists and family historians

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter