Smithsonian Transcription

Date: Must be submitted on Google Classroom by January 15th, 2021.


Hours: 1.5 hours per page transcribed/2 hours per video transcribed


Location: Remote opportunity


# of Volunteers: Anyone can participate!


Responsibilities: Transcribe a historical document from the Smithsonian website and upload your transcription.


Link: https://transcription.si.edu/browse?filter=&sort=&difficulty=


Notes:

  • There will be a cap on the number of hours you will be able to receive:

    • You can transcribe a MAX of 10 pages, awarding you with a max of 15 hours.

    • You can transcribe a MAX of 5 videos, awarding you with a max of 10 hours.

    • Please note that you can either choose to transcribe the videos OR the documents to earn your hours, and not both.


Instructions:

  1. Once you click the link above, you’ll be directed to the Smithsonian Museum Transcription Center page.

  2. Click the drop-down menu that is labeled “Show:” to click the topic of historical documents that you wish to transcribe.

  3. Then click the third drop-down menu, labeled “Difficulty:” to choose the level of difficulty of the documents. Note that a higher difficulty document does NOT mean you get more hours for it.

  4. Choose a document to transcribe which has not already been completed. Click the document, which leads you to a list of pages. Each page is labeled “Complete” “Needs Review” or “Continue Transcribing.” Choose a page labeled “Continue Transcribing” only- and make sure that the document you choose is incomplete and hasn't already been finished by someone else. You will not be able to earn hours for transcribing a document that had been nearly finished when you chose it.

  5. When you open the page that you wish to transcribe, there is a notification that comes up asking you if you’ve read the tutorial for the assignment- you MUST thoroughly read these instructions before beginning to transcribe. There are important directions on those instructions that must be read.

  6. Transcribe according to those instructions, and submit a screenshot on the google form attached of your final transcription before you submit it. If you choose to do 10 pages, you will have 10 screenshots to attach, etc.


An example of the screenshot is attached below: