Transcription Assignment

Overview:
We will be working directly with excerpts from the Shamokin Diary written by Joseph Powell between January 4, 1748 and April 18, 1748.   These documents are in manuscript form, which means that in order to rely on them for assignments in distant reading, close reading, and visualization we will need to transcribe them into electronic text files. This transcription work will be accomplished as follows:

• Each student will be assigned one page from Powell’s diary.
  In class on Monday 9/9 and on Wednesday 9/11 you will work in small groups as you each begin the puzzle of transcription.
  Outside of class you will prepare your transcribed page and the attendant components (see “Assignment Instructions”, below).

Assignment Objectives: 
Develop an understanding of how the transcription of a material document (in digitized form) affects the researcher’s connection with that document, and how the precision of that transcription provides the foundation for all future engagement with that transcribed work.
Establish a collaborative work environment in which researchers rely upon and enhance their own accurate work process through sharing of and assisting one another with complex transcription challenges.

• Assignment Instructions:
  As described in “Transcription (a beginning)” and in class, open your assigned digital image in your computer’s image viewer (Preview for Mac, Windows Media Viewer for PC). The zoom and scroll functions of the image viewer will help you to obtain the most legible image possible.
• Open a blank text editor file (either TextEdit in Mac or NotePad in PC – do not use Microsoft Word at this point, as it may introduce unnecessary complications like smart quotes and long dashes into your transcription that will have to be stripped out later).
• Put the image and transcription document side-by-side in your screen
• Make sure that you end each transcription line at the same point where the line ends in the digital image (this will help you to keep track of  the transcription process – especially as you find yourself trying to make sense of words that are not immediately recognizable.)
• As you work in your file, make sure to save your progress regularly; label your file with the Diary number and .txt file extension (for instance, PowellDiary1.txt)

Each completed transcription assignment must include the following elements:

• Transcription of one page (digital image) from Powell’s diary (maintaining original spelling & punctuation).  Submit this via email attachment.
• Metadata in Dublin Core Metadata Standards[definition]
• Submit here
• Here is the entry from the Bethlehem Archives
• Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, PA record.
  Record group: MissInd – Records relating to the Indian Missions of the Moravian Church

  Reference code (manual):	(Box) 121.4
  Date in catalogue:	Jan. 4, 1748 – Jan. 31, 1749
  Title/Description:	Diary by Powell, Mack, Zeisberger, Rauch
  Content:	Content: 1. Powell; Jan. 4-Apr.18, 1748 2. Mack; Apr. 18-Jun. 9, 1748 3. Zeisberger and Rauch; Nov. 30, 1748-Jan. 31, 1749
  Comment:	all dates in old style
  Size:	3 items
  Microfilm/-fiche:	box 36, reel 6
  Language:	German, English Example of Dublin Core Metadata for Powell papers Lehigh Library Catalogue (Joseph Powell Entry) See also: http://www.tutorialsonline.info/Common/DublinCore.html

• A 200-word reflection on the transcription process, along with two screenshots of the transcription process demonstrating the challenges encountered while transcribing the page. Submit your reflection as a post under category “transcription’.

Transcriptions will be assessed on

• Accuracy
• Legibility
• Adherence to the Bucknell-Transcription Conventions [link]
• Coherent metadata schema for the transcribed document
• Articulate written and visualized reflection of the transcription process
  This assignment is worth 7% of your course grade

Grades will be assigned as follows:
A  Mature, well-organized, insightful examination that is visually appealing.
B  Satisfactory, generally well-presented, interesting examination.
C  Developing approach that would benefit from more consideration of argument, audience, mechanics, and/or design.
NS (0 pts.)Work not submitted.
Assignment due date: Sunday, September 14 by 11:00 pm