Transcription Process

Transcription

The transcription system is very easy to use with many templates in place to allow you to easily transcribe the information.

Reserve for Editing

If you decide that you would like to transcribe a page you must click 'Reserve for editing'. This makes sure that the page can only be transcribed by yourself for a period of time.

Examine the page

Before you start transcribing a page, take a few moments to look at what you are working on. Look at the type of handwriting, the layout of the page, and plan how you will transcribe row by row. Take a look at any marginalia or text in the header or footer of the page. Make notes in a notebook to the side so you remember these things for incorporating into the transcription.

When working with 18th century tax rolls and OS Name Books, it is reasonably straight forward to transcribe a page, simply by taking each row one at a time and creating new entries for each row. Don't forget to insert any page header information in the notes field attached to the first row on every page, and similarly for any page footer information in the notes field attached to the last row on every page.

Some records will be transcribed into a 'free-text' transcription box. Pages in the original records can be formatted in a complicated way, and images sometimes have two pages side by side. In the early stages of your work, it might be best to print the page out, and with a pencil, highlight the sections of the page and determine in which order you are going to transcribe:

When working with 18th century taxation records and 19th century Ordnance Survey name books, pay attention to marginalia and decide how you will enter those into the transcription system by using the 'Transcribe other information' tab at the appropriate point.

Transcribe a row

The records should be transcribed row by row. 

Insert a row

To insert a transcription row, navigate to the transcription entry boxes section of the page you are working on. You will see empty boxes and these can be completed with the information found on the image above. Remember to save your work once you have completed a row!

To add a new row click the '+' button. You move this row, and others, up and down by clicking the arrow buttons on the screen.

Remember that there are different configurations of boxes for transcription, and these are covered in the record guides, but generally, the hearth and land tax records will only have one box to enter information; the 18th century taxes will have formatted boxes and the OS Name Books will also have formatted boxes.

Edit a row

To edit a transcribed row that has already been entered, navigate to the transcription section of the page you are working on. Make sure that you have reserved the page. Once you have done this the boxes will be available to transcribe into and you will also be able to move them by cliking the arrow buttons on the screen.

Remember to save your work once you have edited!

Save your work

We recommend that you save your work often! The system does not automatically save what you have entered into the transcription boxes, so you should save every few rows to ensure that it is not lost. Clicking the save button does no harm, so if in doubt, click save!

Finish a page

When you have completed the transcription on a page, click the box beside 'Mark as complete'. Once you have done this you will not be able to make any more changes.

Transcribe other information/Continued entries/Extra information

This tab on the transcription tool allows you to record information found on the header and footer. It covers all scribbles in the margin or the foot of the page. Only enter information here that occurs on the page.

Transcriber's notes

This is the place where you can put any notes or comments you may have about the page you are working on. It could be a comment that you were unsure about a particular spelling or name, but you transcribed it as you saw it and could only make out an unrecognisable name.