By the People Transcribe-a-Thon

Ten participants attended the two-hour event, following the “During the Event” section of the “How to host a Transcribe-a-thon” document. We opened with a staff member presenting an overview of the goals of the event and By the People using the “Getting Started” presentation available from the By the People Resources page.

The DCPL Special Collections staff member presented information on Mary Church Terrell’s fascinating life and work and what additional resources are available at the public library. We then demonstrated how to navigate the site, find pages to work on, use the transcription interface, and view instructions and help section. We then went through slides on instructions and then passed out and reviewed the instructions handouts.

After presenting that information, we led participants through a group review exercise. Review is a nice entry point as it removes needing to start a transcription from scratch, which can be intimidating. We pulled up a short By the People page on the projector and reviewed it together as a group. The facilitator asked what was done correctly and what edits are needed. As a group, we discussed gray areas, including words that were hard to read and deciphering punctuation. The participants were eager to jump in as verbal transcribers as the facilitator added their edits to the page!

This is a good time to make sure participants know they can choose what to work on. They should not be afraid to start a page even if they can’t finish it. They should also feel they can move on if something isn’t their speed or isn’t interesting them, as long as they hit “Save” before looking for something else. You can then demonstrate how to find and use the “Find a new page” button.

After about 15 minutes of big-group activity reviewing together, the facilitators asked the participants split into pairs to do a few more reviews in these small groups before working on their own. The staff members moved between the groups, checking in on their conversations and answering questions. Encourage conversation and sharing of especially interesting or challenging pages. Talk through the gray areas of interpreting handwriting and text together. You’ve gathered for this event not just to type silently in the same room, but to form a community — even if only for a few hours — that will learn and grow together!

After some small-group activity, we asked if people wanted to split into clusters by their interest in specific topics or forms of activity. For example, one group could review and another transcribe, or one could work on diaries and another on letters. These sub-communities can then support each other in those specific areas of interest or activity, sharing information, findings or tips as they delve into the materials. Our small groups were happy to stay where they were and had built confidence undertaking activity themselves and working with their teammates. They moved on to individual transcribing but asked each other and facilitators questions often. After about another 15 minutes, facilitators interrupted participants to encourage them to take a break to stretch their legs, get water and look at the Mary Church Terrell archival materials on display. Some did, but others wanted to just keep transcribing.

Individual work continued for the remaining time of the event, with frequent sharing by participants of questions and interesting findings.We recommend transcription events be scheduled for two to three hours and be led by a staff member to introduce the event. The staff member should go over By the People goals and instructions, answer questions and direct group activity. Modify the provided “Getting Started” presentation for your event to include your specific logistics and goals.

The DCPL event resulted in the By the People Transcribe-a-thon documentation now available on the website's Resources page. It also informed participants about DCPL resources on Mary Church Terrell and local history more broadly and introduced them to the By the People project. Participants were surveyed at the end of the program. The majority reported that they enjoyed the program, learned something new and planned to continue to volunteer virtually with By the People. Working together, 10 people transcribed 32 pages and reviewed 39 pages!