Author: Connor O'Hara

Transcription Reflection

It is after this assignment that I can truly appreciate just how far language has come over the years. For me, trying to decipher this diary page was like reading Chinese.

For starters, I am completely new to reading cursive for an extended document such as this one. Cursive was something I learned in fifth grade and then never thought about it again after the unit was over. I was forced to recollect which letters look completely different compared to their print form, while at the same time, figure out words that were popular back in the 1800s but not today.

Screen Shot 2014-09-15 at 9.09.50 PM — Fighting through ink stains is just another obstacle in the transcription.

Linn’s grammar and dialogue is very unlike what we use today, so it was very tough to piece together the meaning of particularly confusing sentences. I noticed that at times Linn’s writing would be very clear and legible, but then as the diary entry would carry on, his writing would get messier. This made me think of whether or not he would get tired of writing and become careless, or find himself in uncomfortable positions in which writing on paper was tough.

Screen Shot 2014-09-15 at 9.11.17 PM — An example of Linn’s writing getting careless towards the end of the page.

Overall, I believe that transcribing documents is a trade that one must repeat over and over to become a master. By seeing that style of handwriting constantly, one will become accustomed to it; therefore, making it easier to get through documents faster and with better accuracy.

Blog #1

Looking Into Archives

Post author By Connor O'Hara
Post date September 5, 2014

After visiting the new and improved Sample DH Projects phase, one can see that the level of organization for this page has gone way up. Especially under the “Archive” section where one is able to navigate a variety of archives including “Old Weather” and “Lincoln at 200.” The projects are categorized in the ways in which one would go about transcribing artifacts. For example, “audio analysis” and “mapping.”

Some advantages of creating a digital artifact from archival documents include accessibility and availability. By having an artifact online, one can access it from anywhere on the planet (with internet). If the artifact that you are trying to look up exists in Turkey but you’re in London, no problem. Just pull up the artifact digitally and it’s like you’re there. Why pay for a plane ticket when there’s no need to? From an access standpoint, a digital artifact provides all the availability one needs. Seeing very old and decrepit documents can be challenging for even the most prominent of historians. Many times the artifacts will be in such bad condition that they won’t want anyone touching them for risk of the artifact being destroyed. With a digital artifact, there’s no possible way to destroy the artifact.

On the contrary, there are also some disadvantages to having a digital artifact. One disadvantage is the inability to put your hands on the document. By not being able to do this, one might miss something that they would only pick up on when in the same room with the artifact. A lot of times, things are translated digitally as perfect as they are in the real world. Small print may become blurry, and minute details that one could only catch with the naked eye might disappear. It’s for these reasons that one could argue looking over an artifact digitally is much less preferable than being there in person.

Some challenges I could face when building my own digital humanities project is the inability to be in the room with an artifact. It’s very tough for historians to get into rooms with prominent pieces, much less a freshman in college. To navigate this, I will have to settle with digital artifacts and do my best to be very careful when scanning over them.

Tags advantages, Archives, artifacts, digital analysis, disadvantages

Trial Post

Transcribing Jeremy Bentham’s Manuscripts

Post author By Connor O'Hara
Post date August 31, 2014

In this blog I will show how people from all over the world can come together to help dissect the manuscripts of Jeremy Bentham. Bentham, a renowned Anglo-American philosopher, was one of the most influential people of his era, which is why people are still trying to completely understand his work.

The primary DH focus of this site is to transcribe Bentham’s work with teamwork. As Bentham once said, “Many hands make light work. Many hands together make merry work.” Through things such as the Transcription Desk, historians from allover the world are able to dig through Bentham’s 26,796 manuscripts.

The Transcription Desk is the major initiative to deciphering Bentham’s manuscripts. With the archives coming from the University of College London and the funding from AHRC, anyone can join to see if they are able to transcribe. The manuscripts are also split up into Easy, Moderate and Hard. With this, transcribers can decide which difficulty fits them the most so they don’t become lost in Bentham’s many manuscripts.

Because Bentham is one of the most famous philosophers of all time, it is vital to come together as a single community to complete the never-ending journey of deciphering his manuscripts. These manuscripts vary in topic everywhere from capital punishment to sexual morality. With people from all over and so many different topics, anyone can choose a particular topic that interests them. If they are interested in science they won’t be forced to transcribe a manuscript about the arts. This is just another benefit of having a worldwide place to transcribe.

This project allows us to become better versed in Bentham’s work and to learn things that we may have never discovered if we were transcribing by ourselves. Ideas are brought together, people can discuss and our society can progress as a whole.

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