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Field for Explaining Indexing Choices to Assist Reviewers

Erickf
Erickf ✭
December 5, 2022 in Suggest an Idea

It might be helpful to have a field for each batch where indexers can explain to reviewers why they chose to transcribe text in the way they did.

Sometimes it can take time to find evidence that supports a certain transcription choice. A recent batch that I worked on (US, Massachusetts—Boston Tax Records, 1822–1918 [Part Y], indexed 12/4/2022) the R had a flourish at the end. It looked like an e, but the names seemed odd with that extra e. I went and looked back through some of the pages in the batch that I could. And I noticed that there appeared to be an alphabetical ordering of the last names, and that extra e did not fit with lines where the flourish wasn't used.

There was also an odd capital looking letter that came up at the end of names. I went back and looked at other pages, and some of the names started with that odd letter. It occurred to me that the letter was a capital A.

If I was able to point out the evidence that supported my transcription choices it might make it easier for reviewers to understand why I made my choices. It would also help them because they would not have to spend time repeating the same research. They might miss the evidence I found for my choice. If they aren't pointed to it. And the reviewers would spend less time looking at why the choices were made and would perhaps feel less frustrated trying to figure out something that doesn't readily make much sense.

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  • Correcting indexing errors
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Active · Last Updated December 5, 2022

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