Poorly filmed records
Some of the records are poorly filmed and indexers are doing their best to transcribe them. However, with so many having missing information in the transcription, and the record so poorly filmed, how are we to review whether they are right or wrong.
If the record was mostly unreadable, at what point does it go back to the original point and re-filmed. Poorly transcribing a poorly filmed record serves no purpose other than praise for those who desperately tried their best to transcribe and review with incomplete record information.
Answers
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What indexing project are you having issues with?
It is not easy, especially during the pandemic, for FamilySearch to go back to the archive and re-film records. They'd only do this if most or all of the records of a set were poorly filmed. And there is no guarantee that the record owner will let them film the records again.
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I believe I saw a comment on another topic that microfilms cannot be re-scanned, and you extract whatever data is legible (however I can't locate this comment).
The impression I get is that the scanning teams scan records in one particular location and then more on to another location, and may NEVER return to the original location.
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I am finding this in the scanning of directories. some of the pages are so blurred it is nearly impossible to get the information correct. Of course, increasing the size only makes the blurred more blurred. Not only will it be difficult for the indexers to get it right, but the reviewers have no real option to verify what the indexer transcribed. Then you have the researcher who is hoping to be able to use the information after it has been published but left wondering if that is a match.
Surely there needs to be another way to rectify the poor quality.
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I wish there was a way to leave a note as to why you were returning the record. I got most of the way through and then could not read it. It makes no sense to keep indexing what I cannot read.
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When I come across pages that are difficult to read, I check Ancestry. I also do the reverse as well (come to FS when an image is difficult to read in Ancestry.). What I find in most cases is that the image is equally difficult to read in both places.
Believe it or not, I have had some luck downloading an image and enhancing the crispness using microsoft word's Picture Format options. Crazy as it sounds, I have been able to make handwriting more legible in a few cases.
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@Gail Swihart Watson I use Gimp to enhance images. It's similar to Adobe, but it's free. Adjusting the sharpness and/or contrast in assorted ways often helps.
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I am completely ignorant of how the process works, but is there no way the quality of the filmed material can be checked before FamilySearch leaves the site?
Probably a poor comparison, but when I have an x-ray I have to wait a while before the technician confirms the image has been captured satisfactorily. Can the quality of the images only be checked once the FamilySearch operatives have returned to base - SLC, or wherever? Okay, not every image, of course, but with some on these films it appears to be most, if not all, of the film that is of poor quality.
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If the original record is 100-300 years old, the paper (or scraps of records) may not have survived in other than poor condition to start with -- if we had had today's technology even 75 years ago, we would have used it for the originals!
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I worked with Rob Latour, an outstanding Canadian programmer, last year (2022) to developer the freeware Windows program A Viewer For Windows (AV4W). It has sharpening and other image enhancement tools that can sometimes help make an image more readable when Web Indexing’s built-in brightness, contrast and reverse black and white tools are inadequate. It was designed to integrate with the FS Indexing program, with an always-on-top feature. If you search the Community Comments you should find some examples showing it’s use that I posted. Here is the link to the AV4W website.
Rob also has an excellent (Windows) freeware Reading Guide/ruler - A Ruler For Windows (AR4W) that has more flexibility than the Web Indexing’s built-in Ruler. Here is a link to that free program.
Good luck.
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Thank you, John, I am always willing to try something that will help with indexing & reviewing and this sounds like it will be helpful.
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You're welcome, @slotbuddy . It can also straighten crooked images, among other features (e.g. built-in Windows Magnifier and Snipping tool). But, it isn't a cure-all - just another tool in the toolbox that sometimes helps.
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