The Citizen Archivist Dashboard Pamela Wright and Meredith Stewart Open Government Division Information Services DC Area Researcher Forum January 27,

The Citizen Archivist Dashboard Recently launched on December 23, 2011 A portal for crowdsourcing activities: Tagging Transcription Editing Articles Upload & Share Contests Pulls together many of the projects we’re already doing in our online catalog, on Flickr, Wikipedia, etc. Available at: 2

Tagging 101 What is a tag? A tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information. Why tag? To help the record be found more easily, increasing accessibility. Who tags? Tags are generally chosen informally and personally by the item’s creator or by its viewer, depending on the system. 3

Tagging in the National Archives Catalog In the National Archives Catalog (Online Public Access, not ARC): – Users can contribute tags to descriptions and authority records – Users are required to log in to the system – It’s clear to the user: “Tags Contributed by the Public.” Tagging Missions – A way to pick out thematic interests to get the public interested in tagging 4

Transcription 101 What? To write again in another place, copy from one media to another Why? To capture the handwritten and printed word as they appear on the record, to make the record more accessible How? Using a variety of tools – traditional, online, web interface, or with a downloaded tool 5

National Archives Transcription Pilot Project Launched January 25, 2012 – It’s a Pilot Project – Designed to be simple – No login for the system – It’s an iterative process – It will be clear that it was contributed from the public – Available at 6

Documents Chosen For Transcription The Pilot features 300 documents, almost 1,000 pages in total Why were documents chosen: – Already available in the online catalog – Scan was good enough for transcription – Simple transcription made sense Categorized based on effort needed: – Beginner – Intermediate – Advanced 7

Crowdsourcing Projects “What’s On the Menu?” by the New York Public Library Civil War Diaries & Letters Transcription Project by the University of Iowa Papers of the War Department, by George Mason Center for History & New Media Old Weather World Archives Project by Ancestry.com Worldwide Indexing by FamilySearch.org 8

Crowdsourcing Brainstorm Can you think of records where crowdsourcing might help make NARA records more accessible? – Translation – Transcription – Assistance from historians or experts – Assistance from people who took part in the event – Identifying individuals in photographs 9

Questions? We are looking for your ideas for future projects. Let us know your suggestions. Contact if you have questions or ideas for future 10