War Diaries Talk

Report Transcription

  • Lancsgreybeard by Lancsgreybeard

    I have recently come across a report summarising action in October 1914. As it was the first totally legible report I have found I have transcribed it as a word document. The excitement of the author is palpable and the narrative seems to convey much more than the diary pages. Is my transcription likely to be of any interest, and if it is, where and how do I post it?

    LGB

    Posted

  • debcam by debcam

    that's a really good question - i have thought the same. I think this project is brilliant but it does not take into account anything other than "damn statistics" IMHO

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  • eatyourgreens by eatyourgreens moderator, admin

    Would it be possible to post the transcribed text on the discussion page for that report?

    Posted

  • nickb55 by nickb55

    I wonder if we haven't moved beyond full transcriptions when we have digital scans available. Some years ago a transcription might have been all you could lay your hands on as a researcher and it would have been seen as a very valuable tool. It also potentially provided the possibility of some basic element of word search.

    It seems to me that this project is going one better. It's not just a question of "damned statistics" although many of these will probably turn out to provide some valuable insights. For me it's the indexing and search possibilities that are the most exciting. If you are a researcher investigating a particular period, or persons, or units, or places, then you will be able to search for their references throughout the entire series of war diaries. And where will the index take you? To the original scan so that you can read the relevant page(s) for yourself. As an amateur researcher, I know that transcripts can be incorrect and I would always prefer to go back to the original document.

    Posted

  • simonedi by simonedi moderator

    nick, spot on! basically the broad plan with the tagging is that as well as being some good and useful statistics.. it makes the scanned pages searchable by researchers. I find transcriptions can be great but there is something reassuing about being able to access the original document

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  • RobinLucas by RobinLucas

    indexing is the "key" here!

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  • Lancsgreybeard by Lancsgreybeard

    I may have missed the point of the project which I took to be an attempt to make the information from the Diaries more widely accessible, not just for the benefit of researchers who have access to sophisticated techniques which may not be available to amateurs and schools.

    I have now come across another document which lists the names of over 40 officers. I have transcribed this as a word document because of the time which would have been required to tag every name using the rather clumsy person tag.

    This takes us back to the original question – does this transcript have any interest and if it does, how do I post it?

    Posted

  • David_Underdown by David_Underdown moderator

    the point of the tags, as opposed to a simple transcription of names etc is that they are structured. First of all a computer knows that these bits of text actually relate to people, and it also means you can start to make mappings between them, so that the Lt J Bloggs of 1914 can be worked out to be the Maj Joseph Bloggs of 1916 say.

    The tagged information will be folded back into improved descriptions of the records in Discovery so anyone searching the catalogue can find names they are interested in, as well as exposing the data to more sophisticated analysis techniques which might (for example) allow the progress of an individual battalion around the Western Front to be mapped, or to look at the patterns of units passing through an individual place.

    Posted

  • spof by spof moderator

    The information will also be merged into the IWM project Lives of the First World War so you will be able to find what was happening when the man was named in the diary.

    You could post the names you transcribed on the Great War Forum and the experts there will probably provide more detailed information on them.

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  • Jan_Greenslade by Jan_Greenslade

    On a minor note, how do I tag writer of Reports? I have just had one which I tagged as 'author of diary' which although technically is not correct the only alternative was 'other', which means nothing; where as the former tag is 'sort of' correct as the officer wrote the report. Would it be possible to alter tag to 'Author of Diary/Report'?

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