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Western Oz Synd & FreeBMD Project |
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How To Transcribe Handwritten Scans |
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We’re now at the business end of learning to transcribe
You have WinBMD set up & the scan calibrated with the 2 on top of each other so you can see both WinBMD & the scan
Now start entering the data from the scan into WinBMD, exactly how it is on the scan
As you enter into the Forename & District/Volume fields, a Picklist will appear giving you choices to put into that field
Make sure your choice from the Picklist is correct
If it isn’t exactly the same as on the scan, bypass the Picklist by typing in the correct information ie District may be spelt differently to what’s in the Picklist or the Volume may differ
You can then save that new information (District, Volume etc) to the Picklist for future use |
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When entering data, we use what we call TWYS — Type What You See
You may come across a name spelt as Stephon
You may assume the name is Stephen but people can use unusual spellings so it may well be correct
We do not make corrections to the Index, we are making a faithful copy of the Index as it is
Some further reading on these & other subjects to help you are at
Transcribers Knowledge Base http://www.freebmd.org.uk/vol_faq.html
Hints & Help For Beginners http://www.freebmd.org.uk/beginhelp.shtml
When we cannot read an entry, we use what we call an UCF or Uncertain Character Format
Below is a table of UCF’s & when to use them |
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Never enter a ? (question mark) meaning you don’t know what a character is
Always use the correct UCF for that situation
Sometimes you will come across a letter needing a Special Character as in a small letter e with an acute - é
WinBMD holds a number of these Special Characters that you can access by hitting F4 on your keyboard
Remember to save your work from time to time by hitting the F3 key
At times, you will come across a handwritten entry - this could be in the margin of the scan or right down the bottom of the column
Next to the handwritten entry will often be an asterisk or an insertion mark with a corresponding one in the column where the entry needs to be placed
In this case, please enter that entry as indicated
More rarely, the handwritten entry will have no corresponding asterisk or insertion mark so this time we type that entry where it is on the scan ie right down the bottom of that column
This may result in a warning in WinBMD to let you know that entry is out of order - ignore the warning in this case
Once you have completed the whole scan, your very last entry should be +PAGE,nnnn - replacing nnnn with the next scan number in sequence
Even if you do not have that scan ie your scan was 0001 so the next scan would be 0002 therefore you would enter in the Surname field +PAGE,0002
Save your WinBMD file & exit
Now give yourself a good break & never verify your transcription immediately - you need fresh eyes for this
Next we’ll show you how to use BMD Verify to make sure your transcription is 100% correct Click on the link on the left of this page |