FSU herbarium numbers: 1495 transcriptions/8 images complete?
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The count for the FSU herbarium right now says 1495 transcriptions completed, but only 8 images complete.
How are the images handed out - is it completely random from the entire collection, or is it in some kind of semi-orderly fashion? I'm guessing the former, to account for the seemingly very low number of images that have been transcribed the required n times (is that 4 now, or still 10?).
Programmer/scientist info wanted please!
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am.zooni
Hi Helen. Seen any snakes lately? 😃
Below the numbers, if you click on 'Notes on our numbers' it takes you here: http://blog.notesfromnature.org/2014/02/24/making-progress-clear-on-notes-from-nature/
It says it takes 4 transcriptions to complete an image. It's over a year old but hopefully still accurate.
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Sadly not!
Thanks, I couldn't remember the narrative around whether the number had changed or not. It's gotta be a random selection spread out over the whole set, to get that little overlap, hasn't it?
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Bonnie123
FOR SCIENTIST OR ZOONIVERSE: Could someone check to make sure the computer is sending the records out in the correct order. For example, I thought that once a record was transcribed the computer would send it to the next volunteer and then the next until 4 individuals had transcribed it. The transcriptions completed on most of the Herbarium records are high, but the number completed is very low. Either there are not 4 individuals working on any one Herbarium project or the computer is not sending out the records as it should. It is rather discouraging from a volunteer point to put in such a large effort and then never see any records completed. Any help and feedback as to how the records are assigned would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!
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am.zooni
I would not be at all surprised the the numbers are correct and that your suggestion that there are fewer than 4 individuals working on any Herbarium project is the reason. I have been transcribing SELU Herbarium labels for months, usually a dozen each day, and it's quite unusual for me to see recent comments on any Herbarium specimens aside from mine (at least since Mr. Kevvy disappeared). The ones I have seen are nearly all from one of the other Herbariums (or is it Herbaria?). I realize that not every transcriber posts comments, but it's the only way I know of to tell if others are working here, without access to the behind-the-scenes data.
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Bonnie123
in response to am.zooni's comment.
I unfortunately agree with you that there may not be 4 individuals working on this, the other thing I've noticed is that since the collection has been split into 4 different ones there may only be a few working on each collection, therefore not 4 to complete the records.
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HelenBennett57
in response to Bonnie123's comment.
Not even 4? Not even 3 now... I've pretty much given up on the Herbarium collections, having previously transcribed a lot (I was near the top of that quilt graphic earlier this year), because I'm just so fed up at the lack of interaction from the science team.
I have asked repeatedly, both on bulletin boards and in emails to individual scientists, whether it would be possible for one of them or even an intern to pop in for ten minutes a day (and I don't think it'd even take that) to check for new questions and respond to them. It's never happened. I don't think anyone from the different science teams comes in for ten minutes a week, let alone a tiny daily check.
It would make a great difference to my motivation, and I guess to others' too, if the science team actually gave regular feedback/input to the people who are giving up free time to do the work that they value.
Mr Kevvy has a different job now and no longer has the downtime that, together with some very well-used technical skills, made him the no. 1 supertranscriber. The project has lost someone in him who had a huge impact. I don't believe that his concerns about project speed were ever properly acknowledged or addressed, at least not in a public forum (happy to be shown to be wrong here).
The proud exception to the rule above is Dean Pentcheff from the crab shack. He takes the trouble to read and respond to questions and comments. Dean, your timely, friendly and informative answers to questions are why I'm transcribing crab labels these days, not plants. Thank you.
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md68135
scientist
Hi All!
I am indeed guilty of not being here enough. I will take @HelenBennett57 great suggestion and pledge to spend 10 minutes a day checking in.
I do think that the images are being given to volunteers correctly. The issue is that it takes 4 different volunteers to complete the image. I think that @am.zooni is correct that we may have relatively few regular volunteers. With that said, we do get many people still visiting the site, they just don't have the sustained effort that the folks on this thread have. I am not sure if I am explaining that well, so am happy to try again if needed.
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Bonnie123
in response to HelenBennett57's comment.
I know what you mean, I've been gone transcribing on 2 other websites for the last 6 months due to the lack of interest shown for all the NfN projects by the scientists, the only exception being Dean Pentcheff. When I checked back a month ago, I saw from the forum that Dean actually cares about his project and so I too went to work on The Crabs. I thought I might work on some of the Herbarium while await for more Crabs to be loaded but it just seems so sad, so much effort being put in and very few being completed.
Thanks so much for the info on Mr Kevvy I noticed awhile ago that he no longer seemed to be transcribing here and was worried something had happened to him. So glad to hear he just has a new job and wish him all the best!
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am.zooni
in response to HelenBennett57's comment.
Thanks so much for the update on Mr Kevvy. I hope he's enjoying his new job. In addition to doing an incredible number of transcriptions (he seemed to ALWAYS be logged in), he helped me a LOT by answering questions and providing pointers to the FAQ and other tips, gently correct my errors and misunderstandings about what info to transcribe where, and just all around be encouraging so I quickly got to feel that I was doing a reasonably good job of providing useful results to the project. That means a lot to get a newbie to stick with a project @HelenBennett57, if you're able to get in touch with him, please pass on my thanks for being a great teacher and informal mentor.
Although there aren't many Herbarium-related comments these days (except during the Bio Blitz a couple of months ago), and even fewer that I am knowledgeable about, I try to take Mr Kevvy as an example and provide whatever info or support I can, in hopes that at least one or two people who venture in here to try out the project will get hooked on it as I did, and stick around.
This kind of project suits me beautifully, but it bores a lot of people. Everyone I know who's ever tried any Zooniverse projects goes for either space or animals (and dead specimens of insects or crabs don't seem to count). To be honest, I did animal IDs too, when I first started. It was interesting enough but I don't learn nearly as much as from the animal identifications, nor find anything to research there - and the research can lead to interesting discoveries (although it also can eat up lots of time).
How do we (or really, the scientists and museum curators who need this information captured and preserved) get more people onto the herbarium projects, or NfN in general?
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Bonnie123
in response to md68135's comment.
I just wanted to Thank You for listening to our concerns and for trying to be more engaged with us. As a volunteer it helps to know that there is someone who cares about what we are working on, so thanks for your efforts in checking in with our questions more often.
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HelenBennett57
in response to md68135's comment.
@md61835, thank you!
Which is your area? 😉
@Bonnie123 and @am.zooni, I will pass on your good wishes to Mr Kevvy.
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md68135
scientist
I appreciate it so much.
I am a botanist by training and have worked with Natural History collections for most of my career, but now I mostly work as a technical project manager. I work on 2 different projects funded by the National Science Foundation. One is SERNEC (sernec.org) and the other is Notes From Nature. My formal work on Notes From Nature started relatively recently, but I have been involved in the project since the beginning.
I am happy to tell you more, but that is probably more than enough : )
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md68135
scientist
In response to @am.zooni question.
"How do we (or really, the scientists and museum curators who need this information captured and preserved) get more people onto the herbarium projects, or NfN in general?"
This is something that I just starting working with Darren (he is on the board from time to time) on. Most of us on the science team at Notes From Nature are not experts at citizen science or engagement so we are working with him to help us recruit and keep more volunteers. We have lots of connections that we have yet to tap into. For example, many state in the U.S. have Native Plant Societies and we have thought about talking with these groups about helping on NFN. So far the groups in the U.S. states of Virginia and Florida have shown a lot of interest.
As you all have stated we also have to retain these people as well!
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am.zooni
Lots of work to do! Darren is helpful when he interacts here - has helped to get some bugs and fixed and some improvements made to the user interface for some of the projects. He posts much more on the Zooniverse boards than here (but I think that's due to the nature of his job - Zooniverse is too big for any one person to be everywhere).
If you have time one of these days, it would be interesting to learn something about your formal or or informal experience with NfN. Some context - as you've seen in the past couple of days, almost any feedback at all - makes us volunteers feel that our work is useful.
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DZM
admin
in response to am.zooni's comment.
😃
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