Notes From Nature Talk

Herbarium-Issues with BRIT-Texas Computer Records not being sent out correctly

  • Bonnie123 by Bonnie123

    There is definitely an issue with the computer program not sending out the records to us as it is supposed to. It is supposed to send the next user the records that has the most transcriptions completed. For example, I should be receiving all the records that already had 3 individuals input the records, but this is not happening. This morning I inputted 10 records, while the total transcriptions did go up the Total Completed only went up 1. I then inputted 2 more and check to see if the Total Completed went up and it did not, I then did 2 more and once again checked to see if the Total Completed went up and it has gone up 3 more now. I am the only one working on this right now, I can tell because the total transcriptions go up eventually for each one I input. So, if there were 4 records with 3 transcriptions ready I should have received them as my first 4 that I did when I first inputted the first 10, not after I inputted 14. I've seen this happen multiple times.

    Here are some stats for BRIT-Texas as of today, 12/3
    3988 Total Records.
    3062 Records left.
    962 Records complete.
    8785 Total Transcriptions.

    If there are 962 records completed X 4 =3848 transcriptions.
    There are 8785 total transcriptions, if you subtract the 3848 for the ones completed that leaves 4937 extra transcriptions.
    If the records were going out as they are supposed to the 4937/4 would be 1234 more completed records.

    Basically we have significant more transcriptions and far less records completed than what we should have. The computer should be sending out the records that someone has already transcribed to the next 3 individuals and if this is being done correctly then we should have far more completed records than what we are shown.

    I realize we have very little of Rafe's, but it really is important to get this checked and fixed. It should be fairly easy to check. If the Rafe could look and see how many records have been transcribed by 3 individuals, if there is a large amount, then the program is not working correctly because I as the 4th person should already be receiving all of the records that 3 other individuals had already worked. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks so much!

    Posted

  • md68135 by md68135 scientist

    Hi @Bonnie123

    Are you sure that "It is supposed to send the next user the records that has the most transcriptions completed." This was not my impression, but I could certainly be wrong. I thought it gave the user a random record (image) that they have not transcribed previously. I agree that it is difficult to track progress, which is something that needs to change.

    Regardless, I will check in with Rafe. I can't promise that he can work on this right away, but I will try to get an answer.

    Posted

  • Bonnie123 by Bonnie123 in response to md68135's comment.

    I'm sure that is how it used to work for both the Old Herbarium before it was changed and Calbug. It was always very obvious when I was the 4th person. When I thought one of them might not have 4 individuals working on the project I would work on it some to help complete the records. It would be very obvious because for every record I worked both the Total Transcriptions and the Total Completed would go up one for one. Once I had cleared out all the ones that only needed a 4th person, the Total Complete would no longer go up.

    I've been working on other sites for the last 6 months so maybe during that time somehow the program was changed so that it is just random, but that would make no sense. The old Herbarium had like 55,000 records, if it had all been random with only a handful of people working on it, there would not have ever been any records completed until the very end since it would have taken forever for 4 people to be issued the same random record out of 55,000.
    Hope this makes sense, and thanks for trying to help us with this.

    Posted

  • md68135 by md68135 scientist

    Thanks @Bonnie123

    Rafe and I discussed this and we both agree that right now it is random, except if a user has transcribed the record. I think we should strongly consider moving to (or back to) the selection as you suggest. Being able to see the progress is one of a few good reasons to do this.

    Posted

  • Bonnie123 by Bonnie123 in response to md68135's comment.

    Thanks for checking on this for us and for any possible changes. I realize the fix it list is long and Rafe busily works on the list as he has time allocated to us. Please pass on our Thanks to Rafe for all that he does to help work our issues, I realize we are only one of his projects that he supports. Thanks again!

    Posted