Notes From Nature Talk

Should we transcribe typos and spelling errors as-is?

  • Mr._Kevvy by Mr._Kevvy

    I know there's a guide/FAQ for transcribing being worked on, so this would be a good entry for it. If there is an "obvious" (to a non-scientist at least) error in the tag should we fix it or leave it as is? And if the latter, flag it for further review?

    Right now I am transcribing errors as-is but flagging with the old proofreaders' "[sic]" (Latin for "thus" indicating this is how it is written, not an error in the transcription.)

    Posted

  • El_Lion by El_Lion

    Personally, I don't think the scientists are interested in how many and where spelling errors can be found in this database. The focus of the database are he collected items. I mean obvious spelling errors.
    I'd say file it under "Nobody's perfect" and "sh** happens", write the correct spelling and be done. 😃

    Posted

  • reddder by reddder

    King of the Jungle roars -- a very sensible roar.

    Posted

  • HelenBennett57 by HelenBennett57

    I'm just typing everything exactly as written now, including obvious spelling errors. At first I was flagging with "[sic]" but when I saw the thing about transcriptions being voted in or out depending on whether they agree with other transcriptions, I wanted to do the least-pedantic thing, that feels like it has the most chance of my transcriptions agreeing with other people's.

    I might know that a collector's name has been spelled wrong (saw this recently) because I've seen it fifty times; someone who's only transcribed a few records won't know that. And hey, I might just "correct" a spelling and get it wrong.

    Maybe we could transcribe as written, but if we all tagged consistently with something like #spelling, it could be a pointer to clean up the accepted transcription in the database?

    Posted

  • Noharrr by Noharrr

    I actually found an apparent geographic mash-up made by a bug collector. The tag read "8 m S Verdi, Storey Co, Cal.
    A web investigation showed:

    • Storey County is in Nevada; there's no Storey County in California
    • Verdi NV is in Washoe County NV, not Storey County (tho' those 8 miles might make a difference)

    So I tagged it #error and described the issue in a comment. I agree that #spelling is useful and will keep it in mind. TNX.

    Posted

  • joanball by joanball scientist

    This is what you should do in a case like the last one, @Noharr:

    Look up the county for Verdi, California, which is Sierra County. It's usually best to look up the county for a given town. Because, people (including collectors) are generally better at knowing what town they are in over what the correct county is.

    For locality, enter verbatim "8 m S Verdi"

    Posted

  • joanball by joanball scientist

    In general for spelling mistakes, this is our consensus now, which is listed in the FAQ list (http://blog.notesfromnature.org/2014/04/17/faqs-and-useful-tools/):

    4.) Spelling mistakes: Transcribe exactly as written, unless you have looked it up and are absolutely certain of a simple spelling mistake. In this case, you can enter the correct spelling.

    Posted

  • joanball by joanball scientist

    There is no real need to flag spelling mistakes, but you may want to flag other issues that you think need to be addressed, such as a faulty image or illegible handwriting. This is also addressed in the FAQ blog.

    Posted