Notes From Nature Talk

Misspelt place name

  • SiobhanLeachman by SiobhanLeachman

    I just want to confirm I'm doing this correctly. The help popup suggests transcribing the place name as verbatim and then adding the correct spelling of the place name. I've transcribed this place name as Borego [Borrego] Valley, with the place name in the brackets being the correct spelling. I want to check that this is in a format is ok.
    Best regards

    Siobhan

    Posted

  • md68135 by md68135 scientist

    Hi @SiobhanLeachman! Nice to see you here.
    I'll need to check with the CalBug folks on this. For the herbarium we are asking for just verbatim.

    Posted

  • am.zooni by am.zooni

    But wait! The Herbarium FAQ says to correct spelling errors if you're certain. So I have been doing that (and often provide a website link in a comment to support my judgement call). If I should always be doing verbatim transcriptions, a lot of mine a wrong. The relevant FAQ item:

    "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."

    The FAQ is here: https://blog.notesfromnature.org/2015/04/14/updated-faq-and-useful-tools-herbarium-interface/

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  • SiobhanLeachman by SiobhanLeachman

    Thanks for your help @md68135 I'll keep an eye on this conversation to see what eventuates from the Calbug folks. Thanks also @am.zooni as I'm likely to do Herbarium sheets as well and it's always good to know whats expected!

    Posted

  • am.zooni by am.zooni

    Hi Sioban! In addition to the Herbarium FAQ (link above in this thread), have a look through the 'Useful Tools' thread here: http://talk.notesfromnature.org/#/boards/BNN0000001/discussions/DNN00001vl

    There are lots of useful links there. Some are plant-specific but there are sites for geographic locations, tools to sharpen a blurry image, etc.

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  • SiobhanLeachman by SiobhanLeachman

    Thanks again @am.zooni Very helpful!

    Posted

  • HelenBennett57 by HelenBennett57

    Belt'n'braces - when I've made a correction like that, I'm tagging the comment with #error as a heads-up, e.g. "#error should be 'cemetery' not 'cemetary'; corrected in transcription."

    Posted

  • md68135 by md68135 scientist

    Hi All,

    My apologies for the confusion! If you are certain that something is misspelled you can correct it. For example, changing "Borego Valley" to "Borrego Valley." There is no need for the brackets.

    When I was talking about verbatim, I was thinking about things like Highway for Hwy or River for R. At this point, we think it is best to leave these as is.

    Apologies that I was hasty and unclear when addressing this issue.

    Posted

  • am.zooni by am.zooni

    Thanks for the clarification, @md68135. I'm relieved to know that I've been on the right track. Would hate to learn that I messed up dozens of transcriptions.

    Lately I've been seeing 'Hy' for Highway, as well as the more typical 'Hwy'. There is also H.R. Wilson who often writes 'hi-way'

    You do see some quite strange abbreviations, where searching online turns up no results that could plausibly be correct. My view is to just transcribe what I see and hope it's either a technical term that is too obscure to appear in the results on a general search engine, or an idiosyncrasy of the individual who wrote the label.

    Posted

  • md68135 by md68135 scientist

    Glad this was helpful.

    By the way, "Hy" and "hi-way" are new ones to me as well!

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