Dave, thank you for explaining your thinking. As well as being a volunteer transcriber I am also a member of the UK branch of the Society of Indexers - hence my interest in understanding what you have seen/heard about the use of indices in the way described. It was certainly something I hadn't come across before. The Society of Indexers has Genealogy special interest group. It is possible that they have have contacts with specialist knowledge contacts with whom you can discuss your observations if this would be helpful. If you feel it is an avenue worth pursuing please contact me or the Society direct (the Genealogy SIG has its own page http://www.sigg.org.uk/ and welcomes contact from those involved in the use of historical documents). Hope you find this information useful. Val ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Mayall" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2001 4:51 PM Subject: Full Stops, uncertain characters and +PAGE lines. > There has been a good deal of discussion on the Admins list over recent > weeks regarding the above, much of which did not belong there, and has > caused confusion and irritation to other transcribers. > > This message seeks to set out the definitive position on a number of > these issues, as well as restating the official line upon a range of > other queries which seem to recur on a regular basis. > > There is no question of this being a stamping of the foot. Discussion > *is* welcomed, whether on the FreeBMD-Discuss-L mailing list, direct > to me in person, or to the whole team at [email protected] > Discussion on *this* mailing list is however not appropriate. > > Full Stops (Periods to those on the other side of the Atlantic) > =============================================================== > These have been found to occur in some years following some forenames. > It is apparent that either as a result of advice issued by co-ordinators, > or as a result of a personal conscious or unconscious decision as to > the data value of this character, it has been omitted from a number of > transcriptions. In other cases, it has proved difficult or impossible, > due to unclear copies of the index to determine whether a full stop > is present or not. > > Inconsistent practice in this area was causing failures in the matching of > double entered data. > > Having reviewed the position that we find ourselves in now, in particular > with regard to the large number of files that have been loaded without > transcribing the full stop, we will adopt the following strategy; > 1) The full stop *is* potentially valuable data. > 2) If transcribers can see a clear full stop at the end of a forename, > they should transcribe it. > 3) It is accepted that there will be occasions where transcribers cannot > *clearly* determine whether a full stop is present, and in such cases it > can be omitted. > 4) There is NO requirement or expectation that transcribers will make changes > to previously loaded files. > 5) The database routines will be amended to disregard the presence or > absence of the full stop in names (but the full data *will* still be > retained by FreeBMD. > > +PAGE lines > =========== > In order to ensure that FreeBMD can properly build the complete data for a > quarter, it is VERY IMPORTANT that a +PAGE line is inserted at every page > break in the index. > > In typical single page files favoured by many syndicates, this means that the > file would both start and end with +PAGE (the starting +PAGE is added automatically). > > If your file contains multiple pages each page break should be indicated by a > +PAGE line. > > It is highly desirable that +PAGE lines should include the page number of the > page that follows (or would follow where the line is at the end of the file), but > this is not obligatory. > > In the (rare) cases where transcribers are submitting files that start or end mid-page, > no +PAGE line should be inserted. > > There is no general requirement for transcribers to go back and correct files, but > individual transcribers *may* be contacted by the organizers to arrange for correction > of some files. This will particularly apply to files which contain multiple pages but > no intervening +PAGE lines. > > Uncertain Characters > ==================== > A number of cases have come to light where transcribers are using incorrect symbols for > uncertain characters. Further work will be done to correct these cases, but the most common > errors are shown below. Please try to avoid these mistakes for the future, but again don't > go back to try and correct previous errors unless specifically asked. > > a) Use of "." to indicate an unreadable character > Don't! It is incorrect. Use "_" instead. > b) Use of "?" to indicate an unreadable character > "?" is used in only 2 ways. A single "?" at the end of an entry means that you are > uncertain. This use is NOT ENCOURAGED. A "?" is also used as the only character in > a field if the data is clearly not present in the index (as opposed to being there > but not readable). If you want to indicate an unreadable character, use "_" > c) Use of multiple "*" > "*" means 'a number of unreadable characters', so it is meaningless to put "**". If > what you mean is '2 unreadable characters', type "__" instead. > d) Use of comments > It is NOT helpful to put text such as "illegible", "page torn", "Unreadable", "-?sp" > it just means that we have to do more work to fix things. > > http://FreeBMD.rootsweb.com/Format.html#ucf gives details of the format. > > Transcribing District Names > =========================== > At the risk of overdoing it on the repetition front.... > "Transcribe EXACTLY what you see, including spelling errors and wrong volume numbers" > > Deviations from "Type what you see" > =================================== > Don't transcribe; > 1) Commas between fields > 2) The rows of identical dots that separate fields in the later printed index. > 3) Full stops after Age, Volume or Page Number > These are all merely data separators, and carry no data value. > > All accented characters should be transcribed with the accent (use the special characters > feature) > > Diphthongs are considered to be typographic conventions, rather than letters in their own > right, and should be transcribed as such (the "oe" in Phoebe is two letters not one). > The german "sz" diphthong (the one that looks like a large open "B") is an exception to this > and should be transcribed "as is". > > Where repeated surnames are shown as "----" (or similar) your transcription should include the > surname from the record above. > > Additional Information > ====================== > Additional information regarding special cases not covered above can be found in our > Transcribers Knowledge Base http://FreeBMD.rootsweb.com/vol_faq.html > > Transcribers who are having difficulty finding information should seek assistance > from their co-ordinator or from this mailing list (syndicate administration > queries must ALWAYS go to the co-ordinator). > > Co-ordinators should assist transcribers to locate the answers to queries from the > published sources. Where no definitive answer to a query exists, it must be passed > up to the project leadership in order to; > 1) Ensure that we can define a policy for the whole of FreeBMD > 2) Enable us to make the information available in the TKB for future cases. > > Co-ordinators passing such queries to the project leadership are encouraged to suggest > what they believe the answer should be! > > -- > Dave Mayall > > > ==== FreeBMD-Admins Mailing List ==== > Want to help FreeBMD? > Go to http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/Signup.html to find out how. > > ============================== > Ancestry.com--Your #1 Source for Family History Online--FREE for 14 Days > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=702&sourceid=1238 > >