Hi All I for one do not need a blow by blow description of what's happening, I just want to get on with the job in hand, as I am sure most others do. Time spent in unnessessary nonsence is lost for transcribing This is my view Lesley Potter From: "John Slann" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 10:46 PM Subject: The kinship of transcribers > Greetings, > > One of my great band of transcribers wrote to saying that he felt that there was a lack of kinship in our enterprise and suggested a fortnightly newssheet. Amongst other things he said: > > " I thought when I subscribed to different lists that I would get an update of how we are getting on but unless I look at the total on the home page and remember the old total then I have no idea of progress. I would love to know how we, that is The X Incorporated syndicate, are getting on, although I really know from my allocations, and how the other syndicates are getting on. Without putting too much load on syndicate leaders, as we all know you are "volunteers", I believe there should be an update newssheet on say a fortnightly basis, the information need not be strictly accurate. This is not just for nosey parkers like me but as a freebmd kinship forming thing to encourage those who tend to drop not out but off. One should not have to subscribe, it should be automatic, but one can unsubscribe." > > I wrote back as follows: > > "I like the idea of the newsletter as long as I don't have to do it. When I started doing the coordination job I thought I would still have time for transcribing, so far this has not been the case. When this project first started there was a lot of pressure for a league table showing those who transcribed the most at the top. I fought against this, I confess that I was in part motivated by the fact I was transcribing handwritten material and I was painfully slow. Type set material is much easy, and therefore quicker. I took the view then and keep it now that all contributions are valuable. If we could get someone from HO to do a fortnightly bulletin without figures but with perhaps totals that would help. It could have any funnies we have come across, tips we have discovered and new additions to FAQ's, as well as progress in WinBMD. We could even have a personalities corner." > > He came back and said: > > "I see the newsletter as a management incentive tool. All "workers" in industry need to know that someone is interested in them, not necessarily personally but as a group; it's a basic management fact. There was a famous experiment, the Hawthorn Experiment, where they split the workforce and altered the lighting level for one half, the workers were told of the experiment. The result was that the output of both halves increased, the conclusion was that the lighting had little effect but the management interest did have a positive effect. > I assume there is a syndicate controller somewhere in this wired together mob, someone who knows all the syndicate leaders and knows what they're doing. That is the person to initiate the list of syndicates, the quarter they are doing and roughly how they are doing > John Smith 1881B4 25% > John Slann 1890M4 95% 1846B1 0% > He/She sends that "newsletter" to all syndicate leaders and they forward it on to the volunteers, which wouldn't put much load on the leaders. > I certainly agree that there should be no comparison of transcription rates. And for the human side funny names etc can be added by volunteers sending them to sin leaders who forward them to the fat controller. It can contain anything that management want but it's prime reason for being, should be remembered, is to be a kinship forming exercise to retain moral. > I can't do it, I'm an engineer with no imagination, an artist is required, not for layout purposes but for .... I don't really know. > Sorry about the length of this, but what do you think? I do not think our overworked HO staff would want to take this on they have enough to do, but is there someone out there with the skills to do this it the 2000 of us feel we would like a closer kinship. > > John > > > ============================== > Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp > > >