DH Taster Sessions: Transcription for Archival Research

What: This LAHRI/DCCH Digital Humanities workshop, designed for beginners, is a ‘taster’ session which aims to demystify the practical process of transcription and markup of archival sources, and the role of these tools in undertaking digitally-informed archival research.

The workshop will introduce the practical and conceptual principles of transforming archival material into computer-readable text. The workshop will develop your understanding of how and why digital transcription of archival documents can be used to pursue Humanities-based research questions, with a hands-on transcription session. Participants will collectively transcribe and mark up an archival document from Leeds’s Special Collections, and the original manuscript will be viewed in the workshop. The skills developed in this session will be applicable to texts of any genre or period. Lunch will be provided.

Who: Researchers in AHC or cognate disciplines who would like to develop skills in digital approaches to archival textual materials. The workshop will support researchers who would like to propose digital approaches to research in future research and funding applications. (N.B. This workshop is not intended for those with experience of markup languages such as TEI-XML or HTML, to whom concepts addressed will already be familiar)

Where: Bedford Room, Brotherton Research Centre (please ask for directions at the Brotherton Library welcome desk).

Format: Information presentation and interactive workshop (see Outline Schedule, below). We understand that for accessibility reasons staff may be unable to attend the full event and are happy to consider requests for partial attendance as necessary. Please indicate this on your Expression of Interest form.

Technical experience required: None.

Required equipment: Internet-enabled personal device (laptop or tablet). We will be transcribing using a browser-based platform, but participants might also wish to work on drafts locally in a plain-text (.txt) editor (the built-in plain-text editor for windows devices is Notepad; for Macs, TextEdit).

Sign up: To express your interest, please complete this form by 5pm on 26 April. Please note that places are limited, and will be confirmed by no later than 30 April.

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Outline schedule:

10-11: Welcome; Introduction to digital transcription as a research practice

11:15-11:30: Break

11.15-12:30: Intro to material and getting started with transcription and mark-up (practical)

12:30-1:30: Lunch (provided)

1:30-2:30: Group ideation exercise: developing a research idea through mark-up (practical)

2:30-2:45 Break

3-3:30: Planning your digital transcription project: next steps and where to get support

3:30: Close

 

Contact: Cassie Ulph, Digital Development Officer (DCCH)