SMITHSONIAN DIGITAL VOLUNTEERS: TRANSCRIPTION CENTER

For my Academic Service-Learning project, I registered as a Smithsonian digital volunteer at their Transcription Center. During this opportunity, I was tasked with choosing a project and analyzing the text of different pages within that project to transcribe it digitally. The purpose of transcribing these texts (or audio) is to make data more accessible and easier to understand. For each project, we were given instructions and different notations to use when transcribing. When something is crossed out, we must indicate the phrase that was crossed out between two sets of double brackets, as such: [[crossed-out]] XXX [[/crossed-out]] or [[strikethrough]] XXX [[/strikethought]]. When there is something that we cannot read or are unsure of, we mark it with [[?]].

 

For my service, I chose the "2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival: China Audio Log Sheets" as my project. This project is based on the audio documentation of the performances, demonstrations, and events held during the Festival of American Folklife, which is now known as the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Each handwritten document details the participants, keywords, and descriptions of the events. For instance, some of the documents that I transcribed were about musical performances and the document provided a table with those who performed, as well as the instrument that they played. There were also programs dedicated to Chinese delicacies like tofu dishes and zongzi recipes. There is also a rich history that follows each of the dishes, like how zongzi became a popular delicacy because of an urban legend of a warrior fending off hungry fish with zongzi. 

 

From completing this service, I had the chance to read about different performances and recipes from China that I otherwise would not have had a chance to experience. It definitely heightened my awareness of the diversity amongst people of a single country and the amount of rich culture it has. The festival welcomed people from various regions of China and I found it interesting how each region could have different recipes for making the same or similar dishes. I also got a chance to read about a Chinese legend and traditions to celebrate it during a festival.  

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Transcription has always been a crucial part of recording history. For years, primary and secondary documents have been recorded by hand across multiple accounts. However, these documents are not always easy to understand, whether it be due to their language or handwriting. In order to assure that history is recorded precisely and shared globally, transcription is needed to make sure these handwritten contents are accessible. Transcription makes reading historical texts much easier and it can uncover stories that have not previously been unveiled in their natural state. Ultimately, by transcribing these texts, I can be a part of including this festival in the history books and make it easy to access digitally. 

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Citations

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“2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival: China Audio Log Sheets.” 2014 SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL: CHINA AUDIO LOG SHEETS | Smithsonian Digital Volunteers, transcription.si.edu/project/48064.

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“About.” About | Smithsonian Digital Volunteers, transcription.si.edu/about.