Crowdsourcing at the Library of Congress The Latest

Hi!

We have a lot of exciting things going on this week! We're celebrating your achievements on the "Civil War Soldiers: Disabled but not disheartened" 500-page review challenge for Memorial Day. We're launching a new experimental prototype that will allow you to discover By the People pages and information in new ways, and we're celebrating Walt Whitman's 200th birthday virtually and in person. 

 

500-page review challenge

In the run up to Memorial Day we invited you to focus on reviewing pages from the incredible "Civil War Soldiers: Disabled but not disheartened" Campaign, to try to complete 500 pages by Tuesday, May 28th. Not only did you meet the goal before Memorial Day, we set a stretch challenge of 750 and you far exceeded it! The final count was 862 pages. That's 382 pages beyond our original challenge. Incredible work everyone! You can read more about the challenge here and see the numbers for yourself on History Hub.  

Thank you immensely to everyone who participated. We are still eager to hear about what you learned from the men who entered the Left-Hand Penmanship Contest.  Share your stories on History Hub, by following the link above.

 

Find your perfect page - Try the new Activity Prototype

Today we're launching the Activity Prototype! Test out a new way of browsing pages and finding something to transcribe or review. In this interface you can:

• Sort and filter pages all in one place
• Choose another page to work on at any time
• See more information and context about the page you are working on
• Access basic instructions and keyboard shortcuts in the help panel

Detailed instructions for the new prototype are available in History Hub to help you get started. You'll need to be signed in to access the prototype. Just use your existing By the People username and password if you have one, or create one if you haven't already. 

All volunteer transcription and review contributions in this interface will be saved just like the original. The functionality will be available through the end of July and we want to hear from you! Can you tell us more about the ways this experience makes tasks easier or harder than they are on the original By the People site?

Try it out and let us know what you think by filling out this survey.

 

Walt Whitman at 200

On May 31st we're celebrating Walt Whitman's 200th birthday. The American poet of democracy will be celebrated around the country with exhibitions, festivals, and more. Our crowdsourcing initiative "Walt Whitman at 200" here at the Library is just one of the ways we're inviting you to take part. We launched this collection on April 24th, and already volunteers have done so much. 773 pages are completely transcribed, and 2,046 need review. Catch this Campaign while you can using the original view or the prototype! 

For those in the DC area this Saturday, June 1st, there will be a free special Whitman birthday party event at the Young Readers Center in the Jefferson building of the Library of Congress. It is geared to families and children, and features a talk with author Robert Burleigh and illustrator Sterling Hundley discussing their new children's book O Captain, My Captain: Walt Whitman, Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, as well as an opportunity to crowdsource in person, and a crafting activity. Registration is required, attendance is free.

Have a great week, and happy transcribing and reviewing,

Victoria, Elaine, and the By the People team

Click here for more information.