The HistoryMakers is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the creation of a national video archive of first person narratives of African American history makers, both well known and unsung. The initial goal is to create an archive of five thousand interviews and make this important collection available to the widest audience possible.
With a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, The HistoryMakers collaborated with Carnegie Mellon University's Informedia Digital Video Library to develop an archival search and retrieval system that will allow the display of digital video, audio, and text from four hundred interviews over local and wide area networks.
Processing these interviews and getting them to the point we needed requiresed a great variety of tasks by different people. For each of the interviews:
The HistoryMakers provided proofreaders with a VHS tape of the interview, a paper copy of the transcript (the "hard copy") and a computer disk with a copy of the transcript in Microsoft Word or text format (the "soft copy" of the document).
As volunteer proofreaders, you are responsible for auditing and editing the transcripts of oral history interviews to make the material collected as accurate, accessible and usable as possible. Save our extremely dedicated and hard-working cataloguers a lot of time by correcting mistakes and adding extra data at this point, so they can get on with their job of dividing the video and transcript into segments and indexing these segments to help researchers find them, without having to take time to also do the proofreading. The different tasks involved in proofreading are:
Obviously, the more steps you can do, the more help it is to us. But if you only feel able to do certain parts, maybe you might know someone who wanted to do the next part and you could team up.
The third category may be something you want to totally dig into, or if not, look over the instructions for it because there may be some parts you could do without any extra research (for example, you may already know the last name of a person the interviewee just calls by a first name, or you may easily be able to add the name of a state after a city that is mentioned.)
We have a lot of work to archive and make this collection available. It is only through the help of volunteers like you that we will be able to complete the first four hundred in the time specified in our grant.
We have transcripts from different companies that vary in style, and must be transformed into the format and style needed for the "Segmentor" cataloguing software: this is a very basic text file containing only the words spoken and no labels (Later you may add some extra information added in brackets or parentheses; this will be discussed in a later section.) with paragraph h spacing only between the words of two different speakers, There are a number of steps involved to make the transcript ready to be loaded into the Segmentor:
Each original 30-minute Beta SP tape is being encoded as a separate digital video file. We need a separate transcript file for each digital video file so they can match up when loaded into the "Segmentor" cataloguing software. We have many transcripts to be proofread in which the transcriptions for several different original tapes are all together in one file, and need to be divided. Remember, there should be a separate transcript file for each original Beta SPvideo --NOT for each VHS tape - -these are just copies, and a VHS tape may have copies of up to four of the original 30-minute Beta-SP videos.
a. If tape endings are noted in transcript: Usually the transcript will have a notation saying where each tape or "roll" ends; that makes it easy to divide it.
b. Tape endings not noted, but transcript has time codes: You can glance through the time codes to quickly find the place where a new tape starts. The surest way is to look at the second pair of numbers--the ones that represent minutes. When they have gotten up to around 30 and suddenly drop down to 00 again, it shows that a new tape has started. For example:
01: 29 :28:04
< Here would be start of new tape, and where you should divide transcript.>
02: 00 :10:23
c. Tape endings not noted, and no time codes in transcript either!
In this, case, you'll just have to divide it by watching the video and seeing where the breaks come.
Name a transcript file in this style: Last name_First name_tape number (put zero in front of a single digit) Example: Bond_Julian_01
As stated above, we need to divide the transcript so each original tape has a separate text file transcript. The transcript files you create should be named in this way: Last name_First name_number.Ex:Bond_Julian_01.txt This would be the transcript for the first (approx.) thirty minutes of his interview. The transcript file for the next one would be named Bond_Julian_02.txt
You may also use Find/Replace at this time to delete meaningless vocalizations such as 'uh', 'um', 'er', etc. (It is a very different experience reading these than it is hearing them: it can be distracting for the reader and may detract from what the HistoryMaker is trying to communicate.)
Some transcripts have time codes throughout which will need to be removed. We first thought that they must be deleted one at a time--but one of our cataloguers, Susan Perry, has come up with a more automated, quicker method. Here are her extremely detailed, step by step instructions, for how to strip time codes and name labels from Simmons-Lathan transcripts. (This may look totally intimidating at first, but it does work. You can try it out, or you could just delete them one by one.
'STRIPPING' SIMMONS-LATHAN TRANSCRIPTS
The Simmons-Lathan Media Group provided many of The HistoryMakers' transcripts. These transcripts have printed time codes in varying increments and have multiple tapes within a single MS Word document. In addition, once the time codes are stripped, you will discover that some sentences are split in the middle rather than ending with a normal punctuation mark. A conventional time code entry looks like this:
02:03:12:22
{ISAAC HAYES cont}
Kids were there, watched that Lionel train, you know, going around. And the store, the grocery store, was owned by a Chinese guy, *Paul *Lee, and we sat up an account with *Paul *Lee at the grocery store. And we had our own, you know, funeral homes and we 02:03:38:15
[1-4] 02:03:38:16
{ISAAC HAYES cont}
had our own businesses, and those were corner mom-and-pop sundry stores, we used to call them. They were on different corners and things like that. It was all in our own neighborhood. But life changed. My grandfather was working at a tomato factory. 02:04:02:27
Before you start stripping time codes, FIRST check to see if the Double Space button has been selected on the document. The Double Space feature gives the appearance of hard returns in the document when in fact there aren't. If this exists, you must create hard returns between the Interviewer and Interviewee dialogue. To do this you will need to:
1) Select All. (Ctrl A).
2) Select the Single Space button.
3) Highlight {ISSAC HAYES cont} 4) Open Find and Replace (Ctrl H) and Paste it into the upper field (Ctrl V).
5) Select the More button to expand on the Find and Replace features.
6) Tab down into the lower field and select Special and Paragraph Mark (^p).
7) Paste {ISSAC HAYES cont} immediately following the "^p" command
8) Select Replace All. You will notice that it places a space directly above the text.
9) Repeat steps for {ISSAC HAYES}, {INTERVIEWER}, etc.
To strip the time codes and other non-essential text, you will need to:
1) Highlight any time code entry "02:03:12:22," including any spacing that follows the number.
2) Copy (Ctrl C) - In this example, we are working with Tape 02.
3) Open Find and Replace (Ctrl H) and Paste it into the upper field (Ctrl V).
4) Select the More button to expand on the Find and Replace features.
5) Select Use Wildcards and replace the remaining six digits with question marks. For this example, it would be "02:??:??:??." 6) Leave bottom field blank. The time codes are not being replaced with any other numbers.
7) Select Replace All.
After hard returns are created and time codes stripped, repeat steps 1-4, 6 and 7 to remove the non-essential text such as {ISSAC HAYES}, {INTERVIEWER}, and {ISSAC HAYES cont}. Remember to deselect the Use Wildcards button before stripping these items. Copy and Paste each portion of the document before stripping the next set of time codesinto a separate MS Word document so you can easily locate where the time codes of the next tape begin. In all cases, create a Text Only file for each tape, giving them File Names as follows: Hayes_Issac_01.txt, Hayes_Issac_02.txt, etc.
Note: Due to some formatting issues, stripping the bracketed numbers "[1-4]" seem to be problematic. Although they cannot be stripped using MS Word, however, they can be stripped in the Text Only file. Open the Text document, "Hayes_Issac_01.txt," and follow steps 3, 6 and 7. After stripping the bracketed numbers, scroll through the document and shift the text to form complete paragraphs, i.e.: "funeral homes and we had our own businesses, and those were corner mom-and-pop sundry stores, we used to call them."
NOTE: BY NOW YOU ARE NO DOUBT THINKING "wHAT HAVE I GOTTEN INTO??? IF THE FOLLOWING SEEMS HOPELESSLY CONFUSING Jyou can skip this bit, but if so, please type a note at start of each text file: "PUNCTUATION formatting NOT CHANGED" so that the cataloguer will know they have to do it! (and don't worry, the part where you actually listen to the interview is coming up next...)
Certain punctuation created in Word will cause the Segmentor to fail- -for example "smart quotes". After you save the doc as a text file, even though the quotation marks, apostrophes etc. will look exactly like the ones you would type in a text file, they still retain something from the Word encoding that makes them not be accepted by the Segmentor. So it's just a matter of using Find/Replace to replace these punctuation marks with ones that you have newly typed in the text file format.
1. Types of punctuation:
a. Smart quotes" (quotes turned inward as seen here)
b. Apostrophes
c. Ampersands
d. Em dashes that appear as a single long dash; replace with two short dashes.
2. How to change punctuation marks to be accepted by Segmentor Example: Changing "smart quotes" to regular quotes
a. After you have saved the Word documents as text files, select Replace on the Edit menu.
b. In Find: copy opening (left) quote in a quotation. (This will no longer appear as a smart quote in a text file, but it still must be replaced.)
c. In Replace: type a quote mark. (Note: It will look like you are replacing something with the exact same thing but it really will make a difference.)
d. Select Replace All. You will see quotes being replaced (apparently by identical quotes).
e. Repeat the process, copying and replacing closing (right) quote.
Listen to the tape and read the transcript carefully as the tape is playing to make sure the transcriber heard and typed all words correctly, did not add extra words and did a reasonable job of punctuation to catch the meaning and emphases of the speaker. Make the corrections either directly in the 'soft copy' on the computer or, if you prefer, use the hard copy and make marks in pencil that will allow you to transfer all your changes to the soft copy.
When a word or phrase sounds different on tape than in the transcript...
a. Incorrect words:
Sometimes when the transcriber has tried to make a reasonable statement out of sounds (s)he doesn't quite understand, the resulting error makes enough sense that it is not obviously wrong. This makes it all the more important to pay attention to context. Example:
Transcript: I joined the Elks Club of Tacoma over fifty years ago.
Tape: I joined the Elks Club a little over fifty years ago.
b. "Correcting" the HistoryMaker's language
Sometimes the problem of the words not matching the tape stems from a transcriber's mistaken attempt to "correct" the HistoryMaker's language. The goal is to create a transcript that is readable, coherent and error-free. However by "error-free" we mean such things as spelling and punctuation-- NOT that the transcript should be changed to conform to rules of grammar or that African American Vernacular English (AAVE) or other dialects should be changed into Standard English! As proofreaders, watch out for this and change it to match what's actually on the tape.
i. Example of mistakes in changing grammar
Tape: "He be" Mistakenly changed in Transcript to: "He is" or "He would be"
Tape: "She do" Mistakenly changed in Transcript to:"She does"
ii. Spelling / Pronunciation
It is difficult to draw absolute lines here becausethere are some nonstandard spellings for casual spoken American English that are so common that virtually any English-speaking person would recognize them, so it's okay to use them: such as 'cause for because; gonna for going to, wanna for want to, coulda, woulda shoulda" etc. But we don't want to start making up a lot of spellings in an attempt to represent AAVE or regional pronunciation! It would be difficult or impossible to keep to a standard - -and would run the risk of looking similar to racist caricatures. In addition, many people might find it hard to understand what was meant by a spelling like "I'ma" or like "fi'n." So in those cases it's best to just use "I'm going to..." or "I'm fixing to...".
b. Speech impediments:
For the unusual situation of an interviewee with a speech impediment, type what they are trying to say (if you can tell). As with transcribing dialects, do not try to make up spellings to approximate the sounds.
Sometimes a transcript is missing some of the words spoken in the video. Often these are just some small words like "the", "and" etc. Occasionally an even longer section is left out! Example:
Transcript:I could not get over the fact that I was here on Florida State's campus, by the way, because that's where they held the test. So, you know, just to even be on the campus was a major breakthrough, you know, for me.
Tape: I could not get over the fact that I was here, on Florida State's campus, by the way, because that's where they held the test,on a Saturday, with all these white kids, just me, and all my life I had not even been permitted to go on the campus. So, you know, just to even be on the campus was a major breakthrough, you know, for me.
If there are any missing words, you will need to type them in.
This is a bit less common than words being left out - - but often this too is little words. It sometimes is also related to attempts to replace the words with a more 'standard English' version of what was said – as discussed above.
The transcriber may not have noted breaks in the flow of speech. If there is a long pause this should be indicated in parentheses. (Pause). For shorter breaks use dashes. (See below under Editing – Punctuation.)
The transcriber will probably already have noted some things as "unclear" (which is our standard way of indicating it), or possibly "unintelligible" or "?". Each person that works on the interview should make an effort to understand these.
a. If you are almost sure of a word: use (___?)
If you are pretty sure you know what a word or phrase is, but can't quite understand for sure, put the word or words in parentheses followed by a question mark. (word?)
b. If you can hear a word but not recognize it
the sounds clearly but cannot recognize the word or spell it (such as with foreign words or names), use phonetic spelling:
In this case, spell it phonetically and follow by (ph.).
c. Unintelligible words or phrases: Designate as "(Unclear)"
If there is a word or phrase you really cannot understand, label this as "unclear". It is always better to do this than to just make something up - - or than to just leave the word or words out but give no indication that they are left out! At least if you put "(Unclear)" it gives a clear sign to those who work on the transcript after you that they must listen especially closely to that part. However, please do not substitute a lot of "unclears" for listening carefully to the interview. (Often our proofreaders / cataloguers have found they were able to understand easily some of the things labeled as "unclear". – Perhaps this may have been a fault in some of the early tapes transcribers had to work from.)
d. Interviewers not miked
In some of the early interviews the interviewer was not miked and it is often hard to hear them. You should try to get it right, but if it's really hard to hear, you don't need to spend as much time as on the words of the interviewee. Again, however, don't just make something up!
Editing is presented in this document in two separate sections in case some volunteers prefer to do the proofreading but not the fact checking. We need the document to be readable, free of errors in spelling, punctuation, etc. and accessible to users via keyword searches. However, as discussed above, this is not an academic paper, but the words of a person who has a very important story to tell, and we want the document to preserve the interviewee's style of speaking and original intent.
Each transcript should have a header on the first page at top left. The header should include name of Interviewee, name of Interviewer, Date of Interview, Date of Transcript, and Tape number /Total number of Tapes.
Check that this information is there and that the names are spelled correctly.
An exception to the goal of preserving someone's speech is that we delete 'uh', 'um', 'er', and similar meaningless vocalizations that can be very distracting to the reader.
HOWEVER: for words people use over and over, such as "you know" we are not removing them because once we get started taking out words, where would we draw the line?
Also omit "mm-hm" & other sounds of response made by an interviewer or another person while the interviewee is talking. (As our interviewers became more practiced over time this has become less of an issue.) Exceptions:
a. Do not omit if response follows a clear pause for agreement.
b. Do not omit this if it is the interviewee responding to a question.
Unfortunately, a great deal of our cataloguers' time is spent making these corrections of punctuation, etc. Even if our current transcribers are doing a good job, about half of the interviews for this project are already transcribed and some are not in great shape. The more you can follow these guidelines, the fewer corrections will have to be made later, giving the Project Fellows more time to concentrate on segmenting, indexing, etc. We are generally following The Chicago Manual of Style which has very specific information on these issues. Here are some of the basics:
ii. DO NOT abbreviate when adding the name of a state in brackets after the name of a city.
iii. YOU CAN abbreviate when you are including the state as part of the bracketed info. Example: Fisk [University, Nashville, Tenn.]. (While we're at it, this also applies to subject headings.)
iv. Use AP state abbreviations, NOT Postal version
Use the older Associated Press state abbreviations as used by Library of Congress. Do NOT use the 2 upper-case letter US Postal Service abbreviations for states. Ex: "Calif.", not "CA"
· Full stop (sentence): only for definite end of a thought and pause in speech: use period.
· A clear break, but follows an incomplete thought: Use em dash + period, etc.
· Word cut off: use en dash
Long pause: use (pause).
· Digression within sentence, break in flow of speech: em dash
· Very slight pause in flow of speech: use comma
a. --Dashes
i. - "en dash"(short dash/single dash) use ONLY if word is cut off in the middle - Ex: "He built a ra- a radio."
ii. "em dash"(long/double dash) for remark within sentence. When a speaker adds a supplementary or clarifying remark in the middle of a sentence--a strong parenthetical digression--the remark is set off by dashes as shown in this sentence; the dashes should be flush with (without a space between) the preceding and following words.
iii. --"em dash" for cut-off sentence.
When a speaker fails to complete a sentence, indicate this by using double dash, flush with the last word spoken. If this comes as the end of speaker's comments about a subject and they then go on to a different thought, follow the em dash by some form of end punctuation (period, question mark, etc.)
Example:"But in the South it wasn't--. Now, after I had moved up to Chicago I ended up getting a job in a steel mill."
iv. -- 'em dash' if multiple words are repeated
v. Interviewee spelling out names (or other words)
Use dashes between upper-case letters to represent this:
Example: "A-K-B-A-R"
Use only for words omitted, for ex. a sentence cut off at beginning or end of tape; otherwise use dashes. (See above.)
b. , commas: between single-word repetitions or very brief pause in flow of speech; to separate a qualifying clause, between items on lists; between a location, larger location (such as city,state), etc.
c. ... Ellipsis: Use only for words omitted, for ex. a sentence cut off at beginning or end of tape; otherwise use dashes. ( See above .)
d. ' Apostrophe : contractions; possessives
e. ( ) Parentheses
i. to indicate actions, expression of emotion, etc.
Examples:use: (nods head for yes) if there is no spoken answer.
(tears in eyes)
(laughs) But if interviewee laughs a lot, note sparingly.
(Pause) Only for a long, noticeable pause in speech.
(Sigh) Only if very noticeable
(Simultaneously) if 2 people speak at once
( ) Parentheses, continued. Use:
ii. to qualify how something is said
Example: (sarcastically) I was a model child.
f. '_ ' Single quotes: for titles of books, films, songs, TV shows, etc.
Note: Since the transcript must be in a plain text file to be loaded into the Segmenter, we are unable to use the style of italics or underlining for book or film titles.
g. "_" Double quotes: When speaker quotes what either (s)he or someone else has said. Put a space after a comma and before quotation marks. Example:She said, "I'll take the oldest one."
h. [ ] Square brackets: used for inserting additional non-spoken information. (See Section IV)
The Chicago Manual of Style prefers lowercase in most instances. It is impossible to list all examples here, so refer to the manual if there are questions. Examples:
a. Names
i. Capitalize a person's proper name.
ii. Govt bodies, groups, etc.
Generally capitalize federal govt. bodies. BUT: Usually, don't capitalize unofficial /adjectival forms of names of groups. Capitalize the official name of a group, institution, department, company, etc.
Capitalize:
Do not capitalize:
Government
Fed. govt. bodies:
United States Congress; Congress
congressional
State Department; Department of State
The department
the Judiciary Committee
I didn't know which committee I would be on.
State
(Unlike federal, do not capitalize)
Illinois legislature
City
Chicago City Council
the city council
Education
Morehouse College
We organized students at the college.
the Department of History
the history department
Business
General Foods Corporation
The corporation
The New York Stock Exchange
The stock exchange
iii. Names of specific historical events
Usually capitalized. But the same words used in a more general sense are not.
the Civil Rights Movement (meaning the U.S. civil rights movement for African Americans)
There have been civil rights movements in various different nations.
the Civil War (if referring to the U.S. one--since we're in the U.S.)
the Spanish Civil War
In the past decades there have been civil wars in several African countries.
b. Titles
Chi. Manual: "Civil, military, religious and professional titles and titles of nobility are capitalized when they immediately precede a personal name, as part of the name..
Ex: President Francois Mitterand.
BUT..."When such titles are used in apposition to a name they are not part of the name and so are lowercased."
Ex: The French president, Francois Mitterand.
AND... "In text, titles following a personal name or used alone in place of a name (other than in direct address) are, with few exceptions, lower-cased."
Capitalize:
Do not capitalize:
Senator Barak Obama
the senator from Illinois
Mayor Washington
The mayor of Chicago
Reverend Floyd Flake
a minister
Professor Hayes
the professor of history
Executive Director Julieanna Richardson
She is the executive director of the organization.
c. Geographic entities and directions: countries, continents, states, cities; neighborhoods.
Examples: Kenya, Asia, Louisiana, Boston, Harlem,the South Side, the West Side, West Coast, East Coast, etc., the South, the West - -but NOT "southern" "the south of France", "the western United States."
d. Groups of people:
i. Race/ethnicity/nationality:
(A) Capitalize words that derive from names of countries, continents etc. that are themselves capitalized:Asian,African American, Koreans, New Yorkers, etc.
(B) Capitalize certain others such as: Latino, Native American
(C) Do not capitalize the words black or white.
ii. Religion:Capitalize Baptist, Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist, etc.
iii. Do not capitalize most descriptors for people,
Example: "the poor", "disabled", "gay"
iv.Designators of people's job, etc.: only capitalize if it is actually their official title. "He is a bank executive." "He is Executive Vice President."
e. Seasons: use lowercase: spring, summer, etc.
f. Beginning letter of a quoted sentence
Capitalize the first letter as you would if this were not a quote.
Example: RIGHT: She said, "Do you know anything about this truck?" WRONG:She said, "do you know anything about this truck".
(NOTE also that the end of a quoted sentence should have the appropriate punctuation--in this case a question mark.)
See Chicago Manual of Style for many more details.
a. Spell out whole numbers < 100Example: twenty-five
b. Spell out these same whole numbers followed by hundred, thousand, hundred thousand Examples: six hundred; fifty-two thousand
c. Use numerals followed by million, billion, etc. Example: 3 billion
d. If spelled-out numbers cluster too thickly in the paragraph, use numerals. Example:"My oldest sister is 56—her name is Debbie--then I have a brother, Robert, who's 53, my sister Lisa is 51, and the youngest, Francine, is 46 now."
e. Numbers in the same category should be treated alike within the same context; do not use numerals for some and spell out others. For example, a paragraph giving several different percentages: if the rules say to use numerals for one of the numbers, then for consistency's sake, use numerals for all of them.
f. Spell out numbers beginning a sentence even if this creates inconsistencies.
g. Numbers in addresses: Don't spell out; keep in usual style: 1900 South Michigan
h. Public school numbers, when used as the name of the school Ex:P.S. 29
i. Percentages: Use numerals and spell out percent. Example: 96 percent
j. Do not spell out numbers that are part of common phrases, brand names, etc. commonly seen in numerical form. Examples: "24/7", "20/20 vision" "7-Up"
k. Money: If number is spelled out, so is the currency. Example: ten dollars
If numeral is used, then use symbol for currency Example: $549
l. Age decades: spell out. Ex.: "I was in my thirties." (For specific ages, follow standard given above, spelling out numbers 99 and under.)
m.Dates: When a month and day is given in the interview, the month should be spelled out rather than abbreviated numerically. Example: "April 21st, 2005" or "the 21st of April" (depending on which is actually stated.)
Years should be numerical, whether a four-digit year (1965) or an abbreviated two-digit year ('65) is stated.
Decades should be written numerically with an apostrophe first and an 's' after: Example: "in the '50s."
(See also Section V.B.3.b below, about adding complete years in brackets after abbreviated years/decades.)
This work is a combination of checking the names and facts actually stated in the interview and adding additional information in brackets that may help the end user.
Note: This work may be done at the same time as the basic copy editing for style, etc. outlined in the preceding sections. This section is listed separately, as "Editing Part Two" because some volunteer proofreaders prefer to do the basic editing but not the part requiring extra research.
A. Fact Checking transcript
This is somewhat related to auditing, because transcribers who may be ignorant of the people, places, companies, groups, etc. being discussed, and if they don't understand what the interviewee says, their guess may be wrong. Use whatever reliable sources are available to you- -the Internet, Who's Who books, atlases and other reference books.
1. Check names (and spellings) for people, locations, organizations, companies, etc. mentioned in the interview.
Don't take things for granted. (For example, in the Tyrone Davis interview, the transcriber typed "Wonderful Records" as the name of a record company- -the actual name was "One-derful Records")
2. Check dates and years mentioned for important events, legislation, etc.
If the interviewee or interviewer makes a factual error that is not immediately corrected, (for example gives the wrong location for an institution or the wrong name of an organization), follow it with 'sic' , comma, and then the correct information, all in brackets.
Example:Mr. Bryant called his brother-in-law [sic, half brother], J.W. Milam.
5. Things you can't find out
If there is a name, fact, etc. that you can't find out for sure, NOTE THISin the transcript so that the cataloguer at least knows you attempted it and can try to check it again. One option open to the cataloguer may be asking the interviewee (only after checking with Julieanna Richardson as to whether that person should be contacted).
Ideally we will get to the point that we are able to trust our proofreaders/fact checkers enough to feel confident that the interview has been thoroughly checked, and our cataloguers will not have to re-check the same information. This will considerably speed up the process.
We want researchers looking for information about events, people and topics discussed in these interviews to be able to easily find the segments in the Digital Video Library with the specific parts of the interviews they need. We also want to provide people with some additional information that might clarify what is actually said on the tape. For example, an interviewee might mention another person only by their first or last name or a nickname. If, talking about Dr. King, the interviewee says just "Martin" we add [Luther King, Jr.] This will help someone doing a keyword search to distinguish him from other Martins.
Or an interviewee might talk about the attack on civil rights marchers in Canton without mentioning the name of the state (Mississippi) or the name of the event--the Meredith March Against Fear. So as you check facts you will also add more data in brackets for the purposes of clarification and to assist in searches by supplying more possible keywords that will enable them to retrieve Segments.
i. Persons mentioned only by a shortened name, nickname or as "Daddy", "my mother", etc.
Example: "That's where Daddy [Robert Booker Flake] lived." "As [William] Bill Clay says...."
ii. Nicknames /common names of institutions, places etc. that have or had at the time discussed a different official name.
Examples: Ole Miss [University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss.] The Sorbonne [University of Paris, Paris, France]
iii. Partial names of persons, institutions etc:
Examples: Martin [Luther King, Jr.] [Adam Clayton] Powell Harriet [Beecher] Stowe "I went to Columbia [University]."
NOTE: When adding part of a title, think in terms of "retrievability" via a phrase search. Example:
Wrong: "Florida A and M [Agricultural and Mechanical] University"
(Nobody would do a search for that exact phrase.) RIght: "Florida A and M University [Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University]"
Note: re colleges, see also 'Locations' re colleges, see also 'Locations' (C.3.5.b) in this document later in this section - - institutions should have the location bracketed after the name.
iv. Former/later names of persons or entities:
This may be helpful when there is a reference to someone or something more commonly known under another name.
Examples: Arkansas A M &N College [now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff] Kwame Ture [formerly Stokely Carmichael]
v. Acronyms or abbreviations:
When an acronym is given, follow it with the complete words spelled out in brackets. This need only be done for the first time it appears within each Segment.
i. If a city is named, put the state (or foreign country) in brackets following it.
Examples: Paris [Texas] Paris [France] Ferndale [Alabama] Chicago [Illinois]
Do this even if it seems obvious that Chicago is in Illinois or that the Paris being discussed is in France. Remember, this is not just for informing people but also for aiding in searches. If a user is looking for absolutely every time anyone mentions anything at all about France, our addition of [France] after Paris (or Marseilles or Lyon or Chateauneuf-du-Pâpe) will enable them to find all of these by doing a keyword search for "France"
ii. If an institution is named, follow with location (city, state or city,foreign country).
Example:Howard University [Washington, D.C.]
iii. Unnamed location of described events : if a subject discusses an event or situation at a specific place but does not identify the location by name--for example, (s)he may refer to it as "here" or "there"--follow with the location information in brackets.
Example:"I had fights with professors here [Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachussets], I still do, about things that I think are not right..."
If someone mentions a specific verse from the Bible or Qu'ran but does not give the reference, follow with Chapter:verse or Sura:verse. Note: this does not mean you have to do this any time someone makes some paraphrase from the Bible - - we'd spend forever tracking down oblique biblical allusions!
ii. Foreign money
Example: I wasn't making enough pounds [currency].
4. How often to add this bracketed extra information?
a. Cataloguers working in the Segmentor:
Project Fellows (cataloguers) will use the "Segmentor" cataloguing software to divide each interview into short clips of a few minutes each; users will be able to choose to watch just the parts they want. The divisions will be decided based on subject matter discussed. Bracketed information such as described above needs only be added once per segment.
b. Proofreaders working with Word or text files:
Obviously, you can't know for sure exactly where the video & transcript will be divided into segments. However, you can make an educated guess by knowing that most segments will be c. 2-5 minutes and will be divided based on the subjects discussed; often- -but not invariably- -this will be one question/one answer. Err on the side of adding the bracketed data too often rather than too seldom, but don't spend time adding the same data several times a page. If the NAACP is mentioned several times within a minute you should not add "[National Association for Advancement of Colored People]" after the acronym every single time. But if a few minutes go by and then the NAACP is again mentioned, you should again add the full name.
Paragraph summary: For each 30-minute videotape, an abstract should be written summarizing the content of that tape. You should include the important subjects discussed during that half hour, but need not list everything briefly touched on. The summary paragraph should be under half a page long and should be written in sentences rather than as a list of subjects.
Some people working on The HistoryMakers transcripts--especially those with experience in cataloguing or special knowledge of the subjects being discussed—may wish to suggest possible Subject Headings based on content. You do not need to spend a long time exhaustively extracting every possible subject heading. This is an important task but it is also important to finish processing more transcripts since we have a large number to do in a finite amount of time (ending in December 2005).
At this point you should assume that we have headings for the more obvious things. You may be able to help out, though by suggesting headings for more "concept" type things, especially ones particular to African American life. For example the idea of "double consciousness" - - having a different consciousness or self you present to the majority white world, in the workplace etc.
Subject headings will be assigned at the "Segment" level. (Project Fellows will use the "Segmentor" software to divide each interview into short clips of a few minutes each so that users can choose to watch just the parts they want. The divisions will be decided based on subject matter discussed.)
b. Library of Congress Subject Headings
LCSH preferred but not obligatory if no acceptable LCSH can be found; we are creating our own thesaurus based on this collection. In all cases, think in terms of the user.
c. Only for things discussed not just mentioned
Always think of the end user: If someone doing a Browse search finds a particular segment based on a name, topic etc. that you choose to assign as a heading, will that user be satisfied or disappointed with the result? Someone searching for Dizzy Gillespie, for example, will not be thrilled to be directed to a segment in which he is just casually and quickly mentioned as one of a list of favorite musicians.)
Not everyone mentioned needs to have a subject heading. Don't suggest headings for the names of interviewees' relatives, friends, etc. who are not well-known themselves--the list would get really out of control! Even if people are well-known, only suggest that their name be assigned as a heading if they are really discussed --not just mentioned! In the Dizzy Gillespie example above, if someone lists their favorite musicians but says no more about them, the names would not be headings for that segment.
b. Locations: of significant event related by interviewee. Again, not if just mentioned. Example of location to include as heading:
William Clay discusses in detail his campaign for alderman but he does not specifically mention the name of the city. In this case, the location--St. Louis-- should still be included as a heading because it is significant that the events he is relating took place in St. Louis.
Example of location not to include as heading:
Gordon Parks: "My son-in-law from London sent me a poem." (He says nothing else about London in the segment). Do not include London as a heading here because he is not talking about something happening in London. (Again, think of the user: if someone looking for something about London found this record through a browse search, they would wonder why it had been given a heading for London.)
c. Topics: events, institutions, organizations, concepts, etc.
i. Of the terms spoken, again, only suggest headings for those that are actually discussed. Example: if interviewee says "I thought about attending Howard, Fisk and Hampton, and eventually I decided on Howard", and then goes on to discuss the experience at the university, Howard University would be indexed for this segment but not Fisk or Hampton.
ii. You may want to suggest a term when the interviewee talks about a subject without actually using the word for it. This may often be the case for abstract concepts. For example, if someone talks about the women's movement but does not use the word "feminism", you may wish to suggest it.
Suggested headings- - names of persons, places, organizations, topics, etc. Enclose the terms in "curly brackets" {____} set in a separate paragraph apart from (following) the section to which the suggested terms would apply.
They will be given to cataloguers who are assigning headings to index the "Segments" of digitized video. They will be instructed that after the headings are assigned they should remove the curly-bracketed lists of from the transcript that accompanies the video. They will also be used to help construct a thesaurus for African American History.
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