MarineLives Transcription & Editorial Policy: Draft Five

MarineLives Transcription & Editorial Policy: Draft Five

Editorial history

26/08/12: CSG, created page

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Suggested links

Transcription & Editorial Policy

MarineLives Transcription & Editorial Policy: Draft One
MarineLives Transcription & Editorial Policy: Draft Two
MarineLives Transcription & Editorial Policy: Draft Three
MarineLives Transcription & Editorial Policy: Draft Four

Introduction to the High Court of Admiralty

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Draft Five: Transcription and Editorial policy

Draft of MarineLives Editorial Method/Directions for Transcribers

Draft of MarineLives Editorial Method/Directions for Transcribers
Revised September 15th, 2012
Charlene M. Eska and Colin Greenstreet
ceska@vt.edu, colin.greenstreet@gmail.com

This draft is current and should be applied to all transcriptions from September 16th, 2012

The aim of the transcribers is to create a semi-diplomatic edition of the HCA documents. As such, transcribers will, for the most part, transcribe exactly what they see using the following conventions.

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Editorial policy questions put to Charlene from Will, Jill and Colin, 16th October 2012

• small "a" after a comma or full stop, which is physically larger than other letters in a phrase, such as "and further he cannot depose". Should we reproduce this as a capital a "A"?

• "interrate". Should we expand this as "interrogated"?

• "arlate". We need to sort out what the expansion is?

" "allegacon" is a contraction, but are we sure it should be

• sometimes a word looks like "sid", and Colin has been expanding to "said"", but William and Colin now suspect that the word is actually written as "said", so no need to itallicise the "i". Do you agree? (best to look at some specific examples on line with Colin)

• Roman numerals. Can we agree that we reproduce a "j" or "J" (as appropriate) as we see it, and not as "i", and can we agree that roman numerals are reproduced as roman numerals?

• Do we really transcribe what we see when something appears to be singular in the manuscript, even though modern grammar would have it in the plural?

e..g "the pipestaves and hoops and in other caske ready made.." (HCA 13/71 f.74r P1130349, lines 24 and 25; see: http://marinelives-transcript.org/scripto/scripto/?scripto_action=transcribe&scripto_doc_id=296&scripto_doc_page_id=272)

In this example "caske" appears to be singular, with an "e" ending the word, not an "s". Firstly, do you agree that an "e" is written in the manuscript, and secondly do you agree that we reproduce as an "e" and don't transcform into an "s" to aid a modern raders's understanding

• "1^us, 2^us"

- Presumably this is a contraction for primus, secundus, but we have not been expanding into words. Is this correct (in meaning, and not expanding the numbers into words?

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OPEN QUESTIONS NOT YET RESOLVED WITHIN TEAM FACILITATOR DISCUSSION GROUP

• Catherine's symbols: Little superscript "o" - what does it mean and how transcribe

• Margins

- consistent application?
- language to insert?
- Do we use margin or note to describe CENTRE HEADINGS?

DECIDED

• Only use margin code for LH margin (either totally in the margin, or startingin the margin), and for text below the main body of text

• Us ethe following language:

"Left"

"Bottom right , below main body of text, as lead to next page"

"Bottom left"

PROVIDE INSTRUCTIONS FOR SEQUENCING AND LAYING OUT LINES AT THE START OF A NEW DEPOSITION

• Notes

- Q: What do we use notes for?
- Jill uses on upside down "Cs" on "o" and "e" and "i"- one clerk uses these,
- Charlene: does this symbol have any sound or content meaning, and does it transform the letter?

• To dos

• Gutter

- Create a Gutter coding symbol

• Page layout

• Crossings out and insertions - do we need to be consistent on order?

• Explore capital letter specific examples with Charlene

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COLIN TO DISCUSS WITH GIOVANNI

• "TO DO": Change "TO DO" code to "GUTTER"from the code output, with a distinct colour for this instruction

• Roll out of new functionality (timing(testing)

Letter forms

Spelling is not standardized, so it is important to transcribe what you see and resist the urge to ‘correct’ the spelling. Any letters that are written superscript should be lowered.

EXAMPLE:

"3:th, 4:th, 5:th" should be transcribed as "3th, 4th, 5th"

U/V, u,v Transcribe each of these letters as they appear in the documents. Do not make the determination of whether the graph represents a vowel or a consonant.

i/j, I Transcribe each of these letters as they appear in the documents.

Y Although it looks like the letter ‘y’, it is really a form of þ ‘thorn’ and should be transcribed as ‘th’. Common sense will tell you whether you are dealing with <y> or <þ>.

EXAMPLES:

"y:e" should be transcribed as "the"
"y:t" should be transcribed as "that"
"y:m" should be tranScribed as "them"

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Punctuation

Punctuation is different from what we are used to. Transcribe the marks as you see them. The only exception to this will be the dash used to fill the ends of lines; ignore these marks. Do not try to impose modern punctuation conventions.

EXAMPLES:

"./."

":/:"

":-"

Transcribe any dots surrounding numerals.

EXAMPLE:

".1.", ".6th."

Preserve the page layout as much as possible when you transcribe, including the placement of signatures and line breaks within paragraphs.

EXAMPLE:

56. William ffowkes ^SIGNATURE ON BOTTOM RH SIDE^

The above text is produced using the NOTE function:

William ffowkes <note>SIGNATURE ON BOTTOM RH SIDE </note>

Where there is a marginal item and a main body text item within the same line in the original manuscript, transcribe the main body text line first, then add a space, transcribe the marginal item, preserving the lineation of the marginal item, and add a further space

EXAMPLE:

The code would be as follows:

31. did together with this deponent and others sayle and depart in and with
32. the sayd shipp from Gravesend about the ˹eleventh˺ eighth day of december 1654
33. XXXXXXXXX day And they entred into whole pay in the sayd shipp # ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT INSERTION MARK, DIRECTING ATTENTION TO TEXT IN LH MARGIN and the
34.
35. <margin value="Left"># upon the eighth day
36. of the sayd moneth,
37. William dixon</margin>
38.
39. sayd shipp arrived afterwards att ffalmouth and from thence

Follow the foliation of the original documentsm and enter the folio number, together with added recto or verso, in the HEADER information

EXAMPLE:

<folio>f.169r</folio>

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Capitalization

Do not capitalize letters that are not written in capitals. Transcribe what you see.

Be particularly careful that you do not capitalise the names of people, places, and ships if they are not capitalised in the original.

Be particularly observant of the differences between lower and upper case "c/C" and "h/H"

An index will be created with standardized forms of names, places, ships, etc., and all spelling variants will be indexed accordingly.

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Abbreviations

& The ampersand represents the word ‘and’. Transcribe it as ‘and’ without putting it in italics. If it is part of a Latin phrase, transcribe it as ‘et’.

Some words are commonly abbreviated, e.g. ‘arle’ for ‘article’. Put supplied letters in italics. Below is a list of commonly abbreviated and contracted words.

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Contractions and Suspensions

XXX All letters supplied by the transcribers should be in italics. This will be the case wherever contractions and suspensions are expanded.

EXAMPLE:

"ag:t" is transcribed as "against"

"als" is trancribed as "alias"

"allon" is transcribed as "allegation"

"arle" is transcribed as "article"

"Capt"is transcribed as "Captaine" (unless the clerk elsewhere spells the expanded word without a final "e")
"comand" (with tilda over the "m") is transcribed as "command"

"depon" is transcribed as "deposition"

"depted" is transcribed as "departed"

"depo:t" is transcribed as "deponent"
"D:r" is transcribed as "Doctor"

"interr" is usually transcribed as "interrogatory" or "interrogatorie" depending on expanded form the clerk uses elsewhere on the page. If no expanded example, then use "interrogatory"

BUT in some contexts "interr" is a contraction for "interrate", for example "the Interr Travers or his Agents" should be transcribed as "the Interrate Travers or his Agents", or probably more fully "interrogate" or "interrogated" CSG (16/10/12): DISCUSS WITH TEAM FACILITATORS, LAURA SEYMOUR AND DR CHARLENE ESKA

"labo:r" is transcribed as "labour"

"lres" is transcribed as "letteres"

"M^r^ is transcribed as "Master"

"pap" is transcribed as "paper"

"parlls" is transcribed as "parcells"

"pcells" is transcribed as "parcells"
"pmitt" is transcribed as "permitt"

"pticular" is transcribed as "particular"

"pticulars" is transcribed as "particulars"

"pt" is transcribed as "part"

"pties" is transcribed as "parties"

"p mo: is transcribed as "per moneth:

"pdposed" is transcribed as "predeposed"

"pson" is transcribed as "person"

"prsent" is transcribed as "present

"pused" is transcribed as "perused"

"pt" is transcribed as "part"

"rcd" , "recd" and "recvd" are transcribed as "received", "received" and "received" (unless there is evidence elsewhere on the relevant page that the clerk is using the expanded spelling "receave", in which case the expansion of the contractions should be suitably adjusted

"sd" and "s:d" are transcribed as "said or sayd" depending on expanded form the clerk uses elsewhere on the page. If no expanded example, then use sayd"

"S:t" is transcribed as "Saint"

"sumes" (with a tilda over the "m") is transcribed as "summes"
"wch" is transcribed as "which"

"worfull" (with tilda over the word) is transcribed as "worshipfull"

"worll" is transcribed as "worshipfull"

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POLICY DECISION REQUIRED

"arlate". How is this related to "Article" and to "Allegation"?

"interrate". How is this related to "Interrogatory" and "Interrogatories"?  Is it an abbreviation for "Interrogated"?

"lre" is transcribed as "letter"? Or should this be expanded as "lettre"?

"libellate". How is this related to "Libell"?

"Midd". Should we expand this common suspension to "Middlesex"?  What does Dr Murphy do in her Irish Manscript Commission edition of the Irish HCA papers?

"rend:t". Should this be transcribed as "rendent" or as "respondent"?

"vizt" is an abbreviation for "videlicet", which means "namely" or "to wit"

"xr" is an abbreviation for the latin "et cetera"

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Tildas (horizonal lines over a letter)

Tildas represent single or double ‘m’ or ‘n’. Be mindful of the different ways of representing ‘per’, ‘pro’, ‘par’, ‘pre’, etc. along with ‘-con’.

EXAMPLES:

"comonly" (with a tilda over the m) should be transcribed as "commonly" (with the second m inserted by the transcriber and italicised)

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Letters supplied by transcriber

[XXX] Any letters supplied should be enclosed in square brackets. This is sometimes the case when a letter has been omitted by mistake. Use sparingly.

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Letters lost due to manuscript staining or damage

{…} Letters lost due to staining, damage, etc. Give an indication, if possible, of how many letters are lost and if any letter forms are even partially visible.

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Letters deleted in manuscript

--XSTRIKETHROUGHX-- Use the strikethrough function to indicate text deleted in the documents. Transcribe as much as you can see.

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Text inserted above (or below) lines in main body of text

˹XXX˺ Text written between the lines

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Text written in margins

Use MARGIN button and add Left, Right, Top left, Top Left, Bottom Left, Bottom Right, in inout box and click enter

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Spacing

Only ever leave one space after a full stop, comma, semi-colon, or any form of punctuation, no matter how much space the clerk left.

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Line breaks

Line breaks in the original manuscript should be shown using a carriage return

Words which are split over lines and which are marked so by the clerk should be shown with "=" (which is the typical symbol used by clerks to indicate such an event)

EXAMPLE:

3. Thomas Sharpe of the parish of Saint Stephen Coleman=
4. Street London merchant Late Purser of the sayd shipp
5. the Swan now called the Satisfaction aged 26, yeares

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Draft Five: Coding buttons for metadata

HEADER

Generates the following code:

<header>
<series></series>
<folio></folio>
<picture></picture>
<summary></summary>
<document-date></document-date>
<status></status>
<first-transcriber></first-transcriber>
</header>

CASE

Generates the following code:

<case>
<charge></charge>
<summary></summary>
<date value=""></date>
<plaintiff></plaintiff>
<defendant></defendant>
</case>

DEP

Generates the following code:

<deposition>
<summary></summary>
<date value=""></date>
<witness></witness>
</deposition>

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Draft Five: Coding buttons for text format and layout

Italic

Generates the following code: XXXX

Strike

Generates the following code: XXXX

Underline

Generates the following code: XXXX

Bold

Generates the following code: XXXX

Insert

Generates the following symbols: ˹XXXX˺

Margin

Generates the following code: <margin value="XXXX">Margin</margin>

Special characters (Add)

# (New)

Square bracket - [ (New)

Square bracket - ] (New)

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Draft Five: Coding buttons for Notes, Questions, and Help requests

Note (All notes to be added in CAPITALS)

Generates the following code: <note></note>

Help (HELP request answers to be added in CAPITALS after the highlighted item, but still within the code (<help>Help request HELP ANSWER FROM A COLLEAGUE</help>

Question (New) (All questions to be added in CAPITALS)

Generates the following code: <question></question>

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Draft Five: Coding buttons for semantic markup

The menu above the input box contains a number of buttons which at a later stage we will use for "semantic markup". These are the buttons labelled

Person
Title
Occupation
Commodity
Currency
Quantity
Ship
Place
Date

This form of markup defines for later analysis the nature of a specific word or block of text. Computers are not clever. Humans are. So computers need to be told if the "Red Hand" is a ship or a hand which is red.

Giovanni Colavizza and Patrizia Rebulla, two of our team facilitators, are co-leading our semantic markup and analysis team. At a later stage of the project your team facilitator, working with Giovanni and Patrizia, will show you how to use these semantic mark up buttons, and we will introduce a specific set of editorial conventions related to this type of markup