Science Gossip Talk

What's your frequently asked question?

  • jules by jules moderator

    Attention Science Gossipers!

    The mods are working on making this Frequently Asked Questions section (FAQ) better. A good FAQ section should work as a resource for both experienced and new volunteers. It should contain the main questions which crop up the most, and the answers which allow us to carry on classifying without getting stuck. So, if you have found a useful answer to a question anywhere on Talk please copy it here so we can incorporate it into the new FAQ.

    You might also have a question which hasn't yet been answered. Put that here too!

    Thanks! 😃

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator in response to jules's comment.

    Great idea! Thank you 😃

    I'm not sure whether it has been mentioned somewhere but I think it definitely should be mentioned in the FAQs.

    1. If there is an illustration of a species which was unknown at the time when they published it and they didn't mention any, what is the best think to do? Shall we left the text area empty / write 'unknown species' / write the current name if we recognize the species / or.. ?

    2. If the species had a different name than we use these days, shall we use the one mentioned in the text or search for the current one? Or mention both? Or use some #tags?

    Thanks for answering those!

    Cheers,

    Zuzi

    Edit: Oops, the autocorrection changed a few words to a nonsense:)

    Posted

  • ssgiris by ssgiris moderator

    Here is one answer: http://talk.sciencegossip.org/#/boards/BSC0000008/discussions/DSC0000025

    I tend to leave the species blank - leave that area blank on the pop up box. I use #historicaltaxonomy as a hashtag, and use the keyword combo

    --> new species; historical taxonomy; classification;

    I would love to know how the researchers want us to handle this.

    ssgiris

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator in response to ssgiris's comment.

    Thank you very much for your reply, @ssgiris !

    I'd appreciate if some examples from the researchers were present in the FAQs so we could check them when in doubts.

    Sometimes I do recognize the species and am able to look them up in the internet but not sure whether the researchers want me to do so when the name of the species wasn't mentioned in the document at all since it was named later.

    This project is really awesome but very confusing. Can't wait for the FAQs!

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    Excellent, @jules and @ssgirls ... thanks so much for your attention on this!

    Please let me know when you have a version that is ready for public consumption (not that you couldn't continue editing it later), and I will see what I can do about getting a link added to the classification page (as long as that's okay with the science team; if it isn't, it can be prominent on Talk at least).

    Thanks again!!

    Posted

  • trosesandler by trosesandler scientist

    jules - thanks for putting together the FAQ! Could you add these to the list?

    Under the multiple illustrations on same page question you could add a link to this example http://talk.sciencegossip.org/#/subjects/ASC0000zlm with this explanation

    Treat as a single illustration with the following description
    Species:
    Scientific - Proterozoic Murchisoniidae
    Scientific: Pleurotomariidae CommonName: Slit Snail
    Scientific: Turritellidae CommonName: Tower Snail
    Transcribe: [leave blank]
    Contributors:
    J. Donald Role: Illustrator
    Name: A. H. Searle Role: Lithographer
    Name: Mintern Bros. Role: Printer
    Keywords: fossil; snail

    Filtering pages
    Some users have wondered why we did not filter out all text pages so that volunteers only have to go through pages with illustrations.

    Great question Kosmala. Quia--who answered your question about Latin terms--has also flagged this up to us during the beta test. We (Zooniverse, ConSciCom and the BHL) considered using an algorithm to filter this first tranche of data, but then thought that volunteers might enjoy going through periodicals in order. That said, after we've processed this first batch of data, we're going to run some algorithms on the next batch before we upload it. The BHL has an algorithm that they use to identify images, and Quia also has one which she has kindly offered to run for/with us (and which she's already tested!). We've decided to use this first batch of data that people are working on now as a test to see how much better the crowd performs against the algorithms.
    Rest assured that blank images are retired relatively quickly after people say they are blank, so we should be processing those out over time.
    We'll keep you guys posted on the outcome of the algorithm testing. No doubt the next batch of data will contain a high proportion of images! VVH

    Pages with overlays
    If you find a page with an overlay there is probably another scan of the same page w/o the overlay so you do not need to describe these – mark as “no” illustration on the page.
    e.g. http://talk.sciencegossip.org/#/subjects/ASC0000dy6

    Folded pages
    If a page appears to be folded, mark it as “no” page does not contain an illustration and in talk add hashtag #folded

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin in response to trosesandler's comment.

    Quick question, @trosesandler -- is it okay if Jules rewrites these in the form of a question and an answer?

    Thanks for adding them to the pot!! 😃

    Posted

  • jules by jules moderator

    Thanks @DZM! It's not quite ready yet but we'll let you know when. 😉

    Thanks for the excellent additions @trosesandler! I'll wait until you reply to DZM as he is right - I'll need to edit slightly to keep the FAQ format if you don't mind.

    Posted

  • jules by jules moderator

    Another one for the FAQ. I've been asked whether the #blank hashtag is useful or can you find blank pages by other means?

    Posted

  • trosesandler by trosesandler scientist

    Yes definitely rewrite as needed thanks! Yes #blank hashtag is useful. Several folks have already used it.

    Posted

  • jules by jules moderator

    Thanks trosesandler! All added now.

    We could do with an example of an illustration that has no relation to the text if anyone has one. I seem to have mislaid the one I had. 😕

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator

    Here are my questions I asked Trish and the answers I received from her:

    1] ASC00009pm how to classify such objects - it is not a 'species'. The same for this one: ASC0000duw Shall we put 'bust of Kaffir' as a species?

    Answer:
    If the illustration does not contain a species then leave species blank and just add keywords such as "bust of kaffir"

    2] What about maps? ASC00010bp

    Answer:
    maps won't have anything in species unless its a map of say species distribution. In your example its a map of rocks so I'd just add some descriptors to the keywords

    3] ASC0000fks - I'm used to classify illustrations of unknown (at the time they were made) species without any name mentioned but I can recognize them and am able to tell the current taxonomy. Do you prefer me to use the current name of the species however it isn't mentioned in the document (I can be sometimes wrong about the name) or use it just as a keyword, or don't mention it at all when it isn't anywhere in the text? What about those who are called by old names?

    Answer:
    we recommend users add the species name as listed in the book and if you know the current name add that too - both can be added to the species boxes as separate names. folks suggested adding #historicaltaxonomy for names which are no longer used

    4] ASC0000hdj - there are more species in one illustration which can't be easily cropped into the individual images. What to put as a species when each of them is a different genus?

    Answer:
    If there is more than 1 species in an image and its too hard to crop I suggest finding an overall term that encompasses them all such as a common family name and add that to the species box - basically we need something that users could search on and get to that page to be able to scan it for the different genus

    Please, feel free to change them as you need for the FAQs. I think those should be included there.

    Thanks,

    Zuzi

    Posted

  • jules by jules moderator

    Thanks! I'll add them in the next day or so. We must be nearly finished now! 😉

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    As soon as it's done, I should be able to get that link up, too; just let me know! 😃

    Thanks to everyone for helping with this!!

    Posted

  • jules by jules moderator

    I think it's done. If anyone has any other suggestions you can post them here.

    Posted

  • eatyourgreens by eatyourgreens admin

    A few people have asked about keyboard shortcuts. I wrote a little summary of browser/operating system shortcuts in this discussion, which might be helpful:
    http://talk.sciencegossip.org/#/boards/BSC0000004/discussions/DSC000000x

    Jim

    Posted

  • jules by jules moderator in response to eatyourgreens's comment.

    Fab! Added. 😃

    Posted

  • trosesandler by trosesandler scientist

    Jules

    Could we add this to FAQ?
    Examples of pages that should be marked as no images on the page
    We do not need these types of page to be classified (e.g. text, blank pages, title pages, bookplates, book covers, indexes, tables of content, decorative letters or stamps and advertisements). Please mark as no illustrations on the page. Below are some examples in BHL.

    Examples of illus we do not need classified and described
    http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7312886 Bookplate
    http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2919109 Decorative
    http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16448681 Advertisement
    http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/684364 Title page
    http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35144837 Book cover

    Posted

  • jules by jules moderator in response to trosesandler's comment.

    Done! 😃

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    The FAQ link is now live on the site! 😄

    Posted

  • geoffrey.belknap by geoffrey.belknap scientist

    Great job everyone! You are the ones making this site great!!

    Posted

  • jules by jules moderator

    Yay, I just saw the link! The FAQ was a great collaborative effort and it will hopefully make classifying easier for people. Go TeamSG! 😃

    Posted

  • GeoffCNLincs by GeoffCNLincs

    What do I do if the page contains drawings, tables and/or lists? It's not clear whether there are separate annotations for each area when you review your work and there only seems to be one classification per page. Also inserting Contributor information after Inscription information seems to blank out the Inscription info. I've resorted to putting everything in the Inscription box.

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator in response to GeoffCNLincs's comment.

    Hi @GeoffCNLincs

    You can combine the classification as you need:

    First you have to choose the type - for ex. a drawing and measure it; then change the type for the table and measure it... etc. When you measure all illustrations on the page you can continue by typing the species (if present) just by clicking in the center of the area of the drawing/photo/... You will have to type the keywords for each type of illustration separately but you can always go back to any of the previous steps without loosing the data you have typed (you can copy the text you put as a species to the the keyword text area).

    I'm not sure what you meant by the blanking out the Inscription info. Does the text in the Inscription box disappear after you start typing the name of a contributor? It shouldn't happen 😦 The inscription is actually meant for the hand written image inscriptions only.

    Hope this is helpful. Keep asking when in troubles.

    Zuzi

    Posted

  • ssgiris by ssgiris moderator

    Be sure to click OK in each classification box when you finish entering the information; then that box should disappear. Please only use inscription classification when there are handwritten notes on the image you are describing.

    Posted

  • trosesandler by trosesandler scientist

    one more to add to FAQ
    How do we classify handwritten letters?
    we do not need letters classified unless they are by a notable person (e.g. Isaac Newton) so tag as no images on page but then could add #letter in talk

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator in response to trosesandler's comment.

    Thanks! Here is a link to the example of such a handwritten letter: ASC0000uw2 for the FAQs.

    Posted

  • jules by jules moderator

    I've added the handwritten examples to the FAQ and worded it to cover more than letters as I have an example of scribbled notes too: ASC0000umj

    Posted

  • trosesandler by trosesandler scientist

    lets also ask folks to add #overlay to the overlay FAQ

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin in response to trosesandler's comment.

    (Looks like that has been accomplished, by the way. Thanks, @jules !)

    Posted

  • jules by jules moderator

    Oops - yes - I added that! 😉 Do you know if there is a word limit per post @DZM? The FAQ is quite long now and I just wondered how much more room there might be to add items before having to split it over more than one post.

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin in response to jules's comment.

    To my knowledge, there is no word limit on a Talk post.

    But let me know if you hit one! 😃

    Posted

  • Hanibal94 by Hanibal94

    Here's one just out of curiosity: How many times does a page need to be classified before it is marked as "Complete" and withdrawn from the interface?

    Posted

  • geoffrey.belknap by geoffrey.belknap scientist

    Hi @Hanibal94 - sorry for the delay in answering this. The 'retire rate' for each page is currently 5 for illustrated pages, and 3 for no-illustration pages. Thanks for the question!

    Posted

  • Anagneia by Anagneia

    Is a schematic drawing of a building or floor to be tagged as 'map' or as 'drawing'?

    Thanks for your help.

    Posted

  • jules by jules moderator

    Hi Anagneia - I would tag that as a drawing/diagram.

    Posted

  • trosesandler by trosesandler scientist

    Anagneia - a building plan or floor plan (i.e. view from above) would be considered a map whereas a drawing of a building (view from eye level) would be considered a drawing. Great question!

    Posted

  • jules by jules moderator in response to trosesandler's comment.

    I stand corrected and will add this to the FAQ!! 😃

    Posted

  • trosesandler by trosesandler scientist

    Thanks Jules!

    Posted