FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
-
by
jules
moderator
WHAT IS A HASHTAG AND HOW DO I ADD ONE?
WHAT DO I DO IF THERE IS NO INFORMATION ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATION?
EXAMPLES OF PAGES WHICH SHOULD BE MARKED AS HAVING "NO ILLUSTRATION"
WHY DON'T YOU FILTER OUT TEXT ONLY AND BLANK PAGES?
WHAT DOES INSCRIPTION MEAN?
HOW DO I ZOOM IN?
HOW DO I CHOOSE KEYWORDS?
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LISTS, TABLES AND CHARTS?
HOW DO I MARK MULTIPLE ILLUSTRATIONS ON THE SAME PAGE?
IS A FLOOR PLAN A MAP OR A DRAWING?
WHAT DO I DO IF AN ILLUSTRATION CONTAINS MANY DIFFERENT SPECIES AND CAN'T EASILY BE CROPPED TO SEPARATE THEM OUT?
WHAT IF THERE IS NO SPECIES?
WHAT IF I KNOW THE SPECIES NAME IN THE TEXT HAS BEEN CHANGED - DO I USE THE NAME FROM THE ARTICLE OR PUT THE CURRENT SPECIES NAME?
DO I MARK ILLUSTRATIONS THAT HAVE NO RELATION TO THE TEXT?
WHAT DO I DO IF TEXT GETS IN THE WAY OF DRAWING A BOX AROUND ILLUSTRATIONS?
HOW DO I CLASSIFY A PAGE WITH AN OVERLAY? - THIS ILLUSTRATION LOOKS FADED
HOW DO I CLASSIFY A FOLDED PAGE?
HOW DO I CLASSIFY HANDWRITTEN PAGES?
HOW DO I CLASSIFY MUSIC?
HOW DO I CLASSIFY FAMILY TREES / PEDIGREES?
ARE THERE ANY KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS?
WHAT IS A HASHTAG AND HOW DO I ADD ONE?
Hashtags are words preceded by the # symbol. They are widely used in social media and are searchable which makes them very useful to the science team. Think of a word that would help someone else find your image and make it a hashtag – it might be #bird, #map, #astronomy, #geology or the name of an illustrator – it's up to you to decide. You can see a list of the most popular hashtags on the left in Talk but don't be limited to these. Add as many as you like and be creative!
You can only add a hashtag if you are in Talk so you need to click “Yes” to “Do you want to talk about this image?” at the end of classifying. This takes you to a page in Talk where you can put your image into a collection, make a comment, add a hashtag or start a discussion about it in one of the Boards. Scroll down to the blue box underneath the image and enter your hashtag(s) and/or a comment. Don't forget the # symbol (this makes it searchable) and click “comment” when you've finished.
WHAT DO I DO IF THERE IS NO INFORMATION ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATION?
Sometimes you will need to look a few pages either side of the one you are given to classify to find information about your illustration. To do this you will need to go to the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) site by clicking on the “Original Page” icon (that's the turned down page icon second from the left in the row of icons top right on the classification page). Once there you can use the next / previous page and zoom tools to find the information you want. Occasionally you will land on the wrong page, usually the page after the one you have been given. This is usually due to some plates being numbered with Roman numerals (i, ii, iii etc) and it can throw the BHL page search out a little. Just click on the next / previous page tools to find your way around. If the page you have to classify contains information (or a key) for an image that is reproduced on another page you can use the #figurelegend tag on Talk as that will help for easier reference later.
EXAMPLES OF PAGES WHICH SHOULD BE MARKED AS HAVING "NO ILLUSTRATION"
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. (trosesandler, Researcher)
WHY DON'T YOU FILTER OUT TEXT ONLY AND BLANK PAGES?
...and just give us pages with images.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. 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, Zooniverse Team)
Meanwhile, please use the #blank hashtag in Talk.
WHAT DOES INSCRIPTION MEAN?
For the inscriptions task please just transcribe handwritten additions to the text. Then use the keywords task to add any relevant information about the image which you might find in the caption included with the image or in the page (or pages) nearby. The more information we have for each image the better researchers will be able to find images in the vast BHL online collection. The words don't have to appear on the page either--if you can interpret what you see in coming up with keywords, that's great! E.g., if there is a detailed description of flowers but that word doesn't actually appear, it would be helpful to add that and perhaps 'flora' as well. (VVH, Zooniverse Team)
HOW DO I ZOOM IN?
There are two ways to zoom:
- On the classification page use cmd + (Mac) or Ctrl + (PC)
- On the classification page click on the "original page" icon (top right, second icon from the left). This opens the original document on the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) site where there is a zoom tool.
HOW DO I CHOOSE KEYWORDS?
I suggest that you trust your own instincts. Add keywords as you find them on the page, but don't be afraid to interpret too. For example, maybe you'll come across a page about geology/rocks, that never actually uses either of those words. Feel free to add them.
Part of the adventure of this project is seeing what we, as a group, come up with when we do these tasks independently. What consensus and what variety of terms emerge? In other words, I'm confident that we'll generate good keyword lists for each page, because several people do each task, so the burden of spotting everything and interpreting everything does not fall to one person alone. (VVH Zooniverse Team)You can also use multiple word keywords without having to list each word separately as the search facility will find each word.
Regarding how BHL indexes and searches - the words "wind reels" and "wind direction" would be just fine w/o having to also list the word wind (although there is no harm done if you did 😃 it would just save you some time. (trosesandler Researcher)
Remember that each keyword should be separated by a semicolon so if you have a multiple word keyword just use spaces between the words and a semicolon to separate it from the next keyword eg wind direction;rainfall;meteorological observations
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LISTS, TABLES AND CHARTS?
Table - anything set out like a table which is self-described or has a caption or title and has column headers. May also be self-contained (boxed off.)
Examples: ASC00001z3 and
ASC0000903Sometimes the distinction between a list and a table is tricky. This “list” is set out like a table and has it's own caption so should be classified as a table.
DSC000007aChart - includes graphs
ASC00007wt and
ASC0000c4xList – Do not classify if you see a list with no column headers and which is not described as a table – ie it is just a list in the text.
Examples:
ASC00009b2 and
ASC0000cbs
HOW DO I MARK MULTIPLE ILLUSTRATIONS ON THE SAME PAGE?
Separate boxes are more useful when multiple illustrations on the same page are separated by text and are about different topics or species. For many related imaged on a page it sounds like its better to treat it as one single illustration and then add each type of species if known to their location on the page. You can either record all the species or just add the general family from which they come e.g. molluscs.
Example: ASC0000zlm
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(trosesandler, Researcher)
This illustration, on the other hand, can easily be marked with separate boxes:
WHAT DO I DO IF AN ILLUSTRATION CONTAINS MANY DIFFERENT SPECIES AND CAN'T EASILY BE CROPPED TO SEPARATE THEM OUT?
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. (trosesandler, Researcher)
Example: ASC0000hdj
WHAT IF THERE IS NO SPECIES?
Some illustrations do not contain any species. Maps, for example, won't have anything in species unless its a map of species distribution. If you have a map of, for example, rock-type locations just add some descriptors to the keywords. Generally, if the illustration does not contain a species then leave the species box blank and just add keywords.
Example: ASC0000by5 where the keywords "astronomy observatory" could be used.
IS A FLOOR PLAN A MAP OR A DRAWING?
A building plan, floor plan or plan of a garden for example (i.e. the view from above) would be considered a map whereas a drawing of a building (view from eye level) would be considered a drawing.
WHAT IF I KNOW THE SPECIES NAME IN THE TEXT HAS BEEN CHANGED - DO I USE THE NAME FROM THE ARTICLE OR PUT THE CURRENT SPECIES NAME?
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. (trosesandler, Researcher)
DO I MARK ILLUSTRATIONS THAT HAVE NO RELATION TO THE TEXT?
Decorative letters - We are not asking for these to be classified as illustrations, as they were purely decorative. Treat them the same way that you would classify a title page.
Science Gossip (the journal), after its first couple years, started to place these ornamental initials at the start of each new issue. The interesting part is that they made a number of different blocks (wood blocks that is) for each initial letter - and would reuse those blocks whenever a capital 'T' - for instance - was needed. From what I have seen, this was only a practice for Science Gossip, and not for the other journals. (geoffrey.belknap, Researcher)Examples:
DSC00000ex and
ASC00000fnIllustrations purely for decoration - Illustrations that serve no other purpose than decoration are marked "no illustrations" on page. (trosesandler, Researcher)
Example: ASC00009v5 which is an illustration of shells, crabs and seaweed on a page about astronomy.
WHAT DO I DO IF TEXT GETS IN THE WAY OF DRAWING A BOX AROUND ILLUSTRATIONS?
Text in the box is fine - even a paragraph. As long as the box is attempting to identify the image as closely as possible, then in many cases text will have to be part of it. (geoffrey.belknap, Researcher)
Example: ASC0000d09
HOW DO I CLASSIFY A PAGE WITH AN OVERLAY?
(THIS ILLUSTRATION LOOKS FADED)Please note that these are not faded illustrations - they are covered with a thin protective page.
if you find a page with an overlay there is probably another scan of the same page without the overlay. You do not need to describe these – mark as “no illustration" on the page and tag with #overlay in Talk. (trosesandler, Researcher)
Examples:
ASC0000dy6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DSC00000rw
HOW DO I CLASSIFY A FOLDED PAGE?
If a page appears to be folded, mark it as “no” page does not contain an illustration and in Talk add hashtag #folded (trosesandler, Researcher)
**HOW DO I CLASSIFY HANDWRITTEN PAGES?**We do not need handwritten items (eg letters) classified unless they are by a notable person (e.g. Isaac Newton) so tag as "no images" on page but you can add hashtags in Talk - #letter, #handwritten etc.
Examples:
ASC0000uw2 (this is a letter listing costs to a society member - and should be marked as "no illustration.")
ASC0000em4 (this note is a facsimile of Issac Newton's autograph and should be marked as an illustration.)
**HOW DO I CLASSIFY MUSIC?**Examples of musical notation should not be classified as an image. If you find them interesting you can always tag or collect them. Here are a couple of examples of musical notation:
HOW DO I CLASSIFY FAMILY TREES / PEDIGREES?
Family trees / pedigrees should not be classified as images. They may be useful to people researching ancestry, however, and can be tagged with #pedigree in Talk.
Here is an example: ASC0000ol6.
ARE THERE ANY KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS?
The interface should support the standard operating system accessibility keyboard shortcuts, which might be quicker than using a mouse:
Tab/shift tab: move forwards/backwards between form controls
cursor keys: pick a value for the selected form control (eg. the yes/no choice on the first question or the choices for type of illustration.)
enter/space: activate a button (might vary between browsers)
These should be the same on Windows and Mac OSX and also work with some versions of Linux.
Also, the No button should be automatically focussed/selected for the Talk question, so you can quickly skip on by pressing space/enter if you wish. (eatyourgreens Admin)
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