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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: bekahsgran on Monday 11 July 05 18:53 BST (UK)
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Hi
For quite a while now I have used rootschat to ask for help, and to help others with look ups and have often wondered how to give something back to the genealogy community as a whole, and finally I think I have found a way.
I have just signed up to help with the Freecen Transcription project to transcribe the UK census returns for free access on the internet.
I think its a great idea because I have never agreed with the fact that we have to pay to access information on our ancestors, which is ours to view by right!
The project to transcribe the Suffolk census is very short of volunteers, so if you can type (however slowly) and have a few hours to spare each week please, please think about volunteering. You don't need a fiche reader, just a pc (mind a fiche reader is an extra bonus!)
Anyone interested can PM with their email address and I will answer any questions and put you in touch with the area co-ordinator.
Go on, give it a go, what have you to lose and the community as a whole will benefit.
Hope to hear from you
Anne
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Great news Anne. Freecen needs all the volunteers it can get.
I recently volunteered and am nearly finished with Lochmaben Dumfriesshire. It's a great sense of achievement that you could possibly be helping loads of researchers.
Can't wait to see it online and say I did that!
I know there are loads of people here who are doing Freebmd & Freecen transcriptions. Future generations will thank you! (And complain about the mistakes ;D)
If you haven't volunteered and want to - there are loads of counties needing you.
Pam
;D
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Anne and Pam,
Does it matter where you live? Or do you just have to have a computer and the internet. I wouldn't mind helping if I can do so from here across the pond in Canada.
Karen
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For Dumfriesshire the co-ordinator lives in Canada and he sent me a cd through the post which I will return when completed.
I transcribe from .jpg files.
So the in my case it wouldn't matter where I lived.
I think most counties would be the same.
Pam
;D
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Great to see some more people volunteering to transcribe :)
More discussion on this topic can be found at:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,30535.0.html
The more people who get involved, the quicker the information will become available to all to access for free...
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I volunteered last August. I can only spend a few hours a week transcribing. I'm on to my last 4 pages out of 221 and its taken me 11 months, so it doesn't matter if you can only give a few hours here and there.
Fiona
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Would be willing to help if you could give me more details. Best wishes Lesley
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Something to consider for those of you who might want to get away from the computer for a while during the decent weather (well it should be) and put in a plug for the recording of monumental inscriptions (or MIs for short). Many of the FHSs are trying to transcribe all the graves and monuments in their county and whilst it may be quite a challenge to take on the main cemetery for a city or large town, a village or churchyard is quite manageable by itself.
If you can rope in one or two friends to help as well, so much the better, and if you have a digital camer and can record images of everything, well then you really will be popular. The way I look at it is that if every genealogist did a couple of hundred graves each, then the whole country would be covered in pretty quick time. Happy to help point people in the right direction if needed - not all FHSs advertise for MI volunteers, but they are all after them. They should be approached firstly to make sure that the graveyard you have in mind hasn't already been done and to let them know you plan to tackle the task.
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hi, not sure what help you need regarding graveyards send me details as i would be happy to do what i can i have been researching graveyards to find my ancestors look forward to hearing from you. ellen.
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Can anyone on this thread tell me if people with an Apple Mac can transcribe from freecen??
I've had a peek at a transcribing page or two, and it seems to my very limited technological understanding that the software required is for PCs only.
I'd be willing to give it a go if it is feasible for my computer and the software is not too complicated. I did enquire into freebmd but the message I got back totally bamboozled me, so I didn't take it any further.
MarieC
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Freebmd requires the download of a bit of software into which you transcribe. I don't know whether there's a Mac version of that software but I can find out for you. Freecen requires that you transcribe into a .csv file and send it to the co-ordinator on disk. I would think that might rule out a Mac. I agree that it all seems very complicated at first, especially with Freecen.
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I transcribe for FreeBMD and use a program called WinBMD. There is another program called SpeedBMD which I believe works on the MAC. If you look at the transcribers pages on FreeBMD, all the questions it answers will surely apply to other transcribing projects as well.
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I'm a technophobe! Suttontrust, if you can find out anything I will be very pleased.
MarieC
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For those interested in doing any of the projects mentioned on this thread and want more info here's some starting points.
FREECEN
The status pages for each of the counties has a co-ordinator named. Simply send an email to the co-ordinator and ask if they require volunteers.
http://freecen.rootsweb.com/project.htm
FREEBMD
Here is a page that explains how to join a transcription syndicate.
http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/Signup.html
Memorial Inscrptions
See Nick's post above. The best thing to do is contact the local Family History Society for the area of the cemetery to see if a) It's been done b) They are planning a project c) They want volunteers. We have tried to add links to all the county boards for the FHS's. Don't forget that Local History groups may also be interested so it is worth speaking to them to. The local library may also have information.
There are posts scattered around this site which talk about this subject and I'm sure anyone who has volunteered will share their experience as bekahsgran has.
All the best,
Pam
;D