As we rely more & more on the internet, we also depend on a vast army of volunteers who help to transcribe automated transcriptions on sites such as the National Library of Australia’s Trove for Newspapers or the State Library of New South Wales’ Amplify for oral history recordings. The Australian Museum also has Digivol where volunteers help to transcribe their collection or internationally there’s the Gutenberg Project or LibriVox. By editing the transcriptions the aim is to corrects any errors in the automated versions, especially where the original was hard to read or hear, and make them easier for us all to find through search engines. It’s up to you how much you transcribe, although it does help if you at least edit the transcriptions or details that are important to you so they can be found again. Here’s an example to give you the idea. The topic is Minnamurra Falls, NSW.
Editing Trove Newspapers: Minnamurra Falls
Illawarra Mercury, Thursday 3 October 1895, page 3
See the difference between the original & the digital text? After signing up to Trove & logging in, you can simply click on the green MATCH EDIT button & edit one line at a time, correcting the text by comparing it with the original, doing as little or as much as you like. It’s a miracle that this ever came up in my search as the title text was JIINNAMORRA FALLS not Minnamurra Falls & this does not seem to appear anywhere else in the text. Trove has a guide to text correction for newspapers or gazettes. If your interested, another article in the Kiama Independent also dated 3 October 1895 says the Falls were not ‘newly discovered’ but instead were well known to local residents.
Editing & Labelling Newspaper Illustrations
For a fast & easy edit onn Trove, search the newspapers on your topic-Kiama & find those that include illustrations & simply correct the headings & labels as I did in this one with views of Kiama in 1882. There may be some of Minnamurra Falls but I did not find any.
Views in and around Kiama 1882
Australian Town and Country Journal, Saturday 25 November 1882, page 24
Here’s the original text before & after I edited it.
fllWlttll^ AND AROUND . KIAMA.;;’>-BYr^
lí'”tí¿thedrál Rock’s, ?] fí. Blow Hole* S. Minnamurra Bridgé; 4. Stroet Viowin Kiama, e. Bacon Curing.1 Ö/Carsor,’s QuarryÍ;
VIEWS IN AND AROUND KIAMA. BY THE RAVEN
1. Cathedral Rocks 2. Blow Hole 3. Minnamurra Bridge 4. Street View in Kiama 5. Bacon Curing 6. Carson’s Quarry
Hopefully, you already use Trove or the other sites for your research, but it helps if we all do a little. If you find a clear picture of Minnamurra Falls in Trove, please leave a comment so we can share it.
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