DLCL122-2016 - Laney's Blog Post Annotations and Transcriptions
Blog Post Annotations and Transcriptions
For annotating and transcribing, I selected science and medicine manuscripts because the content peaked my interest. Once I identified them for inclusion in the Mirador instance for class, I panicked, worried that selecting manuscripts for this task based upon the content might have been a bad idea. Turns out the reason for my worries was because I didn’t think I would be able to make useful annotations or be able to transcribe the text because of my inexperience.
Annotating
I selected a Medical treatise from the 13th century because the text has three different scripts. I started annotating with tags indicating the script. The manuscript is a bi-folio with two columns per page so I wasn’t sure how to indicate which column the selected text was in. Then I was trying to figure out if it was worth indicating which column and/or side of the bi-folio for tagging. I did not create any annotations because I’m still not sure exactly what I am looking at in the text. I believe once I start transcribing the text, I may have some information to add as annotation.
Transcribing
I started looking at transcribing what I have indicated as script2 in the 13th century Medical treatise. I selected this text because the font is bigger and easier to read. However, my first attempt at transcribing was not successful. I am finding that I still am looking at the text as I would an English language text. It is going to take much more practice and help from others in the class to be able to complete the transcription. Transcription is an art form and I have to remind myself that, like any new skill, it takes time to learn. I was discouraged and my worries about not having Latin language skills surfaced along with my imposter syndrome. But I will continue to work on improving my skills because I know I can.