There are a number of things I really liked about the Freedom on the Move database. I appreciate that it encourages a type of interactivity that is beneficial to both the curators of the database and to the users, who in the act of transcribing these ads, have the opportunity to become assistant curators themselves. At least in my own experience, sifting through databases can become tedious to the point that my eyes start to glance over the information I need. By asking users to play an active role in the archival process, users remain alert and aware of the content of each runaway ad they process. I also think this database is a great tool for having students \u201cdip their toes\u201d into the realm of text markup, which can be pretty intimidating and technical without a pretty UI to guide you through each step, as was the case here.<\/p>\n
There are a few suggestions I’d make for future development, though:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Building off of what Avery<\/a> had to say about the utility of using drop-down menus to categorize content and make searching more efficient, I think that the whole transcription process could do well with a generous sprinkling of drop-down menus. Many variations in data entry (e.g. \u201cone\u201d vs. \u201c1\u201d) that complicate the archival process could be eliminated by replacing text entry boxes with drop-downs. Obviously some categories, like physical descriptions, do mandate text entry, though.<\/li>\n
- It would be helpful to know how closely the creators\/developers want users to stick to the original wording of the ads. For example, in the box asking for information about physical features, if the ad describes the runaway as \u201cthin as a beanpole\u201d, should I copy that over directly, or generalize it to \u201cskinny\u201d?<\/li>\n
- Support for multiple runaways per ad!!! This seems like a pretty substantial oversight. One of the ads I transcribed featured three wanted runaways, with plenty of details about each, but I could only input information about one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Overall, I think that this database is a success with regard to both its goals and its execution. I am somewhat concerned, though, with the implications of reducing any<\/em> <\/em>historical document, let alone one which deals with the description of individuals who were already treated more as objects than humans in their own lifetimes, to a series of categories. Returning to Avery’s post, she makes a great point about what it means to continue the surveillance already conducted on these individuals by preserving their bounties. Though I think that the importance of preserving this aspect of American history probably outweighs this concern, the general question of how we change our perception of history by manipulating\/transcribing\/archiving sources is an extremely significant one.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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