Teaching with TypeWright
Tonya Howe
Marymount University
136
What is TypeWright?
by Tonya Howe and Danielle Spratt
TypeWright is a tool created in part by the people who put together 18thConnect.org, which provides a place for scholars and students to gather around and work with the materials in Eighteenth-Century Collections Online, regardless of whether your institution has a subscription. Students and scholars can use TypeWright to correct the faulty OCR behind the ECCO content scans, so that the material can be mined more effectively. Once a text has been corrected, the editors can receive their own copy of the fulltext in basic XML markup, to do with what they please; it goes into the public domain after this editing work has been done.
18thConnect.org describes its significance, pointing out that text versions of PDF or image-based scans of eighteenth-century materials are essential for scholars; "they are what enables full-text searching, datamining, preserving, and curating texts of historical importance. Right now, the text running behind the page images of these texts has been mechanically typed, leaving behind errors that need to be corrected by human eyes and hands." Once you have set up your account, you can access TypeWright from 18thConnect.org. If you log in to 18thConnect.org and have joined our group, go to the MY 18TH tab to access your items, groups, and more. |
Teaching with TypeWright
TypeWright is an easy tool for students to learn, and it is useful in assignments that foreground, among others, topics like service learning, public knowledge, digital humanities, and material culture. Some outcomes for working with TypeWright include:
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Common Pitfalls
Whatever your assignment looks like, students will likely encounter certain pitfalls. Learning what they are will be helpful as you develop your assignments and plan your workshops. Logistics:
Other pitfalls to be aware of:
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Some texts to work with
Poems on Several Occasions, by Lady Mary Chudleigh: http://www.18thconnect.org/typewright/documents/0?uri=lib://ECCO/1469600500
The Busie Body, by Susanna Centlivre: http://www.18thconnect.org/typewright/documents/0?uri=lib://ECCO/1683501000 A Dictionary of the English Language, by Samuel Johnson: http://www.18thconnect.org/typewright/documents/0?uri=lib://ECCO/0289500101 Henrietta, by Charlotte Lennox (2nd ed, corrected): http://www.18thconnect.org/typewright/documents/0?uri=lib://ECCO/0437400801 Epistle to Arbuthnot, by Alexander Pope: http://www.18thconnect.org/typewright/documents/0?uri=lib://ECCO/0509800600 History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell, by [Daniel Defoe] William Bond: http://www.18thconnect.org/typewright/documents/0?uri=lib://ECCO/0180400100 |
Useful Links
Editing TypeWright video tutorial
TypeWright FAQ Exhibit on working with TypeWright Using TypeWright group Have other links? Note them in the open discussion thread! |