Presentation I gave to the Working History conference organised by the Professional Historians Association of Victoria and Professional Historians Australia, 19-20 August 2016.

1. The Life of a
Fragment of History
Working History: Professional Historians Association conference, 2016
Yvonne Perkins Twitter: @perkinsy Blog: www.stumblingpast.com

2. Indexingonthefly–searchingfortheword‘Arabic’
CSV file produced by program in Python written with the aid of
http://programminghistorian.org/ 2
Yvonne Perkins Twitter: @perkinsy Blog: www.stumblingpast.com

3. Stumbling Through the Future
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www.stumblingfuture.wordpress.com
By JMortonPhoto.com
& OtoGodfrey.com, CC
BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wiki
media.org/w/index.ph
p?curid=44599375

4. 4
Data
Capture
Processing
FilingStorage
Retrieval
Yvonne Perkins Twitter: @perkinsy Blog: www.stumblingpast.com

5. API
• Application Programming Interface
• A really powerful and quick way of downloading lots of files
• Learn how to use the Trove API the easier way – step by step
instructions at:
https://stumblingfuture.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/an
-introduction-to-the-trove-api/
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Yvonne Perkins Twitter: @perkinsy Blog: www.stumblingpast.com

6. DIY Digitisation Studio
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My not cheap small camera
BORROWED tripod
FREE desk dumped
in laneway
FREE cardboard box
$30 lamp
$7 glass cut to
specs by glazier CHEAP cotton
gloves from
supermarket
Instructions: http://www.instructables.com/id/Bargain-Price-Book-Scanner-From-A-
Cardboard-Box/

7. 7
Data
Capture
Processing
FilingStorage
Retrieval
Yvonne Perkins Twitter: @perkinsy Blog: www.stumblingpast.com

8. OCR
• Optical Character Recognition
• Adobe Acrobat Pro
• Omnipage by Nuance
OCR enables a CTL + F search on digitised documents
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Yvonne Perkins Twitter: @perkinsy Blog: www.stumblingpast.com

9. http://transcripts.sl.nsw.gov.au/page/295919/view#overlay-context= 9
Yvonne Perkins Twitter: @perkinsy Blog: www.stumblingpast.com
<date when=“1918-09-10”>Tuesday</date>
...
Had MESS with a <hi rend=‘bold’>mixed</hi> INDIAN CAVALRY Camp –
Representation from 10 Indian Cavalry Regts were there some very
R<hi rend=‘bold’>ich</bold> education Rajah chaps – real silver on the
Table etc :- Many courses <del rend="overstrike">not much grog</del>
- Some castes are allowed to smok + <hi rend="underline">not</hi>
drink, others drink
…
TEITranscription
Learn TEI yourself:
http://teibyexample.org/

10. 10
Data
Capture
Processing
FilingStorage
Retrieval
Yvonne Perkins Twitter: @perkinsy Blog: www.stumblingpast.com

11. Melodee Beals
• ‘TEI for Close Reading: Can It Work for History?’:
http://mhbeals.com/researchblog/tei-for-close-reading-can-it-
work-for-history/
• ‘XMLing My Way to Data Management; or, What should I do
with my old notes’: http://mhbeals.com/xmling-my-way-to-
data-management-or-what-should-i-do-with-all-my-old-notes/
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Yvonne Perkins Twitter: @perkinsy Blog: www.stumblingpast.com

12. Our Code of Ethics
• 3.6 “Members should acknowledge help from informants.
They should respect an informant’s request for privacy, except
where compulsion of law requires disclosure. “
• 4.10 “Members must not use confidential information to the
advantage or disadvantage of the client, nor disclose such
information except where required by law. “
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13. 13
Data
Capture
Processing
FilingStorage
Retrieval
Yvonne Perkins Twitter: @perkinsy Blog: www.stumblingpast.com

14. 14
Data
Capture
Processing
FilingStorage
Retrieval
Yvonne Perkins Twitter: @perkinsy Blog: www.stumblingpast.com

15. Thank you Libraries & Archives!
In this presentation I used the digitised resources provided by
the following institutions:
• State Library of New South Wales @statelibrarynsw – WWI
diaries transcriptions
• National Archives of Australia @naagovau – WWI service
records
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Yvonne Perkins Twitter: @perkinsy Blog: www.stumblingpast.com