Contact Rachel or Vicky at admin@opendatarescue.org or on the transcription thread on Slack with @Vicky or @Rachel giving the page (with location and date) and type of data you're transcribing (cloud, wind, etc) and she will add the missing description to the drop-down list
Entering Data
What do I do when precipitation has a curly bracket or is over several days?
Put a note in the transcriber's comments that the precipitation event for Date X (say April 18-19) was an overnight event, or that the precipitation amount recorded on April 19 was for an event that took place over April 18 to April 19, as appropriate.
If the span is indicated in a Casual Phenomena page (say April 18-20 Aurora Borealis), put a note in the transcriber's comment on the first date and then enter the same information for each date indicated.
What do I do if there's a weather comment (Rain, Snow, Sleet) in the cloud type column?
If the page type doesn't support the following protocol, contact an admin immediately, leave the boxes blank for now and continue with the rest of the page. Otherwise, follow the steps below:
* Transcribe the weather remarks in the "Remarks" box for the appropriate hour (As you need to draw a box around the annotation, you may want to transcribe for all the cloud type hours that contain weather remarks for that day).
* If the remark is precipitation type, such as Rain, Snow, Showers, Sleet, Flurries, etc., write this into the "Precipitation Type" box of the "Precipitation" group. Add this to any precipitation type that may already be entered.
* Finally, enter "overcast" as the cloud type.
What do I do when I see a fraction?
At the moment, we’re asking you to type fractions as you see them written on the page, with no spaces, i.e “1/2”, rather than “1 / 2". With mixed fractions, please put a space between the whole number and the fraction, for example “1 1/2”. Please DO NOT mix fractions and decimals! (3.5/8). If you think the entry is something similar to (3.5/8), that is, (3 ½)/8, please enter it as 3/5/8, with a note in the transcriber’s comments.
Typing fractions rather than converting them as you type makes it easier for us to trace back and check ambiguous entries (was it 3 5/8 inches or 35/8 inches ?). We can convert fractions to decimals in post-processing. If this changes, we’ll get back to you with new instructions!
Should I type the observations exactly as written or make corrections?
Yes! It is important that the data be as close to the original ledgers as possible. If you think the observer made a mistake, please resist the urge to correct it. We will analyze the entries later on and identify the unlikely observations at that time. If the observers didn't include the leading "28" or "29" before recording the barometer, use the previously recorded number from the last time they included a number to the left of the decimal, but make a note in the "transcriber's comments" of the number you added before the decimal place.
UPDATE March 30 2020: An exception can be made for decimal points. If the observer appeared to write "29 303" but the observations usually appeared more like "29.303". please add in the decimal point.
One tricky observation is vapor pressure (or vapour pressure, if the sheet was printed in Canada or the UK, also called "force of vapour"). This is the portion of atmospheric pressure that water vapour contributes, and is usually very small - less than one, so observations of say "0.398" are common. However, to make reading and calculations easier, the observers often wrote down the number in thousandths, as "398". Please add in the decimal if you can be sue of where it should go
The clouds or wind directions aren't written in the same order as in the drop-down select menu. Should I choose the closest match?
You can combine several elements together in the drop-down select menus. If you don't see the clouds in the same order as was written down, you can always choose the two or more cloud types separately (e.g. click on "st" and then click on "cu"). Clouds can be complex and there may be several types present at the same time. The drop-down select options were chosen based the guidelines issued by the Smithsonian Institution, who provided the weather work sheets, but the observers sometimes followed different conventions, using three letters for cloud abbreviations instead of two, or adding intermediate wind directions (n, nw instead of the 8 cardinal points.) If you notice an observer repeated using a formulation that's not in the options, let us know and we'll add it in.
"" or 'ditto' or "do" is written in the cell - what do I do?
Ditto marks are used sometimes when the value in the cell immediately above is repeated. Observations were usually taken every 3 hours starting at 1:48 AM. On some pages, all the subsequent observation times are written as 4:"", 7:"", 10"", etc.
In the Red River or York Factory pages, ", ~ and - often appear. These seem to indicate "empty" or no observation for that date.
There is no field to add in the Sums and Means rows for the logbook I am working on. What do I do?
Please ignore the Sums and Means rows for now when you encounter them. We're working on a fix to include them, so you might have to go back later to add them in.
How do I transcribe offset observations?
It often happens that observers wrote observations across many columns, especially in the 'Clouds' fields. In the example below, '4CiCu' belongs in the 'Upper' column. 'W' which stands for West goes in the 'Direction' column. '5CuSt' goes in the 'Lower' column and '9' goes in the 'Total to Tenths' column.
How do I transcribe stacked observations?
Stacking observations one on top of the other is also relatively common. If you can (free-form entry), write the stacked observations in the same field box. Otherwise, add in the extra observations in the "transcriber's comments" box, e.g "extra cloud observation: SW at 7am"
If there is more than one entry in a cell, what do I do?
If it is a free text field like precipitation, separate the values using | (pipe located under delete). Make a comment in the transcriber's comments that there is an overnight precipitation event. Do not put it in the remarks field because it will not be picked up by the database as precipitation.
If it is a drop-down field like clouds or wind, then enter the left most or bottom or the one that has the largest handwriting (the one that is most prominent). Note the other values in a transcriber's comment.
How do I mark an empty cell?
If nothing is written in a given column, select 'Empty' from the options in the dropdown menu. If there are a lot of empty cells, or cells with " " " or " ~ " marked, you can also refresh the transcription bar and "Empty" will automatically appear in all the fields.
What if the observations are illegible and I can't read it?
You are not alone. Reading the handwriting can be hard – even the experts struggle with it. Try to do your best, but sometimes all you can do is guess.
Look for clues – if you are dealing with a numerical value, look at the other measurements on the page for hints. For instance, "1"s and "7"s can sometimes be hard to differentiate. Say you are hesitating between a temperature measurement of 13°F or 73°F, look at the other temperature measurement on the page as well as the date. If it is winter, 13°F is more plausible. Whereas, if it is a summer month, opt for 73°F. You can also look at the surrounding values; weather doesn't usually change drastically by 50 degrees F in a few hours.
Sound out the word - there was no spellcheck when the observations were recorded. Hence, some words may be misspelled or spelled phonetically.
Ask for help - turn to those around you for their suggestions on the Slack transcription channel or email to get help!
What do I do if there is a line through the data or if it is scratched out?
When entering data, there is an option in the drop-down menu for “Retracted/ Line Through.” Instead of entering any numbers/symbols, simply use that option in the drop-down.
What do I do if there is an asterisk symbol (*)?
If it's a free entry form such as a number, enter an asterisk. If there's a drop down menu and no option for an asterisk, mention it on Slack or contact climatedatarescue@gmail.com. In every case, note the asterisk in the "transcriber's comments." Sometimes the reason for the asterisk is written at the bottom of the page. For humidity measurements in winter, it was often the case that the temperatures were too cold to make a calculation, so the observer put an asterisk in place of the calculated humidity. In other cases, there are sometimes notes elsewhere on the page or on an adjoining page to clarify the observation.
What if "not measurable is written as the precipitation amount?
Enter "inapp" as the amount and note the actual writing in the transcriber's comments ("The observer wrote 'not measurable' as precipitation amount"
What does "inapp" mean?
"Inapp" or something similar is an abbreviation of "inappreciable", a word used to indicate some precipitation fell but not enough to measure. Today the word used is "trace" for "trace amount." In very cold climates such as Canada's north, a significant portion of precipitation, especially in winter, falls in slight amounts.
What do I do if the highlighted box doesn’t cover the observation?
Don’t worry! You can resize, move, or delete the highlighted box. Hover over the highlighted box. Three little white boxes will appear on the left: edit the annotation, resize the annotation, reposition the annotation. You can use them to make changes to your transcription, or the highlighted box you have created.
On the right in the highlighted box is a little red box: delete the annotation. This can be used to delete the transcription data that the highlighted box represents.
Check out Step 4: Start Transcribing in the Getting Started Tutorial for more information.
It's Not You, It's Me (Known Issues)
We are currently working on these issues so we thank you for your patience!
Rolling pop-up boxes appear when I create annotation boxes
This issue can occur when you choose the option 'Mark annotated area and don't show me again' after you save the annotation successfully. It will cause the coloured pop-up to appear in multiples (if you have completed 6 sections, you will have 6 pop-ups, etc.).
A work around for the moment is refreshing the page between transcribing tabs, or by closing and re-opening the transcriber panel after each row of data.
The boxes don't appear in the right order in the transcription bar
We're not sure why this is happening but we're trying to fix it. Please be patient!
My data disappeared!
When we re-order the boxes in the transcription bar (see the question above) we have to re-create the tab. The new tab with the boxes (hopefully) in the right order takes the place of the old tab, so the data that was entered in the old tab doesn't appear in the transcription tool or the data table. Not to worry, though, everything saved in the database remains in the database, so we can retrieve all your previous entries. As above, please be patient!