Last year, the Iowa State University Library completed a six-year project to digitize the entire run of the campus yearbook, the Bomb. This consisted of more than 45,000 pages and a century of memories. From academic clubs to intramural sports, student body presidents, art on campus, and places of residence, the Bomb documents the bulk of Iowa State's history.
Each origin
al
Bomb
was designed with creative fonts and unusual layouts
that
weren't dec
iphered well in the computerized transcription process. This makes it difficult to search the digital versions.
"The fact that the run of the Bomb is digitized has generated lots of interest," said Kim Anderson, digital initiatives archivist. "But since they aren't very searchable, online visitors have had difficulty using them. Additionally, they don't work well with adaptive technologies, those that maintain access for library users with disabilities."
This is where the public comes in! Assistance is sought from all members of the Iowa State community to
Transcribe the Bomb
, an
inaugural effort of the
Iowa State University Library
Unsolved Histories program. Help people find themselves, their families and friends, moments in time, and documentation of world events by participating in the Transcribe the Bomb project.
Managed by the
Digital Initiatives
unit,
Unsolved Histories
relies on the help of volunteers to reveal and "detect" hidden people and places in unique ISU Library collections through transcription, tagging, and naming.
A
tutorial
is available to explain the straightforward transcription process.
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This page from the 1937
Bomb encapsulates the reason for the Transcribe the Bomb project with the unique layout and captions.
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