I still prefer the old way as the details really go into my head that way. Plus, I've not had great results using AI to transcribe some of my older documents.
That said, I do often use Snagit's Grab text feature on old newspaper articles.
I realized how powerful transcription can be when I transcribed a letter last night. I've read the letter 6 or 8 times in the last year, but as I was proofreading the AI transcription, one sentence caught my attention. Right in front of me this whole time was a clue to where and why my 3x great grandparents ended up the specific area of Quebec that they did. They letter said they were "staying with Lena's grandparents." I have no idea who Lena is, but now I'm determined to find out!
I was invited to speak here at a recent genealogy conference, sharing about my personal experience using AI in the genealogy work about my family. While I'm not an AI subject matter expert, I shared tips within the context of being an ethical genealogist and directed attendees to AI resources.
I used 5 different AI platforms to transcribe & translate a Catholic Church Record for Tamaulipas, Mexico (Source: Ancestry) to identify the pros/cons of each, as well as how and whether helpful compared to non-AI transcription (aka me 🙂 ). I also tried using HRT Transkribus, but it was a no-go for me.
I still prefer the old way as the details really go into my head that way. Plus, I've not had great results using AI to transcribe some of my older documents.
That said, I do often use Snagit's Grab text feature on old newspaper articles.
Yes, so important. I wrote a post awhile back about this very topic. It sure helped me to find more of my ancestors.
I realized how powerful transcription can be when I transcribed a letter last night. I've read the letter 6 or 8 times in the last year, but as I was proofreading the AI transcription, one sentence caught my attention. Right in front of me this whole time was a clue to where and why my 3x great grandparents ended up the specific area of Quebec that they did. They letter said they were "staying with Lena's grandparents." I have no idea who Lena is, but now I'm determined to find out!
What a great example! Hope you find Lena.
What a wonderful piece! I didn't know this. I'm going to start tomorrow!!!
Awesome! Would love to hear how it goes.
I like that we can now edit at least some of the Full Text Search transcriptions.
It definitely needs to be done. No OCR is perfect.
Interesting.
I was invited to speak here at a recent genealogy conference, sharing about my personal experience using AI in the genealogy work about my family. While I'm not an AI subject matter expert, I shared tips within the context of being an ethical genealogist and directed attendees to AI resources.
I used 5 different AI platforms to transcribe & translate a Catholic Church Record for Tamaulipas, Mexico (Source: Ancestry) to identify the pros/cons of each, as well as how and whether helpful compared to non-AI transcription (aka me 🙂 ). I also tried using HRT Transkribus, but it was a no-go for me.
Here's the link for the post about my experience:
https://monigatx985.substack.com/p/bringing-our-tejano-history-to-life
Would love to read the comparison but I can’t find it on that post. It says “below the synopsis” but the article stops right after that.
@denyseallen Since I'm not able to message you here on Substack, I sent it to you via FB Messenger.