Results | Field Journal Fix-Up | Zooniverse

Update: May 2026

After almost a year since its launch, Field Journal Fix-Up is wrapping up!

Reflecting back on when we first started, I cannot overstate how impressed I am by our volunteer response. I remember launching the project in Summer 2025 and being excited when we reached 50 volunteers – I could not have predicted that we would have over 2,600 volunteers by Spring 2026! I almost wish we could keep going, but the project has reached what feels like a natural stopping point, and the team is taking this opportunity to pause and think about next steps.

However, we are not pausing the continued efforts to make our field journals and transcripts available to the public! Completed transcripts for most of the field journals are now available on Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL), with more being added every week. Completed journals and transcripts are fully text-searchable and allow for identification of data like species names, localities, and weather conditions, opening possibilities for further research.

In the coming months I will explore ways to use our transcription data for new research projects and will post updates on our Project Updates Talk page. For now, I will end this message with a huge THANK YOU and CONGRATULATIONS to all our volunteers! Much of the early hype for this project focused on AI transcription, but our Zooniverse volunteers quickly stole the show. Whether you helped correct a few words or a few hundred pages, your contributions, feedback, and enthusiasm truly kept this project alive through all its challenges.

Best,

Briana Giasullo and the Field Journal Fix-Up team

Contact: Briana Giasullo, bg557@drexel.edu

Update: December 2025

We are reflecting on almost six months of working on Field Journal Fix-Up! Here are some quick statistics:

85 field journals were previously identified for this project (though more remain in our collection to be identified)
47 field journals have successfully been digitized, uploaded to Zooniverse, and transcribed by volunteers
26 field journals were successfully transcribed and added to Biodiversity Heritage Library, where they are freely accessible and text-searchable!

See below for the current list of all journals available with their transcripts on Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). Click on a title to go to the journal's title page where you can view individual volumes on the right-hand side. Keep in mind that the final transcripts on BHL probably contain errors. If you catch a mistake in the text and think you can help provide a more accurate transcription, you can complete BHL's feedback form and a staff member will address the issue.

Completed field journals:

💖 Thank you as always for your incredible dedication to increasing access to our field journals! 💖

Update: September 2025

Our volunteers are making amazing progress on the field journals! More transcriptions have been added to Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) and can be viewed at the links below. BHL's feedback page allows viewers to alert staff to transcript errors, so we can continue to improve our transcripts over time. Our project is ongoing with no planned end-date, so we will do our best to continue adding field journals as time allows. Thank you to everyone for helping!

Best,
Briana

Update: July 2025

Thank you to everyone who worked on our William Bartram Diary, volume 3!

Thanks to your efforts, the transcription is available on Biodiversity Heritage Library (click here to view). Click on 'Show Text' in the right-hand corner to see the transcriptions provided by AI and our wonderful Zooniverse volunteers!

We will continue adding more journals over the next few weeks and figuring out ways to improve our data aggregation process. Check back for updates!

Best,
Briana Giasullo and the research team