Windrush Generations

What is involved in ‘transcribing’ the passenger lists?
Transcribing simply means making a written copy of something and, in this case, we need people to copy the information from the passenger lists into the forms provided on the project site. The copied information becomes part of a database which will then allow researchers to search, sort, filter, and question the data.

Is it difficult to transcribe information from the passenger lists?
The majority of the passenger lists were filled out using a typewriter, so the characters, digits, and words are easier to decipher than handwritten records. That said, the quality of the typed characters varies considerably, so some lists are easier to read than others. Some of the lists are handwritten and those are considerably more difficult to transcribe, but users can skip those pages if they are not able to read them.

I’ve not done anything like this before, will I still be able to help?
Yes, definitely! Each passenger list contains a variety of different types of information. Some of the information is numerical, which is far more straightforward to transcribe than text. With some of the information, such as the gender or marital status of the individual, there are only a few possible options so, again, this makes it relatively straightforward to work out what is written. Because the information is so varied, there is something to suit everyone, from beginners to more experienced transcribers.

Will you help me to get started and learn what to do?
Yes, of course! Volunteer transcribers are essential to the project, and we want you to enjoy the experience and get a sense of satisfaction from it, rather than being frustrated or confused. For each task, there is a specific tutorial that will help guide you, and we have video tutorials for the most common tasks. If you get stuck, you can also contact the project team using the ‘talk’ function on the project site and we will do all we can to help.

How much time do I need to commit to the project?
As much or as little as you like! If you choose to transcribe some of the more straightforward information on the passenger lists, a transcribing session could take less than 30 minutes. Choose to tackle some of the more challenging information, and the session might take a couple of hours. The choice is yours. Some passenger lists only have a few lines on a page, while others have 50 or 60 lines so, again, if you are limited for time you can skip through images until you find a list that you can transcribe in the time you have available to you.

What if I make a mistake when transcribing, will that ruin the whole project?
Don’t panic! It’s all good. Each piece of information will be transcribed by multiple transcribers, so once all the data has been collected, the project team can go through it and identify any mistakes. All we ask is that people do their best to try and be as accurate as they can, but there is no need to worry about making a mistake; we’ve got it covered!

Do I need to have a lot of expensive or specialised equipment?
Not at all! For ease of use, we would recommend using a laptop or desktop computer with a proper keyboard, rather than using a touchscreen device such as a smartphone or tablet. You can access the site using a smartphone or tablet, but you will find it quite challenging to navigate the site and complete the tasks on those devices. You will need to have an internet connection, and the site can be accessed on most commonly used internet browsers. The larger your screen, the easier you will find it to read and transcribe the documents, but you can enlarge the text by zooming-in on the images, so a large screen is not essential. If you don’t have a laptop or desktop computer of your own, you should be able to access the site for free using equipment at your local library, so you can still take part!

Why are the workflows designed around transcribing all the same information from one column at a time, rather than transcribing each entire entry for one passenger each time? It would be more interesting to transcribe whole entries rather than columns.
There are several reasons why we are asking volunteers to transcribe whole columns of the same information for multiple passengers at one time, rather than all the information for one passenger at one time.

We want to ensure that the widest possible range of people can get involved in the project. Some people will have lots of time to spare while others will have less time. Some people will have experience or expertise in transcribing historical documents while others will be complete beginners.

For each passenger, their complete entry consists of many different pieces of information, some of which is straightforward to read and record, and some of which is much more difficult to decipher. Some pieces of information in an entry are relatively standardised, so they can be recorded quite quickly and easily using a drop-down menu of options. Other information takes much longer to work out and greater time to record.

By designing the transcription process in columns rather than whole entries, it allows us to set a skill level based upon that column. This means beginners can easily get involved by starting on the straightforward tasks (and then progressing if they wish) while more experienced transcribers can go straight in to more challenging material. Transcribing in columns also means we can provide some estimate of roughly how long an average page of transcription for that column will take. This means that people can tailor their transcription sessions to the amount of time they have available to them.

We also have a responsibility to ensure that the transcriptions produced are as accurate as they can be. One way we can help ensure that is to make sure that people are working on material they feel confident with, rather than a mixture of different or unfamiliar material. Working in columns means that people can quite quickly become more expert in that specific type of information and they can get used to the way it is recorded (and any differences or variables) because they are working solely with that material. This should lead to more accurate transcriptions that will require far less correction and, in turn, allow the project to progress smoothly.

We understand that, to some volunteers, it might seem monotonous to be transcribing only the information from one column. However, for other volunteers the consistency of the task will mean they can engage with it more fully even if they are limited in time or have to take frequent breaks from transcribing in order to fit it around their busy lives. Transcribing by column rather than by entry means that there should be something of interest to everyone in this project, from beginners with limited time, through to experienced transcribers with more time to spare, and everyone else in between.

Why are you only looking at ships that sailed from Jamaica to Britain? What about the rest of the West Indies?
There were literally thousands of sailings between the West Indies and Britain during the period 1946-1960, and it is simply not feasible to tackle that volume of material in one project. We had to make a start somewhere, and as this project is an extension of our Windrush: Arrival 1948 project, we decided to initially focus on Jamaica because that is where the Windrush sailed to Britain from. Just focussing on Jamaica alone, we are looking at around 1,500 sailings, which we estimate could account for more than 150,000 individuals. Focussing on just one island will also produce a more coherent dataset that will be of greater value to researchers than one with a selection of sailings from different islands. Ultimately, we hope that this will be the first phase of a longer project that will extend to other islands.

Why are you only transcribing the passenger lists one year at a time? Why not put up all the material in one go?
Transcribing around 1,500 passenger lists, some of which contain more than 1000 individuals, is a very substantial task and, as with any large task, it is best achieved if broken down into manageable pieces. We believe that tackling one year at a time is the best way to maintain the interest and engagement of transcribers rather than overwhelming people with everything.

Transcribing one year at a time also allows the project team to keep track of the work and make sure that everything has been completed before moving on to the next year. Completing a year at a time also means that the project team can start processing some material, and provide interim findings, during the lifetime of the project which, again, will be motivational for everyone involved.

On a practical level, working with one year of material at a time also helps the transcription process, because the passengers lists for each year tend to be uniform and comparable, as opposed to transcribers having to chop and change between different types of passenger lists with different formats and fields.

Is every single passenger recorded in the passenger lists of interest to you? Are they all part of the 'Windrush Generation'
The ships we are looking at carried a wide and varied range of passengers from the Caribbean to Britain. Some of those passengers will have been people from Britain who were returning from a trip or holiday to the Caribbean. Some of them will be people from the Caribbean coming to Britain for a holiday or a short stay for a particular reason, rather than people looking to settle in Britain for a longer period of time. In amongst all those people, there are many individuals who did travel to Britain with the intention of living and working there for a significant period of time.

Windrush Generations is a People's History project and so we are, essentially, interested in everyone who travelled as there will be stories and experiences behind every journey. We cannot know, until we have transcribed and analysed all the data, exactly who came, what they came for, how long they intended to stay (or ended up staying), or any of the other circumstances behind their journey. As with any citizen-science project, there is a vast amount of data to collect and, within that overall collection of data, we believe there is valuable information about the Windrush Generation that we will be able to extract, sort, analyse, and share.

If the passenger lists are typed, why don’t you just scan them and use Optical Character Recognition software to extract the information?
There are several reasons why, for this project, human transcribers are preferable to computers.

First, the quality and legibility of the typed character varies considerably and, due to the nature of typewriters, the characters sometimes overlap and/or the lines of text don’t line up properly. It is reasonably straightforward for a human transcriber to unpick those issues, whereas a computer would struggle with it and the volume of editing and correcting required would be unfeasible.

Second, the information on the passenger lists is not always consistent and/or has not always been entered in the correct places. Again, a human transcriber can spot this very quickly and ensure that the correct information is transcribed into the correct field on the project site.

Finally, many hands make light work, and we know that, following the Windrush scandal, there are a great many people who want to help and assist with collecting this data. Crowd-sourcing transcription facilitates communities to engage with, and take some ownership, of their own history. This is a key element of people’s history; empowering people through knowledge and understanding of their history and heritage.