Intro to Applied Food Studies visit to Archives

Digital Menus Collection

There are three parts to a digital menu –

1) the scans of each page;
2) the transcriptions of each scan; and
3) the metadata (i.e. information ABOUT the menu) to provide access to the menu.

Today you will be TRANSCRIBING.

Not only will you be providing one portion of the digital menu, but you will also practice the experience of READING a primary source.

• The process of transcribing is akin to doing a close reading of a primary source.
• Think about what you notice, what you can tell about the restaurant, the time period, the location, etc. from the menu itself. 
• What did you learn from reading it closely that you wouldn’t have noticed just by glancing at it?
• I strongly encourage you not to research it today. Instead, learn from the menu itself.
  DO NOT GOOGLE!

What is transcribing?

Transcribing is recording exactly what is written (no translating or interpreting…) for the purpose of keyword searching the text of the menu in a digital collection.

How To Create a Transcription for the menu you chose:

1) OPEN any word processing application

2) TRANSCRIBE

• Enter every word, in relatively the same order
• Formatting does not need to be exact, however a sense of similar order should be maintained
• Try to use breaks to match the menu
• KEEP EVERYTHING ALIGNED TO THE LEFT - DO NOT USE THE TAB KEY; DO NOT CREATE COLUMNS
• No accent marks; no special characters  [any symbol on your keyboard is ok to use]
• Use punctuation marks, capital letters, etc. as is on the menu
• Keep prices (no need to keep the ellipses, though…)
• Retain original spelling. (Spell exactly as written on the menu, even if it is wrong, even if the word is now commonly spelled differently.) You can add the correct spelling in brackets after the misspelled word
• Also transcribe any handwritten notes (some will be illegible….do the best you can)

3) SAVE

• Save the file as the menu number which is on the back of the menu.
• Save to DESKTOP
• **When finished, email files to Nicole Semenchuk
  Search my name in Outlook or 
   n_semenc@culinary.edu or nicole.semenchuk@culinary.edu
• If you share the document from OneDrive or Google, make sure that I will have permission to open and download the file