Abstract

Climatological data exists in historical documents, such as observatory registers, newspapers, ships’ logs and private diaries. Using present-day technologies, such as open source repositories and code mashups, and high-resolution digital scanning, software applications can be custom-designed to facilitate transcription of data that otherwise exists solely in paper format. We present a citizen science application for transcribing Canadian weather registers from the late 19th Century. The application is designed to engage citizen scientists with the historical record, respond to archival requirements, and fulfill the needs of the modern climate research community. User centered design allows for an iterative process in which end users – transcribers – are part of the entire cycle of system development. Incorporating users early in the process promises more motivated users and more accurate transcriptions of complex, historical scientific data.

摘要

气候资料存在于历史文献中，例如天文台，报纸，船舶日志和私人日记。使用开源存储库和代码混搭等当今技术以及高分辨率数字扫描，可以对软件应用程序进行自定义设计，以促进原本仅以纸质格式存在的数据的转录。我们提供了一种市民科学应用程序，用于转录19世纪后期的加拿大天气记录仪。该应用程序旨在让公民科学家拥有历史记录，响应档案要求，并满足现代气候研究界的需求。以用户为中心的设计允许一个迭代过程，最终用户（转录者）是系统开发整个周期的一部分。