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Author Topic:   Smithsonian transcribing Apollo Stowage Lists
Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-12-2015 06:35 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
collectSPACE
Smithsonian seeking space fans to retype Apollo spacecraft packing lists

Are you a fan of the Apollo moon landings? Are you curious about all of the different types of items that the astronauts carried onboard their spacecraft? Can you type?

If so, then the Smithsonian might have the perfect pastime project for you.

The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. has launched its first collaboration with the Smithsonian's Transcription Center to digitize the long lists of equipment that flew along with the Apollo astronauts from the Earth to the moon and back.

"Today, we are publicly launching an exciting initiative to transcribe the Apollo stowage lists of all government- and contractor-provided equipment stowed on the Command and Lunar Modules during the six Apollo missions to [land] the moon," wrote Allan Needell, a curator with the Air and Space Museum's space history department. "With the help of volunteers, these transcriptions will eventually lead to a reliable and searchable database."

SpaceAholic
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Posts: 4437
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-12-2015 07:52 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAholic   Click Here to Email SpaceAholic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Not tracking why this must be done manually. There are many good OCR applications that should be able to automate transcription.

pupnik
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From: Maryland
Registered: Jan 2014

posted 11-12-2015 08:03 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for pupnik     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Probably because that while there may be many good OCR programs out there, there are none that are perfect. These transcriptions will effectively become the prime source for research and misinterpreted readings will propagate through the years. This is doubly true when a vast amount of the transcription doesn't include words and abbreviations found in most dictionaries.

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
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posted 11-12-2015 08:03 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From what I understand, the Smithsonian, working together with the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, tried using OCR software with the cleanest of the available stowage list copies (for Apollo 11) and though it worked, it required much more time than the manual entry completed as a test for this project with Apollo 12. The key issue is the quality of the available copies.

SpaceAholic
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From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-12-2015 08:07 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAholic   Click Here to Email SpaceAholic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Either way a Q/A process is required... human entry is also error prone.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 11-12-2015 08:21 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
That is part of the transcription center's tools:
Once a volunteer decides they've finished and they're ready for review, a different volunteer (who must have an account on the site) can review the transcription and either send it back for edits, or complete the transcription.

spaced out
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From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 11-13-2015 03:27 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaced out   Click Here to Email spaced out     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This is a great initiative as crowd sourcing is ideal for this kind of task.

I've looked through those lists hundreds of times and where the PDF versions are searchable the OCR-generated results are very unreliable.

Humans also make mistakes but with with careful review and cross-checking the results should be 99.99% reliable, and having the end result in database form will be a great step forward.

cosmos-walter
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From: Salzburg, Austria
Registered: Jun 2003

posted 11-13-2015 03:34 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for cosmos-walter   Click Here to Email cosmos-walter     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Will the astronauts' PPKs also be covered?

SpaceAholic
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From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-13-2015 06:14 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAholic   Click Here to Email SpaceAholic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by spaced out:
This is a great initiative as crowd sourcing is ideal for this kind of task.

reCAPTCHA does exactly this already. Most people don't realize that when logging into many sites with CAPTCHA protection they are digitizing documents.

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-13-2015 06:59 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by cosmos-walter:
Will the astronauts' PPKs also be covered?
The PPK manifests are still in the astronauts' (or their estates') control. They are not in the public domain, nor does the Smithsonian's or NASA's history archives have copies to reference.

needella
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From: Washington, D.C.
Registered: Nov 2015

posted 11-13-2015 07:42 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for needella   Click Here to Email needella     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
We appreciate all your comments.

A few points, OCR accuracy is important but only one consideration that led to trying the Transcription Center. To capture the data and construct a useful database we don't only need to accurately transcribe the words and alphanumerics, we have to assign each entry to a specific item (row) and field (column). I couldn't find an accessible program that could do that automatically. Most require you to manually draw table boundaries on the images before running OCR.

When we use the volunteers at the Transcription Center, not only are we using their eyes and brains to recognize and transcribe characters, words and abbreviations (the OCR), but to assign each string to its proper field.

We find this far far more efficient use of the available expert time and effort.

As for the PPKs, they are in the database, but only as entire units. Individual items are not listed.

------------------
Allan Needell
Space History, National Air and Space Museum

needella
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From: Washington, D.C.
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posted 11-13-2015 07:46 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for needella   Click Here to Email needella     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The plan, as of now, is to activate one mission at a time (and then a project to record the tables with last minute revisions).

Once complete, we'll have to do a thorough review before final approval.

We could then move on the the non-lunar landing missions.

Lou Chinal
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From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007

posted 11-15-2015 08:55 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Lou Chinal   Click Here to Email Lou Chinal     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I will volunteer.

cfreeze79
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Posts: 455
From: Herndon, VA, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 11-15-2015 11:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for cfreeze79   Click Here to Email cfreeze79     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Any chance of a "mission patch" being designed/produced for the effort?

I'd love to snag a couple, and I sure there is a eager designer or two on the board here (hint-hint).

spaced out
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From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 11-16-2015 03:39 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaced out   Click Here to Email spaced out     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
One thing that needs to be changed (I sent an email but it might not have got through) - the font used for the transcribed data needs to show a visible difference between an uppercase "O" and a zero.

Right now it's impossible to tell the two apart in the transcribed data which makes reviewing pages with "Oxxxx" references almost impossible.

LM-12
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From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010

posted 11-16-2015 09:49 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Some part numbers are common to more than one mission. Cameras, for instance. Will the new list include serial numbers?

cfreeze79
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Posts: 455
From: Herndon, VA, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 11-17-2015 02:41 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for cfreeze79   Click Here to Email cfreeze79     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by cfreeze79:
Any chance of a "mission patch" being designed/produced for the effort?

Wow - no takers... Surprised by that!

AstronautBrian
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Posts: 287
From: Louisiana
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 11-17-2015 10:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for AstronautBrian   Click Here to Email AstronautBrian     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks for sharing this information.

I had no idea something like this existed online. Not just for the Apollo lists, but for other things as well. It could become an interesting side hobby.

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