One of the many responsibilities of the present is to preserve the past. We have been charged with the important task of taking historical records and keeping them accessible and legible, as they contain vital information. As technology progresses, the need for new solutions becomes evident to maintain the accessibility of older historical archives. Transcription has emerged as being one of the best solutions for a multitude of reasons, least of all because we have the opportunity to not only re-record information, but to improve upon the way it is formatted and stored.
Imperfect Recordkeeping
One of the main issues which we often encounter with recordkeeping is that it is not always perfect. Historical archives can often be scattered and disorganised in part due to lax recordkeeping in the past. It isn’t always coherent and properly filed because it wasn’t as much of a priority generations ago, merely an ideal for preservation purposes.
However, this does mean that besides having an opportunity to improve upon the accessibility of historical archives, we can also use transcription as a tool for making a coherent, clear archive - one which is made by collating different reports and ideas together until the finished product is easier to interpret.
Improving Accuracy and Giving New Life to Old Records
Ultimately, when it comes to things like historical records, there’s a number of reasons why we can use transcription as a tool for improving accuracy and supporting historical archives everywhere. Let’s surmise the main benefits:
- Improving the accuracy of historical archives and records helps to make new discoveries about life and culture within that time period. When all the records are displayed in one place and kept safe, it is easier to examine them and provide a comprehensive view of what took place in a given period.
- Formatting becomes easier for transcription. Not all records and archives are kept in good condition or laid out in an accessible manner - making better-formatted records can help to solve this issue.
- Transcription ensures that these records are kept for years to come. Some archives are at great risk of being lost over time and it is hard to maintain a proper record of events. By transcribing the archived materials, the records are updated and kept in good condition for years to come.
Transcribing to Help History
Ultimately, transcription is here to help improve historical accuracy and build up proper records. It isn’t always easy to keep proper historical records over time, especially when they are scattered and disorganised. Transcription affords people the opportunity to take all of their records, put them together in one place, and create fresh, easy-to-read documents which capture the details of the original materials. This type of preservation and cataloguing will undoubtedly play a role in future efforts, and London Transcription is happy to help with this. We would be thrilled to be able to help play a role in preserving knowledge for the future.