Crowdsourcing Platform Enables Public to Help The Library of Congress Enhance Its Historic Collections

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Artemis Consulting, Inc. is thrilled to learn that the Crowdsourcing platform website they helped create was launched by the Library of Congress on October 24, 2018.  The Citizen Historian Center, a project of the Library of Congress National Digital Initiatives, allows anyone with computer access the ability to experience history while contributing to make the Library's content easier to categorize, search and read.

Since many handwritten documents, such as manuscripts, letters, journals and diaries, from notable historical figures (e.g. Abraham Lincoln, Clara Barton, and Rosa Parks) are only available as digital images, they cannot be searched by text, so critical artifacts may never be found by scholars and researchers.  The Library's Crowdsourcing platform allows volunteers to look at images and tag them with metadata or transcribe content that can then be stored in the Library's vast repositories. Subsequently, other members of the public can review and approve the transcriptions that were entered by the volunteers.  Once the entry is validated, it is ready to be made searchable from the Library's website, and can include the original image and Crowdsourced contributions.

The transcripts that are reviewed by volunteers will be available on the Library of Congress website, www.loc.gov and will be searchable by keyword for the very first time.  This information will enhance access to handwritten and typed documents that computers cannot accurately pull content from.   As a result, visitors to the website will benefit from greater ease of reading and compatibility with screen readers used by those with visual disabilities. An Artemis Consulting team of developers and user experience experts worked with the Citizen Historian Center team to design and build the platform. 

Artemis Consulting is truly excited to be a part of this public collaboration to preserve our nation's treasures. If you would like to assist with the Crowdsourcing platform as a volunteer by helping transcribe, tag or review documents, please visit the website at https://crowd.loc.gov/.

About Artemis Consulting Inc.
Artemis Consulting, an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company and one of Virginia's Fantastic 50 Fastest Growing Companies, is a Washington D.C. metro area IT Services and Management Consulting firm. Since 1999, Artemis Consulting has been designing and developing software and integrating systems that transform their clients' organizations.  They enable the digital transformation of their clients' organizations by building web applications, defining user experience (UX), and designing and building iOS/Android mobile apps that are scalable.  With the growing trend toward Agile methodology and DevOps, Artemis' microservices design and architecture allows for continuous delivery and deployment of complex applications with relative ease.  Artemis is also skilled at moving open source and COTS applications to the cloud, saving on physical hardware and infrastructure resources. In the public sector, Artemis Consulting has a variety of Government-wide and IDIQ contracts.  The company prides itself on a team-oriented talent base which works collaboratively with clients and believes in being socially responsible in its local communities by donating time, expertise and financial support.

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SOURCE Artemis Consulting Inc.