Trove text correction records

Albert Frankaland made this Freedom of Information request to National Library of Australia

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

The request was successful.

Albert Frankaland

Dear National Library of Australia,

A request for details of text corrections of newspapers and gazette articles on the Trove Australia platform (www.trove.nla.gov.au), specifically the details of the corrections made by the top 3 text correctors for the months of June, 2021 and July, 2021 as listed in the Text correction Hall of Fame (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/hallO... and https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/hallO...)

Confirmation that the top 3 text correctors in the list on these pages are in fact the top text correctors.

Details requested for the top 3 users for June, 2021 and July, 2021 are the details of each line corrected - that is 1) what was the details of the text line before each user made corrections; 2) what was the details of the line after each user made their correction.

Yours faithfully,

Albert Frankaland

Dear National Library of Australia,

Could you kindly provide an update to my FOI request relating to the details outlined previously.

Yours faithfully,

Albert Frankaland

FOI, National Library of Australia

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Frankaland

Apologies for the delay in responding to you. The Library has been working to respond to your query, various considerations and factors have been set out below.

Under section 11 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), individuals have a right to access documents held by an agency. The right of access under the FOI Act is to existing documents, rather than to information, which is what you have requested (see para 2.33 of the FOI Guidelines at https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...). As the body text of your request also did not specify that it was a request intended to be made under the FOI Act, initially it was not clear to us that the request you made in fact was a request for documents made under the FOI Act. We have therefore been treating your request as an administrative request. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that it is clear from the title of your original email and now from your follow-up email that you intended to make a request under the FOI Act. We apologise for not seeking a clarification from you sooner.

The right to access under the FOI Act is for existing documents – the FOI Act does not require agencies to create a new document in response to a request for access. The National Library of Australian (Library) does not hold any existing documents that contain the information you have requested. Nor does it hold any information that would fall within scope of your request.

Notwithstanding the above, the Library has been working on resolving your query administratively (i.e. not as a formal request under the FOI Act), including investigating possible methods to obtain the information you have requested. Unfortunately, it is not possible to generate a human readable summary that enables a line-by-line comparison in the way you are requesting. Data associated with text correction activity is only generated in machine readable form. The newspaper application then interprets and converts this data to generate the text that appears in the Trove user interface, with no human input from Library staff. We enclose a brief sample of text correction activity to illustrate this – as you can see, it is not human readable. The Library does not otherwise collect any information in relation to text corrections, and in general, the Library collects very little information in relation to text correctors and other Trove users.

Please note that the purpose of text correcting is to improve the likelihood that a newspaper article will be found when a keyword in that article is searched. Enabling people to keep track of the articles they have improved through text correction is a courtesy provided by the Library. The ‘Hall of Fame’ simply acknowledges the collective effort of many text correctors. All volunteer activity that aims to improve the quality of the Trove database is welcomed.

Please let us know if you have any concerns.

Kind regards
Angie

Angie Piao | FOI Officer | National Library of Australia

[NLA request email]

The National Library of Australia acknowledges Australia’s First Nations Peoples – the First Australians – as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land and gives respect to the Elders – past and present – and through them to all Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

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T +61 2 6262 1111
nla.gov.au
        
In line with ACT Government COVID-19 health directions, the Library building is temporarily closed. Your National Library remains open online. Visit us at nla.gov.au 

This transmission is intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain confidential or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any use or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify me immediately by telephone and delete copies of this transmission together with any attachments.

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Dear Angie,

Appreciate the reply.

Administratively, I request the supply of the data for the text corrections completed for the username provided in your brief example ("yelnod") for the date of July 1, 2021.

As regards the "Hall of Fame" listing as a "courtesy" for users to "keep track" of their text correction contributions, it is potentially seriously flawed through rampant manipulation by some users to artificially inflate their lines corrected tally.

Yours sincerely,

Albert Frankaland

FOI, National Library of Australia

Dear Mr Frankaland

Thank you for your email. The National Library is currently considering your request and will respond substantively in due course.

Kind regards
Angie

Angie Piao | FOI Officer | National Library of Australia

[NLA request email]

The National Library of Australia acknowledges Australia’s First Nations Peoples – the First Australians – as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land and gives respect to the Elders – past and present – and through them to all Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Parkes Place Canberra ACT 2600 Australia

nla.gov.au

        
In line with ACT Government COVID-19 health directions, the Library building is temporarily closed. Your National Library remains open online. Visit us at nla.gov.au 
This transmission is intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain confidential or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any use or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify me immediately by telephone and delete copies of this transmission together with any attachments.

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Dear FOI,
Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Albert Frankaland

FOI, National Library of Australia

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Frankaland

As requested, please see attached data for the text corrections completed for the username "yelnod" for the date of July 1, 2021.

Kind regards
Angie

Angie Piao | FOI Officer | National Library of Australia

[NLA request email]
The National Library of Australia acknowledges Australia’s First Nations Peoples – the First Australians – as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land and gives respect to the Elders – past and present – and through them to all Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Parkes Place Canberra ACT 2600 Australia

nla.gov.au

        
In line with ACT Government COVID-19 health directions, the Library building is temporarily closed. Your National Library remains open online. Visit us at nla.gov.au 
This transmission is intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain confidential or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any use or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify me immediately by telephone and delete copies of this transmission together with any attachments.

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Dear FOI,

Thank you for the information received, however, it only appears to be 1 summary line of each correction, rather than details of every line corrected on that day.

Yours sincerely,

Albert Frankaland

FOI, National Library of Australia

Dear Mr Frankaland

If you double click on the on each of the cells in the columns under 'Old Lines' and 'New Lines', the cells should expand to show the entire content of the cell.

Kind regards
Angie

Angie Piao | FOI Officer | National Library of Australia

[NLA request email]
The National Library of Australia acknowledges Australia’s First Nations Peoples – the First Australians – as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land and gives respect to the Elders – past and present – and through them to all Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Parkes Place Canberra ACT 2600 Australia

nla.gov.au

        
In line with ACT Government COVID-19 health directions, the Library building is temporarily closed. Your National Library remains open online. Visit us at nla.gov.au 
This transmission is intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain confidential or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any use or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify me immediately by telephone and delete copies of this transmission together with any attachments.

show quoted sections