Data entry + forum activity log data, birth certificates Suriname

Abstract

The 'data entry + forum activity log data' contains anonymized information on the indexation process of birth certificates from the Surinameses civil registry.

The birth civil certificates were indexed by 654 volunteers on the Dutch crowdsourcing platform HetVolk from September 2021 until February 2022. The project was completed in 4 batches to account for small changes in the available information on birth certificates. A fifth "puzzle" batch was created for birth certificates that were hard to read. To support data entry, a forum was hosted on Ning. Here volunteers could ask for help, discuss interesting findings, and find look-up tables. 171 volunteers in total posted at least one message on the forum.

User accounts on Het Volk and Ning were linked by Thunnis van Oort and Rick Mourits. First, matches were established by automatically matching individuals with an indentical name or e-mail address. Second, we checked for matches that we manuallyu checked for matches that we might have missed due to small spelling variations. Third, all established matches were verified by hand. Last, we anonymized the user names to make the data suitable for analysis in line with the GDPR.

Data entry log data contains information on the: - volunteer (anonymized userID, linked to forum post log data) - project (batch 1-4, puzzle) - itemID (anonymized certificate identifier) - entry (entry, skipped, or impossible certificate) - date - time

Forum post log data contains information on the: - volunteer (anonymized userID, linked to data entry log data) - reaction_on (whether posts replied to a former userID) - topicID (anonymized post topic) - entry (original post or reply) - date - time