Author: Rebecca Fox

Introduction

I have a terrible attention span. This is a fact, printed in ink on my medical records. I am prone to distraction, and focusing for a prolonged period leaves me fatigued and irritable. My phone is as much my enemy as it is my friend. I use it to read, listen to music, play games and connect with friend globally. And yet it serves as the biggest time sink in my life. Having the world at your fingertips has as many boons as it does consequences. Sometimes I wish I could follow in the footsteps of Thoreau and cast aside my technology, retreating into the woods where digital distraction can not follow. And yet this dream remains unrealistic in a world where everything from my classes to my therapy appointments to my taxes require a wifi connection.

Distractions, agreed and unagreed

Keeping track of my attention has made me understand exactly how reliant I am on my phone. When I woke up in the morning, instead of getting ready and using my time productively I often got distracted checking notifications or taking “just five minutes” to play a game. When spending time with friends or attending events on campus, I found myself scrolling through Pinterest (the one social app I let myself use) or refreshing the same page repeatedly as if something new would turn up. Even walking to class was distraction prone. I would open my phone to put on a radio station and flip between them for a while, unsatisfied with anything on. Still, all of these were objectively “agreed upon” distractions. They were things I (conciously or unconciously) gravitated to, without external influence.

In fact, unagreed distractions were few and far between. I was scarcely subjected to ads while browsing (the exceptions being a scarce few on the radio) and was barely torn away from focus by unimportant notifications. Perhaps one could blame the algorithms, but even in that case much of the time I spent online existed outside of them, playing mobile games or reading webnovels. This I can fully credit to my belief in curating my web experience, and in snuffing out uninvited distractions before they can cost me even more time.

The curated web

A major lesson I had to learn for navigating the digital world as someone with a terrible attention span is the importance of curating my web experience. On both my computer and mobile browsers I employ ad block liberally. I use a proxy service for Instagram that allows me to disable reels and the explore page. I pay for ad free music on Spotify, but also listen to free ad free web radio. Any non essential notifications are either limited or disabled. And most beneficially, I have certain websites or apps blocked, either for part of the day or in general. When I recognize an app or website has become a time sink, I consider how useful it really is to me and often cut it out of my life completely. We can’t fully controll what an algorithm desides to show to us. We can, however, decide that some algorithms are not worth it.

Final reflections

This was a difficult project for me. Focusing on anything is a task. Remembering what I had been focusing on even more so. However, I was able to gain a lot from it. I’ve been able to confirm the effectiveness of the preventetive measures I take for avoiding distractions, as well as recognize the moments throughout the day that I should move more conciously through. Inattention may be a part of my life forever, but I have already and will continue to find ways to minimize the time I lose to it. A metacognitive approach like this is a key first step in recognizing these areas for growth.

My transcription work

In this year’s Douglass Day transcription event, collections of documents were sorted into various regions. I ended up transcribing exclusively from the Pennsylvania region. Despite being only one state, there was a wealth of documents that needed transcribing. Many of the documents were simple record keeping. They followed a pattern of listing those in attendance, what was discussed, and any efforts resulting from the day’s discussion. Some documents were excerpts of speeches, where attendees spoke out against slavery and inequality, as well as urged their fellow people of color to join together in resistance. Most interestingly to me and my major were the two documents discussing education. One urged the government of Pennsylvania to provide the same level of schooling to children of color, whether alongside white peers or in separate schools held to the same standards. The other was discussed an unapproved project for establishing a Colored College. Frederick Douglass himself credited the project’s failure to “Garrisonian Abolitionists”, however the initial transcriber attributed this to Douglass’s own bias toward the Garrisonians.

What I learned from transcribing

Prior to participating in the Transcribe-a-thon, I had little appreciation for the labor of transcription. Growing up in a digital age, I am used to having a wealth of documents at my fingertips. I had previously worked under the assumption that these documents were always digital, or that they had been scanned in using some automated software. I now understand this is far from the truth. Resources like Project Gutenberg and the Colored Conventions Project rely on hand-typed transcriptions and the labor of many volunteers. Without them, there would be less access to key pieces of history and literature.

I also had little understanding or appreciation for the Colored Conventions themselves. History classes in school often skim over many critical details, especially since they need to fit the entire country’s history into one year of study. Of course, I could research in my own time, but I neglected to do so. Instead I worked off my own minimal understanding and assumptions. I knew that voices like Frederick Douglass and others were important in the ongoing quest for equality. However, I did not realize how involved and expansive the process was. I was only able to transcribe a few documents myself, but the amount of existant writings, as well as the number of Colored Conventions that were held nationwide, paint a clear picture of how much work was involved in reaching the relative equality we have today.

What I learned about working with documents

I consider myself lucky that I only had to be concerned with transcribing typed documents. Were they handwritten, I can imagine myself struggling immensely with the “spiderweb” handwriting that many texts consist of. Still, the typewritten work offered its own challenges. For one, some of the type was faded or produced only a half-character. In these instances I had to make an inference and tag for unclear text. Spelling across documents was also inconsistent (i.e. spelling as “color” and as “colour” across different texts). This was fine for familiar words, but led to more confusion with topics I did not know well. I also had to strike a balance between efficiency and attention to detail. I wanted to make good use of my time and complete many transcriptionss, but when typing too fast I fell into a pattern of guessing ahead and transcribing improperly. In the end I went back and worked with more care, sacrificing speed.

How I see things now

If anything, this project taught me to pay attention to the mountains of work that make my current life possible. On one side this means the numerous conferences, conventions, and appeals for equality that advocates like Douglass have made. Without them providing the foundation, much of what I consider normality would not be possible. On the other, this means the human labor behind the aspects of technology I once took for granted. Now I can realize that most of the text I read online was typed or transcribed by hand, all so people like myself can read it and better understand our world. Without the collaboration of so many people none of it would be possible.

Click here to see my transcription work!