Phase 1A of the project will focus on the datasets current project collaborators already have in hand: photographs—primarily of English-language gravestones, memorials, and obituaries—as well as textual records of no longer extant memorials. The geographical focus for Phase 1A is the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Caribbean. We will use these datasets to develop a robust system for the crowd transcription and classification of photographs on the Zooniverse platform. During Phase 1A we will also work on the design of a database for the storage and searching of Memorial 20/70 data.
During Phase 1B, we will beta test our classification and transcription system with volunteers. We will also develop and beta test a submission system so that others can contribute photographs in the future. At this stage we will also test the data output from Zooniverse to ensure that we are generating the most broadly usable data.
During Phase 2A we will make our Zooniverse page public to increase the volume of transcriptions and classifications of our data.
During Phase 2B we will open up submissions so that we can expand the scope of our datasets, as well as the type of memorial objects we can consider (including, for example, mourning jewelry and memorial service cards). Initially, our calls will be to expand our existing datasets–that is, of memorial objects and text-bearing objects related to the United States, Britain, and the Caribbean.
During Phase 2C, we will also seek project partners beyond the United States, United Kingdom, and Caribbean. Our goal is to create a system that will be flexible enough to accommodate a wide range of memorial texts and objects, and also possibly extend into other languages and geographical regions. The directions that we are able to expand will depend largely on the collaborations we are able to build at this stage.
During Phase 3, we will expand our data set parameters beyond the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Caribbean. We will create a searchable database that will make use of all of the data gathered, classified, and transcribed during Phases 1 and 2. We also will begin to disseminate the findings of Phases 1 and 2.