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If you have ever wanted to be a fly on the wall during deliberations by U.S. Supreme Court justices or travel back in time to witness Supreme Court decisions, a new crowdsourcing project helps you to do just that. SCOTUS Notes is the newest citizen science project under the Zooniverse platform, the world's largest and most popular people-powered online research platform, which runs on support from volunteers that now number more than 1.
5 million. These volunteers act as armchair scientists and archivists, helping academic research teams with their projects from the comfort of their own homes. In this project, members of the public transcribe handwritten notes from U.S. Supreme Court justices, who, unlike members of Congress, cast their votes in complete privacy during weekly conference meetings. The only record of what has been said, and by whom, is provided by the handwritten personal notes the justices themselves take during the conference. The transcription project under the Zooniverse platform contributes to key research about law and politics, as each participant becomes a citizen archivist and transcriber, creating materials that will be of use and openly available to scholars interested in law, policy and decision-making in the nation's highest court.Image credit: SCOTUSnotes.org
