P3 qualification
From DPCanadaWiki
For general information on qualifying to work in different rounds (e.g. P2, P3, F1, F2, etc.), see Access requirements.
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Basic Requirements
The basic requirements for P3 access are listed on the P3 page, just above the list of available projects. They are:
- 400 P1 or P2 pages proofed--at least 50 pages must be from P2
- 50 F1 pages formatted
- pass the proofreading quiz
- 6 weeks since joining DPC
Once you meet these requirements, you can request P3 access via a link on the P3 page, below the list of requirements.
Evaluation of Pages
After you request access via the P3 page, an evaluator will check over at least 50 of your recent P2 pages. If you didn't miss too many errors, then you will be given access to P3. If you missed too many errors, then you will be asked to proof more pages and try again. Either way, you should receive a PM informing you of the status of your request and listing which pages were used for evaluation.
P3 qualification is not just a way to prove you are good at finding scannos. The best proofers also know how to interpret the guidelines, ask for help (through PMs and in the forums), and pass along important information to others DPers (by leaving [** notes] in the text or posting "heads-up" notices in the forums). The qualification process is not a closed-book exam. You are encouraged to seek help and ask questions throughout the process. It is also not a "one strike and you're out" process. If you don't qualify on your first attempt, please use the feedback from your evaluator to make improvements to your proofing and apply again.
Which pages?
We cannot do an evaluation until at least 50 of your pages, across at least 3 different projects, have been proofed in P3. The way we do the evaluations is by looking at what the P3er found that you overlooked. Waiting for enough pages to get through P3 is usually what takes the longest.
We always work backwards from the most recent to the oldest. We might go back more than 50 pages for P3 because if we start looking at a project, we always look at all the pages from that project (which means if somehow 100 pages from one project made it through to P3, which does happen in LOTE, then we'll look at over 100 pages). We assume that your work will improve over time and simply won't consider your application if you don't have some fairly recent work available.
Also, if the last 55 pages are all in fiction and the next 15 are in non-fiction, we'll probably look at those as well, just because there are different skills involved. (Similarly, if the last 55 pages are from several parts of the same project.) Frankly, the more pages the better, up to about 100, but 50 is an absolute minimum. If this is a re-application, no work done prior to the last evaluation date will be considered at all, only fresh stuff done after you were made aware of problems.
On the other hand, there's also something of a psychological barrier; if work is really good from the present back to a certain point, then there's a gap of a week and not-so-good work starts showing up, we're likely to assume some type of self-improvement was going on during that week and will ignore work before that time (if there's enough done after it to make a fair appraisal), or at least discount it to some extent.
We try as hard as possible to keep to current projects, though. (Current being roughly 3 months old or less.)
P3 Qual projects
At present projects are moving through DP Canada swiftly and there is no P3 queue so DP Canada does not have any designated "(P3 Qual)" projects. If a lengthy queue develops, this may be changed. For now all pages that have gone through P3 are fair game.
How many errors?
Basically, the cutoff for P3 access is one serious error in 5 pages (averaged across 50+ of course).
The evaluators do keep in mind the overall difficulty of a page. Some pages will just be disregarded for qual purposes if they have substantially more than the usual number of OCR errors to correct. Also, generally speaking, pages that are not in your native language (if we can figure that out) and complex index pages. We might either ignore very long pages or count them as several pages. The evaluations will always have notes about any of these things. This is yet another reason why we have humans doing the evaluations.
A page that was perfectly proofed in P1 (P2 and P3 made no diffs to the page) also does not count for qual purposes. When planning to apply for P3 make certain you have proofed and made changes to at least 50 P2 pages to ensure you are providing a sufficient body of work to the evaluators.
More about Languages and Qualifying
DPC works on the honor system--if you are not secure working in a certain language, it is assumed you will not attempt to proof that language in P3. If you cannot read the Project Comments for a specific project, you should not proof that project. However, there is nothing "hard coded" to prevent anyone from working on any project that is in a round where that person is qualified to work.
If you are fluent in multiple languages, by all means work in as many languages as you wish while attempting to qualify. If you want to work on a less-familiar language, it is a very good idea to try some P1 pages in that language and examine your P1-P2 diffs before "moving up" a round in that language.
Generally pages in any given language will be considered toward your qualification if you have proofed 5% (or more) of your P2 pages in that language. Yes, 5% of 50 pages is a very small number! Brief snippets of one language appearing in a work which is in another language (such as a couple Greek words in an English text) do not count toward the 5% figure.
Exceptions
But, knowing that even this might be too much for a small community (such as LOTE), we have left an alternate path for P3 or F2 access in such cases. You can send a PM to a Site Admin, or email with the DP names of people you think should be able to work in either P3 or F2 or both, and we will see that they get access. Please note that the recommendation has to come from someone who already works in those rounds and that this applies only to small communities which require knowledge (in this case, language) that most of our volunteers don't have.
Improving Your Proofing Accuracy
If you're not happy with the quality of your diffs, there's no need to apply just to clear things out. You can just keep working on your proofreading until you think the last 75–100 Qual diff pages look good, then apply. However, if you want an official review of your work complete with proofreading suggestions tailored to your particular potential areas of improvement, by all means go ahead and apply.
If any P3 candidate has a besetting fault, spend time concentrating on it in the regular projects. Pick a book that will be around for at least a couple of days. Try out your new proofing strategies on it. Go back the next day and look at the pages again with fresh eyes. If you're finding things on the second pass that you missed on the first, try to figure out what and why. Maybe ask for feedback from a P3er.
After you think you've made progress on that front, by all means do 5 or 10 pages in a faster-moving project to get P2–P3 diffs and see if they're lining up with what you thought they'd say. If all is well, do more fast-moving pages with an eye toward accumulating enough to apply. If problems are showing up, go back to practicing on regular projects and keep check your diffs to monitor your progress.
You can find other strategies in the Tips'n'Tricks on improving proofing accuracy thread.
NB: We will gladly extend P3 status to anyone who obtains it on DP-INT so you don't need to go through the drill again. DP-INT will not automatically grant P3 status to anyone who has earned it at DPC, but they will give special consideration to DPC P3ers and hasten their DP-INT P3 review.
