The New York Times has launched a reader-participation project to create "Madison," an electronic archive of newspaper advertisements.
The project's goal is to build the database needed for the archive. Since there is no technology to automatically analyze and digitize the information contained in old newspaper ads, people must manually review and verify each piece of content. This initiative seeks to gather data—such as advertiser names and ad content—by enlisting the broad cooperation of the general public. They will start with ads from the 1960s and gradually expand the scope.
On the Madison Project website, pages highlighted by the New York Times' Research and Development Lab (R&D Lab), which operates the archive, showing sections deemed potentially advertising-related, are displayed randomly. Project participants can choose to work on one of three tasks: ◇ Verifying whether highlighted sections are actual advertisements ◇ Identifying advertisers or product categories ◇ Transcribing text within advertisements. Participants earn titles like "Reader," "Trainee Researcher," or "Junior Researcher" based on the number of ads they process, adding a game-like element.
Alexis Lloyd, Creative Director at the R&D Lab, explained the reason for starting in the 1960s: "It's the era depicted in the popular drama 'Mad Men,' which portrays the advertising industry, and people are highly interested in it." The name "Madison" originates from Madison Avenue, where many advertising agencies were concentrated.
The New York Times launched its "Times Machine" database of news articles this past August, positioning "Madison" as a sister site.
