For the last year or so, poet/tech sorceress Sanya Khurana and I (Annie Finch) have been developing the meter app Poetcraft. Poetcraft will include the first AI in the world able to scan and teach a range of different English meters. I am deeply excited about this project, which aims to move the English language back towards the core human magic of metrical diversity and, to my mind, nudge the world onto a more sustainable, joyful path.

Poetcraft will be trained on 4000 scanned lines of poetry, 1000 in each of four different meters. We have now finished collecting these lines, and we are seeking people who love meter and have experience with scanning to help bring the app to the next step as volunteer Scanners. All scansions will use the classic system of scansion introduced in my workbook How to Scan a Poem and in my classes and online videos. They will use the following symbols: wands, cups, edges, and–as needed—half-wands, ghost cups, and rests.

I am excited about this project and hope you might want to be part of it as a volunteer Scanner.

Q AND A

How will the process work?

Scanners will choose a poem from the project’s Google Drive and scan it on a computer using standard keyboard techniques (forward slash and backslash for wands and half-wands, lower case u for a cup, hashtag for a rest). After saving the scanned version on the Drive, you will mark the poem as scanned on an Excel sheet. That’s it!

How many poems will each scanner need to scan?

As many as you like. We expect each scanner to scan, on average,100-500 lines.

Will I have any support?

Each scanner will be given access to a “cheat sheet” created by me that summarizes the method of scanning used in the project and the use of each of the 6 symbols, and also suggests simple hacks to help you scan faster and more efficiently—and will also soon have access to a brief video going over the same material.

How good will I need to be at scansion to participate?

You should be an experienced scanner, but you don’t need to be a complete expert.

As you go, you will find that the experience of scanning many poems will raise your skills to another level.

What if I get stuck and can’t figure out how to scan a line or passage?

If you get stuck, leave the line unscanned and type a note next to it saying COULDN’T SCAN. All scansions will be doublechecked by an expert scanner, and finally triple-checked by me personally, so we will catch it.  

What is the timeframe?

You can start anytime. We hope to finish most of the scansions during the spring and to wind up no later than July 1.

Is there any compensation?

As a gesture of gratitude, all scanners will be offered six months free use of the Poetcraft app (value of projected cost is $99/month).  We will also be proud to list the names of all Scanners on the Poetcraft website (if you prefer not to be listed, just let us know).

I’m in! What’s the next step?

Please email us at scansions@poetcraft.org stating your interest, and we will get you started!