Impact
Finding a passage took less than half the time.
In a comparative study with 36 compensated participants and 288 archival-search tasks, the median time to locate a passage fell from 13.4 minutes with the existing archival workflow to 5.7 minutes with Tierline, a 57.46% reduction. Task success rose from 69.44% to 85.42%.
01 · Task success
More searches ended with the passage found.
Each grid is one method’s 144 tasks; a filled square is a task completed successfully. The difference is 15.98 points.
How the study was run
- Scope
- A structured usability study with 36 compensated participants: 288 archival-search tasks, 144 with Tierline and 144 with the existing archival workflow.
- Measures
- Median time to locate the target passage; task success.
- Source
- Tierline project record, 13 October 2026
- Participants
- 36, compensated
- Tasks
- 144 Tierline, 144 existing workflow
02 · In use
Who uses Tierline in the pilots
137 people have been authorized and onboarded across the four operating pilots, with the Pala Band of Mission Indians, the Karuk Tribe, the Yurok Tribe and the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. In a measured 90-day period, 82 of them used Tierline. The four pilots →
137
people onboarded
82
active in a 90-day period
11
community training sessions
- 22 archival stewards
- 18 educators
- 42 approved community researchers or learners
03 · Human review
Every accepted match was checked by a reviewer
Each candidate passage was submitted to an authorized reviewer before it was accepted; about one in four was turned down. Three impact case studies are complete and approved by their partners.
- 213 accepted
- 68 rejected
94
reviewed excerpts now in approved educational and research collections
46
oral histories newly contextualized through community review
7
completed community-approved learning modules
Transcript and recording
Where the transcript and the tape disagree
Ann Bernatitus was a Navy nurse on Corregidor in 1942. In 1994 she told the Navy’s historian how she left on 3 May: by boat at night, through a minefield, to a waiting submarine. The Navy’s transcript of the interview is edited for reading.
The transcriptI always said that I didn’t want to go out of there on an airplane. I would rather go by submarine. We were dreaming that that’s exactly what was going to happen.
The tapeI always said, I don't want to go out of here on an airplane. I would rather go by submarine. Never dreaming that that was exactly what was going to happen to me.
A search of the transcript finds its edited words. A search by sound finds what she said, and opens the recording at the moment she said it.