Conference on ‘Possibilities of Automated Manuscript Analysis‘

At the conference on the ‘Possibilities of Automated Manuscript Analysis’, various projects are presented aiming at analysing manuscripts particularly with the help of computer technology. Manifold methods are introduced which support both transcription and the external examination of manuscripts. The focus of this conference lies on scientific questions concerning bigger collections of original texts as well as on the automated analysis of images and their usage in cultural studies with a historical focus.

‘Possibilities of Automated Manuscript Analysis’ opens up a series of conferences in the thematic field of “Machine and Manuscript” organised in connection to the project “eCodicology”. This project is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and is realised in cooperation of Darmstadt Technical University, the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, and the Trier Center for Digital Humanities.

Programme Monday, 24 Feb 2014

14.00 – 14.15: Greeting (Dr Ulrike Graßnick)

14.15 – 14.30: Welcome and Opening (Prof Dr Claudine Moulin)

Section I: Research Questions Concerning Manuscripts

14.30 – 15.00: Das Layout päpstlicher Urkunden im 12. Jahrhundert und Probleme seiner Analyse (Layout of Pontifical Documents in the 12th Century and the Issues of an Analysis)
(Dr Ottfried Krafft, Philipps-University Marburg)

15.00 – 15.30: Transcribo: Ein Werkzeug – viele Möglichkeiten  (Transcribo: One Tool – Manifold Possibilities)
(Dr Thomas Burch & Frank Queens, University of Trier)

Section II: Research Questions Concerning Collections

16.00 – 16.30: The Library as a Digital Research Infrastructure: Digital Initiatives and Digital Manuscripts at the National Library of Wales
(Prof. Dr. Lorna Hughes, University of Wales)

16.30 – 17.00: DigiPal to ScandiPal: Applying the DigiPal Framework to 11th-century Medieval Manuscript Fragments from Scandinavia
(Matilda Watson, King’s College London)

17.00 – 17.30: Using Images of Medieval Manuscripts: Historical Perspectives and Future Possibilities
(Prof. Dr. Andrew Prescott, King’s College London)

Programme Tuesday, 25 Feb 2014

Section III: Automated Methods in Image Processing

9.00 – 9.30: Computer Vision & Computational Humanities
(Prof Dr Björn Ommer, University of Heidelberg)

9.30 – 10.00: Analyse historischer arabischer Handschriften – das HADARA-Projekt (Analysing Historical Arabian Manuscripts – The HADARA Project)
(Dr Volker Märgner, Braunschweig Technical University)

10.00 – 10.30: Algorithmische Geometrie zur Extraktion von Schrift in 3D (Algorithmic Geometry for the Extraction of Font in 3D)
(Dr Hubert Mara, University of Heidelberg)

Section IV: Automated Methods in Palaeography and Codicology

11.00 – 11.30: Encoding Writer Variability for Automatic Writer Identification
(Vincent Christlein, Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg)

11.30 – 12.00: eCodicology – Algorithmen zur automatischen Auszeichnung mittelalterlicher Handschriften  (eCodicology – Algorithms for Automatic Labeling of Medieval Manuscripts)
(Hannah Busch, University of Trier; Swati Chandna, Karlsruhe Institute for Technology; Celia Krause, Darmstadt Technical University; Philipp Vanscheidt, University of Trier/University of Darmstadt)

12.00 – 12.30: Final Discussion