Workshop Automated Handwritten Text Recognition Transkribus And The ‘Resolutions of the Dutch States-General, Nov. 27th, The Hague

Impact CoCEvents

The workshop introduces Transkribus and is organized by Huygens ING, INL and the tranScriptorium project. Transkribus is developed in the EU funded projecttranScriptorium, a research infrastructure for transcribing and automated text recognition of historical documents.transkribus

Automated recognition of handwritten documents (HTR) is no longer wishful thinking but a real option. Whether it concerns medieval codices or modern archival documents, HTR is not only able to create an automated transcription, it also offers significantly improved search capabilities through new search methods (“keyword spotting”).

Until recently, intensive efforts by specialized researchers have been the only way to make the content of the resolutions accessible. In the new project, alternative ways to make the content of the resolutions accessible for researchers and other users are explored. Huygens-ING carries out a number of pilot projects to clarify to which extent advanced ICT techniques and tools can reduce the dependency on manual labor. Working with HTR is one of these pilots.

The workshop  shows preliminary results of a training set of the 17th century resolutions of the Dutch Staten-Generaal, of automated structuring of printed 18th century resolutions. Moreover, it also offers a hands-on Transkribus session for the participants.

The transcripts of the Resolutions of the States-General consist of 200.000 pages of handwritten text that not only reflect the invention and early development of the new Dutch State, but also are a witness of the daily political activities of the “Hoogmogende Heren”.

Program

Automated Handwritten Text Recognition – Transkribus and the project ‘Resolutions of the Dutch States-General’
Friday 27 November 2015 The Hague

  • 10.30-12.15 Lectures
    This session offers an insight into the technology behind Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR), introduces the Transkribus platform and will reveal the results of HTR applied to the resolutions of the Dutch Staten-Generaal. In addition, it shows the results automated structuring and interpretation of printed 18th century resolutions.
  • 10.00   Walk in, coffee and tea
  • 10.30   Introduction by Lex Heerma van Voss, director of the Huygens ING
  • 10.40   Véronica Romero (Universitat Politècnica de València) – Interactive Handwritten Text Recognition and indexing of historical documents: the tranScriptorum Project
  • 11.00   Ronald Sluijter (Huygens ING) – Introduction to the Resolutions of the Staten-Generaal
  • 11.10   Jesse de Does (Institute for Dutch Lexicology) – HTR on the hand-written Resolutions of the Staten-Generaal
  • 11.30   Walter Ravenek (Huygens ING)– Structure and interpretation of the printed Resolutions of the Staten-Generaal 1725
  • 11.50   Günter Mühlberger (University of Innsbruck)- Recognition and Enrichment of Archival Documents – the READ Project. e-Infrastructure for Humanities Scholars, Archives, Computer Scientists and the Public.
  • 12.15   Lunch
  • 13.30   Hands-on session Transkribus
    During the second part the participants get the opportunity to try out Transkribus on their own laptops to get a sense of the stage the technology is in and what it can mean for their own work. For this goal we ask participants to install Transkribus beforehand. Instructions for this will be send to you prior to the meeting.
  • 16.00   Drinks

Place

Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands
Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 5, The Hague

Links

EU FP7 Projekt tranScriptorium: http://transcriptorium.eu/
TRANSKRIBUS Plattform: http://transkribus.eu/

Registration

Register via: congres@huygens.knaw.nl. Please indicate whether you intend to attend just the morning program or the hands-on session as well.

The workshop is aimed at scholars who are involved in the transcription and editing of historical documents. The number of participants is limited, registrations will be accepted in the order of arrival. Registration deadline is 20 November 2015.

Please bring your own laptop to the Workshop!