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IMC 2020: Sessions

Session 646: From the Border to the Centre: Digital Images in Medieval Studies Research

Tuesday 7 July 2020, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:Digital Medievalist
Organiser:Georg Vogeler, Zentrum für Informationsmodellierung in den Geisteswissenschaften, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz
Moderator/Chair:Lisa Fagin Davis, Medieval Academy of America, Massachusetts
Paper 646-aTraining an Artificial Paleographer for the Study of Medieval Latin Handwriting
(Language: English)
Hannah Busch, Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts & Sciences, Amsterdam
Index terms: Computing in Medieval Studies, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 646-bReflectance Transformation Imaging and Medieval Seals
(Language: English)
John McEwan, Center for Digital Humanities, Saint Louis University, Missouri
Index terms: Charters and Diplomatics, Computing in Medieval Studies
Paper 646-cBringing the Dead (Text) Back to (Digital) Life: Multispectral Imaging (MSI) At the Border between Analogue Object and Digital Surrogate
(Language: English)
Helen Davies, Department of English, University of Rochester, New York
Index terms: Computing in Medieval Studies, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Abstract

The use of digital images has moved from the borders of medieval studies to the centre. Still, enhanced imaging technologies are object of research: Multispectral imaging give new insights in historical objects, and large scale digitization projects make images and accompanying metadata available in great quantity generating 'big data' that will occupy researchers for decades. The session will explore different aspects of the use of digital images for medieval studies research, its potentials and limitations. In the first paper Hannah Busch presents the potential to use images as training material for Deep Learning, a subfield of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, for automated dating and locating the origin of medieval manuscripts. The second speaker, John McEwan, will evaluate an experimental electronic information management system for seals (DIGISIG) that uses a technique called reflectance transformation imaging. In the final presentation Helen Davis will reflect on how multispectral imaging creates a big data problem and examine the borders between image and object, data and artefact, digital surrogate, and manuscript.