Rare and Special in the Digital Environment: Damaged Texts and Digitisation Technologies

Professor Melissa TerrasProfessor of Digital Humanities, UCL Dept of Information StudiesCo-Director, UCL Centre for Digital Humanitiesm.terras@ucl.ac.uk, @melissaterras

http://ericwilliamcarroll.com/blog/?m=201203

Image Quality 1: Resolution

The higher the resolution, the higher the quality of image.

20 dpi 72 dpi 300 dpi

Image Quality 2: Bit Depth

• Use bi-tonal: when shading is not an issue

– modern printed books– Line art– But high res to capture detail

• Use Grey-scale: tones of Grey– black and white photographs,

half-tone illustrations, typescript, archival materials in black and white

– Where colour isnt important• Use colour whenever colour is

present in the original and it conveys meaning– Trade off in file sizes

Compression and File Formats

Biblia Latina, Petrus Angleus de Monte Ulmi , 1492

The first printed edition of Euclid, translated by Adelardus of Bath and with the commentary of Novarese, 1482

http://digitool-b.lib.ucl.ac.uk

http://theartofgooglebooks.tumblr.com

Close up - Tablet 1563

Complex incisions

Woodgrain

Surface discolouration

Warping

Cracking

Noisy image

Palimpsest

Long process

Image processing: illumination correction

Original image After illumination correction

After woodgrain removal

Image processing: woodgrain removal -1

Original image

With thanks to Dr Segolene Tarte, eSAD project, OeRC

Transmittance factors of 21 optical bandpass filters in the visible spectrum – with thanks to Lindsay Macdonald

Syriac Galen Palimpsest (see http://digitalgalen.net/ ) – with thanks to Alejandro Giacometti, and Adam

Gibson

1632, burnt in Guildhall Fire in 1786

http://greatparchmentbook.wordpress.com/ - with thanks to Tim Weyrich and Kazim Pal

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/about_us/history/shipping.aspx

http://www.solarstorms.org/Spipeline.html

http://www.johnnycupcakes.com/blog/2010/03/objects-suitcases-tidbits/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sansplans/5440098840/sizes/l/

http://truthbase.org/Weigh%20up%20module%201%20session%201.htm

http://www.ewarrenperryjr.com/2009/06/rehearsals-have-begun-in-chicago-for-ekphrasis-cave-walls-to-soup-cans.html

http://rochester.edu/college/mimesis/

http://prov.vic.gov.au/community-programs/digitisation/projects-underway

With thanks to

• eSAD Project– Prof Alan Bowman, Prof Mike Brady, Dr Ségolène Tarte, Dr Henriette Roued-Cunliffe

• Cultural Heritage Destruction Project– Alejandro Giacometti, Dr Adam Gibson, Lindsay MacDonald, Alberto Campagnolo, Simon

Mahony

• Great Parchment Book Project– Dr Tim Weyrich, Kazim Pal, Alberto Campagnolo, Philippa Smith, Caroline De Stefani, Rachael

Smither, Patricia Stewart, Nicola Avery.

• Science Museum Shipping Gallery– A Prugnon, J Hindmarch, Matthew Shaw, William Trossell, Anita Soni, Prof Stuart Robson