Historical Documents in the Digital Age

25th-26th October 2012 – University of Rouen, http://hdda2012.sciencesconf.org/ The aim of this interdisciplinary Workshop is to bring together those whose professional work involves the study of historical documents, or who have a responsibility for increasing their accessibility, with technologists developing techniques to support the analysis and management of digital documents. The Workshop will encourage a greater understanding of how these two communities can work productively together, and how crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries can create opportunities for supporting better historical research and increasing the general public's awareness of their rich cultural heritage. This workshop should be interesting for: * Historians and others interested in sharing their experiences of document analysis with scientists developing computer-based tools to support such activities. * Those who have a responsibility for preserving and managing historical documents and making them available both to specialists using them for research and detailed study, and the general public seeking to benefit from the rich cultural legacy embodied by such documents. * Scientists and engineers developing advanced technologies in areas such as image processing, pattern recognition and digital media engineering relevant to document analysis. For each session of the workshop, we have invited European specialists in the field to share their experience and explore ideas. The workshop is free and open to all, but you will need to register on the website, starting 15 September, so that we can prepare for your arrival. The workshop will be in French and English, with simultaneous translation provided. Themes Session 1: Libraries and archives in the Digital Age Session 2: Digital tools for annotating and indexing Session 3: Digital palaeography Session 4: ICT in Cultural Heritage Session 5: Digital Humanities: present and future Invited speakers * Mathieu Bonicel, BNF. * Thierry Claerr, Ministère de la Culture. * Véronique Eglin, LIRIS. * Oliver Hitchcock, VirtuaSENSE. * Clive Izard, British Library. * Franck Lebourgeois, LIRIS. * Jean-François Moufflet, Archives de France. * Marçal Rusiñol, Centre de Visió per Computador Barcelona * Marc Smith, École des Chartes. * Dominique Stutzmann, IRHT * Melissa Terras, University College London * Clotilde Vaissaire-Agard, CF2ID * Alison Wiggins, University of Glasgow. Organizing committee The workshop is organized by the InterReg IVa DocExplore project (www.docexplore.eu), a collaboration between computer scientists, historians and archivists, on both sides of the Channel, to build a software suite. This suite is aimed at both historians and librarians, providing transcription and multimedia annotation functionalities, from which interactive books can be produced to reach a broader audience. UK team, Catherine Richardson and Alixe Bovey, Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, University of Kent.