Transkribus: Supporting the Digitisation of Archives

The University of Edinburgh has become a founding partner of the European Cooperative Society (SCE), which has developed from the Recognition and Enrichment of Archival Documents project (READ).  

 

READ, funded by the European Commission, focused on making archival material more accessible through the development of cutting-edge technologies and developed Transkribus, a research platform that enables scholars and archivists to transcribe, collaborate and share documents, while contributing to and benefitting from the development of handwritten text recognition software. 

 

READ-COOP will serve as the basis for sustaining and further developing the Transkribus platform and related services and tools. It aims to “transform the work of scholars, archives and libraries not only in a technical sense but in a social way as well: collaboration across borders of any kind – national, geographic, or sectoral will become possible in a highly flexible way.” 

 

Professor Melissa Terras, a Director of READ-COOP, says “The University has exceptional archival manuscript collections, and a growing community interested in advanced digital tools and technique for historical research. Our founding partner status of the READ coop cements these interests, whilst also showing our links to like-minded partners across Europe”.