Tools & Technologies

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The 2024 Virtual DLF Forum, Hosted by the Digital Library Federation

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The Digital Library Federation (DLF) invites digital library, archives, and museum practitioners to join the Virtual DLF Forum, which will be held from October 22-23. With 34 sessions planned over two days, the DLF Forum program features a vibrant program for those interested in discussing digital library technologies and practices: from reflections on digitizing textual and complex physical materials, to conversations on how to improve the discoverability and accessibility of archival and library collections, and more.

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Unlocking the U.S. Department of State’s “Consular Cards”: Experimenting with AI Transcription of Handwritten Historical Documents (A Webinar with FromThePage)

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Do today’s latest “AI” models offer capabilities not possible with traditional OCR, for unlocking documents whose handwritten contexts were impenetrable with previous technologies? A decade ago, the Office of the Historian scanned its “Consular Cards file”, a collection of 6,500 handwritten index cards containing listings of officials at all U.S. diplomatic and consular posts from 1789-1960. A unique and foundational source for understanding the history of U.S. foreign relations, the utility of the scanned cards remained limited due to OCR’s inability to extract text from the ornate cursive handwriting on these cards. Experiments conducted this year with multimodal AI tools have produced breakthrough, if imperfect, results. The talk will demonstrate the methodology and results of these experiments and will offer tips and caveats for scholars considering such tools.

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Introduction to CollectionBuilder-SHEETS

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In this recorded workshop—which was originally held on March 6, 2024, and taught by Julia Stone (University of Idaho), Olivia Wikle (Iowa State University), and Evan Peter Williamson (University of Idaho)—viewers learn how to use CollectionBuilder-Sheets (SHEETS), a CollectionBuilder template released in 2024 that enables users to build digital collections directly from a Google Sheet of metadata.

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Open-Assembly Teaching, Making, and Publishing: COVE Editions and Studio

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Are you looking to build a peer-reviewed, open-access critical edition, gallery, or anthology–without any coding? Are you interested in collaborating with your class in the preparation and annotation of these materials? Join COVE at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute for the course “Open-Assembly Teaching, Making, and Publishing: COVE Editions and Studio.”