A view on ancient documents

Back to index page

Previous article: Radiotherapy to become more accurate

Next article: EPSRC focuses on the future of UK e-Science

Two notable features of e-Research are the willingness of researchers to embrace large-scale ICT, and the tendency to take up specialist technologies from different fields. The eSAD project is a good example. It is bringing together two multi-disciplinary collaborations to adapt image-processing tools for the study of ancient documents, which will then be provided to a diverse new community.

The eSAD project will offer image-processing and interpretation support tools to papyrologists and epigraphers, using the more mature VRE-SDM project, which has developed a pilot portal framework for classicists studying ancient documents.

A user working with the VRE-SDM as a front-end, will have the ability to call upon the new image-processing tools developed by the eSAD project. The aim is to use the same techniques to plug in the functionality of the image-processing algorithms and, ultimately, an interpretation support system into the VRE. Image-processing algorithms will require the use of NGS resources and would ideally be offered as functionalities wrapped in Web Services and presented to the user in in the VRE-SDM application within portlets. Migrating resources to the NGS also ensures access to the material by a much larger community, meaning that eSAD will enable a collaborative approach to the analysis and recording of ancient documents.