GLOBAL CHALLENGES

Preserving Written Treasures for the Ages via Digital Makeover

Dennis McCafferty | Date: 09-28-10 | Comments

When it comes to books, "the classics" are part of what makes Europe's history so rich in culture. Unfortunately, due to fire, water damage and/or simply the passage of time, many great works are in various states of decay. But IBM and the European Union are now deploying a series of innovative technology and collaboration efforts to ensure these treasures are digitally preserved forever.

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Preserving Written Treasures for the Ages via Digital Makeover

The book "Magic: Principles of Higher Knowledge" has maintained a following for centuries now because author Karl Von Eckartshausen conveyed such a profound sense of spiritual insight within the book's pages. His clarity helped demystify the issues of a chaotic world, according to one reviewer. "Great Secrets will reveal themselves to you. � All we have to do is ask!" Eckartshausen wrote when the book was published in 1788.

The original copy was damaged by fire and water in 1943, and has remained that way for decades. But thanks to a partnership between IBM and the European Union (EU), Eckartshausen's "magical" book is getting a digital rebirth via a project called IMPACT (IMProving ACcess to Text). The goal of the project is to provide highly accurate digitization of rare and culturally significant historical texts on a massive scale�an effort that involves two dozen national libraries, research institutes, universities and companies throughout Europe.

The new collaborative project seeks to digitally preserve rare and culturally significant texts.

Unlike past digitization projects that have resulted in static, online libraries of texts, IMPACT will enable participants to efficiently and accurately produce quality digital replicas of historically significant texts and make them widely available, editable and searchable online. Funded by the EU, IMPACT's research combines the power of innovative, Web-enabled adaptive optical character recognition (OCR) software with "crowd computing" technology. Crowd computing will allow for groups of volunteers throughout the continent to verify the accuracy of processed texts and correct recognition mistakes using an online Web system.

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