[Antir_scribes] Vatican Library Manuscript Digitization Project

[Chiara Francesca]

>From another scribes list on castle ...
 
♫
Chiara Francesca
"Which 'Chiara'...?? Nah... wasn't me ;-)"
 
> -----Original Message-----
> 
> From: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana [mailto:webmaster at vatlib.it]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 12:26 AM
> To: Christine KREBS
> Subject: Vatican Library - Newsletter 5/2010
> 
> <http://www.vaticanlibrary.va/home.php?ling=eng> Vatican Library 
> Vatican City, march 24, 2010
> 
> Newsletter 5/2010
> 
> 
> Dear friends and readers,
> The Osservatore Romano dated March 24 has published the following 
> story which we felt certain would be of interest to you.
> I am sending it as an "extraordinary Newsletter", to which I add my 
> very best wishes for a blessed Easter.
> 
> Msgr. Cesare Pasini
> Prefect
> 
> 
> 
> An initiative of the Vatican Library Digital manuscripts
> 
> Cesare Pasini
> 
> The digitization of 80,000 manuscripts of the Vatican Library, it 
> should be realized, is not a light-hearted project. Even with only a 
> rough calculation one can foresee the need to reproduce 40 million 
> pages with a mountain of computer data, to the order of 45 petabytes 
> (that is, 45 million billion bytes). This obviously means pages 
> variously written and illustrated or annotated, to be photographed 
> with the highest definition, to include the greatest amount of data 
> and avoid having to repeat the immense undertaking in the future.
> 
> And these are delicate manuscripts, to be treated with care, without 
> causing them damage of any kind. A great undertaking for the benefit 
> of culture and in particular for the preservation and conservation of 
> the patrimony entrusted to the Apostolic Library, in the tradition of 
> a cultural service that the Holy See continues to express and develop 
> through the centuries, adapting its commitment and energy to the 
> possibilities offered by new technologies.
> 
> The technological project of digitization with its various aspects is 
> now ready. In the past two years, a technical feasibility study has 
> been prepared with the contribution of the best experts, internal, 
> external and also international. This resulted in a project of a great 
> and innovative value from various points of view: the realization of 
> the photography, the electronic formats for conservation, the 
> guaranteed stability of photographs over time, the maintenance and 
> management of the archives, and so forth.
> 
> This project may be achieved over a span of 10 years divided into 
> three phases, with possible intervals between them. In a preliminary 
> phase the involvement of 60 people is planned, including photographers 
> and conservator-verifiers, in the second and third phases at least 120.
> Before being able to initiate an undertaking of this kind, which is 
> causing some anxiety to those in charge of the library (and not only 
> to them!), naturally it will be necessary to find the funds. Moves 
> have already been made in this direction with some positive results.
> 
> The second announcement is that some weeks ago the "test bed" was set 
> up; in other words the "bench test" that will make it possible to try 
> out and examine the whole structure of the important project that has 
> been studied and formulated so as to guarantee that it will function 
> properly when undertaken in its full breadth.
> 
> The work of reproduction uses two different machines, depending on the 
> different types of material to be reproduced: one is a Metis Systems 
> scanner, kindly lent to us free of charge by the manufacturers, and a 
> 50 megapixel Hasselblad digital camera. Digitized images will be 
> converted to the Flexible Image Transport System (FITS), a 
> non-proprietary format, is extremely simple, was developed a few 
> decades ago by NASA. It has been used for more than 40 years for the 
> conservation of data concerning spatial missions and, in the past decade, in astrophysics and nuclear medicine.
> It permits the conservation of images with neither technical nor 
> financial problems in the future, since it is systematically updated 
> by the international scientific community.
> 
> In addition to the servers that collect the images in FITS format 
> accumulated by the two machines mentioned, another two servers have 
> been installed to process the data to make it possible to search for 
> images both by the shelf mark and the manuscript's descriptive 
> elements, and also and above all by a graphic pattern, that is, by 
> looking for similar images (graphic or figurative) in the entire digital memory.
> 
> The latter instrument, truly innovative and certainly interesting for 
> all who intend to undertake research on the Vatican's manuscripts - 
> only think of when it will be possible to do such research on the 
> entire patrimony of manuscripts in the Library! - was developed from 
> the technology of the Autonomy Systems company, a leading English firm 
> in the field of computer science, to which, moreover, we owe the 
> entire funding of the "test bed".
> 
> For this "bench test", set up in these weeks, 23 manuscripts are being 
> used for a total of 7,500 digitized and indexed pages, with a mountain 
> of computer data of about 5 terabytes (about 5,000 billion bytes).
> 
> The image of the mustard seed springs to mind: the "text bed" is not 
> much more in comparison with the immensity of the overall project. But 
> we know well that this seed contains an immense energy that will 
> enable it to grow, to become far larger than the other plants and to 
> give hospitality to the birds of the air. In accepting the promise 
> guaranteed in the parable, let us also give hope of it to those who 
> await the results of this project's realization.
> 
> 
> 
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♫
Chiara Francesca
"Which 'Chiara'...?? Nah... wasn't me ;-)"


> -----Original Message-----
> From: antir_scribes-bounces at castle.org [mailto:antir_scribes-
> bounces at castle.org] On Behalf Of Teceangl
> Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 12:37 PM
> To: AnTir Scribe
> Cc: 1L-AnTir Scribes List; 1L-TirRigh Scribes List
> Subject: Re: [Antir_scribes] Fwd: [antir-heralds] KWHSS Pre-
> Registration Reminder
> 
> >> Is there any kind of schedule of classes available for review before
> >> committing to pre-registration.  I would like an idea of whether I
> will be
> >> attending for both days or just one.  And I can't do that until I
> have an
> >> idea of what classes I'm planning on taking.
> 
> Should be up tomorrow.  I'm working on it right this minute, as a
> matter of fact.
> There are two grids, one for scribal classes and one for heraldic
> classes. I believe there is plenty of interest-crossover between the
> tracks, so check both!
> There will be an announcement the second I see the updated webpage is
> available.
> 
> - Teceangl, KWHSS event steward
> --
> KWHSS website: http://kwhss.sca.org
> 
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