In this entry-level demo workshop the Digital Humanities support team at the University Library will demonstrate how to use the Optical Character Recognition software of the Transkribus platform on example texts or your own research materials.

Thanks to continuous improvements in AI, computers can now achieve near-perfect reading accuracy for both printed and handwritten texts using advanced Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. These techniques enable the transformation of archives, books, and various texts into machine-readable data, enabling full-text searchability and facilitating analysis through text mining and Named Entity Recognition.

Transkribus is a comprehensive tool for the digitization, AI-powered text recognition, transcription and searching of historical documents, from any place, any time, and in any language.

In this demo and workshop, the hosts will first showcase the usage of OCR software on printed collections and Transkribus (HTR software) on handwritten materials, including the Special Collections of the Utrecht University Library. Following the demonstration, participants have the option to join a hands-on session focused on HTR/OCR. You can either work with example texts or bring your own research materials, such as photos of archival data. No prior knowledge of HTR or OCR is required to participate.

Discount to Transkribus

The Centre for Digital Humanities has procured a subscription to Transkribus, offering a substantial discount to all UU staff members. For more information regarding the discount and its benefits, please visit this page.

DCU compensation

If you are a teacher at the Faculty of Humanities, the CDH will automatically settle a DCU compensation of 4 hours with your department after completion, which equals 0,18 DCUs.

To secure your spot, we encourage you to register as soon as possible. Registrations will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. In the event that you are unable to attend the workshop, we kindly request that you cancel your registration by sending an email to CDH@uu.nl. This will allow us to offer the vacant spot to another interested participant. Thank you for your cooperation.