Computerizing Handwritings: Current Approaches on Historical Documents

On a really warm day in Basel a group of doctoral students from Suiss universities met to discuss and share recent developments in Digital Humanities. The Digital Humanities Lab represented by Gerhard Lauer and Lukas Rosenthaler and the d-scribes project represented by Isabelle Marthot-Santaniello had organized the event.

At center stage were past and present efforts in digital handwriting recognition. I was seriously struck by the wealth of young and creative minds at display that engage in pushing the limits further and further. By comparison, my own contribution felt fairly old-school. In any case, I left the event with a lot of food for thought and thankful for the opportunity to attend.