BERNSTEIN THE MEMORY OF PAPERS Imagebased digital paper expertise and history targeted project, cult

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BERNSTEIN THE MEMORY OF PAPERSImage-based
digital paper expertise and history(targeted
project, cultural and scientific/scholarly
content)max. EU funding 1,6 Mill EUROproject
start date September 1, 2006duration 30 months
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Background, main objectives

• Paper studies are important because paper is a
  memory bearer. By examining characteristics of
  the paper its date, location of production can be
  estimated.
• Interlink all existing European databases of
  paper reproductions
• Create an integrated European digital environment
  for expertise of paper
• Generate the conceptual and technical
  infrastructure to enable the access to paper
  expertise, enrich paper data by metadata and
  contextual data (bibliography, GIS, incunable
  catalogue ISTC, )
• Provide a multilingual interface to these digital
  resources
• substantial improvements of all expertise areas
  related to paper studies

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Why the name Bernstein

• Bernstein stands for amber in German, which is
  famous for the insects from times far ago it
  traps. We can see them by raising the resin
  between our eyes and a source of light, a
  movement identical to that of the historian who
  looks for traces of the past revealed to him in
  the structural features of papers. Hence the name
  of the consortium and the metaphorical title of
  the project.

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Consortium

• Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
  (OEAW, Coordinator)
• Management, database of mediaeval watermarks,
  dig. repertories, image processing tools
• Archives of the State of Baden-Württemberg,
  Stuttgart, Germany (LABW)
• Huge collection of watermarks (Piccard, 95000)
• University of Technology, Institute for
  Information Systems and Computer Media, Graz,
  Austria (TUG)
• Integration software (implementation), user
  interface
• Laboratory for Occidental Medieval Studies in
  Paris, France (LAMOP)
• Historical GIS
• The National Library of Germany, Leipzig, Germany
  (DNB)
• Bibliography on paper, huge paper collection
• Dutch University Institute for Art History,
  Florence, Italy (NIKI)
• Paper database, art historical expertise
• Delft University of Technology, Delft,
  Netherlands (DUT)
• Data mining software, intelligent image
  processing
• Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, Netherlands
  (KB)
• Watermarks in incunables
• Liverpool University, United Kingdom (LU)
• Integration architecture, Cheshire3 database
  integration system

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Content to be aggregated

• Paper related data and tools
• Images (drawings, rubbings, X-ray images, beta-
  and electron radiographies, digital photos, )
• 1. WZMA OEAW (KSBM) grayscale images with textual
  German description 8.000
• 2. Piccard LABW binary images with textual German
  description 95.000
• 3. NIKI grayscale images with textual English
  description 1.500
• 4. KB grayscale images with textual English
  description 16.000

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Content to be aggregated

• Metadata
• paper (measured paper characteristics, watermark
  classification, date and place of production),
• documents (manuscript, the title, author,
  publisher name and date).
• Contextual data
• bibliography
• incunable catalogue ISTC
• historical geographical data
• Content processing software
• image processing software,
• measurement tools,
• statistics programs

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Services, tools, results

• Paper expertise
• Dating main motivation
• Identification time and place of production and
  usage of a sheet of paper
• Comparison are two sheets similar or identical
  
• Contextualization provide contextual
  information about paper
• Measuring size of watermark, distances between
  chain lines, number of laid lines (art restorers
  and paper makers)
• Paper description standards
• Multi-lingual support (English, German, French,
  Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Russian)
• Tutorials 10.-12. July 2007, Fabriano, Italy
• July 2008, Stuttgart, Germany
• February 2009, Vienna, Austria
• Exhibitions
• Dissemination toolkit (handbook, installable
  software)

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Metadata

• Paper description data (watermarks, wire mesh,
  paper pulp, )
• textual watermark description standard
• numerical paper description standards
• repertory concordances.
• Document description (manuscript, incunable,
  book, print, artwork, )
• Geographical names for places, regions, etc.
• All above in six languages English, French,
  German, Italian, Spanish, Russian

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Target users

• Everybody, who is engaged in paper and/or paper
  studies
• historians, art historians, musicologists,
  economic historians
• conservators, librarians, archivists
• auction houses, antiquarians, art dealer
• art objects restorers, papermaking industry and
  artisans
• computer scientists, image processing, pattern
  recognition, database integration
• forensic experts, security personnel dealing with
  paper documents

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SWOT Analysis

• Strengths
• Paper expertise and history (CITER, EDL, MILE,
  MINERVAeC)
• Watermark databases
• Tools for expertise (dating, authentication,
  measuring)
• Bibliography on paper
• Image processing experience
• Weaknesses
• Historical GIS (CITER, DIGMAP, EGN, GEOMIND)
• multilingual geographical names data
• Historic geographical places and regions
  (multilingual)
• Mapping software
• Metadata (MILE)
• Integration model
• Opportunities
• Annual workshop
• WIKI-based system for cooperation, exchange of
  information and data
• Mailing lists
• Mutual access to deliverable lists

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Contacts

• www.bernstein.oeaw.ac.at
• www.bernstein.oeaw.ac.at/twiki

Danke