Annotating Coptic in the Digital Age: Integrating Traditional Scholarship with AI and Digital Tools

titleAnnotating Coptic in the Digital Age: Integrating Traditional Scholarship with AI and Digital Tools
start_date2024/03/01
schedule14h-16h
onlineno
location_infoSalle 533, Bât. Olympe de Gouges
summaryThe digitization of Coptic manuscripts represents a significant advancement in the preservation and analysis of these ancient texts. This presentation outlines the process and benefits of transcribing Coptic manuscripts and typeset editions into digital formats using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) technologies. By converting these historical documents into machine-readable texts, researchers can more easily engage in the textual analysis and interpretation of Coptic literature. Building on this digitization, the project advances by philologically and linguistically annotating these texts within the framework of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) P5 Guidelines, which is pivotal for the representation of complex textual phenomena. We then move to a web-based visualization of these annotated texts, which promotes interactive engagement. This interface is further enhanced by the integration of high-resolution manuscript images obtained through the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) manifests from various institutions. The result is a digital online edition that juxtaposes the original manuscript images with the annotated text, augmented by freely accessible TEI/XML files. The incorporation of Generative AI, such as ChatGPT, propels this digital humanities endeavor forward by providing robust support for the annotation process. ChatGPT’s capabilities in language understanding can assist in the automatic generation of annotations, offering suggestions for interpretive notes and helping to identify linguistic patterns within the Coptic corpus. The integration of AI with traditional scholarly methods signifies a transformative step in Coptic studies, fostering a more interactive and accessible field of research in the digital age. In this presentation, we will discuss the methodologies, tools, and potential of digital annotations in Coptic studies, showcasing how technology is revolutionizing our approach to historical texts. We will also examine the role of AI in supporting and driving this digital transition, highlighting the innovative ways in which AI can contribute to the field of digital humanities.
responsiblesLahaussois, Cinato