University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Project Director:  Natalia Smith

To Support:  Development an open-source transcription and annotation tool using Scalable Vector Graphics for historical and literary archival manuscripts, using materials from the Carolina Digital Library and Archives as a test bed.

Award Dates:  05/01/2009 - 04/30/2010

Outright Funds: $50,000.  Matching Funds: $0

Abstract: The img2xml ("image to XML") project plans to develop a 100% Open Source set of components for the linking and display of manuscript images, transcriptions and annotations.  The linking will be based on a Scaleable Vector Graphics (SVG) tracing of the text in the manuscript image, which will then be analyzed and displayed via a web browser interface using tools developed for web-based map viewing. This means that links can be made to and from a graphical representation of the actual text on the page rather than a box drawn around it.  The proposed approach will enable linking between text and image in a more fine-grained way than any annotation tool currently in existence.  This work represents a fundamentally different way of connecting manuscript images with transcriptions and annotations.

Project Website: [none]

Project Whitepaper Available for Download?  [no]

Jointly Funded by the NEH and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.