[Digital Archives][History] 2011 TELDAP International Conference to Display Ancient Maps and Manuscripts Scanned Using Multi-spectral Scanning Technique

[Digital Archives][History] 2011 TELDAP International Conference to Display Ancient Maps and Manuscripts Scanned Using Multi-spectral Scanning Technique (Chinese Version)

Academia Sinica Newsletter (2011/03/17) The Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program (TELDAP) Conference was held from March 16 to 19 and displayed new scans of historical books and maps from collections housed at Academia Sinica. The scans were produced using a state-of-the-art multi-spectral imaging system that allows easy reading of historical books and maps without unbinding or damaging them, and were made as part of a collaboration between TELDAP and the University of Kentucky Center for Visualization and Virtual Environments (Vis Center).

Many historical books and maps are fragile, hard to preserve and unreadable; however, with the help of the latest technology, the content of these historical artifacts can be read clearly without unbinding. In November, 2010, as part of a collaboration between TELDAP and the Kentucky Vis Center, Director Dr. SEALES and his team brought equipment to Academia Sinica to digitize a number of artifacts including ancient maps preserved by the Center for Geographic Information Science (GIS center), Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at Academia Sinica, and ancient documents held in a collection at the Fu Ssu Nien Library, Institute of History and Philology.

The digitized artifacts include damaged maps of Hsinchu, Tainan and Taipei County, and the content of the "Book inside Book" from the Ming Dynasty, which was previously unreadable. The "Book inside Book" is an official document dating from the first to the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Hongzhi (1488~1493) in the Ming Dynasty and includes a printing of Zizhi tongjian (資治通鑑) (Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government), one of the most important traditional histories of ancient China, and Tongjian shiwen bianwu (通鑑釋文辯誤), a commentary of Zizhi tongjian. The imaging system allowed the content of the book to be read without unbinding the manuscript.

Using a state-of-the-art system, images were captured under different lighting conditions and tied together with a 3D backdrop. Dr. SEALES said that it is incredibly important to work internationally and also interdisciplinarily. The Director of International Collaboration of TELDAP, Dr. Simon C. LIN said "This latest technology offers us better opportunity to understand our history and culture and, at the same time, learn from the past experiences in order to cope with challenges we have in 21st century."

Conference Website: http://collab.teldap.tw/teldap2011/


Media contacts:
Dr. Simon C. LIN, Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica
(Tel) 886-2-2789-6709
Ms. Meng-Yin WU, Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica
(Tel) 886-2-2789-8311
Ms. Mei-hui LIN, Office of Public Affairs, Central Office of Administration, Academia Sinica, mhlin313@gate.sinica.edu.tw (Tel) 886-2-2789-8821 (Fax) 886-2-2782-1551 (M) 0921-845-234


Further Information:
Academia Sinica Newsletter 2011/03/17

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Science Council International Cooperation Sci-Tech Newsbrief
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



(編輯記錄)