Quality control of digital representations of manuscript texts: proposal of a standards-based method

Jesús Robledano Arillo

doi:10.1515/opis-2021-0003

Abstract

AbstractThis study aims to propose a quality control method for digitized versions of manuscript documents that will be relevant for paleographical and codicological analysis. The methodology applied consisted of a systematic review of papers related to automated analysis of the physical characteristics of handwritings and document supports in the field of digital paleography, as well as of the numerous standards that have been emerging in the field of image engineering for quality assessment in digital image recordings. We also worked with a sample of 275 digital representations of pages or double pages of manuscript documentation dating to between the 12th and 17th centuries. As a result of this study, we propose a taxonomy of physical attributes of the handwritings and of their documentary supports that must be represented in the digital image with a high level of fidelity and without any distortions that could lead scholars to erroneous interpretations of the physical and formal characteristics of the original documents. On the basis of this taxonomy, we identified a set of typical distortions caused by digitization processes that can affect the recording quality of the physical attributes previously proposed, as well as a set of parameters and metrics for measuring quality that can be used to create a sufficiently exhaustive quality model. We also detected a series of limitations which, if not properly managed, can compromise the effectiveness of these types of controls.

Highlights

The impact and presence of the digital humanities are experiencing significant growth thanks to the ever-increasing availability of resources in digital format on the Internet and social media
We have considered that the curvature that the surface of the document page may present at the moment it is digitized will affect the surface of the document differently in terms of focusing quality, the presence in the digital image of diverse types of geometric distortions, or problems of uniformity of lighting
The paleographical studies based on direct visual or manual analysis of the raster digital images of the original documents and automated analysis by applying procedures developed in the field of digital paleography have been gaining broad relevance in recent years. Both types of procedures require the application of digital capture and processing techniques that produce digital images that are highly representative of their originals at the densitometric, colorimetric and spatial level

Summary

Introduction

The impact and presence of the digital humanities are experiencing significant growth thanks to the ever-increasing availability of resources in digital format on the Internet and social media. Within this unstoppable trend, the publication of historical sources in digital format has become a vital element in various fields of scientific research and in teaching of the humanities, especially in the areas of historiographical sciences and techniques. In the field of inquiry of the disciplines we just mentioned, the technical quality of the digital images that represent the original documents is essential, as it will guarantee access to an information source that is free of any distortions that might lead the scholar to interpret them erroneously. Free of distortion, can be used with

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion