Rome Wasn't Digitized in a Day - Council on Library and Information ...

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and Manuscripts (VRE-SDM) 378 so that it could call upon these algorithms us<strong>in</strong>g web services that
make use of the U.K. National Grid Service. This work served as a proof of concept for the viability of
the VRE-SDM and supported the development of a portal that hid the technology from scholars, used
the grid and web services as a means of provid<strong>in</strong>g access to powerful image process<strong>in</strong>g algorithms, and
allowed the eSAD to dissem<strong>in</strong>ate its results to both classicists and image-process<strong>in</strong>g researchers. The
VRE-SDM also supported scholars who wanted to collaborate by provid<strong>in</strong>g them with a virtual
environment where work could be shared.
In addition to image-process<strong>in</strong>g algorithms for digital images of <strong>in</strong>scriptions, other research has
developed advanced 3-D techniques to capture better images of squeezes taken of <strong>in</strong>scriptions.
Barmpoutis et al. (2009) have asserted that conventional analysis of ancient <strong>in</strong>scriptions has typically
been based on observation and manual analysis by epigraphists, who exam<strong>in</strong>e the letter<strong>in</strong>g and attempt
to classify <strong>in</strong>scriptions geographically and chronologically. In one method that has been traditionally
used, researchers “use a special type of moisturized paper (squeeze) which they push on the <strong>in</strong>scribed
surface us<strong>in</strong>g a brush specially adapted for the purpose. When the letters are shaped on the squeezed
paper, the archaeologists let it dry, creat<strong>in</strong>g that way an impression of the <strong>in</strong>scription” (Barmpoutis et
al. 2009). The authors reported that many collections of squeezes have been created 379 (<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g some
for <strong>in</strong>scriptions that have now been destroyed) yet the use of these collections has been limited because
of a variety of factors, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the expense of travel and the difficulties of preservation.
Consequently, Barmpoutis et al. sought to develop methods that could store and preserve squeezes and
make them more accessible to a larger number of scholars. 380
The authors developed a framework that uses “3D reconstruction of <strong>in</strong>scriptions” and “statistical
analysis of their reconstructed surfaces.” They used a regular image scanner to scan squeezes from two
different light<strong>in</strong>g directions; these images were then used <strong>in</strong> a “shape from shad<strong>in</strong>g technique <strong>in</strong> order
to reconstruct <strong>in</strong> high resolution the orig<strong>in</strong>al 3D surface.” Barmpoutis et al. argued that the major
contributions of their research were threefold: (1) they had developed the first framework for
convert<strong>in</strong>g and stor<strong>in</strong>g squeezes <strong>in</strong> 3-D; (2) their research demonstrated how squeezes could be studied
more effectively us<strong>in</strong>g different visualizations and such results could be more easily shared and
distributed; and (3) automated analysis of the squeezes produced results that would likely have been
impossible to obta<strong>in</strong> with traditional techniques. Their framework was applied to five Ancient Greek–
<strong>in</strong>scribed fragments from Epidauros <strong>in</strong> southern Greece and they conducted experiments <strong>in</strong> surface
recognition and statistical analysis. The ability to use different visualizations and 3-D data, they also
proposed, would support collaborative work and preservation:
Render<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>in</strong>scriptions with different virtual illum<strong>in</strong>ations and view<strong>in</strong>g angles makes the
use of a squeeze more effective and allows the archaeologists to share digital copies of the
squeezes without los<strong>in</strong>g any <strong>in</strong>formation. Thus by us<strong>in</strong>g our proposed framework the digital
libraries of scanned squeezes (regular 2D images) which are commonly used by archaeology
scholars can easily be replaced by databases of 3D squeezes, without the need of any additional
equipment (Barmpoutis et al. 2009).
In addition, the use of statistical analysis (such as automatically creat<strong>in</strong>g height-maps of the average
letters) both replicated the results of <strong>in</strong>dividual scholars and helped epigraphists to significantly speed
378 http://bvreh.humanities.ox.ac.uk/VRE-SDM.html
379 For an <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g digital collection of squeezes, see Ohio State University’s Center for Palaeographical Studies, “Greek and Lat<strong>in</strong> Inscriptions: Digital
Squeezes” http://drc.ohiol<strong>in</strong>k.edu/handle/2374.OX/106
380 One of the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal authors of this paper has recently been awarded a digital humanities start-up grant to develop a “Digital Epigraphy” toolbox
(https://securegrants.neh.gov/PublicQuery/ma<strong>in</strong>.aspxf=1&gn=HD-51214-11).