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algorithms; <strong>in</strong>stead, it uses “l<strong>in</strong>ear symmetry with a threshold of correlation for each character, and an
ordered sequence of characters to be searched for” (Tse and Bigun 2007). Tse and Bigun offered a
fairly detailed explanation for why they chose to avoid an approach us<strong>in</strong>g segmentation algorithms,
which are often employed <strong>in</strong> Lat<strong>in</strong> text recognition:
The system proposed <strong>in</strong> this paper uses a segmentation-free approach because the Serto script
has characters that are cursive with difficult to determ<strong>in</strong>e start and end po<strong>in</strong>ts for characters.
This is one difference between Serto and Arabic or the cursive form of Lat<strong>in</strong> languages. S<strong>in</strong>ce
segmentation <strong>in</strong> these languages is difficult and not easy as <strong>in</strong> scripts like pr<strong>in</strong>ted Lat<strong>in</strong>,
remov<strong>in</strong>g the need for segmentation becomes an alternative way of deal<strong>in</strong>g with the problem of
segmentation, at least to obta<strong>in</strong> a quick basel<strong>in</strong>e recognition scheme (Tse and Bigun 2007).
The Serto script OCR system that Tse and Bigun ultimately developed produced character-recognition
rates of approximately 90 percent. Earlier work by Clocks<strong>in</strong> (2003) had also described methods for the
automatic recognition of Syriac handwrit<strong>in</strong>g, albeit texts written <strong>in</strong> the Strangely script, and used a
collection of historical manuscript images. This system reported recognition rates that ranged from
between 61 percent and 100 percent, depend<strong>in</strong>g on both the techniques used and the manuscript
source.
One research project that seeks to build an <strong>in</strong>itial cyber<strong>in</strong>frastructure or onl<strong>in</strong>e hub for Syriac is the
Syriac Research Group, a jo<strong>in</strong>t project of the University of Alabama and Pr<strong>in</strong>ceton University. 69 The
group’s major goal is to produce a new generation of tools and <strong>in</strong>formation resources that will help
alleviate the access and discovery problem that currently h<strong>in</strong>ders “scholarly research on Syriac
language, cultures and history.” An <strong>in</strong>ternational team of scholars is work<strong>in</strong>g to create an “onl<strong>in</strong>e
reference source” that will meet the needs both of advanced Syriac scholars and of the <strong>in</strong>terested
public, and their website offers a useful mockup of the potential portal as well as a list of potential user
scenarios (e.g., a Syriac researcher work<strong>in</strong>g on manuscripts, a nonspecialist researcher).
Accord<strong>in</strong>g to the project website, the “Syriac Reference Portal” 70 will serve as an “<strong>in</strong>formation hub”
that <strong>in</strong>cludes an ontology or classification system that can be used for creat<strong>in</strong>g Syriac reference works,
an onl<strong>in</strong>e encyclopedia, a gazetteer that <strong>in</strong>cludes both geographic <strong>in</strong>formation and maps that are
relevant to Syriac studies, an extensive bibliography, and a multil<strong>in</strong>gual authority file that will support
“standardiz<strong>in</strong>g references to Syriac authors, texts, and place names.” Other related research work
<strong>in</strong>cludes revision of the Unicode standard for Syriac, a TEI adaptation for the description of Syriac
manuscripts, and plans to add a prosopographical tool. While the Syriac Research Group hopes to
make all the resources listed above available <strong>in</strong> the first generation of the portal, the ultimate goal is to
open these resources to the scholarly community for “collaborative augmentation and annotation.” The
project hopes that as the portal grows that the project team will be able to iteratively add to the hub by
l<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g to digitized Syriac content that is available onl<strong>in</strong>e, such as the Syriac corpus of literature be<strong>in</strong>g
prepared by Brigham Young University (BYU), 71 the eBeth Arké Syriac Studies Collection, 72 and the
Manumed project <strong>in</strong> the European Union. 73
69 http://www.syriac.ua.edu/
70 The “Syriac Reference Portal” has been based on the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project (InPhO) (https://<strong>in</strong>pho.cogs.<strong>in</strong>diana.edu/)
71 http://cpart.byu.edu/page=112&sidebar
72 http://www.hmml.org/vivarium/BethArke.htm
73 The Manumed Project (http://www.manumed.org/en/) is build<strong>in</strong>g an extensive virtual library of digitized cultural heritage documents from the Euro-
Mediterranean region with a particular focus on manuscripts <strong>in</strong> languages <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g “Arabic, Greek, Lat<strong>in</strong>, Syriac, Hebrew, Aramaic, Coptic, Berber,
Armenian.”