Brockmann, Christian, University og Hamburg, Germany, christian.brockmann@uni-hamburg.de Wangchuk, Dorji, University of Hamburg, Germany, dorji.wangchuk@uni-hamburg.de
Manuscript Studies constitute one of the main research areas in the Humanities at the University of Hamburg. This has been underlined recently when the large multidisciplinary Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (Sonderforschungsbereich 950, http://www.manuscript-cultures.uni-hamburg.de/) won a substantial grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft in May 2011. The centre can draw on experience aggregated by several other projects in Hamburg such as ‘Forschergruppe Manuskriptkulturen in Asien und Afrika’, ‘Teuchos. Zentrum für Handschriften- und Textforschung’ and ‘Nepalese-German Manuscript Cataloguing Project (NGMCP)’. Manuscripts as the central and most important media for the dissemination of writing have influenced and even shaped cultures worldwide for millennia, and only the relatively recent advent of the printed book has challenged their predominance.
In the past few years, Manuscript Studies have profited greatly from the use of digital methods and technologies, ranging e.g. from the creation of better and more accessible images to electronic editions and from a broad range of special databases supporting this research to analytical tools. Whereas such areas as digital cataloguing and editing have received more extensive coverage, methods more specific to the study of manuscripts in particular deserve broader attention.
This workshop focuses on Manuscript Studies as a distinctive field, i.e. the study of manuscripts as a characteristic feature and expression of those cultures that are built on their use. It will examine recent developments in digital methods that can be applied across various manuscript cultures worldwide, and aim to make awareness and discussion of these accessible to a broader group of scholars. It focuses exclusively on new developments in its subject fields that rely on the digital medium or on recent advances in technology as applied to the study of manuscripts, with a penchant towards aspects beyond the scope of the individuals fields concerned with just one particular manuscript culture.
The workshop will consist of brief introductory presentations on current developments in these areas by international experts, short hands-on and demonstration units on multispectral imaging and computer-assisted script and feature analysis as well as discussions on expected future developments, application perspectives, challenges and possible fields of cooperation.
Joint speakers/demonstrators:
Jost Gippert (University of Frankfurt)
Lior Wolf (Tel-Aviv University)
Lorenzo Perilli (University of Rome, Tor Vergata)
Domenico Fiormonte (Università di Roma Tre)
Agnieszka Helman-Wazny (University of Hamburg) / Jeff Wallman (Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center, New York) / Orna Almogi (University of Hamburg, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures)
Boryana Pouvkova / Claire MacDonald (University of Hamburg, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures)
Daniel Deckers (University of Hamburg)
Arved Solth / Bernd Neumann (University of Hamburg, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures)
Ira Rabin, Oliver Hahn, Emanuel Kindzorra (Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing)
