How did you end up joining the Navez project?
In the summer of 2024, as part of my master’s program in Rare Book and Digital Humanities at Université Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, I was on an internship at Ghent Centre for Digital Humanities. During my two-month-long internship, I had the opportunity to contributed to a couple of ongoing digital humanities projects, among them was The Navez Project. Woking with these valuable and rare letters was an incredible experience.
What tasks did you perform and what did you think of them?
To perform any kind of research on the Navez letters, they first need to be converted into machine-readable text using Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR). One other intern and I tested three different HTR tools: Transkribus, eScriptorium, and Microsoft Azure. I specifically tested eScriptorium – an open-source alternative for HTR. We compared their outputs and analysed their accuracy in recognizing and transcribing handwritten texts. It was fascinating to see how these tools handle the intricacies of historical documents and hope that our work has guided/will guide in deciding the future of this project as well others facing similar challenges in the selection of right tool for their project.
What was the most valuable or interesting aspect of the internship for you?
One of the highlights of my internship was visiting the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR). GhentCDH has strong collaborations with KBR, and we were fortunate enough to get a guided tour of library, particularly their restoration and digitization departments. This visit gave me insight into the intricate process of preparing historical documents for digital access, including the very letters we were working with. Seeing the meticulous work involved in preserving and digitising historical documents gave me a whole new appreciation for the field.
What did you learn during your internship, both professionally and personally?
My internship at the GhentCDH was truly an enriching experience. I gained practical skills, built meaningful connections, and got to understand the field of digital humanities better. The guidance and support from my supervisor and colleagues, made each day a valuable learning opportunity. I learned the importance of collaboration, staying organized, and documenting my work. Personally, this experience new perspective on the field of DH and some clarity about my own career. I know the knowledge and connections made during my internship will continue to guide and inspire me in the future.