Computational paleography, An immerging interdisciplinary field, delves into applying computational methods to ancient handwritten documents. This field, at the intersection of computer vision, instrumental analytics, and paleography (the study of ancient scripts and their physical mediums), benefits immensely from technological advancements. It fosters unique collaborations across disciplines, uniting manuscript experts, computer scientists, and natural scientists. Traditional barriers in humanities, defined by chronology and geography, are rendered irrelevant when integrating optical, chemical, or computational analyses. Conversely, computer scientists eagerly apply their methodologies to tangible research questions, while natural scientists focus on both the physical aspects of written artefacts and their digital representations. Such collaborative efforts are essential for meaningful advances in studying ancient scripts. This workshop aims to convene specialists from these varied backgrounds, targeting professionals in computer and natural sciences, as well as humanists. Our objective is to facilitate the presentation of completed, or ongoing projects, fostering in-depth discussions. This convergence of diverse expertise not only addresses specific research queries on ancient manuscripts but also enhances the broader understanding and public accessibility of these cultural heritage treasures, enriching society as a whole.

Topics of Interest

• Handwriting Style Analysis and Classification
• Hand-made Pattern Detection and Recognition
• Writer Identification and Retrieval
• Analysis of Writing Components (clusterings, measurement, classification)
• Manuscript clustering according to measurement of key features in scripts and layout
• Reconstruction of damaged Handwriting (e.g. damaged characters or words)
• Material analysis leading to handwriting recognition and/or visibility enhancement
• Best practices with respect to digitisation and preprocessing of manuscript
• Reconstruction of writing processes
• Provenance studies
• Dating terminus post quem
• Layout analysis
• Quantitative methods applied to Paleography
• Software tools designed for paleography
• Virtual Research Environments, Virtual Libraries and annotated corpora supporting paleographical research (e.g. IIIF-based)
• NLP applied to digitized images (and not already existing transcriptions) and/or leading to better understanding of the written elements

Submission Guidelines

The IWCP 2024 welcomes the submission of original, previously unpublished work that is relevant to the Topics of this workshop. Submitted papers will be peer-reviewed and accepted submissions will be presented in the workshop and published with ICDAR proceedings in the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series. By submitting a paper to this Workshop all authors implicitly agree to be bound by the ​IAPR Ethical Requirements for Authors​​.

Abstracts from on-going projects presenting preliminary, mid-term or pilot data are welcome. New projects based on challenging or sensitive (unpublished) corpora can submit an abstract that may, upon discussion, be published or integrated in the Workshop Final Report.

Participants can choose between two formats:

• A full-paper in the range of 10 – 15 pages (not including references) in Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) format and a presentation. Full papers should be original, previously unpublished work that is relevant to the Topics of this workshop;
• An abstract (1 page) and a short presentation for new projects based on challenging material, research questions requiring interdisciplinary collaborations, on-going projects presenting datasets and final or preliminary results. Please note that this kind of submission will not allow the publication of a paper in the proceedings;
• Discussion Topic: Provide a description (maximum 1 page) of a challenging topic you would like to lead the discussion on. The topic should be clearly related to one of the workshop's topics of interest and precisely described (e.g., why is it challenging? Why is it relevant now?). It should be accompanied by one to three explicit questions that you would like to address.

Papers should be formatted according to the instructions and style files provided by Springer. The LaTeX template for LNCS can be downloaded here. It is also available on Overleaf.

Papers accepted for the conference will be allocated up to 15 pages (usually not counting references) in the proceedings. Submissions are expected to be in the range of 10-15 pages. Full paper submissions will be managed via Easychair and undergo a single blind review by the members of the Program Committee.

Submission link for full papers: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iwcp2024

Abstract submissions are limited to one page each, and should be sent directly as PDF via email to the Workshop Chairs.

Organizing committee

• Isabelle Marthot-Santaniello, Universität Basel, Basel, Switzerland
• Hussein Mohammed, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Publication

IWCP2024 proceedings will be published by Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series.

Venue

The conference will be held in Grand Hyatt Athens Hotel, Athens, Greece.

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to  Dr Isabelle Marthot-Santaniello and Dr Hussein Mohammed.