The Lithuanian State Historical Archives invite you to contribute to the "Transkribus" project

The Lithuanian State Historical Archives hosted two days of "Transkribus" training, led by Olof Karsvall and Karl-Magnus Johansson, specialists from the Swedish National Archives. They introduced participants to an artificial intelligence tool that helps convert hard-to-read handwritten texts into printed format.

This method makes it easier to access historical sources, especially those written in Ruthenian, Russian or Polish: such documents make up about 98 per cent of the archives, and they cover the period from the 15th century to the early 20th century.

Staff from various memory institutions took part in the training. Together they learned how to "teach the computer" to recognise Cyrillic characters and to transcribe old documents as accurately as possible. For the system to work smoothly, it needs to be continuously supplied with data.

The Swedish experience shows that "Transkribus" is simple to use and, most importantly, that it makes it possible to involve volunteers. The Lithuanian State Historical Archives therefore invite everyone who knows Russian, has computer skills and is interested in history to join this initiative as volunteers. It is meaningful work in which your help will certainly be useful.

More information is available here.