Brill and BA Collaborate in Boosting Arabic Digitization at Leiden
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In the framework of celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Leiden chair of Arabic, Brill has approached the BA to conduct a training workshop on digitizing Arabic text, sponsored by and held at Brill publishing house in Leiden, the Netherlands. The celebration commemorates the establishment of Leiden chair of Arabic in 1613, which aimed to reintroduce Arabic culture, science, and language to people working and living in Leiden and elsewhere. The Workshop will be held in mid-February, and it will bring together multinational participants from Beirut, Istanbul, Tunis, Morocco, Sarajevo, St Petersburg, and other European libraries and institutes.
The sponsorship of this workshop is an extension of Brill’s rich quest to endorse the publishing of Arabic and Middle Eastern cultural content, which has been of significant interest among Brill’s publishing portfolio since 1683. Brill has published several titles featuring the Middle East and Egypt, as well as some titles featuring Islamic Studies, such as the Encyclopedia of Islam and Middle East manuscripts.
Being the ambassador of digitally promoting Arabic language, the BA is keen to participate in this initiative that falls in-line with its own mission and brings its well-forged expertise in the field of digitizing Arabic text into action. During the Workshop, participants will be introduced to the latest digitization techniques developed at the BA through sessions on image processing and OCRing of Arabic texts, which will be complemented by hands-on practical training.
This workshop is one of a series of workshops on digitizing Arabic texts that have been provided by the BA since 2007 to many partners, including digitization specialists from Yale University, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), Municipal Administration Modernization Syrian team, and the American University of Beirut.
Brill is a leading publishing house with a rich history and strong international orientation. It was founded in 1683, Leiden, the Netherlands. Its publications focus on the domains of Humanities and Social Sciences, International Law, and selected scientific fields. Brill provides service to authors, readers, and the academic scientific research market, in addition to supplying a high-quality, wide range of professionally relevant literature to libraries and individual academics.