From Manuscript to Metadata: experiments on Handwritten Text Recognition, Tagging and Importation for the Memoriali series (1265-1452)

The paper describes the experiment of creating a tailored tagging system for the Memoriali – a series of notarial records produced in Bologna almost uninterruptedly between the second half of the 13th and first half of the 15th century – using the Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) software Transkribus. Product of the conjoint effort of the MemoBo project and Regesta.exe, the aim of this system is to facilitate the export of a specific set of information from these documents directly to a customised database on xDams. This tagging system explores a secondary feature of Transkribus, highlighting its potential and its limits for establishing a coherent workflow, which initiates with the application of ad hoc models for creating semi-automatic transcriptions of these late medieval notarial records and concludes with the exportation and proper placement of their data inside our xDams database.