The Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library(deadseascrolls.org.il)
deadseascrolls.org.il
The Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
http://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/
6 comments
The last episode of "60 Minutes" included a segment on the Vatican library, with its millions of unique and irreplaceable books. It's just too awful to contemplate the loss if the building were lost in some disaster.
Why isn't there a program to digitize all of it? Sure, it'll take decades, but every treasure digitized is one that won't be lost. It doesn't have to be imaged with the finest scanners available, even just a cheap digital camera is enough to record the information for posterity. And, it's the information that matters, not the physical books.
Why isn't there a program to digitize all of it? Sure, it'll take decades, but every treasure digitized is one that won't be lost. It doesn't have to be imaged with the finest scanners available, even just a cheap digital camera is enough to record the information for posterity. And, it's the information that matters, not the physical books.
I'm not sure if they are working on it, but for example many Hebrew manuscripts in Vatican (http://www.scribd.com/doc/27128629/Hebrew-Manuscripts-in-the...
) became available as microfilms for the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts (http://jnul.huji.ac.il/imhm/)
At least some part of them were going to be digitized (see http://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLI/English/library/news/Pages/d... ).
At least some part of them were going to be digitized (see http://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLI/English/library/news/Pages/d... ).
This project is fully backed by Google.
Google seems to invest a lot in preserving and digitizing our history and we must thanks them for that.
Perhaps it is part of their mission of "Organizing the world 's knowledge"
See more projects at http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/#!home:page=1
Google seems to invest a lot in preserving and digitizing our history and we must thanks them for that.
Perhaps it is part of their mission of "Organizing the world 's knowledge"
See more projects at http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/#!home:page=1
Israel Antiquities Authority? +1
Step 1: Learn to read Greek.
Most of the sources are in Hebrew and Aramaic. Though I couldn't find the transcription of the scrolls there. It could be very useful to place it right there on the site.
They have a few featured ones that have been translated into English. Either way I find this incredible, to think these ancient scrolls will be stored digitally forever into the future.
While I think this is very cool, what makes you think the digital realm will last longer than the physical scrolls?
Just recently it was considered major digital archaeology when Jordan Mechner went on his expedition to recover the source of Prince of Persia. That was only 25-30 years old.
Just recently it was considered major digital archaeology when Jordan Mechner went on his expedition to recover the source of Prince of Persia. That was only 25-30 years old.
For as long as they're useful to academics who want to study the Dead Sea Scrolls or as long as they're considered a valuable cultural artefact, they'll be converted to whatever new formats become used. The same applies, pretty much, to the actual Dead Sea Scrolls as well - as long as people want them to continue existing, they'll be preserved, but without being actively looked after, they're likely to decay as well.
The main benefit of it is universal access. Also, making backup of digital storage is way easier than preserving original copies.
Actually, according to Wikipedia, they are written in several languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Nabataean.
What a worthless site. I searched for "gun", "homeschooling" and "gay marriage" but nothing came up.
One of the scrolls says "A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind."