William Noel: Revealing the Lost Codex of Archimedes

Okay, I know I've mentioned TEDTalks before; I'm going to do so again. In light of today's class and in keeping with the discussion of digitization processes, I thought I'd bring to your attention a really interesting project on Book C of Archimedes. The project shows how digitization really offers new lenses to conduct scholarly research. The Walters Art Museum is committed to digitizing manuscripts, creating what he calls "the Web of Ancient Manuscript of the Future" which is open access.

The manuscript is interesting because Archimedes reused old parchment to write his works. Using digital technology, x-ray machines, and a particle accelerator, they were able to read the text beneath Archimedes' writing. It also allowed researchers to glean new insights into Archimedes' thought processes as well. You'll have to watch the video fully understand what I mean.

It's just another example of how digital technologies offer new ways to do further, more detailed, research on medieval manuscripts.  The end of the video also argues the case for institutions opening to the public their data under unrestricted licenses. He puts forth the question, why do people go to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa? The reason is because they already know her face and it's popular. People want to say they've seen the source image. Following that logic, institutions should release their collection to promote visibility and encourage visitors.

I tried to download the video and put it on here directly, but I couldn't do through the computers at the Inforum. So if the Youtube link below does not work, try the link directly to the TEDTalk given by William Noel on Revealing the Lost Codex of Archimedes: http://www.ted.com/talks/william_noel_revealing_the_lost_codex_of_archimedes.html