Part of the reason those systems created these kinds of errors was that they were not created for historical research. However, looking at these errors from a historian’s lens allowed me to create a better solution for history. Additionally, I noticed that those systems had a tendency to repress those entities which appear only rarely in the corpus. Sometimes, the most valuable entities, the obscure people and the once-mentioned places, are the very heart of where historical discovery is found. Fixing the systemic problems, and surfacing these obscure entities, were my goals in creating my own solution.
By John Belshaw There are three reasons why anyone teaching or studying introductory history ought to be excited – or at least curious – about OpenTextbooks. First and foremost – and most likely to appeal to us cheapskate Canucks – is that they are free to use, order, assign, etc. By “free,” I mean, um, free. There is no charge… Read more »
By John Belshaw I had this ‘eureka’ moment in the barber’s chair. Well, I thought, if a book is like a railway line, heading in one direction from west to east, then an e-book is more like a mine elevator, heading from the surface into the depths, from top to bottom or, perhaps, from north to south. If that’s the… Read more »
Heritage organizations are continuously working to establish a digital presence and integrate digital tools into their collection management practices. Open source software can be a huge benefit for an organization with a limited technology budget.
