Transkribus is a tool designed to support researchers who need to transcribe numerous handwritten documents as part of a research project.
We are excited to announce that we now offer access to Transkribus, a cutting-edge service designed for those who work with handwritten documents. Transkribus utilises advanced technology to recognize, transcribe, and search handwritten texts with remarkable accuracy. It currently has over 25,000 models that have been trained on handwriting, and you can also train the service to read the handwriting more accurately in the documents that you are transcribing.
The Library has purchased a Transkribus membership, which allows us to provide 15 researchers with access to membership benefits, such as prioritised processing of documents.
Do you have a research project that involves the need to transcribe handwritten documents or to generate new data and knowledge from handwritten documents? If the answer is yes, then the Copyright and Licensing Team in Libraries and Learning Resources would like to talk to you about your research and discuss if Transkribus would assist you. Please email the team directly at: copyright@contacts.bham.ac.uk
To train the service on an individual’s handwriting, you will normally have to train a model using 50 pages of their writing. The platform provides an intuitive interface for uploading scans or photos of handwritten documents, which Transkribus then analyses using AI-driven handwriting recognition.
Please note:
- Permission from the copyright owners will be required for materials that are in copyright.
- Due consideration should be given for materials that contain personal data, especially sensitive data.
Help and guidance on how to use this tool is available via the
Transkribus Help Center