Calfa joins the Time Machine Organization

Time Machine Organization (TMO) is the leading international organization for cooperation in technology, science and cultural heritage. The organization is involved in archiving, promoting and studying the local heritage, from handwritten documents to historic buildings, in several European cities; the most emblematic of which is the Venice Time Machine project conducted in recent years. Time Machine brings together public- and private-sector partners to develop technologies able to provide easy access to the general public to historical witnesses and to assist researchers in their projects.

Calfa is undertaking several initiatives for the written heritage simultaneously. Our text recognition technology allows for the multi-level analysis of handwritten documents and the building of new databases. For several years, we have been assisting libraries, public laboratories and private institutions in the processing of their collections, in Armenian, but also in Ancient Greek, Arabic Maghrebi or Syriac. In particular, Calfa is committed to support research , in order to accompany the institutions in the digitalization and valorization of their collections. Several projects are under way with the Fathers Mekhitarists of Venice for the creation of the catalogue of their manuscripts, with the BULAC for the recognition of their Arabic Maghrebi manuscripts, or our initiative for the creation of dictionaries for Armenian.

In joining Time Machine, we want to extend our commitment to cultural heritage preservation and to further our engagement for oriental and under-resourced languages, and notably for Armenian, for which there are important collections in Europe (Venice, Vienna, Paris, Berlin, etc.).