Start of funding 01.01.2021

AI in DH: Designing and Developing Machine Learning Tools for the (Digital) Humanities

Prof. Dr. Andreas Maier
Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Computer Science Department 5 - Pattern Recognition Lab

Prof. Dr. Peter Bell
Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Philosophische Fakultät - Kunstgeschichte

Prof. Dr. Fabian Offert
University of California, Santa Barbara
Humanities and Fine Arts



Machine learning has only very recently become a focus of research in the (digital) humanities but has already shown its significant potential for the exploration of large-scale corpora of cultural data, the preservation of cultural heritage, and the analysis of historical artifacts. Both in Europe and North America, however, cultural heritage institutions and academic research have started to explore machine learning independently, leading to often idiosyncratic solutions to common problems. In the "AI and DH" project, Californian and Bavarian institutions will collaborate to identify and tackle some of these common problems, particularly in the space of image retrieval. Image retrieval is one of the core practical problems in digital art history and neighboring disciplines, and also affects GLAM institutions like digital image archives and museums. The project will establish common standards for image retrieval problems across disciplines, consolidating long-established approaches in computer science with the unique affordances of cultural heritage data.