The Europa Inventa database of medieval manuscripts in Australia, originally developed by NEER, is part of a major new international initiative known as Manuscripts Online.

MANUSCRIPTS ONLINE: Written Culture 1000 to 1500

Manuscripts Online is a new service which will enable users to search an enormous body of online primary resources relating to written and early culture in Britain during the period 1000 to 1500.

A single search engine will enable users to undertake sophisticated full-text searching of literary manuscripts, historical documents and early printed books which are located on websites owned by libraries, archives, universities and publishers. Users will be able to search the resources by keyword, but also by specific keyword types, such as person and place name, date and language (e.g. Middle English, Latin and Anglo-Norman), thanks to a technique called automated entity recognition. Additionally, users will be able to visualise search results using maps of medieval Britain and create their own annotations to the data for public consumption.

Manuscripts Online is funded by the JISC and supported by the Humanities Research Institute at the University of Sheffield and specialists in medieval studies at the universities of Leicester, Birmingham, Glasgow, York and Queen’s University Belfast.

Manuscripts Online is expected to be launched in January 2013.

GET IN TOUCH AND SHARE YOUR VIEWS

Federated searching using such a wide range of electronic resources has not been attempted before and naturally poses practical and intellectual challenges. Be part of the debate and join the discussion!

Project Blog: http://manuscriptsonline.wordpress.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/MedMSSO
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Manuscripts-Online/227994707285229