NEWS

2024.03.18

【Report】The AJI Book Launch for “Digital Islamicate Studies” was held!

On 14 March 2024, a book launch was held online for the book entitled “Digital Islamicate Studies” (Jimbun Shoin, 2024). The book is co-edited by Dr. Emiko SUNAGA(Project Research Fellow at the Uehiro Project for the Asian Research Library at the University of Tokyo Library System/visiting researcher at Ritsumeikan Asia-Japan Research Organization, Ritsumeikan University) and Professor Wakako KUMAKURA, Keio University.

The Islamic world is changing through digital transformation (DX), and the research environment for researchers has also evolved significantly over the past twenty years. As a new tool to connect the two changing worlds of research object and research environment, this book, consisting of nine chapters and nine case studies, has been compiled to incorporate digital humanities.

At the book launch, Dr. Sunaga began with an overview of the book and how it was put together, followed by a discussion of the importance of incorporating OCR (Automatic Character Recognition) and HTR (Handwritten Text Recognition) into Islamic Studies in Chapter 4.

Finally, methods of information gathering for those interested in the digital humanities were presented. During the Q&A session, questions were asked about the impact on other disciplines and the composition and trends of the digital humanities as a whole. On the issue of collecting and using materials, the awareness raising activities for collection and preservation combined with educational activities in the Digital Repository of Endangered and Affected Manuscripts in Southeast Asia (DREAMSEA) project were presented. We would like to thank all participants for their participation.