Archiving the Unicode Collections with the Script Encoding Initiative
Anushah Hossain, Staff Researcher
Linguistics
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The history of the Unicode Standard – a widely-used text standard – recently became publicly accessible through establishment of the Unicode Collections. These materials reflect the information-gathering, decision-making, and debates that went into the development of the Standard from the 1980s through the 2000s. This project invites RAs to work with the Script Encoding Initiative to help organize the hundreds of scans we have collected from the physical collections held at Stanford Libraries.
About the Script Encoding Initiative (SEI):
SEI is a project housed in the Dept of Linguistics at UC Berkeley, dedicated to the study and support of the world’s writing systems in digital spaces. Since its founding in 2002, it has worked closely with international standards bodies to establish support for over two-thirds of the scripts currently available for use. Its intermediary position between academia and industry has enabled close engagement with, and constructive critique of, the language technologies underpinning modern digital society.
Role: Primary tasks:
- Review previously scanned documents from the Unicode Collections and enter metadata into our online database
- Provide input to refine structure of the database
- Help update documentation to aid scholars seeking to access it
Beyond the practical experience of building a database, RAs will come to understand a critical substrate underlying all digital text and glimpse the fascinating debates behind how the world’s writing systems came to be represented on our screens. They will gain practice reading technical standards and ephemera as material for social and historical analyses. Depending on progress and interest, RAs may have the opportunity to do qualitative coding of the material and conduct their own analyses. Students may also have the opportunity to observe meetings of Unicode working groups and visit the Unicode Collections held at Stanford Libraries with the PI to collect additional scans.
Qualifications: Required:
- Close attention to detail
- Proactive communication
- Interest in writing systems and/or language technologies
Desired:
- Experience organizing and/or making use of archival materials
Hours: 3-5 hrs
Related website: https://sei.berkeley.edu
Digital Humanities and Data Science