Turning The Pages Test

Our Turning The Pages touch screen kiosk has finally arrived, and we have added a sample of 50 images from the koran as a test. It’s incredibly easy to use, and very impressive. The video below has a demonstration.

The Kiosk will be in the Historic Reading Room for the public to test. We will let everyone know when its ready, please do come in and try it out!

تجربة قلب الصفحات

مع استلام جهاز قلب الصفحات الكترونياً، قمنا بتحميل 50 صورة و ذلك كعينة ليتم تجربة البرنامج كما هو موضح فبما يلي

سيتم وضع الجهاز في غرفة التاريخ للمطالعة و ذلك لتمكين المهتميين من تجربته بأي وقت

Weighing in at…….

Using a special set of digital scales, where a pad was placed under the manuscript which is connected to a read out, we have finally been able to weigh the Koran. It came in at almost 52kg, or 8st 2lbs.

The scales only weigh up to 60kg, so it was almost topping the maximum.

الوزن

تم اخيرًا التمكن من وزن القراَن باستخدام ميزان خاص حيث تبين ان وزن القراَن يبلغ 52 كغم.

Media interest continues…

Media interest in the project is continuing: last week, project manager Carol, Middle Eastern Studies Librarian Paul, and photographer Jamie were interviewed for Deutsche Welle Radio, an English language German service.  On Friday, a team from Al Arabiya TV interviewed us. This service will go out across different stations in the Middle East. Hopefully, despite the current events in Egypt, this will raise awareness of the project, and gain the interest of Middle Eastern scholars. Also, in the next week or so, Reuters will be visiting us.

The Al Arabiya crew filming the Koran

 

استمرارالتغطية الاعلامية

تم تغطية المشروع اعلامياً منذ الاعلان عنه. حيث تم تغطيته من قبل تلفزيون بي بي سي و الراديو الالماني دويتش فيلي، بالاضافة الى قيام فريق من تلفزيون العربية باجراء مقابله سيتم بثها لعدد من القنوات العربية. و من المتوقع قيام رويترز باجراء مقابله مع المسووليين عن المشروع في  نهاية الاسبوع

Digitisation is complete.

The entire Koran has now been digitised. 944 images have been taken, edited and processed into 120mb Tiff files. From there, they have also been converted into PNG files that Turning the Pages requires to create the virtual book.

The work is far from over however! We are waiting for the 2 leaves that are held in the Chester Beatty Library. They are currently in the process of digitising these 2 leaves. Once this is complete, we will add the image in the right order before publishing.  Suzanne is creating the catalogue records to accompany the images.

الانتهاء من عملية النقل الالكتروني

تم الانتهاء من عملية نقل القراَن الكترونياً حيث تم التقاط 944 صورة رقمية و تعديلها و من ثم نقلها الى البرنامج  لتمكين قراءة القراَن عن طريق قلب الصفحات الكترونياً. مع العلم بأنه تبقى صفحتان في مكتبة  “شستر بيتي” يتم العمل عليهن حالياً

Macro Work

Now that the main photography of the Koran is complete, Christian is now looking much closer at some of the finer details on the pages of the manuscript. Using a 120mm macro lens, we can focus extremely closely, allowing us to get much greater detail. The image above is a great example of what we are able to achieve. Pigments are much more clear, and we can even see the cracks and fibers. Using techniques like this, scholars will be able to study the manuscript in even more detail. It will also hopefully enable us to get a much more specific date for the manuscript.

By using other special equipment, we are able to get detail that wouldn’t necessarily be apparent with the naked eye. By using a fiber optic light sheet, we can bring out the details in the structure of the paper. Combining the extremely high resolution of the camera, with the great macro optics of the lens, we are able to produce images of fantastic detail. Christian will be using the equipment through out the Koran, focusing on specific illumination, paper structures and the binding.

 

العمل الدقيق

بالاضافة الى الانتهاء من تصوير القراَن، تقوم الخبيره كريستيان بدراسة التفاصيل الدقيقة للنص من خلال استخدام عدسة 120 مم. الشيء الذي سيمكنها من دراسة كافة تفاصيل الحبرو الورق المستخدم و طريقة التجليد عن كثب.  و من المتوقع ان تساعد هذه الدراسة التفصيلية، التي لا نستطيع رؤيتها بالعين المجردة ، للتعرف على تاريخ المخطوط و تحديد مكونات الورق المستخدم. و باستخدام العدسة الدقيقة سيتمكن الخبراء من عرض صور مميزة لصفحات القراَن

Photography complete (almost)

This morning the initial photography of the pages was completed. 940 images now have to be cropped, checked and processed before we can upload them into Turning the Pages. We still have to photograph the front and rear boards, however this will be done in the studio, as the manuscript will need to be totally flat.

Christian will also use this week to go back through and take more detailed images of certain areas using a macro lens. One of the areas we will be photographing more closely is the small stamp on the first page. Doing this will hopefully assist scholars in dating the Koran. A closer look at the binding will also help.

On a lighter note, an image of us working has recently been used in the BBC magazine’s caption competition. You can see the winners and the other entries here.

الانتهاء من عملية التصوير(تقريباً

تم هذا الصباح الانتهاء من عملية التصوير و ذلك بتصوير و تحجيم 940 صفحة و من ثم تحميلها لبرنامج قلب الصفحات الالكتروني. اما تصوير الغلاف من الامام و الخلف سيتم بالاستديو و ذلك لضرورة ابقاء القراَن بشكل افقي

Rylands Centre for Heritage Imaging & Collection Care

The Koran of Kansuh al-Ghuri is being digitised by the Rylands Centre for Heritage Imaging & Collection Care (CHICC).  We also undertake external commissions so if you would like to take advantage of this service, please contact the CHICC team.  Details can be found on the project website or the project blog.

مركز رايلندز لتصوير التراث و الحفاظ عليه

تجري عملية ترقيم (التحميل الاكتروني) قراَن قانصوه الغوري في مركز رايلندز لتصوير التراث و الحفاظ عليه