This talk offers a critical exploration of Arabic paleography at the intersection of traditional analysis and digital innovation. It reflects on both the field’s advancements and the challenges it has yet to overcome, particularly the lack of a systemic and standardized descriptive framework adapted to the specificities of Arabic script. Despite the long-standing scholarly interest in Arabic calligraphy, there remains a pressing need to develop comprehensive models that account for its typological diversity and historical evolution.
We will examine the particular demands of describing Arabic scripts, including their structural complexity, the relationship between form and function and the presence of individual variation within established norms. This includes a reflection on the canonization of scripts, how certain styles became dominant and how these canons shifted across time and space.
The talk also highlights recent efforts in ontology engineering, which aim to formalize the conceptual and descriptive vocabulary of Arabic writing. These ontologies are essential not only for clarity and consistency in paleographic analysis but also for enabling semantic interoperability across digital platforms and scholarly communities.
Complementing these conceptual developments, we will survey a range of tools and methods that expand traditional approaches, from manual annotation platforms to machine learning and computational models for script classification and analysis. These methods open new avenues for large-scale, data-driven research in Arabic manuscript studies, allowing us to approach long-standing paleographic questions with renewed precision and scope.
Vortrag im Rahmen des „Digital History“-Forschungskolloquiums
Zeit: Mittwoch, 28. Mai 2025, 16-18 Uhr
Ort: Zoom-Konferenz (Zugang auf Anfrage oder via Mailingliste)
OpenEdition schlägt Ihnen vor, diesen Beitrag wie folgt zu zitieren:
Digital History Berlin (Redaktion) (26. Mai 2025). Riham Aida Mokrani: Manuscript Meets Model: Digital Approaches to Arabic Paleography. Digital History Berlin. Abgerufen am 20. Juni 2025 von https://doi.org/10.58079/140gj