Using AI To Shed Light On Vital Narratives With The HistoryMakers

Digital Transitions is proud to announce that its service division, Pixel Acuity, will be presenting with The HistoryMakers at AMIA’s Digital Asset Symposium on March 30, 2022.

“A Case Study on Using Artificial Intelligence & Preservation – Enhancing Digital Assets and Shedding Light on Vital Narratives.”

The HistoryMakers is an organization that documents and promotes stories of influential African Americans in order to create a more inclusive record of American history. Although The HistoryMakers has been recording oral histories of these notable individuals since 2000, they have recently turned their attention toward creating a holistic digital repository that leverages digital images of their HistoryMakers personal collections and utilizes artificial intelligence applications to create descriptive metadata for collections where there was previously little to no information of this kind available. Not only is this groundbreaking work for image analysis through AI in the Heritage field but it is also important work, revitalizing the collections and stories of these HistoryMakers.

The HistoryMakers partnered with Digital Transitions to digitize the personal collections of their HistoryMakers, starting with a pilot project that focused on the personal collection of African American singer and actress Etta Moten and her husband Claude Barnette, founder of the Associated Negro Press.  The partners at Digital Transitions have accumulated over half a century of hands-on experience digitizing cultural heritage in all its forms, from renowned collections both large and small. Digital Transitions’ Pixel Acuity services division specialists combined advanced technologies with adaptive workflows to preserve the various materials and historically relevant documents that highlight and contextualize the lives and careers of Etta Moten and Claude Barnette. The deep expertise held by Pixel Acuity is reflected in its advanced workflow software, which leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and a multivariate processing pipeline to deliver best-in-class optical character reading, metadata and deliverables.

This presentation will discuss the mission of The HistoryMakers, the contents of Etta Moten and Claude Barnett’s personal collection and it’s historical significance as well as the workflows used to preserve it and the technology applied to address the collection’s unique challenges. Together The HistoryMakers and Digital Transitions will discuss the importance of preservation, digitization, and a complete historical record as well as how artificial intelligence can augment that process.

Click here to to read about additional presentations at this event. 

AMIA’s Digital Asset Symposium, DAS highlights the digital technology side of the collections, workflows, and systems we work with as 21st century media professionals. DAS is taking place virtually on March 30th, 2022 from 9 AM to 2 PM PT. 

Register here to join us for the conference.