Indiscapes: Instance Segmentation Networks for Layout Parsing of Historical Indic Manuscripts

Historical palm-leaf manuscript and early paper documents from Indian subcontinent form an important part of the world's literary and cultural heritage. Despite their importance, large-scale annotated Indic manuscript image datasets do not exist. To address this deficiency, we introduce Indiscapes, the first ever dataset with multi-regional layout annotations for historical Indic manuscripts. To address the challenge of large diversity in scripts and presence of dense, irregular layout elements (e.g. text lines, pictures, multiple documents per image), we adapt a Fully Convolutional Deep Neural Network architecture for fully automatic, instance-level spatial layout parsing of manuscript images. We demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed architecture on images from the Indiscapes dataset. For annotation flexibility and keeping the non-technical nature of domain experts in mind, we also contribute a custom, web-based GUI annotation tool and a dashboard-style analytics portal. Overall, our contributions set the stage for enabling downstream applications such as OCR and word-spotting in historical Indic manuscripts at scale.Comment: Oral presentation at International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR) - 2019. For dataset, pre-trained networks and additional details, visit project page at http://ihdia.iiit.ac.in

AKSALont: Aplikasi transliterasi aksara Lontar Bali dengan model LSTM

This study aims to develop an automatic transliteration application for the Balinese palm leaf manuscripts into the Latin/Roman alphabet. The input for this system is the digital image of the original text from the ancient Balinese palm leaf manuscripts, not from the Balinese script, which is printed using a font on a computer. In this study, a segmentation-free transliteration machine using the LSTM model was implemented. In addition, the implementation of the AKSALont application is carried out for the interactions on a web-based platform using cross-platform interoperability. The experimental results show that the machine can transliterate Balinese characters on the Balinese palm-leaf manuscript images properly with a CER of 19.78 % using 10.475 test data. With a web-based online platform, AKSALont has been able to open wider access for the public to the web-based content with an online platform collection.Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk membangun sebuah aplikasi transliterasi aksara Lontar Bali menuju alfabet Latin/Romawi. Citra aksara Lontar Bali yang menjadi masukan bagi sistem ini adalah citra aksara Lontar Bali dari teks yang tertulis pada citra digital dari naskah kuno asli dari Lontar Bali, bukan dari aksara Bali yang tercetak dengan menggunakan font pada komputer. Mesin transliterasi menggunakan model LSTM sehingga proses transliterasi dapat dilakukan tanpa melalui proses segmentasi glyph. Selain itu, dilakukan perancangan dan implementasi interaksi aplikasi AKSALont pada platform berbasis web menggunakan metode interoperabilitas antar platform. Hasil eksperimen menunjukkan bahwa mesin transliterasi yang dibangun sudah menunjukkan kemampuan untuk melakukan transliterasi aksara Bali pada citra Lontar Bali dengan benar dan memiliki CER 19,78 % pada 10.475 data uji. Aplikasi AKSALont yang berbasis web dengan platform daring telah dapat membuka akses yang lebih meluas bagi masyarakat terhadap konten koleksi Lontar Bali

CURATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE THROUGH LIBRARIES

Libraries, museums and archives hold valuable collections in a variety of media, presenting a vast body of knowledge rooted in the history of human civilisation. These form the repository of the wisdom of great works by thinkers of past and the present. The holdings of these institutions are priceless heritage of the mankind as they preserve documents, ideas, and the oral and written records. To value the cultural heritage and to care for it as a treasure bequeathed to us by our ancestors is the major responsibility of libraries. The past records constitute a natural resource and are indispensable to the present generation as well as to the generations to come. Libraries preserve the documentary heritage resources for which they are primarily responsible. Any loss of such materials is simply irreplaceable. Therefore, preserving this intellectual, cultural heritage becomes not only the academic commitment but also the moral responsibility of the librarians/information scientists, who are in charge of these repositories. The high quality of the papers and the discussion represent the thinking and experience of experts in their particular fields. The contributed papers also relate to the methodology used in libraries in Asia to provide access to manuscripts and cultural heritage. The volume discusses best practices in Knowledge preservation and how to collaborate and preserve the culture. The book also deals with manuscript and archives issues in the digital era. The approach of this book is concise, comprehensively, covering all major aspects of preservation and conservation through libraries. The readership of the book is not just limited to library and information science professionals, but also for those involved in conservation, preservation, restoration or other related disciplines. The book will be useful for librarians, archivists and conservators. We thank the Sunan Kalijaga University, Special Libraries Association- Asian Chapter for their trust and their constant support, all the contributors for their submissions, the members of the Local and International Committee for their reviewing effort for making this publication possible

Revitalizing the library for the nation : proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Libraries, Information and Society held on 18-19 April 2019 at Hatten Hotel, Melaka

Organised by: Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya and University of Malaya Library

The Siren of Cirebon: a tenth-century trading vessel lost in the Java Sea

This thesis examines data collected during the salvage of the cargo of a merchant ves-sel foundered in the Java Sea, by a short inscription in a fragment of a bowl and coins dat-ed to around 970 CE. The wreck’s position indicates that the ship was on her way to the island of Java; the verssel herself belongs into the so called ‘lashed-lug and doweled’, Western Austronesian (‘Malayo-Indonesian’) tradition of boat-building. The surviving cargo ranges from Chinese stonewares and Southeast Asian ceramics to Middle Eastern glassware, tin and lead from –proposedly– the Malay Archipelago, and a wide variety of “smaller finds”, most of which can be attributed to the broader area of the western Indian Ocean. The find palpably demonstrates the far-reaching and well-institutionalised trade rela-tions throughout early medieval Asia. It is often assumed that pre-modern Asian com-merce was largely organised in small-scale ventures, the so called “pedlar trade”, and a number of sources indicate structural features of the ships facilitating this commerce that could have supported such a “particularised” exchange. However, a critical assessment of the composition and distribution of the ship’s payload and a virtual reconstruction of the ship and her initial loading pattern reveal that the vessel’s ceramic cargo in all probability was not acquired, handled, and bound to be marketed as a particularised “peddling” ven-ture, but managed by a single authority. The huge amount of ceramics carried on the ves-sel raises questions regarding frequency, volume and modus operandi of maritime ex-changes in tenth-century Southeast Asia, implying that the ship’s tragic voyage was but an attempt at instituting a virtual monopoly in such trade

Determination of Destination Competitiveness: A Qualitative Analysis on Malaysiain Convention Torist

Despite extensive empirical research linking organizational capability and competitiveness in the context of manufacturing companies, little attention has focused on the service sector, particularly the convention tourism sector. Convention tourism represents a growing and most desirable segment in Asia’s tourism industry. Many host destinations recognize this high-yield market, thus making the competition in the segment greater. Foresee new opportunities for Malaysia to tap into the convention tourism sector, the identification of the industry’s competitive advantages becomes an important step towards successful development in Malaysia. Based on Porter’s Diamond model, this paper makes an assessment on the competitive advantages that affect the convention tourism sector. Using qualitative approach, the components are analyzed carefully, comparing the competition among the four key markets in Malaysia namely Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Sarawak, and Sabah. Through in-depth interviews with focal industry participants, the responses then have been analyzed using cross-case analysis and develop causal network modeling to visualize the linkages between the elements of convention tourism competitiveness. The results indicate that firm strategy, structure and rivalry; demand conditions; and related and supporting industries contribute to the competitiveness of convention tourism industry. The results also highlighted that factors related to qualified, well-trained human resources and locality access should be considered critically in order to boost the performance of the secto