OpenRotuli

Structuring digital practices and fostering research into medieval scrolls

The OpenRotuli project aims to structure the production of digital data regarding medieval scroll manuscripts by developing FAIR practices around two objectives: 

1. a methodological kit for cataloguing and codicological description of scrolls (with the help of a thesaurus);
2. a better structuring of digital images of scrolls and an adaptation of their visualization within the framework of the IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) protocol, through:
   1. digital structuring of the images,
   2. IIIF annotations linked to the intellectual sequencing of the rolls (membranes or sections),
   3. and adaptation of their visualization (improved reading and referencing). 

A vademecum will formalize the methodology for digitizing, processing and displaying rolls, in particular by detailing the use of IIIF standards. 

The test corpus will include lists of vassals, inventories of charters and mortuary rolls preserved in France, and will be included into the Biblissima+ portal. 

These projects, conceived in the spirit of open science, aim to stimulate new research on scrolls, but also to value them as patrimonial objects, by making them known through mediation operations (virtual exhibitions).