1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:04,000 At the Technical University of Valencia they are working 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,000 in a computer with the ability to convert ancient manuscripts 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,000 into digital books. 4 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,000 There are millions of these manuscripts which are waiting to be transcribed 5 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:16,000 but, so far, it could only be done manually and it was very costly. 6 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,000 And, be warned! that some of these manuscripts might contain 7 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:24,000 information as valuable as the location of treasure laden sunken galleons. 8 00:00:25,459 --> 00:00:28,446 The middle age monks, such as those in the film "The Name of the Rose", 9 00:00:28,446 --> 00:00:32,000 would said that this is Devil's Work, but the persons working in this project 10 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:33,949 are researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. 11 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,000 They scan ancient books like this one, 12 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,000 but since they are hand written, so far, 13 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,849 computers can not recognize the books, considering them just as a drawings. 14 00:00:41,949 --> 00:00:44,355 Now these Valencian computer scientists 15 00:00:44,455 --> 00:00:46,775 are training the computers to transcribe ancients texts. 16 00:00:47,083 --> 00:00:49,647 And, most interestingly, like they were intelligent beings, 17 00:00:49,747 --> 00:00:55,433 as errors are being corrected, over the screen, they learn and correct the errors. 18 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:58,000 The interaction allows, on the one hand, 19 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:02,000 to make the transcription process more ergonomic 20 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:06,000 and more friendly to the transcriber and, 21 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:07,905 on the other hand, to save human effort. 22 00:01:08,005 --> 00:01:11,000 Today, the transcription of these books is extremely expensive. 23 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,000 It is carried out by specialists on paleography 24 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,000 and it can take more than one month to transcribe one of these manuscripts. 25 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,000 On The Valencian Community, there are tens of thousands of manuscript books, 26 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,000 and all over Spain there are millions, 27 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,000 and to transcribe them is a hard task; 28 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:27,162 at least half an hour per page. 29 00:01:27,983 --> 00:01:30,000 In one year, this system could start being used 30 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,000 in specialized centers as The Valencian Library. 31 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:37,000 With such an application, the transcription will be done automatically or simultaneously, 32 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:40,000 and the process of book cataloging would be very much faster. 33 00:01:40,133 --> 00:01:44,000 And this project is not only interesting for researchers and librarians, 34 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:48,111 the very treasure hunters are interested in this computer tool, 35 00:01:48,223 --> 00:01:50,325 because it is calculated that, only into the Spanish Indian Archives, 36 00:01:50,425 --> 00:01:54,572 there is information about the locations of around 500 galleon wrecks, 37 00:01:54,672 --> 00:01:56,000 filled with treasures.