Using AI technology to build a digital archive

• In Event: Digital Innovations and the State of the Field

Abstract

When faced with a tremendous amount of content, how can you approach building out a digital archive? Even with resources to hire researchers and transcribers, how long will it take and are you willing to wait? This paper will present the challenges of building out Gratz College’s new Grayzel digital platform, which will house the papers of Elie Wiesel, the correspondence of Rebecca Gratz, the Gratz Holocaust Oral History Archive, the papers of Lena Allen-Shore Papers, and the Eric Mandell German Music Collection.

Where is the work of specialized content experts and graduate students needed, and where can we use AI technologies to be more efficient with both time and resources? Grayzel will utilize handwriting recognition technology (HRT), OpenAI audio transcription services, and AI collected metadata. How do we go about doing these things? What are the specific technologies and software to use? What are the challenges and advantages associated with both?

Author

• Alison Joseph, Gratz College