Universiteit Leiden

nl en
Student website Media Technology (MSc)

Lecture

Connecting Dutch colonial sources with AI

Date
Tuesday 14 April 2026
Time
Address
Johan Huizinga
Doelensteeg 16
2311 VL Leiden
Room
Digital Lab, Huizinga 0.09

Connecting Dutch colonial sources with AI


In this lunch talk, Johan Visser introduces the innovative research platform dutchtatlanticsources.com. DAS is a digital humanities project that brings together early modern sources on the Dutch Atlantic world.

Image: Dutch Atlantic Sources (Beta) Homepage - Johan Visser
Image: Dutch Atlantic Sources (Beta) Homepage - Johan Visser


The DAS platform currently contains around 15,000 sources, based on approximately 150,000 scans and more than 40 million words. It was created by collaborating with many archival institutions, libraries and museums. Thousands of scans have been transcribed with Handwritten Text Recognition software (Loghi) on the computers of the Digital Lab. GenAI was used for creating metadata, before human evaluation.

During the session, the current beta version will be demonstrated, highlighting how digital methods can help connect dispersed archival collections and open new possibilities for research in early modern and colonial history.

 

Registration, join us in the Digital Lab, Huizinga 0.09 or Online:

Sign up here:
This website uses cookies.  More information.