Image classification, object detection and early modern prints: Possibilities and challenges of AI
FBK Aula Piccola
Fondazione Bruno Kessler - Polo delle Scienze Umane e sociali
Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) are triggering a disruptive transformation of our society, the full extent of which is currently difficult to gauge. They are changing our daily lives and influencing not only the way we engage with images, texts and objects from the past and present, as well as art-historical research. This is because computational methods, which rely heavily on processing power and are increasingly driven by large language models and, more recently, by multimodal large language models, have the potential to accelerate and expand a wide range of processes.
The lecture examines these processes in the light of the findings of the project “Ottoman Nature in Travelogues: A Digital Analysis, 1501–1850” (ONiT), which was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF: P 35245). Experts in history, art history, library and information science, computer science and Ottoman studies from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the AIT – Austrian Institute of Technology, the Austrian National Library and Marmara University explored the potential of artificial intelligence to identify, categorise and analyse images and texts related to the theme of ‘nature’ (including flora, fauna, landscapes and maps) in printed travel accounts about the Ottoman Empire.
Doris Gruber | Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Seminar cycle: “AI and history“
Organization:
Federico Mazzini (Università degli Studi di Padova)
Andrea Pojer (Università di Trento – FBK-ISIG)
Massimo Rospocher (FBK-ISIG)
Sandra Toffolo (FBK-ISIG)
ISIG is accredited or qualified to provide training for school staff in Trentino.
The talk will be held in English.
The presentation will be in-person in the FBK Aula Piccola while seats last and online.
Registration is mandatory by 19 June 2026 at noon.
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Image: AdobeStock_1037404632
Speakers
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Doris Gruber - SpeakerÖsterreichische Akademie der WissenschaftenDoris Gruber’s research explores the relationship between knowledge and media change in the early modern period and how digital and computational methods can be employed to gain new insights. After studying art history and history at the University of Graz and at Sciences Po Paris, she completed her PhD with honours in 2018. Since then, she has held a research scholarship at the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel, worked as a senior researcher at the Paris Lodron University Salzburg and was part of the projects "Travelogues – A Computational Analysis" as well as "Ottoman Nature in Travelogues, 1501–1850" (ONiT) at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, where she now acts as head of research unit art history at the Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies. Her work has appeared with various international publishers and has won multiple awards.
Registration
Registration to this event is mandatory.
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Organizers
The initiative was also realized thanks to the contribution of "Direzione generale Educazione, ricerca e istituti culturali" of the Ministry of Culture.