> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://medievalbook.gitbook.io/digitizing-medieval-archives/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://medievalbook.gitbook.io/digitizing-medieval-archives/week-6/handwriting-analysis-tool-hat.md). # Handwriting Analysis Tools The field of computational palaeography has been developing for decades but it only recently starting to show some real promise. Some very good online articles are: * [« Digital palaeography : using the digital representation of medieval script to support palaeographic analysis »](http://www.menestrel.fr/Digital%20palaeography:%20using%20the%20digital%20representation%20of%20medieval%20script%20to%20support%20palaeographic%20analysis), by Arianna Ciula, Digital Medievalist 1 (2005). * [« Clustering of Medieval Scripts through Computer Image Analysis : Towards an Evaluation Protocol »](https://doi.org/10.16995/dm.61), par Dominique Stutzmann, Digital Medievalist 10 (4 juin 2016). * [« Artificial Paleography : Computational Approaches to Identifying Script Types in Medieval Manuscripts »](https://doi.org/10.1086/694112), by Mike Kestemont, Vincent Christlein, and Dominique Stutzmann, Speculum 92, no S1 (2 octobre 2017): 86‑109. Here are some other tools you can use to play with manuscripts and their scripts: ### Archetype Ink As it describes itself on its [Twitter bio](https://twitter.com/archetype_ink), Archetype (previously DigiPal) is "an integrated suite of web-based, open source tools for the study of medieval handwriting, art and iconography. The tool remains in development and though only an early version exists for Windows, a stable version exists for Mac and Ubuntu/ Linux. You install the program via Docker. [Here](https://hub.docker.com/r/kingsdigitallab/archetype/?ref=login) are instructions about how to do so and how to get started; more documentation on their [Github site](https://github.com/kcl-ddh/digipal/wiki). The tool is designed to identify letter forms, compare them, and allow you to pinpoint key features you can use to identify scripts. ### HAT-2 One [promising project](https://www.manuscript-cultures.uni-hamburg.de/hat_e.html) is being worked on at the [Centre for the study of Manuscript Cultures](https://www.manuscript-cultures.uni-hamburg.de/lab_e.html) at the University of Hamburg (Germany). As it describes itself in the manual, HAT-2 is "a software tool that can be used to analyse handwriting styles. Several different handwriting styles (scribal hands) can be analysed concurrently and sorted according to their similarity to a questioned or unknown style (query). A similarity score will be calculated for each predefined style (scribal hand) to create a relative comparison between them with respect to an unknown style." You can download the installation file [here](http://www.manuscript-cultures.uni-hamburg.de/hat/Handwriting_Analysis_Tool%202_HAT_2.zip). This tool is designed for use on Windows computers, but can be used on a MacOS via a virtual machine or [Wine](https://www.winehq.org/). The manual with instructions for set up and how to use the tool is located in the zipfile. You can find a very dense and complex explanation of the work underlying the Handwriting Analysis Tool (HAT) here: [H. Mohammed, V. Märgner, T. Konidaris, and H. S. Stiehl, “Normalised local näive bayes nearest-neighbour classifier for offline writer identification”, in 2017 14th IAPR International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR). *IEEE*, 2017, pp. 1013–1018.](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8270099/) --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://medievalbook.gitbook.io/digitizing-medieval-archives/week-6/handwriting-analysis-tool-hat.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.