Computer Vision for Old Books: Open Research in the Digital Humanities

This talk will tell the story of Compositor, a database of over 1 million typographic ornaments that were used to decorate the pages of eighteenth-century books. I will describe how open research practices were embedded in the project from its inception ten years ago, and how the values of open research led to new collaborations, and spin-out projects, that might not otherwise have happened. I will also point to how open research practices are shaping the future of the project, and related research.