the-bible-and-the-dead-sea-scrolls

4 DIGITAL MIRACLES
inexpensive high-resolution sensors based on charge-coupled devices (CCDs)
are now quite common, and the number of picture elements (pixels) of
these sensors is now sufficiently large to create high-resolution images.
Also, computer technology has advanced to the point where users now
have access to notebook computers whose capabilities would have challenged
the mainframe computers of only a few years ago. Part of the reason
is advances in the technology for data storage. Magnetic and optical
storage technologies are such that it is common for a notebook computer
to have one hundred times the storage capacity of a 5-year-old desktop
personal computer. Of course, that same technology introduced commensurate
advances in the capabilities of larger computers, as well.
Desktop computer workstations combined with new imaging algorithms
allow very large images to be enhanced, combined, segmented, and otherwise
processed very rapidly. Other advances in the peripheral technology
for computer networking has had very significant impact on the
imaging industry. Use of the Internet for transmitting messages and
images is now commonplace, though it did not exist in 1990.
These advances in computing and imaging devices have opened an
exciting new window for scholars of ancient texts. It is now possible to
assemble a complete multispectral digital image gathering and processing
laboratory in a single suitcase. This laboratory may be carried to an
archaeological site or repository of documents for creation and processing
of images at the site of actual documents.
OUR COLLABORATION
The genesis of our work in this field grew out of the interests of Robert
Johnston, an archaeologist and one of the authors of this essay. During a
visit to Jerusalem and Qumran in 1992, Johnston met Emanuel Tov at
the Albright Institute, who described the many problems facing translators
of the various Dead Sea Scrolls as they struggled to reclaim additional
characters from degraded texts. Tov presented the challenge to
make more characters visible. This has become our mission and goal.
Upon returning to the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science
in Rochester, New York, Johnston shared these ideas with a number of
colleagues, including Roger Easton, whose background is in astronomy,
optics, and digital processing for image enhancement and clarification.
Easton had earlier collaborated on research in digital imaging with Keith
Knox, Principal Scientist at the Xerox Digital Imaging Technology Center