SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

well those in Help-file format. At the present time Mr. John Rizk, is developing Coptic Word games using this medium. 4. Web publishing: In September of 1995, it became apparent that the Internet was a powerful tool to promote the objectives of the Society and to break the geographical bounds that has hampered the work of the Society for many years. We began by producing simple HTML documents and uploading them on server in Ohio, where we rented a Web space. Later on that year, we began publishing these documents using a web space provided by an Internet provider. Early in 1996, The Society was able to register a Domain Name "STSHENOUDA.COM" and began setting up a permanent Internet site. At this site we utilized such techniques as maps, forms, tables, Publishing Word documents utilizing the Microsoft Word Viewer. This last technique allowed us to publish Coptic lessons on the net that can be viewed and printed when the Coptic fonts are downloaded and installed. Future work will include animation, sound, and on-line search. 5. Image Digitizing: One of the major activities of the Society was the collection of Microfilm copies of Coptic manuscripts scattered around the world. To enhance the research value of such resources, it was necessary to convert these photographic frames into a digital medium, i.e. PC- format. This process has been available to users, however the price-tag was too high for our budget. Instead, we started to experiment with a more economical procedure just to see how it would take us. The system we experimented with consisted of three steps, as follows: a. Image Video Conversion b. Image Video Capture c. Image Processing In the first step the microfilm strip is placed in a special holder that is inserted in a camera that output the projected image as an NTSC signal. This signal is captured in the second step by use of

a video digitizing device. The would produce a digitized image in a JPEG-format, with 1500x1150 pixel resolution. In the third step, this JPEG image is processed with a graphics-program, where it is rotated 90 degrees and enhanced by sharpening the image twice. The image will eventually be archived on a CD. 6. Database Applications: Much of the work to be done in Coptic studies can be executed with the help of databases. This include manuscript search, text grammatical analysis, and topical as well as textual collation of Coptic texts. Publishing using PDF Format: In our quest for introducing the fruit of our activities, we found the Adobe Acrobat publishing format to be suitable for such a purpose. We found the capability of adding fonts to the PDF driver ver. 3.0 was particularly useful. This feature facilitated the publishing of Coptic texts without the need to distribute fonts to display them. Also the ability to include multimedia elements like sound and video as well as its search capability was very attractive. These features would prove useful in producing lessons with sound, dictionaries, liturgical texts, biblical texts, and other Coptic texts. There is also the possibility of producing interactive Coptic games in that format! The applications that we are planning at the present time include the publishing of bibliographies to aid researchers in Coptic Studies. This will be available on our website. The larger application that is being developed now is a Coptic CD that will include a modified and enhanced version of the texts that were previously produced. IV. Future Work: Further development and progress within the areas outlined above is a major part of the future work. This would include the compilation of a Coptic Paleography catalog, biblical concordances, and editions of more Coptic texts. There is also one particular area that the Society is interested in implementing; i.e. an Office Intranet. This Intranet will be designed to aid the users of the Coptic Center facilities in their research. Eventually, funds permitting, such

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

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