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DTSTART:20260903T200000Z
DTEND:20260903T213000Z
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SUMMARY:DH AI Lecture: Patricia Murrieta-Flores: Teaching machines to read the Conquest of America
DESCRIPTION:\nTeaching machines to read the Conquest of America: Unlocking 
 500 years of real data from the colonial archive with AI\n\n\n\nFor 
 centuries\, the history of colonial Latin America has been trapped in 
 fragile manuscripts that only a handful of specialists could read. This 
 lecture shows how new AI methods are finally teaching computers to read the 
 messy\, beautiful handwriting of the 16th to 18th centuries\, turning 
 millions of pages of colonial Spanish into searchable “real data” in a 
 matter of weeks instead of centuries. Drawing on projects in Mexican and 
 Spanish archives\, it will introduce calligraphy‑specific 
 handwriting-recognition models\, tools that map words onto places\, and new 
 language technologies that clean and standardise early modern Spanish while 
 preserving its historical accuracy. Beyond the technical breakthroughs\, 
 the talk asks what becomes visible when Indigenous communities\, enslaved 
 people\, traders\, healers\, and local officials emerge clearly from texts 
 that were previously inaccessible at scale. It will argue that opening 
 these archives is not just a scholarly achievement\, but a decolonial 
 intervention: it allows new stories to be told\, and supplies today’s 
 large AI models with voices and experiences from Latin America that have 
 been almost entirely missing so far. \n\n\n\nA historical archaeologist\, 
 Patricia Murrieta-Flores is a Distinguished Professor in Digital Humanities 
 and Artificial Intelligence at Tecnológico de Monterrey in México\, and a 
 Chair Professor at the History Department at Lancaster University\, United 
 Kingdom. She is an international reference in the application of artificial 
 intelligence for the analysis of colonial history and cultural heritage. 
 She has led multiple high-impact research projects funded by organizations 
 such as the ESRC\, AHRC\, NEH\, CONACyT\, and Schmidt Sciences\, 
 consolidating more than 20 international grants. She is a member of the 
 Royal Historical Society and has held global leadership positions\, 
 including Secretary of the Executive Board of ADHO. Her work has been 
 recognized with international awards and more than 70 publications in 
 high-impact scientific journals. In addition\, she advises top-tier 
 institutions such as multiple international research councils\, the Science 
 Museum in London\, and major research infrastructures across Europe.  
 \n\nThis event is free and open to all. It is brought to you by the 
 Institute for the Arts & Humanities\, in co-sponsorship with UVA Library DH 
 Center.\n
LOCATION:Wilson Hall 142
ORGANIZER;CN="Laura Miller":MAILTO:lam2c@virginia.edu
CATEGORIES:Digital Humanities, Scholars' Lab
CONTACT;CN="Laura Miller":MAILTO:lam2c@virginia.edu
STATUS:CONFIRMED
UID:LibCal-17344087
URL:https://cal.lib.virginia.edu/calendar/events/DHLectureMurrieta
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