【Academic Trends】 Wuhan University Successfully Held a High-end Forum on "Activation and Utilization of Ancient Books in the Age of Digital Intelligence"

From April 21st to 23rd, 2023, the high-end forum "Activation and Utilization of Ancient Books in the Digital Age" was successfully held by the Cultural Heritage Intelligent Computing Laboratory of Wuhan University in collaboration with the Big Data Research Institute, College of Chinese Language and Literature, Institute of Ancient Books, School of Information Management, and Semantic Publishing and Knowledge Service Laboratory of the Press and Publication Administration of Wuhan University. Experts, scholars, and leaders from academia, libraries, and publishing houses gathered together to conduct in-depth exchanges and discussions on the topics of organizing and researching ancient books in the new era, publishing classic collections, and activating their utilization.

On the morning of the 22nd, the forum convened, and the first thematic discussion was held. The opening ceremony was presided over by Professor Cheng Yun from the College of Chinese Language and Literature at Wuhan University. Mr. Wu Guowu, Deputy Secretary General of National Committee for the Compilation and Research of Ancient Books of the Ministry of Education, Associate Professor of the Chinese Department at Peking University, Professor Yu Ting, Dean of the College of Chinese Language and Literature at Wuhan University, and Deputy Director Chen Shiyin of the Platform Office of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences delivered speeches respectively. The theme of the first session was "The Sorting and Research of Ancient Books in the Age of Digital Intelligence". Professor Wang Zhaopeng, Chair Professor of Humanities at Sichuan University, Professor Liu Shi, Dean of the School of Humanities at Tsinghua University, Yin Xiaolin, Dean of the Institute of Chinese Studies Communication at Capital Normal University, and Wu Guowu, Associate Professor of the Chinese Department at Peking University and Associate Professor Xu Lei from the School of Information Management at Wuhan University delivered reports titled "The Activation and Utilization of Ancient Books", "The Digital Turn of Bibliography and the Construction of Chinese Classical Knowledge Base", "A Preliminary Exploration of the Construction of Meta ancient Book Database", "The Digitalization Practice and Transformation Direction of Ancient Book Sorting and Research", and "The Activation and Utilization of Ancient Books in the Age of Digitalization" respectively. Professor Wang Zhaopeng explained the activation of ancient books in contemporary times from the dimensions of "three integrations" and "five activations", and analyzed the trend of digitization and knowledge-based ancient book literature. Professor Liu Shi, based on his own research and practice, proposed the concept of "digital transformation of philology" and "construction of Chinese classical knowledge base". Dean Yin Xiaolin, introduced the construction and application of the "Classic of Chinese Studies", and reiterated the importance of the original literature. Deputy Secretary General Wu Guowu called for the "digitization of ancient books", and suggested strengthening the utilization of existing achievements in ancient book sorting. Associate Professor Xu Lei mentioned that it is difficult to obtain the original ancient books, and proposed using relevant ancient books to study academic papers by integrating academic thinking and computer technology.

The theme of the second session is "Frontier Theory and Advanced Technology in the Activation and Utilization of Ancient Books". Professor Jin Lianwen from the School of Computer Science at South China University of Technology, Professor Wang Dongbo from the School of Information Management at Nanjing Agricultural University, Professor Zhou Rong from the Chinese Traditional Culture Center at Wuhan University, and Associate Professor Nan Jiangtao from the School of Literature at Capital Normal University, Postdoctoral fellow Zhang Yajing from the School of Literature at Wuhan University respectively delivered speeches on "Detection, Recognition, and Reading Order Understanding of Complex and Multi style Ancient Books", "Generative Pre training Model for Intelligent Information Processing of Ancient Books from the Perspective of SikuGPT Digital Humanities", "Academic Dimension of Activating and Utilizing Ancient Books", and "Protection, Sorting, and Utilization of Chinese Ancient Books in the New Era", “Report on the Construction of Classical Opera Text Analysis and Intelligent Reconstruction Platform - Taking Yuan Zaju as a Breakthrough”. The relevant reports provide new thinking on the technology and concept of activating ancient books from the perspectives of theory, specific technology, and platform construction.

The theme of the third session is "The Publishing, Reconstruction, and Collection of Ancient Books in the Age of Digital Intelligence". Hong Tao, General Manager of Zhonghua Bookstore Gu Lian Company, Wu Changqing, Vice President of Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, Professor Li Mingjie from the School of Information Management at Wuhan University, Ouyang Jian, a research librarian at the Library of Shanghai University of Foreign Languages, gave reports titled "Integrated Publishing of Ancient Book Sorting - Taking the Local Records as an Example", "Revitalizing Ancient Books - Ancient Book Digital Service Platform", "The Implementation Path of Digital Humanity in the Field of Traditional Ancient Book Sorting", and "Value Reconstruction in Digital Publishing of Ancient Books in the Age of Digital Intelligence". The third session focuses on how to activate and utilize ancient books with industrial thinking, and create corresponding value.

During the discussion, the attending experts discussed the "ancient book database", the digitization of popular literature and folk literature, the current status of digitization of ancient literature, as well as the realization of the value of ancient books at different levels, language model system training, so as to optimize the ancient book collation generation system to meet the needs of scholars and users, strengthen school enterprise cooperation to create a unified platform.

The attending experts also visited the Cultural Heritage Intelligent Computing Laboratory of Wuhan University. Experts and scholars highly appreciate Wuhan University's leading research in the field of digital humanities, as well as its efforts to integrate relevant disciplines in the laboratory to engage in organized research. They also look forward to the possibility of further in-depth cooperation in the future.