The Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica owns the largest collection of Han wooden slips in the country; throughout the years, it has accumulated a large number of digital archives achievements. On the existing basis of the institute’s Edsen-Gol wooden slips digitized contents and the “Han Wooden Slips Database,” the project will further explore the structure and information technology of open source databases and attempt to transform the traditional digital archive system to an open platform digital humanities system. The development of the “Wooden Slips Character Dictionary” is expected to enhance the interoperability of digitized resources of wooden slips and become a leading model of open source databases. The institute aims to carry out the project by working with ASCDC and with Japan’s most iconic wooden slips excavation and collection agency, Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties.

The duration of the “Wooden Slips Character Dictionary” Development Project is three years. The project goals include:
1. Explore international standards related to the “Wooden Slips Character Dictionary.”
2. Adapt Linked Open Data (LOD) technology and International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) standards to facilitate wooden slips research.
3. Develop an optical character auto-positioning and annotation model to establish a system that includes reverse image search, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and automatic interpretation functions.
4. Explore the feasibility of developing automatic recognition and annotation of wooden slips’ attributes based on prior attribute annotations.
5. Share digital resources among agencies and strengthen international exchange and cooperation. The first year of this project mainly focused on the development of the core technology of the “Wooden Slips Character Dictionary” and designing the interface. The second year will continue the improvement of the system structure through constructing mass data and manual regulation which will stabilize the character auto-positioning and annotation model. The database will also integrate data sharing mechanisms, and gradually meet the goal of joint search among international cooperating agencies.