Tag: AI
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A Python Tool for Restoring Spatial Search to VLM Transcriptions
When Large Language Models (LLMs) began cleaning up optical character recognition (OCR) output, or when Vision Language Models (VLMs) bypassed OCR and transcribed page images directly, something improved for researchers but something else broke. The text itself became dramatically cleaner: proper reading order, accurate spelling, no hyphens fracturing words across line breaks (example: “Pythagoras” rendered…
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From Field Notes to Metadata: Exploring OCR and Chandra for MLP Workflows
By Chloë Farr and Kate Fryer The Mountain Legacy Project (MLP) is a group of passionate researchers who work with historic and modern mountain photographs to document landscape change over time. Repeat photography is central to this work. By returning to the same locations where historic survey photographs were taken MLP researchers can create visual…
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AI Project of Kula Fellow and UVic Librarian featured in EurekAlert!
A new feature story in EurekAlert! — a nonprofit platform focusing on scientific news run by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) — highlights a joint research project of Kula Fellow Chloë Farr and UVic’s Digital Preservation Librarian Corey Davis, focusing on the use of AI to unlock historical newspaper archives held…
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Mike Ananny on “Reckoning with Generative Artificial Intelligence”
Video now live on YouTube Kula is proud to co-present the 2026 Orion Lecture in Fine Arts with special speaker, Mike Ananny. When: March 19, 2026 Where: Phillip T. Young Recital Hall Faster than many predicted (or wanted), Generative Artificial Intelligence is upon us. It brings a mix of emotions, a shared sense of uncertainty…
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Visual Art Creation with AI Workshop: Autolume
Join us on Saturday, February 28, and Sunday, March 1, 2026, for a no-cost, two-day workshop using Autolume, a visual AI system created by SFU’s Metacreation Lab. Register here: https://libcal.uvic.ca/calendar/kula/autolume Generative AI tools have become increasingly visible in artistic practice, however most artists encounter AI through large-scale corporate platforms like Midjourney, Dall E 3, etc.…
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Notes from a Library AI Research Visit at the University of Alberta
I spent the first two weeks of 2026 visiting the University of Alberta (UofA) Digital Scholarship Centre (DSC) for an informal exploratory period focused on knowledge exchange and relationship-building. The goal was to share Kula & UVic Libraries’ work integrating and teaching GenAI in academic library/archive contexts, learn from UofA’s staff, researchers, and students, and…
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Making Scanned Data Tables Usable with AI
Back in October 2025, Nick Rochlin, our Science and Data Librarian, sent me a folder of scans of data tables typed in the 1980s. A student had contacted Nick asking if there was an automated way to convert their paper data tables into a format that would allow for computational analysis. There didn’t seem to be…
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Exploring AI integrations in Libraries & Archives
I’m Chloë Farr, the Kula: Library Futures Academy Graduate Student Fellow in AI. I hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Linguistics, and I am currently a PhD student in Computer Science at UVic. My background in humanities sometimes gives me some unique perspectives in Computer Science. Over the last few months, I’ve been deeply…
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AI & Research: Beyond the Hype
Kula: Libraries Futures Academy and the office of the Vice President Research & Innovation held an unconference & interdisciplinary forum to explore how emerging developments in AI are transforming UVic Research. The event attracted over 63 participants from across all disciplines on campus. The format included a mix of lightning talks and an “unconference” model,…