Information technology and culture: Notebook of Leonardo and other priceless artifacts digitized by the British Library

The British Library has been digitizing some of its prize pieces and they announced a new round of six artifacts had been completed including Beowulf, a gold-ink penned Gospel, and one of Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks.

"Each of these six manuscripts is a true splendor, and has immense significance in its respective field, whether that be Anglo-Saxon literature, Carolingian or Flemish art, or Renaissance science and learning", Julian Harrison, the library's curator of medieval artifacts, blogged. "On Digitized Manuscripts you'll be able to view every page in full and in color and to see the finer details using the deep zoom facility".

Despite the excellent quality of digitization, there is some mystery in these texts to the untrained eye. Not only the language and writing, and in the case of records of Leonardo also a special code, which he invented and used, seem incomprehensible - not knowing the context of the time it's difficult to figure out what's what. Therefore, we cannot forget the role of the specialists who interpret these sources. By themselves, the original text is very confusing, and you can understand them only through the analysis by scientists.

I would like to emphasize that the digitization of important historical artifacts, providing free access to a wide audience, in no way replace the work of historians, but only makes it more open and accessible.