Team – DIGINARCH-AI

Research Team

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Team

Doc. Mgr. Imrich Nagy, PhD.

Project Leader

Doc. Mgr. Imrich Nagy, PhD.

Project Leader

He has been working since 2000 at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Matej Bel University, where he has primarily focused on research into and the accessibility of historical sources and documents. For his editions of the writings of the Hungarian Baroque scholar Matej Bel and the renowned representative of Transalpine humanism Erasmus of Rotterdam, he has received several awards from the Literary Fund and the Slovak Historical Society at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. Within the study programmes in the field of history, he introduced innovative courses that interconnect traditional historical scholarship with modern technologies. At Matej Bel University, he is the leader of a research group operating in the field of digital humanities, collaborating with researchers from several disciplines (historical sciences, library and information sciences, information and communication technologies). In the field of applied research, he served as the principal investigator of the APVV project APVV-19-0456 SKRIPTOR (2019–2024), focused on verifying artificial intelligence technologies for the automatic transcription of historical handwritten and printed documents of Slovak provenance. This project addressed the challenges posed by linguistically—and consequently character-wise (due to diacritics)—mixed texts (Slovak, Hungarian, Latin, German, Czech) and their transcription using AI tools. The most significant application outputs of this project are two universal automatic transcription models (so-called supermodels)—one for historical manuscripts and one for historical prints—capable of transcribing, with an acceptable character-level error rate below 10%, documents of Slovak provenance whose samples are not included in their datasets (i.e., they were not specifically trained on them). Data from these datasets have been, or will be, used in the development of global universal models by READ-COOP, the company operating the Transkribus platform. The success of this technology is also documented by the publication Tomeček, O. – Nagy, I.: Reambulačný protokol mesta Banská Bystrica z roku 1820: edícia prameňa pomocou nástroja na automatickú transkripciu historických dokumentov, 2024 (https://doi.org/10.24040/2024.9788055721903 ), which is, in the Slovak context, the very first critical edition of a historical source produced using automatic transcription. I. Nagy coordinates and leads the DIGINARCH-AI project as the principal investigator.

Phone:+421 48 446 7114
Email:[email protected]

Doc. PhDr. Marek Syrný, PhD.

Co-Investigator

Doc. PhDr. Marek Syrný, PhD.

Co-Investigator

In his teaching practice, he focuses on the history of the 20th century, and in his scholarly research he primarily addresses world and Slovak history in the period 1938–1948. On the history of Slovakia in the post-war period—which is also relevant to the accompanying historical research of the present project—he has published two monographs and dozens of studies, mainly focusing on the political and social aspects of the period under study. In addition to parts of his monographs (Slovenskí demokrati 1944–1948; Husák – vrcholy a pády (1945–1951)) devoted to nationality and migration policy in the post-war era, he also published the study “The Perception of Slovaks in Hungary and the Issue of Their Repatriation in Slovak Society after World War II.” He is a successful co-investigator of the international grant of the Czech Academy of Sciences “The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and Radical Socialism in Czechoslovakia 1918–1989” and the APVV grant “The History of the Hlinka Slovak People’s Party in Domestic and European Dimensions (1905–1945).” As a principal investigator, he has led several VEGA grants. In the present project, he will primarily focus on developing conceptual historical and output frameworks. He will coordinate the preparation, implementation, and presentation of outputs by the historians involved in the project, including their working meetings, seminars, participation in scientific conferences, etc. He will also provide organizational support and co-edit the publication of project outputs and collaborate on joint scholarly outputs primarily with the Forum Institute for Minority Research.

Email:[email protected]

PhDr. Oto Tomeček, PhD.

Co-Investigator

PhDr. Oto Tomeček, PhD.

Co-Investigator

In his research, he focuses on regional history and the historical geography of Slovakia, primarily addressing issues related to the development of borders and settlement. In the field of digital humanities, he concentrates on the visualization of historical monuments and sources (the “Memory of the City” project). He was a member of the research team of the APVV-19-0456 SKRIPTOR project, in which he actively participated in the development of automatic transcription models and, together with the principal investigator I. Nagy, prepared the above-mentioned critical edition of a source using automatic transcription. His experience and expertise will be highly valuable for individual phases of the DIGINARCH-AI project related to the automatic transcription of archival documents, as well as their interpretation and visualization.

Phone:+421 48 446 7143
Email:[email protected]

Mgr. Adam Dudáš, PhD.

Co-Investigator

Mgr. Adam Dudáš, PhD.

Co-Investigator

In his research, he focuses on descriptive and exploratory analysis of large datasets—both structured and semi-structured. Within this analytical context, particular emphasis is placed on the creation of graph-based models representing direct or indirect linear and monotonic nonlinear relationships between dataset attributes, on the visualization of complex data, and on the visualization of structures in the field of non-relational databases (document and graph databases). Together with another member of the research team, M. Vagač, he is currently the author of the paper Dudáš, A. – Vagač, M.: Diagnostic Analysis Approach to Correlation Maps Through Large Language Models, Proceedings of the 17th International Scientific Conference on Informatics, Informatics 2024 (in print), in which the authors focus on a diagnostic data analysis approach to correlation maps, using large language models as an explanatory element.

Phone:+421 48 446 7122
Email:[email protected]

Mgr. Michal Vagač, PhD.

Co-Investigator

Mgr. Michal Vagač, PhD.

Co-Investigator

His main research objectives include the analysis of computer vision methods and their application in practice, as well as research in the field of autonomous mobile robots. In both areas, artificial intelligence methods are actively employed, including—among others—large language models relevant to the proposed project. Within the project, the researcher will be responsible for the design and implementation of text summarization methods based on large language models and their subsequent deployment for the purpose of summarizing essential parts of texts in archival workplaces, as well as for the design and implementation of a user-oriented web application.

Phone:+421 48 446 7125
Email:[email protected]

Mgr. Michaela Mikušková

Co-Investigator

Mgr. Michaela Mikušková

Co-Investigator

She is the Director of the University Library. Her research specialization focuses on historical book collections. She was a member of the research team of the APVV-19-0456 SKRIPTOR project, where she worked on the automatic transcription of historical prints from the territory of Slovakia. She participated in the development and refinement of automatic transcription models. Together with another researcher, L. Nižníková, she published the study M. Mikušková – L. Nižníková: Comenius and Bel in the Hands of Artificial Intelligence. ITlib: Information Technologies and Libraries, 2024. (http://doi.org/10.52036/1335793X.2024.1.15-27 ). In the DIGINARCH-AI project, she will apply her expertise in the segmentation of digitized materials and will work on the development of a universal model for the automatic transcription of historical typewritten documents.

Phone:+421 48 446 5206
Email:[email protected]

Mgr. Lucia Nižníková

Co-Investigator

Mgr. Lucia Nižníková

Co-Investigator

She works as the Head of the Research Support Department at the University Library of Matej Bel University. In her professional activities, she focuses on the creation of metadata (bibliographic records) for publications produced by university teachers and researchers, the storage of full texts in digital repositories, and the linkage of metadata with content—thus contributing to the development of a full-text database of scientific and scholarly publications by university staff. She was a member of the research team of the APVV-19-0456 SKRIPTOR project, where she primarily addressed the creation of datasets for training automatic transcription models. Her expertise will therefore be applied in the creation of metadata, datasets, and the development of models for the automatic transcription of digitized archival collections.

Phone:+421 48 446 5311
Email:[email protected]

PhDr. Richard Pavlovič, PhD.

Co-Investigator

PhDr. Richard Pavlovič, PhD.

Co-Investigator

He is a historian and archivist specializing in Slovak 20th-century history, regional history, and the history of archives. He has worked in state archival administration for twenty years—since 2005 as Director of the District Archive in Svidník, and since 2015 as Director of the State Archive in Košice with regional territorial jurisdiction. Since 2017, he has also served as an external member of the Department of History at the Faculty of Arts, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. He has participated in several projects focused on the digitization of archival sources (APVV projects and projects funded by partners from Hungary), in which he coordinated international cooperation related to the provision and exchange of significant archival collections for the creation of digitized copies.

Phone:+421 55 622 24 15

Mgr. Erik Ondria, PhD.

Co-Investigator

Mgr. Erik Ondria, PhD.

Co-Investigator

In his research, he focuses on cultural and political history of the 20th century, with particular emphasis on military history, and has actively participated in several scientific projects. Within the framework of project tasks, he will, together with R. Pavlovič, be responsible for the preparation of designated collections for digitization, the verification of metadata for digitized materials, and especially for capacity building (the transfer of knowledge, skills, and competencies gained through the project’s implementation and results) among professional staff of state archives.

Phone:+421 55 622 24 15

Mgr. Eva Augustínová, PhD.

Co-Investigator

Mgr. Eva Augustínová, PhD.

Co-Investigator

She is the Director General of the Slovak National Library in Martin and also works at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Žilina, where she teaches, within the study programme Media Studies and Cultural Heritage, courses on the history of book culture, processing of historical documents, project management, and documentation of cultural heritage. Her expertise will be applied in the project particularly in research tasks related to the protection and digitization of archival collections.

Ing. Ondrej Híreš

Co-Investigator

Ing. Ondrej Híreš

Co-Investigator

He is a professional staff member of the Conservation and Digitization Centre of the Slovak National Library in Martin and an external collaborator of the Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. His research focuses on non-destructive and non-invasive methods for rapid and non-destructive mass assessment of documents.

Email:[email protected]

Prof. PhDr. Dušan Katuščák, CSc.

Co-Investigator

Prof. PhDr. Dušan Katuščák, CSc.

Co-Investigator

He is among the leading research and development professionals respected both nationally and internationally and is regarded as a quality guarantor, manager, and researcher in the field of library and information science, as well as a university lecturer in the study programme Library and Information Studies. He served as Director General of the Slovak National Library for twelve years. He is an expert and evaluator of European Commission projects in the field of cultural heritage and digital humanities and an expert for the European COST programme. In the APVV-19-0456 SKRIPTOR project, he was the scientific and organizational initiator and the principal investigator at the collaborating research organization, the State Scientific Library in Banská Bystrica. His work focused on the development of universal automatic transcription models and on initiating systematic research and categorization of types of character sets in historical prints and typewritten documents.

Phone:+421 41 513 6300
Email:[email protected]

Dr. hab. Attila Simon, PhD.

Co-Investigator

Dr. hab. Attila Simon, PhD.

Co-Investigator

They are researchers at the Forum Institute for Minority Research in Šamorín, which focuses on scholarly research into national minorities living in Slovakia, the documentation of their history, culture, written heritage, and other related monuments. They have long been engaged in research on the status of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia, with particular emphasis on the post-war expulsions of Hungarians from Slovakia and on the position of minorities in post-war Czechoslovakia.

Phone:+421 55 622 24 15

Dr. hab. Árpád Popély, Phd.

Co-Investigator

Dr. hab. Árpád Popély, Phd.

Co-Investigator

Mgr. Szabolcs Czáboczky

Co-Investigator

Mgr. Szabolcs Czáboczky

Co-Investigator

Mgr. Matej Smida

Co-Investigator

Mgr. Matej Smida

Co-Investigator

He is a doctoral student at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica. As a student research assistant, he has already collaborated on partial tasks within the SKRIPTOR project. The research conducted within the DIGINARCH-AI project overlaps with the topic of his doctoral dissertation, “Digitized Historical Written Sources in Slovak Memory Institutions – Current State, Possibilities, and Perspectives of Their Use in the Work of a Historian.”

Email:[email protected]