+ Meet the READ project partners – Florian Kleber

We thought it was about time that we got to know the people working on the READ project a little better!  We are armed with a list of questions that we’ll be asking the computer scientists, archivists, historians and researchers working on READ over the coming months to find out more about their research.  Read on for our first interview…

What’s your name?

Florian Kleber

Where do you work?

Computer Vision Lab, Vienna University of Technology

Tell us a bit about your background…

I am a senior scientist at the Computer Vision Lab.  My research interests relate to Cultural Heritage applications of Document Image Analysis.  I finished my PhD in 2014, where I worked on Document Image Analysis Preprocessing of Low-Quality and Sparsely Inscribed Documents.  I have recently worked on the multispectral acquisition of ancient documents as part of a project to process and analyse the Sinaitic Glagolitic Sacramentary Fragments, two medieval Slavonic manuscripts which were discovered in a monastery in Egypt in 1975.  In my spare time I like to go skiing, rowing and watch TV series.

What is your role in the READ project?

Layout Analysis of documents, with a special focus on Form Classification.

What is top of your to-do list at the moment?

I am working on Form Classification and preparing for ScriptNet, the READ programme of competitions in Handwritten Text Recognition and Document Image Analysis.

What do you like best about working on READ?

The challenge of working with a large number of different documents and the interdisciplinarity of the project.

If you could do another job for just one day, what would it be?

Helicopter pilot 🙂

What can you see out of the window of your office? 

Nice view of Vienna!  Thanks Florian!