EDIKILEX

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fundamentally changing the way researchers in the humanities work. However, a major challenge remains: historical stages of language, such as Early New High German, are extremely difficult for modern AI models to "understand." This is primarily because they are so-called low-resource languages—there is simply too little digital data available. Furthermore, at that time, there was no uniform spelling or a fixed standard variety of the language as we know it today.
Previous approaches in computational linguistics work excellently for modern, standardized languages but reach their limits when dealing with historical texts. To date, it has not been possible to create a system that captures the meaning of words (semantics) precisely enough to intelligently link scholarly text editions with lexicography (dictionary creation).This is where the collaborative project EDIKILEX comes in. Our approach is radically interdisciplinary: computer science, computational linguistics, and information science no longer merely provide the "tools," and the humanities no longer merely provide the "texts." Instead, these disciplines merge into a close-knit unit.
We rely on what we call "hybrid intelligence":
From Human to Machine: Humanities experts use their capacity for interpretation as a "cultural technique" to provide the AI with the exact information it needs for the respective task.
From Machine to Human: In return, AI enables the analysis of data volumes that would be unmanageable for human researchers alone, thereby opening up entirely new perspectives for research.
By creating a bidirectional link between AI results and expert knowledge, we generate added value for all participating fields. We directly connect the edition of a text with a dictionary, setting new impulses for scholarly research.
Since this fusion of different disciplines will fundamentally change the way we edit texts and create dictionaries, we are accompanying the entire process with a special "reflection module." This allows us to critically examine and optimize the development as it happens. With EDIKILEX, we are making a significant contribution to networking the existing expertise in Lower Saxony and ensuring that the digital infrastructure of the humanities is fit for the future.