And wouldn’t it be nice if the same could be done with the HAL 9000 image data of the Shroud of Turin. David Rolfe has already spoken about finding new information in the high definition images. Think about how useful it would be if any scholar, anywhere, could undertake detailed graphics examination. Read Focus Projects for Student Involvement in Researching the Scientific Properties of the Shroud of Turin by Raymond J. Schneider. Also see this video.
Consider this: According to John Stokes, writing for Wired’s Cloudline, Google’s Dead Sea Scrolls project is putting up images of the scrolls.
In bringing the Dead Sea Scrolls into the cloud via an interface so user-friendly that even a humanities professor can navigate it, Google has once again played a part in something wonderful for the world. And I don’t mean “wonderful” in the modern web sense—like the way that Facebook has put me back in touch with friends from middle school, or that Twitter has turned one corner of my monitor into a global chatroom featuring most of the people that interest me. No, I mean something that will potentially advance the cause of historical scholarship in a way that hasn’t been done in about 200 years. Here’s why Google’s Dead Sea Scrolls project and efforts like it matter for all of us.
And wouldn’t it be nice . . .
Personally, sorry but I don’t agree with what you say Dan. If an analysis of those images (no matter how good the resolution is) is not backed up by microscopic and chemical analysis, we walk in a VERY dangerous territory… Flower, coins, writings, etc., etc. The recent Shroud history is full of “I think I see” conclusions that are not backed-up by microscopic and, most importantly, chemical analysis !!! I have great fear that it would also be the case if those high definition images would be released freely to anyone interested. I think they should be kept aside UNTIL the Vatican permit a new series of direct tests on the relic (a kind of STURP 2 if you will). It’s so easy to see things on an image (especially on an image like the Shroud) but that doesn’t prove no way that it is real. That’s what I think…