This was TUC 2026
Programme
Three days of keynotes, panel discussions, lightning talks, round tables, and workshops at the University of Passau, 21–23 September 2026.
We are uploading the session recordings to YouTube — each one appears on its session page as it goes live.
Opening
State of Transkribus
Keynote
Why Language Inclusivity Matters in Text Recognition and Otherwise in the Age of AI?
Alíz Horváth
Central European University, Vienna, Austria
Keynote
What Visual Language Models Can (Not) Do for Document Analysis
Vincent Christlein
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
Closing
The Road Ahead
Eight panels of short, focused presentations grouped by theme.
Panel 1
Scripts of the World
Building Text Recognition Models for Diverse Languages and Writing Systems
5 talks
Panel 2
From Records to Rows
Structuring Serial Sources and Genealogical Data for Databases
5 talks
Panel 3
Scaling the Pipeline
API Integration, Large-Scale Workflows, and Benchmarking
5 talks
Panel 4
Mastering Complexity
Advanced Segmentation and Text Recognition for Challenging Documents
6 talks
Panel 5
Archival Transformations
Bridging the Gap between Hidden Records and Public Access
5 talks
Panel 6
The Human Element
Collaborative Ecosystems in HTR and Research
6 talks
Panel 7
Teaching Machines, Teaching Humans
HTR Literacy, Ethics, and Creative Practice
6 talks
Panel 8
Beyond the Transcription
Named Entity Recognition, Semantic Enrichment, and Digital Editing
6 talks
Three panels of in-depth presentations from the scholarship programme.
Round Tables
Moderated conversations on the questions the community brought to Passau — and there was no shortage of hands in the air.
Round Table
Crowdsourcing the Past
Citizen Science Strategies for Transcription at Any Scale
Moderated by Andy Stauder
Round Table
Transcription guidelines for HTR-projects at cultural heritage institutions
Moderated by Oliver Blomqvist
Round Table
Towards a "living" HTR Evaluation Platform
Moderated by Malte Rehbein
Round Table
From Documents to Data
Structuring the Historical Record at Scale
Round Table
AI for Under-Resourced Manuscript Traditions
Round Table
Abandon All Consistency?
Navigating the Methodological Hell of Transcription Standards
Workshops
Hands-on sessions, from first steps with Transkribus to advanced workflows.
Workshop
What's New in Transkribus: Enhancing Your Workflow with the Latest Features
Helene Prokop +2
Workshop
Building Databases from Historical Documents with Smart Extract Models
Aurelius Noble +3
Workshop
Automating the Boring Stuff: Sustainable Workflow Automation for Digital Scholarly Editions (API Workshop)
Dario Kampkaspar
Workshop
Curating Datasets for Handwritten Sources: Datasheets Within and Beyond Archives
Rebecca Kahn
Workshop
Writing Sprint: Records, Authenticity, and Guesswork: When AI Meets the Archive
Suphan Kirmizialtin
Thank you for three remarkable days
To everyone who spoke, moderated, facilitated, presented a poster, or simply asked a good question — this programme was yours.
Meet the speakers