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On Saturday April 13, 2024 at 10:00AM-4:00PM US EST at the Program in Islamic Law’s office in Austin Hall, our SHARIAsource Lab will lead a Hackathon: Arabic OCR Community Scribes event (registration required). Join us for a chance to help write the next chapter in the history of the Arabic script! We’ve teamed up with partners all over the world, bringing our efforts together to finally develop a dependable program that will allow texts using Arabic script to be machine readable. Come for a day-long event of transcription, and meet folks from all over campus and broader community who are also interested. No knowledge of coding or programming needed– we just need you to be able to recognize Arabic letters, and help teach the machine-learning program! Your work in checking and reviewing documents will allow scholars (including yourself!) to access, search, and explore historical and contemporary documents like never before. Lunch will be provided for those who RSVP. A limited number of seats are available for people who are interested in joining the hackathon virtually. Drop by for however long you can, to meet, chat, and transcribe! Registration is required.