Join an engaging workshop that turns participants into real-life history detectives!
Presented by Dr. Kurt Luther, Associate Professor of Computer Science and History at Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus, senior editor and columnist at Military Images magazine, and president of The Photo Sleuth Foundation.
Dr. Luther will showcase how his Virginia Tech research lab and nonprofit have developed cutting-edge technologies that blend crowdsourcing, computer vision, and cognitive psychology to uncover hidden mysteries within historical photographs.
Participants will experience firsthand innovative tools like Civil War Photo Sleuth—a web platform featured on The History Channel that helps identify unknown individuals—and Civil War Twin, an educational collaboration with the American Battlefield Trust that enables users to discover their Civil War-era lookalikes while exploring the strengths and limitations of facial recognition.
These groundbreaking methods have already led to remarkable discoveries in collections at the Library of Congress, National Archives, and private archives nationwide.
This interactive session offers a unique opportunity to sharpen their analytical skills, connect deeply with history, and learn practical techniques for identifying the people, places, and dates captured in fascinating historical images. Attendees are asked to bring their own laptops in order to participate in this workshop.
