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posted by janrinok on Friday June 08 2018, @01:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the point-to-it-on-a-map dept.

A lost world in a former empire in Europe has been brought to life thanks to University of Bristol researchers who used artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to analyse 47,000 multilingual pages from newspapers dating back to 1873.

The study, published in Historical Methods, aimed to discover whether historical changes could be detected from the collective content of local newspapers from the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca. The findings reveal a series of political and cultural events which took place in a forgotten corner of the Austrian Empire that is now divided between Italy and Slovenia, some of which were unknown, until now.

A team of computer scientists and a historian digitised microfilms of old multilingual newspapers from the County between 1873 to 1914. The images were then converted to text. The patterns that emerged from the automated analysis of 47,000 pages revealed the individual stories of thousands of people, but also the collective trends of a population in the years leading up to WW1 and the final years of that Empire.

Professor Cristianini, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and lead author of the study, said: "Importantly, we get a glimpse in the last years of a world heading towards a new chapter in its history and during a period that transformed it beyond recognition. We see new technologies, new ideas, new economic opportunities, new cultural challenges and problems."

The findings highlight how the war transformed the city and its county into something entirely different. The front lines crossed through the city itself and the urban population was largely relocated. The annexation of the city by Italy was quickly followed by twenty years of fascism, another war, and finally the iron curtain that ran right through the County itself, partly separating the city centre and some of its neighbourhoods.


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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday June 08 2018, @04:51PM (4 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Friday June 08 2018, @04:51PM (#690394)

    Where was the "front line" when the Pentagon and WTC were bombed? For that matter, were there any stationary lines of conflict in the Gulf War either?

    As opposed to WW1 where the opposing sides dug trenches and mortared, shot and gassed each other in-situ for months and years.

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  • (Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday June 08 2018, @05:21PM (3 children)

    by vux984 (5045) on Friday June 08 2018, @05:21PM (#690411)

    "Where was the "front line" when the Pentagon and WTC were bombed?"

    Where was the front line when Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated?

    "For that matter, were there any stationary lines of conflict in the Gulf War either?"

    It started at the southern Iraq/Kuwait border and moved north and west as the allies advanced.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War#/media/File:DesertStormMap_v2.svg [wikipedia.org]

    Also, on what planet are front lines required to be "stationary" ??

    Take a look at Syria, or any other ongoing conflict; there are still front lines, even sieges.

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday June 08 2018, @05:43PM (2 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Friday June 08 2018, @05:43PM (#690418)

      On the planet of the article, not only did the front lines of conflict settle in the town in question and effectively evict all the non-combatants, but also post-conflict additional stationary lines of physical/political division were drawn right through the town.

      So, point being, if a "front line" sweeps through an area, the residents and society are relatively unaffected, compared to when combatants dig in and take up position long term, destroying virtually all civilian structures in the process.

      Taking a look at Syria, how's the local nightlife? Culture? Community? as compared to what it was before the front lines and sieges set in.

      And, if the point of this troll is Modern War vs War of 100 years ago and more, the conflict in Syria isn't using a lot of air-power, strategic missiles, or other weapons that I would call characteristic of Modern War. Of course, they've got things that didn't exist 100 years ago - even throwers of rocks have improved tracking of their enemies on Facebook today, but if they're settling in to a town and pissing hot metal at each other long-term - that's old style. Obama did it with drones, fucked up a lot of lives both combatant and non combatant I'm sure, but not to the extent that rolling in an armored division for 6 months would have.

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      • (Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday June 08 2018, @11:00PM (1 child)

        by vux984 (5045) on Friday June 08 2018, @11:00PM (#690571)

        "Taking a look at Syria, how's the local nightlife? Culture? Community? as compared to what it was before the front lines and sieges set in."

        In Raqqa ? ISIL executed piles of people who they suspected weren't aligned with them. The Christian population there (as much as 10% of the city pre-war) is gone.
        These days about 90% of the city has been levelled; and you are asking about the 'local nightlife' ??

        "the conflict in Syria isn't using a lot of air-power, strategic missiles, or other weapons that I would call characteristic of Modern War. "

        Because you can't take a city that way.

        "So, point being, if a "front line" sweeps through an area, the residents and society are relatively unaffected, compared to when combatants dig in and take up position long term, destroying virtually all civilian structures in the process."

        So... like Raqqa, Syria months long campaign to 'liberate' it. City is 80-90% destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced and have nothing to return to.

        "but not to the extent that rolling in an armored division for 6 months would have."

        The campaign to isolate and capture Raqqa lasted 11 months. The battle for Raqqa itself lasted from June to October. And that was just to take it from ISIL; the disruption in Raqqa started a few years prior when ISIL captured it from Syria. An armored division wouldn't have made much difference there. Raqqa is all but destroyed.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:25AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:25AM (#691057)

          Then they should have starteddestroying buildings from the get go. Fast more Rico with less loss of life all round. Isil would have giveth up afterpower water and food were negated.