Technical Resources
Click here for IDP's archived papers.
Downloadable XML Templates for Cataloguing
- You are welcome to submit your own research for entry onto IDP. It will be fully credited on the IDP website and you will retain copyright. You can submit it in any standard document format (using UTF-8 encoding please). However, it will save us time if you can do basic XML markup yourself.
- DOWNLOAD CATALOGUE TEMPLATE (PDF 62KB)
- DOWNLOAD BIBLIOGRAPHY TEMPLATE (PDF 39KB)
Palæographical Resources
A resource for learning and teaching the paleography of Tibetan and Chinese, based on Dunhuang manuscript sources.
This online resource features the main types of writing that will be encountered in Tibetan and Chinese manuscripts, with exercises to test your own reading skills. After gaining a familiarity with these typologies, readers will be able to identify the style of a particular manuscript. This in turn allows a better understanding of context in which the manuscript was created, and, in many cases, to assign an approximate date.
Chopper (BETA VERSION)
'Chopper' is a free application that allows you to select an image and to 'cut out' sections of that image, such as individual Chinese characters or Tibetan syllables. Each cutout created is stored with its coordinates relative to the original image, a thumbnail of the cutout itself and additional information such as its column/row position and transliteration if applicable. There are no restrictions to the number of images you can chop nor the number of cutouts you create. Although all data is stored within the application (hence images can be re-edited), cutout data can also easily be exported into either spreadsheet or XML formats.
- To download and try Chopper for for free, click the appropriate download link:
- Mac OS X 10.4+ (118MB) | Windows XP or Vista (67MB)
- Please also see Chopper: Known Issues (PDF 36KB)
Technical Papers
InfraRed Photography (English)
- An Introduction to digital infrared photography and its application within IDP
- Jonathan Jackson, The International Dunhuang Project
- VIEW | DOWNLOAD (PDF 6.4MB)
The IDP Database (English)
- The history and future of the IDP relational database
- Dr. Susan Whitfield, The International Dunhuang Project
- VIEW | DOWNLOAD (PDF 40KB)
Navigating Through Uncharted Territory (English)
- Paper presented to the London Advisory Committee of the British Library in 2001, (previously unpublished)
- Dr. Susan Whitfield, The International Dunhuang Project
- VIEW | DOWNLOAD (PDF 100KB)
IDP Database
Screenshots of the current IDP Database (Click to enlarge)
Items input page
Image management page
Palaeographical input page
Database Redevelopment
In 2012 IDP received a grant from the AHRC to redevelop its database structure, first designed in 1994. The remit was to prepare a new structure that could be adopted by other cultural /heritage organisations for managing a multimedia collection. IDP redesigned its structure using its existing software, 4D. The structure is given below.
View the Database Structure in HTML format.
IDP is now developing this in MySQL and will make it available on GitHub.
Download the Database Structure in XML format (right-click to download).
Screenshot of New Database Structure (click to enlarge).
