CWT Presents Dr. Kurt Luther - Civil War Photo Sleuth

Added to Calendar: 04/21/21

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Wednesday, April 21, 2021, at 8:30pm EDT
CivilWarTalk Presents:
Dr. Kurt Luther
on

Civil War Photo Sleuth:
Using technology and community to rediscover
lost identities in American Civil War-era photographs.

A Free Live Video Presentation
The American Civil War was the first widely photographed conflict. Many thousands of portraits of the participants survive today, but fewer than 20% of the images are identified. Eight years ago, at a Civil War exhibit hosted by Pittsburgh’s Senator John Heinz History Center, Dr. Kurt Luther stumbled upon a Civil War era photo of his own 3x great uncle, Oliver Croxton. It was the earliest family photo he had seen and finding it was an emotional experience. Luther already had an interest in history and the Civil War, and he began to wonder how he might help other history enthusiasts share a similar experience.

Dr. Luther explains, "I started learning more about Civil War photography, and how to identify different visual clues - like the uniform, insignia or the photographer's studio information. As a computer science professor, I was doing research in the area of crowdsourcing. I though maybe there's a way to bring these two things together." Dr. Luther's idea developed into 'Civil War Photo Sleuth' - a free, online platform that uses crowdsourcing and facial recognition software to help identify subjects in Civil War era photographs.

Dr. Kurt Luther is an associate professor of computer science and (by courtesy) history at Virginia Tech. He directs the Crowd Intelligence Lab, researching the complementary strengths of crowdsourced human intelligence and artificial intelligence (AI) in domains like history, journalism, national security, and creativity. Since 2015, he has written a quarterly column on Civil War photo sleuthing for Military Images Magazine. He was named an Emerging Scholar by the American Civil War Museum and a Distinguished Writing Awards Finalist by the Army Historical Foundation. You can learn more about him here.

REGISTER to reserve your seat.
Seating is limited. You don't have to be a member of CivilWarTalk to attend.
Don't forget to mark the date on your calendar.
 
I'm looking forward to this one! I just love old images. Can't wait to learn more about the Civil War Photo Sleuth platform.

It's time to REGISTER and plan to join us tomorrow night at 8:30pm EDT when out guest will be Dr. Kurt Luther on Civil War Photo Sleuth platform.
 
It's time to REGISTER !!!!
Join us tonight - Wednesday, April 28th - when our guest will be Dr. Kurt Luther, director of Virginia Tech's Crowd Intelligence Lab. You'll see lots of CW era images and learn how crowdsourcing and modern technology are combining to help identify Civil War soldiers, sailors, and civilians.
 
It's time to REGISTER !!!!
Join us tonight - Wednesday, April 28th - when our guest will be Dr. Kurt Luther, director of Virginia Tech's Crowd Intelligence Lab. You'll see lots of CW era images and learn how crowdsourcing and modern technology are combining to help identify Civil War soldiers, sailors, and civilians.
Hi, I won't be able to attend tonight but was hoping I would be able to watch a recording. Will one be available and if so where can I find it?
Thanks!
 
Hi, I won't be able to attend tonight but was hoping I would be able to watch a recording. Will one be available and if so where can I find it?
Thanks!
We won’t know if we are able to record until we talk to Dr. Luther. We ask each presenter, just before we start, if we may record their program.
 
Hi, I won't be able to attend tonight but was hoping I would be able to watch a recording. Will one be available and if so where can I find it?
Thanks!
It was recorded! I don't know when it will be loaded to CWT but probably within about 30 days. It was a GREAT program!
 
Thank you all for attending and for the great questions! I'm a longtime CivilWarTalk lurker.

Please check out the Civil War Photo Sleuth website (it's free): http://www.civilwarphotosleuth.com/

I also write a regular column on Civil War photo identification for Military Images Magazine: https://militaryimagesmagazine.com/
Thank you so much for providing such a great program last night and for becoming a member of CWT! We really appreciate it and I hope a whole bunch of our members will go over to civilwarphotosleuth.com and upload their images. Thanks again!
 
That was a great presentation. I also enjoyed the discussion afterwards. Since obtaining some CDVs a while back, I've gotten more curious about the photographers and their studios, as well as the considerable challenge of identifying the subjects of these images.

I got a chance to try out the Civil War Photo Sleuth site -- very impressive and interesting to use!

Roy B.
 
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