La Sfera Challenge II

July 17-31, 2020

Welcome to La Sfera Challenge II, a two-week competition pitting international teams of scholars against each other in a race to transcribe multiple copies of one text, Goro Dati’s fifteenth-century geographic treatise, La Sfera. La Sfera Challenge II will take place among five teams, scheduled between July 17 and 31, 2020, and is a reprise of a similar competition that took place between three teams from May 22-June 5, 2020.

If you would like to join the challenge, you may email Laura Morreale at lmorreale3@gmail.com, or contact team captains via twitter.

The manuscript copies are housed in five different repositories, and each team will transcribe the copy held in its respective locale according to challenge guidelines:

Team Yale will work with a version housed at Yale Beinecke 946, team captains Caterina Agostini and Anne McLaughlin;
Team Wellcome will use the manuscript at the Wellcome Library, MS 231, team captains Marie Richards and SJ Lahey;
Team Spencer will transcribe the version found University of Kansas, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, Pryce MS P4, team captains Laura Ingallinella, Karen Severud Cook, N. Kıvılcım Yavuz;
Team Vatican will examine the version in the Vatican Library, Vat. Lat. 7612, team captains Carrie Beneš and Winston Black;
Team Newberry will examine the version in the Newberry Library, VAULT slipcase Ayer MS map 1, team captains Isabella Magni and Suzanne Karr Schmidt.

The competition is sponsored by the IIIF Consortium, FromThePage, and Stanford Libraries.

You can follow along with the challenge on Twitter at #LaSferaChallenge2

Team Yale

Team Yale is headed by Caterina Agostini and Anne McLaughlin. Watch the Team Yale page for progress updates.

Team Wellcome

Team Wellcome is headed by Marie Richards and S.J. Lahey. The Team Wellcome page features updates on participants and progress.

Team Spencer

Team Spencer is headed by Laura Ingallinella, Karen Severud Cook, and N. Kıvılcım Yavuz. The Team Spencer page features updates on participants and progress.

Team Vatican

Team Vatican is headed by Carrie Beneš and Winston Black. The Team Vatican page features updates on participants and progress.

Team Newberry

Team Newberry is headed by Isabella Magni and Suzanne Karr Schmidt. The Team Newberry page features updates on participants and progress.