ofresearchers,scholars,andstudentsuseanddependuponInternet-basedcontent andcomputationalresources. Thechaptersinthisbookdescribeacriticallyimportantareaofinvestigation¿ addressingconversionofIndicscriptintomachine-readableform. Roughestimates haveitthatcurrentlymorethanabillionpeopleuseIndicscripts. Collectively,Indic historic and cultural documents contain a vast richness of human knowledge and experience. The state-of-the-art research described in this book demonstrates the multiple values associated with these activities. Technically, the problems associated with Indicscriptrecognitionareverydif?cultandwillcontributetoandinformrelated v vi Foreword scriptrecognitionefforts. Theworkalsohasenormousconsequenceforenriching andenablingthestudyofIndicculturalheritagematerialsandthehistoricrecord of its people. This in turn broadens the intellectual context for domain scholars focusingonothersocieties,ancientandmodern. Digital character recognition has brought about another milestone in coll- tivecommunicationbybringinginert,?xed-in-place,textintoaninteractivedi- talrealm. Indoingso,theinformationhasgainedadditionalfunctionalitieswhich expandourabilitiestoconnect,combine,contextualize,share,andcollaboratively pursue knowledge making. High-quality Internet content continues to grow in an explosivefashion. Inthenewglobalcyberenvironment,thefunctionalitiesandapp- cationsofdigitalinformationcontinuetotransformknowledgeintonewundersta- ingsofhumanexperienceandtheworldinwhichwelive. Thepossibilitiesforthe futurearelimitedonlybyavailableresearchresourcesandcapabilitiesandtheim- inationandcreativityofthosewhousethem. Arlington,Virginia StephenM.