Rome Wasn't Digitized in a Day - Council on Library and Information ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

171 texts that <strong>in</strong>clude references to people, places, and th<strong>in</strong>gs. While person names are marked up <strong>in</strong> the XML text of the Old Bailey Onl<strong>in</strong>e, Bradley and Short remarked that there was no effort “to structure the names <strong>in</strong>to persons themselves.” This is <strong>in</strong> direct contrast to their relational approach with the PASE, PBEW, and CCEd: Our three projects, on the other hand, are explicitly prosopographical by nature, and the identification of persons is the central task of the researchers, as it must be <strong>in</strong> any prosopography. They must have a way to separate the people with the same recorded name <strong>in</strong>to separate categories, and to group together references to a s<strong>in</strong>gle person regardless of the spell<strong>in</strong>g of his/her name. … It is exactly because prosopographical projects are <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> the creation of a model of their material that is perhaps not explicitly provided <strong>in</strong> the texts they work with that a purely textual approach is <strong>in</strong> the end not sufficient <strong>in</strong> and of itself. Instead, it is exactly this k<strong>in</strong>d of structur<strong>in</strong>g which makes our projects particularly suitable for the relational database model (Bradley and Short 2005). In addition, the databases for all three of these projects conta<strong>in</strong> not only “structured data <strong>in</strong> the form of factoids” but also structures that are spread over several tables and represent other important objects <strong>in</strong> the database <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g “persons, geographic locations, and possessions.” Bradley and Short also addressed a po<strong>in</strong>t raised earlier by Mathisen regard<strong>in</strong>g the limitations of historical databases and the <strong>in</strong>terpretation and categorization of data. As Mathisen ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed, they argued that all work with prosopographical sources, whether writ<strong>in</strong>g an article or creat<strong>in</strong>g a database <strong>in</strong>volved a fair amount of scholarly <strong>in</strong>terpretation and categorization. Rather than attempt<strong>in</strong>g to create an “appropriate” model of their sources, Bradley and Short argued they were try<strong>in</strong>g to create a model of how prosopographers work with those sources: For, of course, our database is not designed to model the texts upon which prosopography is based with all their subtle and ambiguous mean<strong>in</strong>gs. The database, <strong>in</strong>stead, models the task of the prosopographer <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>terpret<strong>in</strong>g them i.e. it is not a model of an historical text, but a model of prosopography itself (Bradley and Short 2005). The importance of model<strong>in</strong>g how scholars with<strong>in</strong> a discipl<strong>in</strong>e conduct their work and how they work with their sources are important components <strong>in</strong> the design not just of historical databases but also <strong>in</strong> larger digital <strong>in</strong>frastructures that will need to support multidiscipl<strong>in</strong>ary work. Mathisen has described the approach of the PBW as a comb<strong>in</strong>ation of a “multi-file relational model” with a “decentralized biography model” (Mathisen 2007) or where <strong>in</strong>stead of hav<strong>in</strong>g an <strong>in</strong>dividual record with dedicated fields created for each <strong>in</strong>dividual, each person is <strong>in</strong>stead assigned a unique ID key that is then associated with the <strong>in</strong>formation bites or “factoids” as described above <strong>in</strong> various other databases. “Biographies” are thus created for <strong>in</strong>dividuals by assembl<strong>in</strong>g all the relevant factoids for an <strong>in</strong>dividual. Mathisen offered a few caveats <strong>in</strong> terms of the methodology chosen for the PBW, namely, that the complexity of the data structure would make it hard for anyone without expert computer skills to implement such a solution and that the “multiplicity of sub-databases and lack of core biographies” would make it difficult to export this material or <strong>in</strong>tegrate it with another PDB without specialized programm<strong>in</strong>g (Mathisen 2007). He also feared that the lack of “base-level” person entries might mean that important <strong>in</strong>formation for <strong>in</strong>dividuals could be omitted when different factoids were comb<strong>in</strong>ed and could also make it difficult to determ<strong>in</strong>e when occurrences of the same name represent the same or different <strong>in</strong>dividuals. Despite this assertion, Bradley and Short proposed that by not provid<strong>in</strong>g their users with an “easy-to-read” f<strong>in</strong>al article about each <strong>in</strong>dividual and <strong>in</strong>stead present<strong>in</strong>g a collection of
172 “apparently disconnected and sometimes contradictory factoids,” they are <strong>in</strong> fact br<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g the user closer to do<strong>in</strong>g actual prosopographical work. They argued that the series of factoids could be read as a “proto-narrative” and could serve to rem<strong>in</strong>d users of the <strong>in</strong>terpretative and fuzzy nature of the data that they are gett<strong>in</strong>g from the database. Bradley and Short also asserted that the PBW seeks to provide focused access to the primary sources themselves and that users of the PBW should also consult these sources to form some of their own <strong>in</strong>terpretations. Thus the importance of access to primary sources is illustrated aga<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> the study of prosopography. Other Prosopographical Databases A major prosopographical resource for ancient Greece is Website Attica, 545 an onl<strong>in</strong>e database designed to complement and extend a series of published volumes entitled Persons of Ancient Athens (PAA). Additions and corrections that are made to the published volumes are <strong>in</strong>cluded <strong>in</strong> the onl<strong>in</strong>e database. More than 10,000 Athenian names are <strong>in</strong>cluded <strong>in</strong> the database, and a large variety of search<strong>in</strong>g features are available. Individual names must be entered <strong>in</strong> capital letters <strong>in</strong> Greek transliteration. As the website expla<strong>in</strong>s, possible searches “range from select<strong>in</strong>g every person <strong>in</strong> a particular deme or of a specified profession to more sophisticated searches,” such as f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>g “all Athenians who lived between specified years and/or are related to a certa<strong>in</strong> person and/or are attested <strong>in</strong> a class of document.” The record for each <strong>in</strong>dividual <strong>in</strong>cludes an identifier and identified name and may also <strong>in</strong>clude status, place (a field which conta<strong>in</strong>s the “demotic or ethnic of a person”), phyle, l<strong>in</strong>k (k<strong>in</strong> relationship), k<strong>in</strong> name, activity, date, and a comment field where any additional <strong>in</strong>formation about a person that did not fall <strong>in</strong>to one of the above categories can be found. A separate bibliographic reference search of the database is also available. One onl<strong>in</strong>e resource for Roman prosopography is the Prosopographia Imperii Romani (PIR), 546 a website that is ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed by the Berl<strong>in</strong>-Brandenberg Academy and provides an onl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>dex to the person entries found <strong>in</strong> the pr<strong>in</strong>ted volumes of the Prosopographia Imperii Romani. The first edition of this series was published <strong>in</strong> three parts between 1897 and 1898, and a second edition was published <strong>in</strong> seven parts with multiple fascicules beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> 1933 and conclud<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> 2006. The <strong>in</strong>dividuals covered <strong>in</strong> the PIR are drawn ma<strong>in</strong>ly from the upper levels of society (emperors, senators, knights, and their family members) of the Roman Empire between 31 BC and the end of the reign of Diocletian (305). The source material used <strong>in</strong> creat<strong>in</strong>g both the pr<strong>in</strong>ted volumes and the database is wide-rang<strong>in</strong>g and <strong>in</strong>cludes literature (Ovid, 547 Virgil, Plutarch, Horace, Pausanias), adm<strong>in</strong>istrative, and historical records, as well as <strong>in</strong>scriptions, papyri, and co<strong>in</strong>s. Access to the PIR entries is provided through a searchable “keyword list” that has been created for the website, and each entry conta<strong>in</strong>s a unique identifier, a person’s name, and a reference to the pr<strong>in</strong>ted PIR volumes or other standard reference works. A variety of ongo<strong>in</strong>g research <strong>in</strong>to the “onomastics and prosopography of the ‘later’ periods of Egyptian history on the basis of the Greek, Lat<strong>in</strong>, Egyptian and other texts” is be<strong>in</strong>g conducted by researchers us<strong>in</strong>g the various texts conta<strong>in</strong>ed with<strong>in</strong> the Trismegistos portal. 548 The basic methodology <strong>in</strong>volves the collection of anthroponyms and toponyms mentioned <strong>in</strong> the texts, and when there is no electronic corpus available, these names are entered manually. Work with Greek papyri, however, has been greatly enhanced because of the existence of the XML-encoded corpus of the DDbDP, which has 545 http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/attica/ 546 http://www.bbaw.de/bbaw/Forschung/Forschungsprojekte/pir/de/Startseite 547 One <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g project created an onomasticon exclusively for the Metamorphoses of Ovid http://staff.cch.kcl.ac.uk/~wmccarty/analyticalonomasticon/ 548 For a list of the projects, see http://www.artshumanities.net/event/digital_classicistics_work_progress_sem<strong>in</strong>ar_onomastics_name_extraction_graeco_egyptian_papyri_
Page 1 and 2:
"Rome Wasn
Page 3 and 4:
ii ISBN 978-1-932326-38-3 CLIR Publ
Page 5 and 6:
iv EpiDoc-Based Digital Epigraphy P
Page 7 and 8:
vi ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alison Babeu ha
Page 9 and 10:
viii PBW PCA PDB PDL PHI PLANETS PN
Page 11 and 12:
x pursuit of knowledge about the an
Page 13 and 14:
2 and intellectual
Page 15 and 16:
4 associations to work together, an
Page 17 and 18:
6 briefly explore issues that are n
Page 19 and 20:
8 for English translations of Greek
Page 21 and 22:
10 is created of the entire bibliog
Page 23 and 24:
12 directory of more than 2,100 cat
Page 25 and 26:
14 generated by the decision tree p
Page 27 and 28:
16 The image-registration algorithm
Page 29 and 30:
18 Schibel and Rydberg-Cox argued t
Page 31 and 32:
20 information ret
Page 33 and 34:
22 In ancient manuscripts, Sanskrit
Page 35 and 36:
24 algorithms; ins
Page 37 and 38:
26 Markov Models (MEMM) 82 and outp
Page 39 and 40:
28 One major project to recently em
Page 41 and 42:
30 developed a cuneiform sign reper
Page 43 and 44:
32 and prayers), and edited texts a
Page 45 and 46:
34 Digital critical editions, howev
Page 47 and 48:
36 While these requirements may see
Page 49 and 50:
38 many discrete texts, in<
Page 51 and 52:
40 examine how l<s
Page 53 and 54:
42 The second fact that Rob
Page 55 and 56:
44 “multimedia scholarly editions
Page 57 and 58:
46 different apparatuses. In Bosche
Page 59 and 60:
48 individual text
Page 61 and 62:
50 In these cases we must provide a
Page 63 and 64:
52 First, it utilizes a nearest nei
Page 65 and 66:
54 entirely pre-searched for each l
Page 67 and 68:
56 As this research in</str
Page 69 and 70:
58 the inscription
Page 71 and 72:
60 Text Min<strong
Page 73 and 74:
62 This manual analysis provided a
Page 75 and 76:
64 As illustrated by this def<stron
Page 77 and 78:
66 archaeology as a discipl
Page 79 and 80:
68 funded with public money <strong
Page 81 and 82:
70 for re-use is a simple slogan, b
Page 83 and 84:
72 framework to in
Page 85 and 86:
74 then mapped to the CRM-EH so tha
Page 87 and 88:
76 tDAR also stores all resources <
Page 89 and 90:
78 Many look to their in</s
Page 91 and 92:
80 Although the multidiscipl<strong
Page 93 and 94:
82 computer science can make it pos
Page 95 and 96:
84 were created after this time. A
Page 97 and 98:
86 transparency, accessibility, ava
Page 99 and 100:
88 (Research Archive for Ancient Sc
Page 101 and 102:
90 This challenge of not just digit
Page 103 and 104:
92 Part of the research of the Plei
Page 105 and 106:
94 After correctin
Page 107 and 108:
96 Epigraphy Overview: Epigraphy Da
Page 109 and 110:
98 step, because epigraphic texts s
Page 111 and 112:
100 text and to previous annotation
Page 113 and 114:
102 and squeezes as well as a selec
Page 115 and 116:
104 original); typ
Page 117 and 118:
106 To begin this
Page 119 and 120:
108 better set the in</stro
Page 121 and 122:
110 Another related project that ha
Page 123 and 124:
112 used to point
Page 125 and 126:
114 names in texts
Page 127 and 128:
116 and Manuscripts (VRE-SDM) 378 s
Page 129 and 130:
118 level of storage in</st
Page 131 and 132: 120 simplicity, and sensible file n
Page 133 and 134: 122 compliant DTD and schema. 393 I
Page 135 and 136: 124 While the advanced document-rec
Page 137 and 138: 126 Another significant manuscript
Page 139 and 140: 128 compelled to operate in
Page 141 and 142: 130 Cayless thus developed a method
Page 143 and 144: 132 must consider commercial and en
Page 145 and 146: 134 standard developed for the desc
Page 147 and 148: 136 to standard catalogs, identific
Page 149 and 150: 138 present an extension and comb<s
Page 151 and 152: 140 scholars in th
Page 153 and 154: 142 described as the amicitia papyr
Page 155 and 156: 144 to a full text transcription wh
Page 157 and 158: 146 The final majo
Page 159 and 160: 148 One is toward openness; the oth
Page 161 and 162: 150 this idea of personal ownership
Page 163 and 164: 152 prototype 512 in</stron
Page 165 and 166: 154 other assertions made about par
Page 167 and 168: 156 The conclusion drawn from this
Page 169 and 170: 158 and that “is main</st
Page 171 and 172: 160 philology available at the webs
Page 173 and 174: 162 descriptions that provides scho
Page 175 and 176: 164 of multilingua
Page 177 and 178: 166 Another major methodological is
Page 179 and 180: 168 ancient historians. Network ana
Page 181: 170 Bradley and Short (2005) have o
Page 185 and 186: 174 sources used and their abbrevia
Page 187 and 188: 176 resources, inc
Page 189 and 190: 178 materials could be found, a rec
Page 191 and 192: 180 or more documents (69 percent)
Page 193 and 194: 182 This work tends to focus on des
Page 195 and 196: 184 A related poin
Page 197 and 198: 186 “infer user
Page 199 and 200: 188 accessed; few providers, if any
Page 201 and 202: 190 information so
Page 203 and 204: 192 features. In addition, while pa
Page 205 and 206: 194 postdoctoral students, who were
Page 207 and 208: 196 computers by ancient historians
Page 209 and 210: 198 Demos (a growin</strong
Page 211 and 212: 200 database of this encyclopedia c
Page 213 and 214: 202 academia.” At the same time,
Page 215 and 216: 204 granted their views of the pote
Page 217 and 218: 206 science and use ICT occasionall
Page 219 and 220: 208 also declared that the m<strong
Page 221 and 222: 210 were exceptionally diverse, as
Page 223 and 224: 212 across virtual collections of d
Page 225 and 226: 214 tradition of European literatur
Page 227 and 228: 216 the related MILARQ project, 649
Page 229 and 230: 218 initial fund<s
Page 231 and 232: 220 SPQR—Supportin</stron
Page 233 and 234:
222 environments in</strong
Page 235 and 236:
224 become less “localized” wit
Page 237 and 238:
226 methods,” Cohen et al. expla<
Page 239 and 240:
228 One might have presumed that ou
Page 241 and 242:
230 This lack of deeper understand<
Page 243 and 244:
232 expertise, tools, experience, a
Page 245 and 246:
234 All link<stron
Page 247 and 248:
236 of architecture, tools and serv
Page 249 and 250:
238 reported that eSAD was develop<
Page 251 and 252:
240 semantic tools that would make
Page 253 and 254:
242 Sustainable Pr
Page 255 and 256:
244 A recent ARL report that explor
Page 257 and 258:
246 organizations and fundi
Page 259 and 260:
248 throughout this review, i.e., o
Page 261 and 262:
250 commercial providers. At the sa
Page 263 and 264:
252 representations beyond the bord
Page 265 and 266:
254 such as Vindol
Page 267 and 268:
256 that the question of in
Page 269 and 270:
258 Linguistic Com
Page 271 and 272:
260 resources and technology overvi
Page 273 and 274:
262 According to B
Page 275 and 276:
264 support the main</stron
Page 277 and 278:
266 Interoperability”). 763 The m
Page 279 and 280:
268 as the point o
Page 281 and 282:
270 This architecture makes it easy
Page 283 and 284:
272 [Aschenbrenner et al. 2008]. As
Page 285 and 286:
274 Editions.” Advances i
Page 287 and 288:
276 [Bodard et al. 2009]. Bodard, G
Page 289 and 290:
278 [Bulger et al. 2011]. Bulger, M
Page 291 and 292:
280 [Choudhury and Stin</st
Page 293 and 294:
282 [Crane et al. 2009a]. Crane, Gr
Page 295 and 296:
284 [Dué and Ebbott 2009]. Dué, C
Page 297 and 298:
286 [Flaten 2009]. Flaten, Arne R.
Page 299 and 300:
288 [Hardwick 2000]. Hardwick, Lorn
Page 301 and 302:
290 Conference on E-Science Worksho
Page 303 and 304:
292 [Lockyear 2007]. Lockyear, Kris
Page 305 and 306:
294 Cambridge, MA: Association for
Page 307 and 308:
296 [Ntzios et al. 2007]. Ntzios, K
Page 309 and 310:
298 [Reddy and Crane 2006]. Reddy,
Page 311 and 312:
300 [Rydberg-Cox 2009]. Rydberg-Cox
Page 313 and 314:
302 [Smith 2010]. Smith, D. Neel.
Page 315 and 316:
304 and the Canadian Academic Commu
Page 317 and 318:
306 [Wallom et al. 2009]. Wallom, D
show all

Rome Wasn't Digitized in a Day - Council on Library and Information ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?