NEH Digital Humanities Lightning Round 2011 Part 2

- MY NAME IS VICKI MAYER FROM TULANE UNIVERSITY
IN NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA,
AND IF--I’M SURE EVERYONE KNOWS NEW ORLEANS
FOR TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, LOUIS ARMSTRONG, AND EMERIL.
MEDIANOLA IS REALLY A PROJECT TO EXCAVATE THE PEOPLE,
PLACES, AND PRACTICES THAT ARE LESS VISIBLE BUT ESSENTIAL
TO MAKING OUR CULTURE.
I COME FROM A BACKGROUND IN COMMUNITY MEDIA AND A BOOK
ON INVISIBLE LABOR, AND SO I WANTED TO BRING THOSE PROJECTS
TOGETHER AND TALK NOT JUST ABOUT THE EXCEPTIONALISM
OF NEW ORLEANS AND ITS PEOPLES BUT ALSO THE ENDURING
STRUCTURES OF RACE, GENDER, AND CLASS INEQUALITIES
UPON WHICH THIS CULTURE IS GENERATED.
AND SO...THIS IS A RESEARCH
AND REFERENCE PORTAL THAT PROVIDES EDUCATION.
WE HAVE A LOT OF DIFFERENT PARTNERS, INCLUDING
THE NEW ORLEANS VIDEO ACCESS CENTER, THE LAW SCHOOL,
THE INNOVATIVE LEARNING CENTER, SOFTWARE PROGRAMMERS,
AND LOTS OF ARCHIVES THAT ARE NOW DIGITIZING THEIR
COLLECTIONS POST-KATRINA--
AND WE’RE TRYING TO PUT TOGETHER A WEB PORTAL THAT’LL
BRING ALL THAT INFORMATION TOGETHER.
HERE’S OUR PROTOTYPE.
WE’RE KIND OF PLAYING WITH A SEARCHABLE DATABASE THAT CAN
BE SEARCHED BY TIMELINE AND GEOGRAPHY.
WE HAVE STUDENTS WHO ARE LEARNING HOW TO GO THROUGH
THE ARCHIVES AND DO ORAL HISTORIES.
WE HAVE A NEW MAJOR IN GULF SOUTH STUDIES WHERE STUDENTS
ARE GETTING CREDIT FOR BASICALLY RESCUING
AND PRESERVING THIS INFORMATION AND PUTTING IT
IN THIS SEARCHABLE DATABASE.
AND OUR NEXT STAGE, WE HOPE TO LAUNCH THIS PUBLICLY AND GET
PUBLIC TESTIMONIES AND DOCUMENTARISTS WORKING
ON PUTTING VIDEO TOGETHER WITH THESE HISTORIES.
THANK YOU.
- HELLO. MY NAME IS STEFAN BAUMS.
HERE IS DAVID MELLINS.
WE ARE CO-DIRECTORS OF A PROJECT CALLED
THE BUDDHIST TRANSLATORS WORKBENCH,
A COLLABORATION BETWEEN
U.C. BERKELEY AND THE MANGALAM CENTER FOR BUDDHIST LANGUAGES.
SO WHAT WE DO IS WE DOCUMENT EXISTING TRANSLATION PRACTICE
IN TRANSLATING BUDDHIST TEXTS, AND WE WANT TO MODEL
THE TRANSLATION PROCESS AND THEN DEVELOP DIGITAL TOOLS TO HELP
THIS PROCESS.
SO HERE YOU SEE A SLIGHTLY--
WELL, A PROTOTYPICAL IMAGE OF WHAT BUDDHIST TRANSLATION USED
TO BE LIKE AROUND 1908.
YOU SEE WE HAVE A VAST VARIETY OF BUDDHIST LANGUAGES.
BUDDHIST LITERATURE WAS MULTILINGUAL
FROM THE BEGINNING IN INDIA.
STARTING IN THE SECOND CENTURY, IT WAS TRANSLATED
TO CHINESE, AND THEN STARTING IN THE SIXTH CENTURY, TO TIBETAN.
SO HERE IS AN EXAMPLE ILLUSTRATING HOW WE HAVE
TO WORK WITH THIS MULTILINGUALITY.
A TECHNICAL TERM FROM EARLY MAHAYANA BUDDHISM,
BHUTAKOTI, HAS BEEN TRANSLATED
IN RADICALLY DIFFERENT WAYS AND NOT REALLY UNDERSTOOD.
TIBETAN DIDN’T HELP IN RESOLVING THIS AMBIGUITY.
CHINESE DIDN’T HELP.
AND THEN ONLY RECENTLY,
2 INTERWEAVED, INTERWOVEN COMMENTARIES--
IN THE GANDHARI LANGUAGE-- RECENTLY DISCOVERED--
AND IN PALI, POINTED OUT
THE CORRECT INTERPRETATION OF THIS TERM.
SO IF THIS NEW MANUSCRIPT IN GANDHARI FROM
THE FIRST CENTURY HAD NOT BEEN FOUND, WE WOULD STILL NOT KNOW
THAT THE CORRECT INTERPRETATION OF THIS TERM IS
"END OF EXISTENCE" RATHER THAN WHAT YOU SEE AT THE TOP.
AND SO WHAT WE PROPOSE TO DO HAS 2 ELEMENTS
REFLECTING THE 2 GOALS WE TRY TO ACHIEVE.
SO ON THE ONE HAND, WE HAVE A DATABASE IN WIKI IN WHICH WE
DOCUMENT EXISTING TRANSLATION PRACTICE, PARTLY CROWDSOURCED,
AND PARTLY THROUGH ACTUAL EMPLOYEES THAT WE HAVE,
ENTERING GLOSSARIES THAT EXIST, AND THEN PEOPLE CAN USE THIS.
THEY CAN FILTER OUT, THEY CAN CHOOSE TO SEE THOSE ASPECTS
OF EXISTING TRANSLATION PRACTICE THAT THEY LIKE AND APPROVE OF.
AND THEN ON THE OTHER SIDE, WE HAVE A SEARCH ENGINE
WHICH OPERATES OVER A FULL TEXT OF BUDDHIST LITERATURES
THAT EXIST ALREADY, AND SO--THAT WE IMPORT.
AND THE SEARCHES WILL HELP TO FIND RELEVANT CONTEXT,
PARALLEL CONTEXT, FOR A TEXT EDITOR THAT IS WORKING ON
BY TAKING INTO CROSS-LINGUISTIC EQUIVALENCES OF TERMS,
USING THE INFORMATION ENTERED ON THE LEFT-HAND SIDE OF THIS.
SO WHAT WE... [CHIME DINGS]
AIM TO DO IS COMPLEMENTARY
TO TRADITIONAL DICTIONARY-MAKING PRACTICE
IN THE WAY THAT YOU SEE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS SLIDE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
- HI. I’M MARK TEBEAU.
I’M HERE WITH MY COLLEAGUE, ERIN BELL, FROM CLEVELAND,
BUT I GET TO STAND UP HERE.
ERIN’S CHOSEN TO SIT...
ALTHOUGH, YOU SHOULD RAISE YOUR HAND, ERIN.
FOR OVER A DECADE,
WE’VE BEEN CURATING THE CITY AS A LIVING MUSEUM.
WE WALK, RESEARCH, TEACH, WRITE IT, SHARE IT,
COLLABORATE IN IT WITH ALL KINDS OF FOLKS IN THE COMMUNITY.
IN 2005, WE DEVELOPED AN ORAL HISTORY-BASED
PUBLIC ART PROJECT ALONG A RAPID TRANSIT ROUTE
THAT RESULTED IN 22 HISTORY KIOSKS, AND YOU SEE ME HERE
NEXT TO ONE OF THEM.
AND IT CAME OUT JUST AS APPS CULTURE WAS EMERGING IN 2008
AND ’09, AND WE THOUGHT, "WOULDN’T IT BE GREAT IF WE
COULD TAKE THOSE KIOSKS INTO THE CITY?"
THE RISE OF THAT CULTURE INSPIRED US TO IMAGINE
CLEVELAND HISTORICAL, A MOBILE SMARTPHONE APP WHICH WE CURATE--
THROUGH WHICH WE CURATE CLEVELAND IN COLLABORATION
WITH HUNDREDS OF STUDENTS, K-12 TEACHERS, THEIR STUDENTS,
AND THE COMMUNITY MORE BROADLY.
IT’S AVAILABLE IN iOS AND ANDROID
WITH MOBILE STYLE SHEETS AND A WEB SITE.
IT’S BEEN DOWNLOADED BY OVER 6,000 USERS,
WITH ABOUT 30,000 FOLKS VISITING
OUR WEB SITE OVER THE LAST SEVERAL MONTHS.
THIS INSPIRED US TO ASK THE QUESTION, CAN WE TAKE IT
BEYOND CLEVELAND, AND MOBILE HISTORICAL WAS BORN.
LIKE ITS FIRST INSTANCE, CLEVELAND HISTORICAL,
MOBILE HISTORICAL IS FEATURE-RICH.
IT USES OMEKA AS A CONTENT-MANAGEMENT SYSTEM,
AND EMBEDDED IN THE PROJECT IS A PARTICULAR CONCEPTUAL APPROACH
TO DIGITAL STORYTELLING THAT’S NOTABLE,
I THINK, FOR ITS COMMUNITY-BASED COLLABORATION.
SO WITH NEH FUNDING,
WE’RE EXPLORING HOW TO MAKE MOBILE HISTORICAL
AVAILABLE FOR CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS AND UNIVERSITIES.
MOBILE HISTORICAL WILL PROVIDE THEM A KIND OF OUT-OF-THE-BOX
SOLUTION TO MOBILE THAT ALLOWS THEM TO DEPLOY LOCALLY BRANDED
MOBILE APPS THAT ARE INTERCONNECTED AND HOSTED
WITH OTHER LOCALLY BRANDED APPS.
WE HAVE BETA DEPLOYMENTS IN SPOKANE AND BALTIMORE
AND ELSEWHERE.
WE HAVE SOME DEVELOPMENT COLLABORATIONS
WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI--ST.LOUIS,
AND WE’RE ALSO PARTNERING IN CERTAIN WAYS
WITH THE FOLKS AT OMEKA.
AND YOU SEE WHAT WE’RE DOING HERE, AND WE INVITE YOU
TO DOWNLOAD, AND PLEASE FOLLOW US ON TWITTER.
THANK YOU.
- HI. I’M WILL HANLEY FROM FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY.
I’M GONNA TALK ABOUT PROSOP.
PROSOP COLLECTS INFORMATION ABOUT HISTORICAL INDIVIDUALS.
THE TOOL IS MEANT TO PRESERVE SUCH INFORMATION
IN ITS NATIVE FORMAT
WITHOUT ANY FIXED CATEGORY REQUIREMENTS.
IT WILL THEN FIND CONNECTIONS WITHIN A VERY LARGE POOL
OF DEMOGRAPHIC DATA AND ALLOW AGGREGATE ANALYSIS.
NOW, PROSOP IS INTENDED TO HELP 3 KINDS OF USERS--
MICROHISTORIANS, WHO HAVE COMPLETED RESEARCH PROJECTS
AND WANT TO PRESERVE THEIR DATA,
WHICH HAS OFTEN COST THEM THEIR EYESIGHT
AND AT LEAST ONE MARRIAGE-- AND THEY NEED TO FIND SOME WAY
TO PASS IT ON TO OTHERS.
IT ALSO IS INTENDED TO HELP MICROHISTORIANS DOING NEW WORK,
WHO WANT TO COLLECT THE DATA IN A FORMAT MORE USABLE
THAN A SPREADSHEET OR A WORD PROCESSOR DOCUMENT.
AND ALSO, FAMILY HISTORIANS WHO ARE CURRENTLY DOING
TREMENDOUS CROWDSOURCING-STYLE WORK WITH PRIMARY DOCUMENTS,
BUT THIS WORK IS OFTEN BEING CAPTURED BY FOR-PROFIT SITES
AND PASSED OVER BY PROFESSIONAL HISTORIANS.
MOST OF THE PRINCIPLES HERE
BEING USED TO DESIGN IT ARE
ADDRESSED WITH A RDF DATA
STRUCTURE WE’RE DEVELOPING,
WHICH WILL FEATURE
ON-THE-FLY ONTOLOGY.
NEEDLESS TO SAY, THE PROTOTYPE IS NOT WORKING YET.
THE STARTUP GRANT WILL FUND CONTENT-CREATION WORKSHOPS
WHICH ARE FOCUSING ON COLLECTIONS OF PERSON DATA,
NAME DATA FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN
BEFORE THE 20th CENTURY--
AND THESE WORKSHOPS HAVE A DOUBLE AIM.
FIRST, THE AIM IS TO ASSEMBLE A DATABASE OF A VERY LARGE
NUMBER OF HISTORICAL INDIVIDUALS, INDIVIDUALS
OF INFERIOR SOCIOECONOMIC RANK TO THOSE WHO FEATURE
IN MOST PROSOPOGRAPHIC PROJECTS.
THE PROBLEM WE HAVE IS ONE OF ABUNDANCE
RATHER THAN SCARCITY,
AND SO THIS IS SOMETHING WE’RE DEALING WITH.
SECONDLY, PROSOP AIMS TO MAKE THE VARIOUS
HISTORICAL DESCRIPTIONS AND CATEGORIZATION SCHEMES
THEMSELVES AVAILABLE AS AN OBJECT FOR STUDY.
THANK YOU.
- IMMERSIVE COORDINATES: DIGITAL ANATOLIA IS DIRECTED
BY MYSELF, CHRIS JOHANSON, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF CLASSICS
AND DIGITAL HUMANITIES AT UCLA.
THE PROJECT COORDINATOR AND LEAD DEVELOPER IS AJAY OKAI,
A Ph.D. STUDENT AT UCLA
WITH A BACKGROUND IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
CENTERED IN ANALOG ANATOLIA, NOT DIGITAL,
BUT IS MODERN-DAY TURKEY.
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ADVISORY BOARD,
BOTH FROM ANKARA UNIVERSITY--
ORHAN BINGOL AND VEDAT IDIL ARE
BOTH DIRECTORS AT OUR KEY COLLABORATIVE SITES.
THE GOAL OF THE PROJECT IS TO RETHINK
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE REPORT AND SPACE-BASED PUBLICATIONS.
HOW CAN WE HARNESS THE AFFORDANCES OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL
COMPUTER GRAPHICS, COUPLED WITH GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS,
TO COMMUNICATE, ANALYZE, VALIDATE ARGUMENTS
BETTER MADE WHEN EMBEDDED WITHIN A SPACE-BASED SYSTEM?
WE’RE NOT STARTING FROM SCRATCH--OH, BUT MY SLIDE IS:
IT’S MISSING A COUPLE OF IMAGES.
SO THINK BACK TO TODD PRESNER’S PRESENTATION
AND IMAGINE SOME OF THE HYPERCITIES IMAGES OVERLAID.
THE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION IS HYPERCITIES, WHICH HAS
SUPPORTED A RANGE OF SUCCESSFUL TWO- AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL
MAPPING PROJECTS FOCUSED ON THE MODERN AND ANCIENT WORLD
WHOSE PRIMARY GOAL IS TO TELL URBAN NARRATIVES
THAT CUT THROUGH SPACE AND TIME BY ASSEMBLING SIDE BY SIDE
GIS DATA, ARTIFACT-LEVEL INFORMATION, AND NARRATIVE.
WE WILL ADOPT THIS PLATFORM, THIS INFRASTRUCTURE,
TO SUPPORT OUR 2 ONGOING ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECTS:
MAGNESIA ON THE MAEANDER-- PICTURED IN THE FIRST SLIDE--
AND NYSA, BOTH IN WESTERN TURKEY.
THEY SHARE CRITICAL FEATURES.
THEY’RE AT AN URBAN SCALE-- THEY’RE CITYWIDE PROJECTS.
THEY HAVE A HOST OF LEGACY DATA,
PLUS A RANGE OF NEW KNOWLEDGE BEING CREATED ONSITE.
THERE’S AN URGENT NEED TO DISSEMINATE
DUE TO THE LIMITED NATURE OF FUNDING.
AND MOST IMPORTANT, THERE’S EXTRAORDINARILY RICH RECORDS
OF ANCIENT SPECTACLE IN ACTION, FROM A STADIUM
BRIDGING A GORGE AT NYSA--
THE ROMANS WERE AMAZING AT THIS SITE--
TO ONE OF THE LARGEST AND BEST-PRESERVED MARBLE STADIUMS
IN THE WORLD RECENTLY UNCOVERED AND CURRENTLY BEING
DOCUMENTED AT MAGNESIA.
THE INTENT OF THIS PROJECT IS NOT TO FIND THE HOLY GRAIL,
AN ARCHEOLOGICAL REPOSITORY TO END THEM ALL--
SOME OF YOU ARE ACTUALLY DOING THAT.
RATHER, IT IS TO FOCUS ON THE KINDS OF ARGUMENTS THAT CAN BE
MADE TODAY, BUILDING ON SOME REPOSITORIES OF DATA
WHEREVER POSSIBLE, BUT FOCUSED WHOLLY
ON MAKING ARGUMENTS CLEARER
THROUGH VISUAL REPRESENTATION AND IMMERSIVE COORDINATES.
- MY NAME IS ADITI, AND I’M HERE REPRESENTING MY ADVISOR
MARTI HEARST
AND OUR COLLABORATORS IN THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY.
SO OUR PROJECT IS WORDSEER, AND IT’S AN INTERFACE
IN THE SYSTEM FOR LARGE-SCALE LITERATURE ANALYSIS.
AND WE’RE SOME OF THOSE COMPUTER SCIENTISTS THAT JIM MENTIONED.
WE’RE JUST FASCINATED BY THE KINDS OF QUESTIONS
THAT HUMANITIES SCHOLARS ASK OF THEIR TEXT COLLECTIONS.
SO THE SCHOLARS THAT WE’RE WORKING WITH ARE
IN THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, AND THEY USE TEXT
AS DATA FOR ANALYSIS.
THEY STUDY WORD USAGE PATTERNS, THEY STUDY, WHAT ARE
THE CONTEXTS AROUND THIS CONCEPT, THESE PEOPLE?
ARE THERE STEREOTYPES?
WHAT IS TYPICAL ABOUT THESE PASSAGES?
WHAT IS TYPICAL ABOUT THESE COLLECTIONS?
ESSENTIALLY, THEY TRY TO TYPIFY AND CHARACTERIZE
THEMES, AND THEY COME UP WITH HYPOTHESES
ABOUT THE MARRIAGE PLOT,
ABOUT STEREOTYPES IN SLAVE NARRATIVES,
BUT IT’S DIFFICULT AT LARGE-SCALE.
SO, FROM OUR PERSPECTIVE AS EXPERTS
IN NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING,
IN USER INTERFACES, IN INFORMATION VISUALIZATION,
WHAT WE REALIZED IS THAT SOME OF THESE PROBLEMS,
TO A LARGE EXTENT, CAN BE EFFECTIVELY MEDIATED
WITH COMPUTER SCIENCE.
AND SO WHAT WE DO IS WE BRING
STATE-OF-THE-ART NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING,
AND WE ARE ABLE TO EXTRACT A LOT
OF THE GRAMMATICAL INFORMATION THAT’S PRESENT IN TEXT
BECAUSE WE DON’T SPEAK RANDOMLY,
WE DON’T JUST THROW WORDS TOGETHER.
OUR LANGUAGE IS STRUCTURED, IT HAS GRAMMAR,
AND A LOT OF THAT REGULARITY IS ACCESSIBLE TO COMPUTERS,
SO WE EXTRACT IT, MAKE IT SEARCHABLE, MAKE IT
VISUALIZABLE, AND THEN HELP
LITERARY SCHOLARS DO THEIR WORK.
SO THIS IS A WORKING PROTOTYPE
THAT WE HAVE AT
BEBOP.BERKELEY.EDU/WORDSEER
AND IT IMPLEMENTS GRAMMATICAL SEARCH.
FOR EXAMPLE, YOU CAN TYPE IN ANY QUERY, ANY WORD--"GOD"--
AND SELECT MODIFIERS.
SO WHAT IS "GOD" DESCRIBED AS?
AND IT WILL PULL OUT ALL THE ADJECTIVES AND SHOW THEM
TO YOU, SHOW THEM WHERE THEY OCCUR IN THE TEXT, AND ALLOW
YOU TO ZOOM IN TO THEM.
ON THE RIGHT, YOU SEE OUR HEAT MAP.
YOU CAN SEE EVERY OCCURRENCE OF THE WORD "GOD"
IN OUR COLLECTION, AND A WORD TREE SO YOU CAN SEE
ALL THE CONTEXTS IN WHICH "GOD" OCCURS.
AND SO THERE’S MORE COMING: TRACING CHARACTERS,
FINDING SIMILAR PASSAGES, AND, OF COURSE, SUPPORT
FOR MANAGING YOUR HYPOTHESES AND YOUR IDEAS.
SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
- HI. I’M LAURA WEXLER.
I TEACH AMERICAN STUDIES AND WOMEN, GENDER,
AND SEXUALITY STUDIES AND PUBLIC HUMANITIES
AT YALE UNIVERSITY, AND I’M
HERE WITH MY COLLEAGUE, KEN PANKO,
IN ACADEMIC TECHNOLOGY.
I’M GOING TO TELL YOU ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAMMAR PROJECT.
WE’RE DOING DIGITAL MAPPING
OF THE FARM SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
OFFICE OF WAR INFORMATION PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE
OF OVER 160,000 PHOTOGRAPHS OF AMERICAN LIFE
TAKEN DURING THE DEPRESSION AND THE BEGINNING
OF U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN WORLD WAR II.
IT’S A VERY WELL-BELOVED ARCHIVE ALREADY DIGITIZED
BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, AND YOU WILL KNOW IT
AS THE PICTURES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION MADE
BY GREAT PHOTOGRAPHERS SUCH AS RUSSELL LEE, WALKER EVANS,
DOROTHEA LANGE, GORDON PARKS, AND MANY OTHERS.
IN THE CURRENT TROUGH OF THE AMERICAN ECONOMY, WE WANT
TO MAKE THESE IMAGES NEWLY ACCESSIBLE
TO A NEW GENERATION OF SPECTATORS.
FIRST, DIGITAL MAPPING AND DISPLAY CHANGES THE TYPE
OF QUESTIONS AND THE JOURNEYS YOU CAN TAKE THROUGH
THE PHOTOGRAPHIC FILE WITH THE METADATA THAT CURRENTLY
ALREADY EXISTS, THAT CAN BE EXTRACTED AND RECONFIGURED.
SECOND, DIGITAL MAPPING OR DISPLAY GIVES AN OPPORTUNITY
ALSO TO ASSOCIATE DATA FROM NEW SOURCES,
SUCH AS COUNTY-LEVEL CENSUS DATA,
AND CORRELATE THIS NEW INFORMATION WITH THE IMAGES.
TECHNICALLY, WE ARE STRIVING TO BUILD A WEB-BASED TOOL
THAT WILL MAKE IT EASY FOR A RESEARCHER TO DO THIS.
RESEARCHERS WE HAVE IN MIND ARE TEACHERS, STUDENTS,
SCHOLARS, MUSEUMS, ARTISTS,
AND MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC.
OUR INTENTION IS ALSO TO MAKE THIS TOOL SOMETHING THAT CAN BE
RE-PURPOSED SO THAT OTHER PEOPLE CAN USE IT
FOR OTHER LARGE SETS OF PHOTOGRAPHS
AND OTHER ASSOCIATED DATA SETS.
THESE SLIDES THAT YOU’RE SEEING ARE NOT INDICATIVE
OF THE FINAL PRODUCT, BUT ARE TYPICAL
OF AN EARLY PROOF OF CONCEPT.
WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE?
THE MOST IMPORTANT SLIDE IS, WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE
IF WE WERE ABLE TO SEARCH THE FSA-OWI ARCHIVE GEOGRAPHICALLY.
HERE, EVERY RED DOT REPRESENTS A COUNTY
IN WHICH FSA-OWI PHOTOGRAPHS WERE MADE.
YOU CAN CLICK ON A COUNTY AND SEE THIS IS
NATCHITOCHES PARISH IN 1940,
AND THEN YOU CAN CLICK ON A DATE,
AND ASSOCIATE DATA SETS FROM THE CENSUS AND OTHER THINGS
WITH THESE IMAGES.
WE HAVE MOVED ON, AND ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED CAN COME
AND SEE AN ANIMATION THROUGH TIME,
WHICH MY COLLEAGUE KEN PANKO HAS ON HIS COMPUTER.
THANK YOU.
- I’M DALE MacDONALD.
THIS IS WORK WITH ANNE BALSAMO AT USC.
WE’RE USING THIS GRANT TO PROTOTYPE
AN INTERACTIVE TABLETOP DEVICE
DESIGNED TO ENABLE BODY-BASED
AND COLLABORATIVE BROWSING
OF THE EXTENSIVE DATABASE
OF DIGITAL IMAGES OF PANELS
OF THE AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT.
WHILE THE SMITHSONIAN HAS ARCHIVED ONE OF THE PANELS,
THE REMAINING ARE STORED IN AN ATLANTA WAREHOUSE,
WHERE A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE MAINTAIN AND REPAIR
THE PANELS, BUT THEY’RE CONSTANTLY SUBJECTED TO FADING,
DISINTEGRATION, AND SIMPLE DECAY.
IN ADDITION TO THIS PHYSICAL DECAY, AS AIDS DROPS OFF
THE FRONT PAGES IN AMERICA,
THE NEED FOR THE NAMES PROJECT
TO GET THE QUILT OUT AND GET THESE MEMORIALS
IN FRONT OF PEOPLE BECOMES MORE AND MORE PRESSING.
SO WE’VE TAKEN ON THE TASK OF FIGURING OUT A WAY TO MAKE
THIS FRAGILE MEMORIAL MORE AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING
BY NEW AUDIENCES.
AS OF RECENT COUNT, THERE ARE
NEARLY 50,000 INDIVIDUAL PANELS MAKING UP
6,000 BLOCKS OF THE QUILT.
IF THEY WERE ALL LAID OUT, THEY’D OCCUPY ABOUT 29 ACRES.
SO WE’RE BUILDING A BROWSING APPLICATION THAT CAN BE USED
WITH A NUMBER OF OTHER LARGE-IMAGE DATABASES TO DISPLAY
ON A TABLETOP THAT TILTS AND TWISTS TO ENABLE PANNING
AND ZOOMING FROM THIS SORT OF VERY LARGE IMAGE
OF ALL OF THE PANELS DOWN TO THE VERY SMALL.
THE MAJOR ISSUES ADDRESSED IN THIS PROJECT INCLUDE
THE EXPLORATION OF THE USE OF TANGIBLE INTERFACES
FOR VIEWING SPATIALIZED IMAGES,
DESIGN OF A USER EXPERIENCE
THAT FOREGROUNDS THE USE OF THE BODY
IN CONSIDERATION OF SCALE AND VISUAL IMAGES,
DESIGN OF USER EXPERIENCE
THAT ENCOURAGES COLLABORATIVE ENGAGEMENT AROUND A TABLE,
AND THE DESIGN OF A TECHNOLOGY
THAT ENHANCES PRACTICES OF CULTURAL REMEMBERING.
- HELLO.
I’M SCOTT HAMLIN FROM WHEATON COLLEGE, AND I’M JOINED BY
RAFAEL ALVARADO FROM UVA.
OUR PROJECT IS PART OF THE TAPAS PROJECT
AND WAS BORN OUT OF A ONE-YEAR PLANNING PROCESS
WITH 13 INSTITUTIONS
AND FUNDED BY THE IMLS.
THROUGH THE TAPAS PROJECT, WE HOPE TO PROVIDE A WAY
FOR HUMANISTS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE
OF THE TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE’S RICH XML LANGUAGE
USED IN DIGITIZING AND ANALYZING ARCHIVAL AND SCHOLARLY TEXTS.
HERE’S AN EXAMPLE OF THE PROBLEM WE’RE TRYING
TO ADDRESS.
A PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND THE COLLEGE ARCHIVIST AT WHEATON
FIND A TEXT THAT THEY WANT TO DIGITIZE.
THEY TEAM UP WITH A TECHNOLOGIST--WHO
HELPS THEM FIGURE OUT HOW TO DIGITIZE AND ENCODE THE TEXT.
THEY CREATE THE CODED TEXT AS AN UNDERGRADUATE CLASS PROJECT
AND THE STUDENTS LEARN A LOT FROM THIS PROCESS.
BUT THE QUESTION BECOMES, NOW WHAT?
HOW CAN THEY PUBLISH THIS TEXT ONLINE, STORE IT LONG-TERM,
AND TAKE FULLER ADVANTAGE OF THE ENCODING?
FOR AN INSTITUTION WITH RESOURCES,
THEY BUILD A TOOL
TO MAKE USE OF THE TEI ENCODING.
BUT FOR THOSE WITHOUT RESOURCES,
THERE ARE FEW LOW-COST,
LOW-THRESHOLD OPTIONS FOR STORING
AND USING THESE TEXTS.
THIS IS WHERE OUR PROPOSED SOLUTION COMES INTO PLAY.
TAPAS--THE TEI ARCHIVING, PUBLISHING,
AND ACCESS SERVICE--
WILL BE A WELL-SUPPORTED SERVICE FOR SCHOLARS
HOSTED AT BROWN UNIVERSITY,
CONSISTING OF A FEDORA REPOSITORY,
WHERE THE DATA IS STORED LONG-TERM; AN API
FOR THIRD-PARTY APPS; AND AN INTERFACE DEVELOPED
IN THE CONTENT-MANAGEMENT SYSTEM DRUPAL.
THIS PARTICULAR PROJECT FOCUSES ON THAT LAST PART.
WE PLAN TO CREATE A PROTOTYPE INTERFACE FOR TAPAS
WHICH COULD ALSO STAND ON ITS OWN.
IT WILL HAVE TOOLS FOR PUBLISHING, MANAGING,
SEARCHING, TRANSFORMING, AND ANALYZING
TEI-ENCODED TEXTS.
TO GET THERE, WE PLAN TO USE
A GROUP-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
SIMILAR TO THE ONE WEEK, ONE TOOL PROJECT.
SO ANOTHER OUTCOME OF THIS PROJECT WILL BE A WHITE PAPER
ON USING THAT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS.
- GOOD AFTERNOON. MY NAME IS JON FREY.
I’M WITH MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY.
IN THE SUMMERS, I SERVE AS THE FIELD COORDINATOR
AT THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXCAVATIONS AT ISTHMIA
UNDER THE DIRECTORSHIP OF TIMOTHY GREGORY AT OHIO STATE.
OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, WE’VE BEEN ENGAGED
IN THE PROCESS OF DIGITIZING OUR ARCHIVE, AND I GIVE YOU
A WHOLE VARIETY OF DIFFERENT THINGS
THAT ARE BEING DIGITIZED--
SOME PHOTOGRAPHS, DRAWINGS, INVENTORY CARDS,
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, THE FIELD NOTEBOOKS
IN THE TOP LEFT THERE.
WE’VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR THE SAME REASON
THAT MOST PEOPLE ARE DIGITIZING THEIR ARCHIVES--
ONE, FOR CONSERVATION, AND, TWO, FOR ACCESS.
THE REAL PROBLEM HERE IS THAT ANY INFORMATION YOU DON’T GO
HOME WITH, YOU HAVE TO WAIT TILL THE NEXT SUMMER
AND RETURN TO GREECE TO ACCESS IT AGAIN.
THE NEH GRANT WE APPLIED FOR WAS MEANT TO ADDRESS 2 ISSUES:
ONE, HOW DO WE MAKE THESE VARIETY OF DIFFERENT FORMS
OF INFORMATION--MOST OF THEM HANDWRITTEN--
HOW DO WE MAKE THEM SEARCHABLE?
BUT, 2--HOW DO WE GO BEYOND A BASIC KEYWORD SEARCH
AND ESSENTIALLY RE-CREATE THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING
IN THE ARCHIVE BUT DO IT DIGITALLY SO THAT YOU
COULD MOVE FROM THE FIELD BOOK TO THE DRAWING TO THE PHOTOGRAPH
OR IN ANY ORDER YOU’D LIKE?
INITIALLY, WITH HELP FROM THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND LETTERS
AT MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, WE’VE STARTED TO DEVELOP
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE CATALOGUING SYSTEM.
WITH THE NEH GRANT, WE’LL BE CONTINUING TO DEVELOP THIS.
BASICALLY, THE TWO MAIN UTILITIES WE’RE WORKING
ON RIGHT NOW, IT’S CROWDSOURCING THE TAGGING
OF INDIVIDUAL PAGES OF NOTEBOOKS AND PHOTOGRAPHS
AND DIFFERENT FORMS OF INFORMATION, BUT ALSO THEN
TO GO BEYOND THAT
AND TO LINK THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF INFORMATION
TO ONE ANOTHER SO THAT YOU CAN GO FROM THE FIELD BOOK--
WHICH IS WHAT WE’RE USING AS THE PRIMARY DOCUMENT.
YOU CAN GO FROM THE FIELD BOOK TO A PHOTOGRAPH TO A DATABASE
AND BACK AGAIN.
SO THAT’S THE GOAL.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
- I’M KATHRYN TOMASEK, AND I TEACH AT WHEATON COLLEGE--
AND THAT’S A LOUSY PICTURE YOU USED, SCOTT.
I TEACH AT WHEATON COLLEGE IN MASSACHUSETTS.
I’M CO-DIRECTOR OF SOMETHING WE CALL
THE WHEATON COLLEGE DIGITAL HISTORY PROJECT.
WE STARTED USING TEI CONFORMANT XML TO DIGITALIZE
DOCUMENTS FROM THE FOUNDING ERA OF THE INSTITUTION--
IT WAS FOUNDED IN 1834 AS WHEATON FEMALE SEMINARY.
WE RAN OUT OF THE EASY STUFF-- THE DIARIES AND SO FORTH--
AND THEN WE WENT ON TO FINANCIAL RECORDS.
WE’RE KIND OF FORTUNATE
THAT FOLKS WITH THE FOUNDING FAMILIES PROJECTS--
THE ADAMS PAPERS, THE GEORGE WASHINGTON PAPERS--
ARE AT THIS STAGE, TOO.
AND SO WE HAD A MEETING AT WHEATON
IN AUGUST 18, 19.
WHAT YOU SEE HERE ARE IMAGES ON THE LEFT,
FROM THE ADAMS PAPERS,
ON THE RIGHT, FROM GEORGE WASHINGTON’S ACCOUNTS
WITH A DR. JAMES CRAIK.
WE HAD SOME DISCUSSION ABOUT WHETHER FINANCIAL RECORDS
ARE, IN FACT, APPROPRIATE SOURCES
FOR SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY.
RON AND MARY ZBORAY
WERE TOLD BY THE "AMERICAN QUARTERLY"
TO TAKE OUT THE STUFF THAT WAS ABOUT
"THOSE BORING BUSINESS RECORDS," THEY TOLD US.
[CHUCKLES]
THIS WAS AN "AMERICAN QUARTERLY" ARTICLE.
WHAT YOU SEE ON THE RIGHT IS ONE OF THE KINDS OF DOCUMENTS
THAT WE’RE INTERESTED IN HAVING STUDENTS TRANSCRIBE
AND MARK UP.
WHAT WE’RE DOING RIGHT NOW IS TESTING ENCODING MODELS.
SOME FOLKS ARE WORKING ON EMBEDDED ENCODING
WITH CURRENT TEI ELEMENTS.
OTHERS ARE WORKING ON EMBEDDED ENCODING
WITH PROJECT-SPECIFIC ELEMENTS.
AND WE ARE ALSO TRYING SOME ONTOLOGICAL ENCODING WITH
WHAT IS SADLY CALLED, AT THIS POINT, A "TRANSACTION-OGRAPHY."
PRETTY UGLY.
BUT YOU SEE WHAT OUR SCREENS LOOK LIKE, AND WE’RE WORKING
ON--TESTING THE MODELS AND WRITING UP THE WHITE PAPER,
AND WE’LL BE BACK FOR MORE.
THANKS.
- HELLO. I’M HANNAH KOSSTRIN.
AT REED COLLEGE, WE ARE DEVELOPING
A MOBILE APPLICATION
THAT WRITES DANCE NOTATION THROUGH TOUCH TECHNOLOGY.
WE USE LABANOTATION, A MOVEMENT NOTATION SYSTEM
DEVELOPED IN THE EARLY 20th CENTURY--
OVER ON THE FAR RIGHT--
WHICH IS A FOUNDATIONAL FORM OF DANCE LITERACY.
LABANOTATION IS CONCEPTUALLY SIMILAR TO MUSIC NOTATION.
IT FEATURES SYMBOLS ON A STAFF THAT SHOW WHERE THE BODY GOES
IN SPACE IN TERMS OF DIRECTION, LEVEL,
AND DURATION, AND IT SHOWS HOW THE MOVEMENT CORRELATES
TO THE MUSIC.
MANY 20th-CENTURY DANCES ARE NOTATED IN LABANOTATION,
AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND PROFESSIONAL COMPANIES
STAGE CHOREOGRAPHIC WORK FROM LABANOTATION SCORE.
LABANWRITER IS A MAC DESKTOP PROGRAM THAT WRITES
LABANOTATION DIGITALLY.
WE ARE PORTING LABANWRITER TO THE iPAD AND WILL RELEASE
A FREE APPLICATION THAT UPDATES AND FURTHER DEVELOPS
DIGITAL NOTATION SOFTWARE.
WE ARE CURRENTLY TESTING A SCORE READER, WHICH ALLOWS
USERS TO READ SCORES PREVIOUSLY ON PAPER
AND BOUND IN BOOKS ON THE iPAD.
USERS CAN EASILY FLIP THROUGH PAGES OR ZOOM IN FOR DETAIL
WHILE BEING ABLE TO MOVE THROUGH STUDIO SPACE
UNINHIBITED BY UNWIELDY BOUND SCORES.
UNDER THE STARTUP GRANT, WE WILL MAKE AN EDITOR
THAT WILL ENABLE USERS TO GENERATE DIGITAL NOTATION SCORES
DIRECTLY IN THE STUDIO OR IN THE RESEARCH FIELD
WITH GREATER EASE AND PORTABILITY THAN A LAPTOP
OR PENCIL AND PAPER ALLOWS.
THE APP’S FINGER-STROKE COMMANDS WILL FLUIDLY BRING
USERS INTO THE PROGRAM.
THE ABILITY TO DRAW DIRECTLY ON THE TABLET WILL MERGE
THEORY AND PRACTICE.
IT WILL BRING USERS KINESTHETICALLY
INTO THE NOTATION
SO THAT THEY CAN EMBODY NOT ONLY THE MOVEMENT
FROM READING THE NOTATION, BUT RECORDING MOVEMENT
WILL ALSO BE A KINESTHETIC EXPERIENCE.
GENERATED MATERIAL CAN EITHER STAY ON THE iPAD
OR BE IMPORTED BACK TO THE DESKTOP PROGRAM TO MAKE
A MORE DETAILED SCORE.
OUR APP WILL EXPAND THE ABILITIES OF THOSE FOR WHOM
LABANOTATION IS INTEGRAL TO THEIR TEACHING OR RESEARCH.
IT WILL ENHANCE THEORETICAL CHOREOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS
WHILE GENERATING AND DOCUMENTING NEW DANCES FOR ANALYSIS
AND INQUIRY.
THIS PROJECT FURTHERS DANCE LITERACY BY INCREASING
DANCE COMMUNICATION ACROSS HUMANITIES FIELDS.
THE STUDY OF CHOREOGRAPHIC TRENDS ALLOWS STUDENTS
TO EXAMINE SOCIAL POLITICS, HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS,
GENDER RELATIONS, AND ISSUES OF IDENTITY AND NATION.
THE BENEFICIARIES OF THIS PROJECT ARE RESEARCHERS,
SCHOLARS, TEACHERS, CHOREOGRAPHERS, DANCERS,
AND STUDENTS IN FIELDS SUCH AS DANCE, THEATER,
AND PERFORMANCE STUDIES WHO USE MOVEMENT
AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THEIR SCHOLARLY INQUIRY.
THANK YOU.
- I’M ERIC KANSA.
I’M WITH U.C.--BERKELEY AND OPEN CONTEXT, AND I’M HERE TO TALK
ABOUT OUR PROJECT TO START
A GAZETTEER OF ANCIENT NEAR-EASTERN PLACES
USING THE PLEIADES SYSTEM,
A GAZETTEER AT THE INSTITUTE
FOR THE STUDY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY.
AND WHAT I REALLY LIKE ABOUT THIS PROJECT IS THAT IT’S
REALLY INTENSELY COLLABORATIVE,
AND COLLABORATION IS REALLY A BIG MOTIVATION FOR ENGAGING
IN DIGITAL HUMANITIES IN THE FIRST PLACE.
AND WHAT WE’RE TRYING TO DO IS GET OVER
THE WHOLE NOT-INVENTED-HERE KIND OF A PROBLEM.
AND AS YOU CAN SEE, I MAINLY WORK ON OPEN CONTEXT,
AN ONLINE SYSTEM TO PUBLISH ARCHEOLOGICAL FIELD DATA,
INCLUDING LOTS OF MATERIALS FROM THE NEAR EAST.
SO WHY AM I COLLABORATING WORK ON SOMEBODY ELSE’S SYSTEM?
IT TURNS OUT THAT OPEN CONTEXT WOULD BE MUCH RICHER AND WOULD
HAVE A MUCH GREATER IMPACT IF IT BETTER COMPLEMENTED
AND LINKED WITH OTHER DATA
IN THE RICH ECOSYSTEM OF COLLECTIONS
GROWING AROUND NEAR-EASTERN STUDIES.
FOR INSTANCE, IT WOULD BE GREAT TO LINK
THE MATERIAL CULTURE
THAT WE PUBLISH IN OPEN CONTEXT WITH PUBLISHED
DIGITIZED HISTORICAL LITERATURE IN COLLECTIONS
LIKE THE HATHI TRUST.
IT TURNS OUT THAT THE WHOLE CONCEPT OF PLACE IS VERY,
VERY USEFUL IN LINKING
DIFFERENT CULTURAL HERITAGE COLLECTIONS
IN VERY MEANINGFUL KINDS OF WAYS.
THEREFORE, WE SOUGHT FUNDING TO HELP EXPAND THE COVERAGE
OF PLEIADES, WHICH CURRENTLY COVERS MAINLY CLASSICS,
TO EXPAND THAT COVERAGE TO INCLUDE
ANCIENT NEAR-EAST PLACES.
AND PLEIADES IS ALSO WONDERFUL BECAUSE IT’S FULLY OPEN--
ALL THE CONTENT IS LICENSED WITH A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION
LICENSE, SO, YAY.
AND WE’RE BRINGING TOGETHER SCHOLARS.
FRANCIS DEBLAUWE, WHO’S AN EXPERT IN NEAR-EASTERN STUDIES
AND LANGUAGES, WILL LEAD THE CHARGE TO HELP BRING IN
PUBLISHED MATERIALS NOW IN TEXT GAZETTEERS.
AND INCLUDING--WE’RE ALSO WORKING WITH OTHER SCHOLARS
WHO HAVE DIGITIZED MAP DATA, INCLUDING RESEARCHERS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA,
THE WEST BANK ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA SITE
TO BRING THIS INTO PLEIADES
WHERE IT CAN SING IN A MUCH BETTER WAY AND SUPPORT
ALL SORTS OF WONDERFUL LINK-DATA APPLICATIONS.
THANK YOU.
- HELLO.
I’M WILL COWAN, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
IN DIGITAL LIBRARY SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY, AND I’M GONNA TALK
ABOUT PUTTING DIGITAL VIDEO INTO OMEKA.
AT INDIANA, WE’VE HAD SOME EXPERIENCE WORKING A LOT
WITH DIGITAL VIDEO SEGMENTATION AND ANNOTATION
FOR AN EARLIER MELLON-FUNDED PROJECT:
THE ETHNOGRAPHIC VIDEO FOR INSTRUCTION AND ANALYSIS.
WE DEVELOPED THE ANNOTATOR’S WORKBENCH.
THIS IS IT IN OPERATION, AND YOU CAN SEE, THEN, THERE’S
A TIMELINE BELOW WHERE VIDEO SEGMENTATION’S OCCURRING.
THE ETHNOGRAPHER IS ENTERING ANNOTATIONS.
WHAT I WANTED TO DO, THEN,
WAS TO FIND A WAY TO GET THOSE ANNOTATIONS EASILY ON THE WEB
SO THAT PEOPLE COULD START USING THOSE,
BECAUSE MOST OF THE ETHNOGRAPHERS
AND RESEARCHERS THAT WE WORKED WITH WERE VERY INTERESTED
IN SHARING THEIR RESEARCH EITHER IN CLASS
OR WITH THEIR COLLEAGUES,
AND WHAT I LOOKED FOR IS A WAY TO GET THAT ON TO THE WEB.
I USED A FILM NOIR, "KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL" HERE,
JUST TO SHOW THAT IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE ETHNOGRAPHIC STUFF.
IT CAN BE ANY DIGITAL VIDEO THAT YOU WANT TO USE.
AND WHAT WE PLAN ON DOING, THEN, IS BEING ABLE TO EMBED
THAT WITHIN OMEKA SO THAT YOU CAN TAKE SEGMENTED
AND ANNOTATED VIDEO AND CHOOSE SEGMENTS AND ANNOTATIONS
OUT OF THAT VIDEO FILE AND MAKE THEM INTO EXHIBITS,
OR INTO OTHER ITEMS WITHIN OMEKA,
SO THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO ALWAYS SHOW, WELL,
THE HOUR AND A HALF THAT "KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL" IS.
BECAUSE I MAY BE INTERESTED IN SHOWING SOMEONE, "I’M GOING TO
"PULL FROM A BUNCH OF FILM NOIR ALL THE INSTANCES WHERE MEN
"ARE WEARING HATS AND CARRYING GUNS, AND I’M GONNA SHOW YOU,
SORT OF, THIS PATTERN THAT OCCURS WITHIN IT."
SO THAT’S WHAT WE HOPE TO DO, IS TO BE ABLE TO PULL
THESE SEGMENTS INTO OMEKA TO BE USED MORE EFFECTIVELY THERE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
- HI. MY NAME IS JERID FRANCOM,
AND I’M A PROFESSOR OF SPANISH
AND LINGUISTICS AT WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY.
AND I’M SURE MOST OF YOU HAVE STUDIED A SECOND LANGUAGE,
AND PROBABLY--SPANISH IN PARTICULAR--MIGHT’VE ASKED
A SILLY QUESTION TO YOUR PROFESSOR, ASKED, "HEY,
"WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON VERBS IN MEXICO VERSUS SPAIN,
THAT ARE NOT COMMON?"
AND YOU MIGHT, FROM THE POINT OF VIEW IF YOU’RE
AN INSTRUCTOR, ASKED A QUESTION IF YOU’RE
PREPARING YOUR STUDENTS FOR THE WORLD--THE LANGUAGE THAT
THEY’RE ACTUALLY GONNA GO SEE, RIGHT?
WHAT WE’RE SEEING IN THE TEXTBOOK,
DOES THAT MAP ON TO WHAT THEY’RE GONNA SEE IN ARGENTINA
OR IN SPAIN OR WHEREVER THEY’RE GOING TO GO?
AND IF YOU’RE A SCHOLAR OF CULTURAL STUDIES, YOU MIGHT
ALSO BE INTERESTED IN WONDERING TO WHAT EXTENT
SPANIARDS SPEAK ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT MORE THAN SPORTS
OR VICE VERSA, AND DOES THAT LOOK LIKE SOMETHING LIKE WHAT
HAPPENS IN ARGENTINA OR NOT, AND IF THAT’S THE QUESTION.
NOW, ADDRESSING THESE QUESTIONS IS NONTRIVIAL.
FIRST, IF YOU’RE AN INSTRUCTOR, YOU’RE ONE PERSON,
AND IT’S INHERENTLY DIFFICULT TO KNOW ABOUT THESE THINGS,
RIGHT, THAT YOU NEED A MUCH LARGER PERSPECTIVE.
AND, SECOND, THERE ARE LOTS OF RESOURCES THAT COMPILE
LOTS OF LANGUAGE DATA IN SPANISH,
BUT THE BIG PROBLEM IS THAT THESE LANGUAGE DATA
USUALLY COME FROM BOOKS, AND THEY’RE NOT BASED
ON THE EVERYDAY SPEECH OF THE COMMUNITY.
SO WHAT I’M PROPOSING TO DO IS
TO WORK TOWARDS THAT GOAL,
PROVIDING A SPANISH-LANGUAGE
CORPUS THAT GIVES US PERSPECTIVE
ON EVERYDAY LANGUAGE
BY COMPILING INFORMATION
FROM TV AND SUBTITLE
AS THE PRIMARY PART OF CORPUS
BUT INCLUDING ALSO SOURCES SUCH AS PERIODICALS,
WHICH ARE ALSO IMPORTANT.
I’M INCLUDING DIVERSITY-- THAT IS BY NOT ONLY CAPTURING
A SNAPSHOT OF SPANISH BUT VARIETIES OF SPANISH,
WHICH ARE IMPORTANT IN BEING ABLE TO ASSESS
THE DIFFERENCES THAT ARE HAPPENING
IN DIFFERENT POINTS OF THE HISPANIC WORLD.
AND, FINALLY, VALIDATING THIS.
SO IF IT IS THE CASE THAT THIS STUFF IS ACTUALLY
OUT IN THE WORLD, THEN IT SHOULD BE IN PEOPLE’S HEADS.
AND THROUGH PSYCHOLINGUISTIC MEASURES--THAT IS
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE--
ASSESSING ON-SITE IN THESE COMMUNITIES WHETHER
THESE FREQUENCIES--OR THESE DISTRIBUTIONS OF WORDS
THAT VARY ACROSS THESE CULTURES--
ACTUALLY HAVE SOME SORT OF REALITY.
AND--THE FIRST STEP IS TO DO THIS--BRINGING TOGETHER
EXPERTS IN LINGUISTICS, COMPUTER SCIENCE, PSYCHOLOGY,
AND SECOND-LANGUAGE PEDAGOGY-- BUT HOPEFULLY EXPANDING THIS
TO MAKE IT MUCH MORE ACCESSIBLE
THROUGH WEB INTERFACE AND GOING BEYOND THERE.
SO THAT’S MY PROJECT. THANK YOU.
- I AM KATHERINE ROWE FROM BRYN MAWR COLLEGE,
AND MY CO-DIRECTOR IS BRUCE SMITH
FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
WE’RE WORKING WITH CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
AND THE AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER TO DEVELOP
A THEATER SCRIPT TOOL FOR THE iPAD
THAT WILL ALLOW DIRECTORS,
DESIGNERS, AND ACTORS
TO EDIT A SHAKESPEARE PLAY
AND MANIPULATE IT IN REHEARSAL.
THEY’LL BE ABLE TO DISPLAY ACTORS’ TRACKS,
MARK SPEECH DYNAMICS,
RUN LINE COUNTS, TRACK CHANGES, AND SO ON.
THE SCRIPT ALSO INTEGRATES
REFERENCE MATERIAL
FROM THE CAMBRIDGE WORLD SHAKESPEARE ENCYCLOPEDIA,
WHICH IS
AN EARLIER NEH-FUNDED PROJECT.
CURRENTLY, THERE ARE
NO ELECTRONIC ARCHIVES DEDICATED
TO PLAY PRODUCTION AND NO PORTABLE SCRIPT TOOLS.
THE SCHOLARLY RESOURCES THAT THEATER PRACTITIONERS USE ARE
WIDELY DISPERSED, SO WE’RE INTERESTED
IN HOW THE PRODUCTION PROCESS IS GONNA CHANGE
WHEN THOSE RESOURCES
ARE READILY AVAILABLE THROUGHOUT REHEARSAL.
AND WE’RE ALSO INTERESTED IN HOW SCHOLARS MIGHT USE
THE RESULTING SCRIPT
WITH ITS RECORD OF PERFORMANCE DECISIONS
ONCE IT CAN BE ELECTRONICALLY ARCHIVED.
SO A KEY GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO UNDERSTAND
THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INTERESTS
OF THE DIFFERENT PARTIES THAT CONTRIBUTE
TO MAKING A THEATER SCRIPT--
THE PLAYING COMPANY AND THE PUBLISHER
WHOSE EDITION THEY START WITH.
THIS SPRING, THE AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE THEATER
IN STAUNTON, VIRGINIA,
IS GONNA BE TRIALING
THIS TOOL--WE’RE CALLING IT
"MY SHX" AS A NICKNAME--
OVER THE LIFE CYCLE OF A PLAY
IN PRODUCTION, GIVING US
A DETAILED PICTURE OF USER EXPERIENCES OVER TIME.
THEY’RE ESPECIALLY CURIOUS
ABOUT HOW THE iPAD’S NATIVE SOCIAL-NETWORKING TOOLS
MIGHT CHANGE THEIR PREPARATION PROCESS,
ALLOWING FOR FEEDBACK BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT MEMBERS
OF THE COMPANY BEFORE REHEARSAL WHEN THEY TYPICALLY
ARE WORKING SOLO, AS WELL AS DURING REHEARSAL.
WE’RE GONNA USE THEIR EXPERIENCES TO REFINE
OUR DESIGN, AND WE HOPE TO END UP WITH SOMETHING THAT’S SIMPLE
AND SUPPLE, SUPPLE ENOUGH TO BE USED BY STUDENT PLAYERS
AS WELL AS BY AMATEURS AND PROFESSIONALS.
THANKS.
- HELLO, EVERYONE.
I’M LORI JAHNKE, AND I’M HERE WITH MY COLLEAGUE,
KATHRYN HAMMOND BAKER.
OUR PROJECT IS
THE MEDICAL HERITAGE DIGITAL COLLABORATIVE.
IT’S A COOPERATIVE EFFORT
AMONG 11 INSTITUTIONS TO PLAN
FOR THE GROWTH
OF THE MEDICAL HERITAGE LIBRARY.
THIS GROUP INCLUDES
SOME OF THE WORLD’S LEADING
HISTORY OF MEDICINE LIBRARIES
AND SEVERAL SUPPORTING INSTITUTIONS
DEDICATED TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY
OF DIGITAL CONTENT FOR THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE.
WITH OUR PLANNING PROJECT, WE’RE ENGAGING INSTITUTIONS
AND USERS TO BUILD A COMMUNITY OF INTERESTED PARTIES
AROUND THESE RESOURCES.
THROUGH COORDINATED CONTENT
SELECTION FOR DIGITIZATION,
WE ARE BUILDING CONNECTIONS
AMONG OUR REPOSITORY LIBRARIES,
AND WE ARE WORKING WITH NEW INSTITUTIONS
TO AGGREGATE EXISTING CONTENT IN INTERNET ARCHIVE.
WE’RE ALSO WORKING WITH FACULTY AND STUDENTS
ACROSS DISCIPLINES TO UNDERSTAND THE VARIED CONTEXT
IN WHICH HISTORICAL SOURCES CONTRIBUTE
TO BOTH TEACHING AND RESEARCH.
IN ADDITION TO DEVELOPING THE HUMAN SIDE
OF THIS COLLABORATION,
WE ARE EXPLORING TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS
FOR IMPROVING INTERDISCIPLINARY ACCESS
TO HISTORY OF MEDICINE CONTENT,
SUCH AS USING SYMANTEC WEB PROTOCOLS TO MAP
ARCHAIC MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY TO CONTEMPORARY MEDICAL CONCEPTS.
WE HOPE TO BUILD ON EXISTING RESOURCES,
SUCH AS THE UNIFIED MEDICAL LANGUAGE SYSTEM
TO CONNECT HISTORY OF MEDICINE RESOURCES
WITH A BROADER FIELD OF RESEARCH IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES.
TOGETHER, THE MHL CONTRIBUTORS HOLD SOME OF THE LARGEST
AND MOST IMPORTANT COLLECTIONS DOCUMENTING THE HISTORY
OF WESTERN MEDICINE AND ITS IMPACT ON SOCIETY.
THROUGH THE MEDICAL HERITAGE LIBRARY, WE HOPE TO FACILITATE
A RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH HISTORICAL SOURCES
CONTEXTUALIZE CONTEMPORARY MEDICINE, THUS ENABLING
A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN HUMAN HEALTH AND SOCIETY.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PROJECT, VISIT US
AT MEDICALHERITAGE.ORG.
THANK YOU.
- HELLO. MY NAME IS CARTER LUPTON.
I’M A CURATOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY
AT THE MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM, IN MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.
OUR NEH PROJECT IS TO REALLY FUND A FEASIBILITY STUDY
TO GATHER A BUNCH OF EXPERTS, WHO WILL BE MEETING
IN MILWAUKEE FOR THE FIRST TIME NEXT WEEK,
AS PART OF A LARGER PROJECT THAT WE’RE DEVELOPING:
A MAJOR REDESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT
OF OUR ANCIENT WORLDS GALLERY,
WHICH WILL DEAL WITH ANCIENT GREECE, ROME, EGYPT,
AND MESOPOTAMIA.
WE LAST DEVELOPED A PROJECT LIKE THIS WHEN I WAS
A LITTLE BIT YOUNGER-- 20 YEARS AGO--
AND FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS,
THAT EXHIBIT IS NO LONGER WITH US.
BUT WE NOW HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY
NOT ONLY TO RE-IMAGINE SOME OF THE CONCEPTS
BUT SOME OF THE TECHNOLOGIES
AND WAYS THAT WE PRESENT THIS MATERIAL.
THIS, OF COURSE, IS AN EGYPTIAN MUMMY.
THIS PROJECT’S GONNA DEAL WITH JUST ONE ASPECT
OF THIS EXHIBIT.
WE HAVE HAD EGYPTIAN MUMMIES--
TWO OF THEM, ACTUALLY--IN OUR MUSEUM FOR WELL OVER
A HUNDRED YEARS--
SINCE 1887--AND THEY’VE VIRTUALLY FOR ALMOST 100%
OF THAT TIME BEEN ON EXHIBIT, AS FAR AS I CAN TELL.
I ACTUALLY WASN’T THERE FOR SOME OF THE EARLY INCARNATIONS
OF THESE EXHIBITS,
BUT I FIRST BECAME INVOLVED ABOUT 25 YEARS AGO,
WHEN THE CURRENT EXHIBIT WAS COMING DOWN,
AND THIS HAD BEEN
VERY TRADITIONAL EXHIBITION TECHNIQUES.
YOU LAY THE MUMMY OUT, AND YOU GIVE SOME TEXT ABOUT WHAT WE
KNOW ABOUT ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MUMMIFICATION.
I WANTED TO EXPLORE SOME NEW TECHNOLOGIES AT THE TIME,
IN THE MID-EIGHTIES,
AND ONE OF THOSE WAS C.T. WORK, SCANNING.
FORTUNATELY IN MILWAUKEE, IN ONE OF THE SUBURBS, WE HAVE
A GENERAL ELECTRIC MEDICAL SYSTEMS, WHICH BUILDS
SCANNERS, AND WE WERE ABLE TO GO TO THEM--AND I’VE HAD
A 25-YEAR RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM ON AND OFF.
THESE ARE SCANS OF THIS MUMMY THAT WAS ACTUALLY
DONE IN 2006.
BUT WE ARE GONNA TAKE THESE SCANS AND DEVELOP
AN EXHIBIT, WE HOPE, THAT USES HOLOGRAMS
AS A NEW AND INNOVATIVE WAY OF EXHIBITING THESE THAT
CAN ALSO PRESERVE THE SPECIMENS BY NOT NECESSITATING HAVING
THE ACTUAL SPECIMENS ON EXHIBIT.
THANK YOU.
- ...EVERYONE.
MY COLLEAGUE NED O’GORMAN AND I ARE RESEARCHING
THE FILMS OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN LABORATORY,
A HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION STUDIO RUN
BY THE AIR FORCE, LARGELY ACTIVE
IN THE FIFTIES AND SIXTIES.
THE STUDIO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION,
AND ARCHIVING OF HUNDREDS-- AND PROBABLY THOUSANDS--
OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS FILMS
DURING THE HEIGHT OF THE COLD WAR.
SOME OF THESE FILMS WERE MEANT FOR LAY PUBLICS,
BUT MOST OF THEM WERE MEANT FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY--
TRAINING, BRIEFINGS, AND DOCUMENTATION.
WATCHING THESE FILMS, IT’S EVIDENT THAT FILM PLAYS
A HUGE ROLE IN AMERICA’S RISE TO NUCLEAR POWER--
AS A SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT, A BUREAUCRATIC TOOL,
AND, OF COURSE, AS A PROPAGANDISTIC DEVICE,
AND HOLLYWOOD PLAYED A HUGE ROLE IN THESE.
FIGURES LIKE JOHN FORD, JIMMY STEWART, MARILYN MONROE,
WALT DISNEY, THE HEADS OF ALL THE STUDIOS WERE ACTIVE
IN FILMS MANY OF US HAVE NEVER SEEN.
OUR RESEARCH PROBLEM IS THAT THE FILMS
AND THEIR RECORD OF PRODUCTION ARE WIDELY DISPERSED
ACROSS MULTIPLE PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL LOCATIONS,
SOMETIMES HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT
VIA POPULAR APPROPRIATION AND CAMP
AND OTHER TIMES OBSCURED BY GOVERNMENT SECRECY.
WE’RE BUILDING AN INTERACTIVE DIGITAL ARCHIVE--
OR ARCHIVES--
THAT REASSEMBLES THEIR RECORD OF PRODUCTION
WHILE PRESERVING THE PROCESS OF DISPERSAL ITSELF FOR STUDY,
AND THAT IS OUR MAIN GOAL.
THINK OF IT AS A VIDEO MARKUP AND ANNOTATION SYSTEM
WHERE AN INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE ITSELF
PROVIDES A CRITICAL VIEW INTO THE OBJECT OF STUDY.
WE STARTED THE PROCESS IN THE VERY GOOD ONLINE PLATFORM,
SCALAR--KNOWN TO SOME OF YOU, I HOPE--AND DISCOVERED
THE ADVANTAGES OF WRITING ABOUT FRAGMENTS
IN A FRAGMENTARY MEDIUM.
BUT SINCE THEN, WE’VE DECIDED TO START FROM SCRATCH.
AND WE MOVED FROM EARLY PROTOTYPES
FOR A MULTI-FRAMED INTERFACE
THAT LINKED RECORDS VIA TIME-POINT SPECIFIC TAGS.
AND NOW WE PROCEEDED THROUGH SOME MUCH LOWER-TECH MOCKUPS
TO BUILDING AN XML FILE VIA FILEMAKER
AS OUR USER INTERFACE.
OUR NEXT STEP WILL BE TO IMPLEMENT IN HTML5
AND JAVASCRIPT INTERFACE
LARGELY USED IN THE POPCORN LIBRARY
THAT’S COME UP A COUPLE OF TIMES.
WE WILL BE ACTIVE WITH AN ONLINE VERSION OF THIS
NEXT FALL,
AND I’LL END WITH A TEASER FOR A STORY.
FOIA REQUESTS ARE ALL WELL AND GOOD
FOR THIS KIND OF WORK, AS ARE VISITS TO THE ARCHIVES,
BUT NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE VALUE OF COLD-CALLING
THE PRESENT-DAY RESIDENTS
OF A DECOMMISSIONED MILITARY INSTALLATION.
I’LL TELL YOU MORE ABOUT THAT LATER.
THANK YOU.
- HI. GOOD EVENING, EVERYBODY.
ANTHONY STEVENS FROM THE CUNY DOMINICAN STUDIES INSTITUTE.
- RAMONA HERNANDEZ, AND WE ARE
FROM THE CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK.
- OK. OUR PROJECT CONSISTS
OF WHAT WE ARE CALLING FOR THE TIME BEING
A DIGITAL PALEOGRAPHY TEACHING AND LEARNING TOOL.
IN A NUTSHELL, IT’S--AS IT SAYS THERE--A DIGITAL, ONLINE,
OPEN-SOURCE PLATFORM AND WEB SITE
TO TEACH USERS HOW TO READ--
DECODE/DECIPHER-- THE 3 MAIN--OR 4, IF YOU WANT--
HANDWRITING STYLES USED IN SPANISH-LANGUAGE DOCUMENTS
FROM THE 15th TO THE 18th CENTURIES, EARLY MODERN TIMES.
THIS TOOL, HOPEFULLY--THIS IS OUR AIM--WILL SIMPLIFY
AND POSSIBLY SPEED UP
THE LEARNING OF THE READING
OF THE SPANISH EARLY MODERN SCRIPT.
THIS IS JUST ONE SAMPLE OF THE 3 OR 4 WRITING STYLES WHICH,
FOR THE AVERAGE PERSON, IS LIKE A SCRIBBLE:
SOMETHING THAT NOBODY CAN FIGURE OUT.
YOU NEED THE PALEOGRAPHICAL TRAINING TO DO IT.
WHAT WILL THE PALEOGRAPHY TOOL--
HOW WILL IT FUNCTION?
BASICALLY, THE NUTSHELL CONCEPT
HERE, OR PEA, IS
THE JUXTAPOSING OF
DIGITAL IMAGES OF THE ARCHIVAL TEXT
IN ITS ORIGINAL SCRIPT,
AND THEN TRANSCRIPTIONS OF THAT TEXT.
IT WILL ALLOW FOR ACCESS OF THE OLD SPANISH ALPHABETS
AND THEIR CONTEMPORARY EQUIVALENT TRANSCRIPTIONS.
IT WILL ALLOW FOR COMPARING LINE BY LINE
THE OLD SCRIPT TO ITS MODERN TRANSCRIPTION.
AND IN MORE SPECIFIC CASES, IT WILL HELP RECOGNIZE
EVEN LETTERS THAT MAY BE HARD TO READ
DUE TO IRREGULARITIES IN THE SCRIPT,
PHYSICAL DETERIORATION OF THE PAPER,
STAINS, ET CETERA.
I’M GONNA SKIP THE REST FOR THE SAKE OF SPEED.
WHAT’S THE END GOAL OF OUR PALEOGRAPHY TOOL?
BY THE WAY, WE SEARCHED THE INTERNET FOR A LONG TIME.
NOTHING LIKE THIS EXISTS, SO FAR.
SO WHAT WE WANT IS TO BASICALLY PRODUCE A TOOL
THAT WILL HELP PALEOGRAPHY TEACHERS
TO TEACH THE READING OF EARLY MODERN SPANISH SCRIPTS.
HOPEFULLY, IT WILL DEMOCRATIZE THE PROCESS IN MAKING
THIS LEARNING ACCESSIBLE TO A MUCH--WIDER PUBLIC.
THANK YOU.
- GOOD AFTERNOON. MY NAME IS MICKI McGEE.
AND I’M HAPPY TO BE HERE TODAY.
I’M FROM FORDHAM UNIVERSITY.
AND I’M HERE TO TALK TO YOU TODAY
ABOUT THE COMPATIBLE DATA INITIATIVE,
WHICH WE’RE GRATEFUL TO THE NEH FOR SUPPORTING.
YOU’VE HEARD A LOT TODAY ABOUT LINKED OPEN DATA.
LINKED OPEN DATA IS AN ENORMOUS MOVEMENT
THAT IS GROWING.
IN FACT, LINKED OPEN DATA IS PRETTY MUCH AN OCEAN OF DATA.
THIS IS AN IMAGE OF LINKABLE AND OPEN DATA ON THE INTERNET
IN 2010.
THE 2011 IMAGE IS NOT RENDERABLE
IT IS SO LARGE.
WHAT WE’RE DOING
WITH THE COMPATIBLE DATABASE INITIATIVE
IS ACTUALLY VERY SMALL.
WHAT WE’RE DOING WOULD FIT IN A COFFEE CUP.
WE’RE TRYING--WE’RE WORKING TOGETHER--
TO LINK THE DATA FROM A NUMBER OF PROJECTS THAT HAVE
OVERLAPPING DATA SETS
OF PERSON-CENTRIC,
NETWORK VISUALIZABLE DATA.
AND TO DO THAT, WE’VE BROUGHT
TOGETHER FOLKS FROM SNAC,
WHICH IS THE SOCIAL NETWORK ARCHIVAL CONTEXT PROTECT,
ALSO FUNDED BY THE NEH.
FROM THE CROWDED PAGE,
FROM A PROJECT I’M INVOLVED WITH
CALLED YADDO CIRCLES,
WHICH MAPS ARTISTS AND WRITERS
INVOLVED WITH YADDO, THE ARTISTS’ COMMUNITY
IN UPSTATE NEW YORK,
AND THE PHYLO PROJECT, WHICH
LOOKS AT PHILOSOPHERS FROM THE 20th CENTURY,
ALL THROUGH VARIOUS INSTITUTIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY,
AS WELL AS THE ORLANDO PROJECT,
WHICH, UNFORTUNATELY, IS NOT OPEN.
IT IS LICENSED AT THIS POINT.
AND WHAT WE’VE DONE IS WE’VE
INVITED THESE TEAMS TO COME TOGETHER TO TALK ABOUT
HOW TO MAKE OUR DATA EITHER LINKED OR LINKABLE,
AND PERHAPS TO LINK IT TOGETHER.
THE PROBLEM, OF COURSE, IS THAT WHEN THESE AREN’T LINKED
AND THEY’RE SILOED, WE ENCOUNTER A NUMBER OF PROBLEMS.
ONE OF THEM IS THAT LIBRARIES
ARE NO LONGER INTERESTED IN DEALING WITH US.
IN FACT, A LIBRARIAN FROM COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
RECENTLY SAID, "WE NO LONGER DO PROJECTS BASED ON
"SCHOLARS’ DATABASES BECAUSE WE WANT PROJECTS THAT ARE
FIRST OF A KIND, NOT ONE OF A KIND."
SO WE MET THIS PAST WEEKEND. HERE WE ARE IN NEW YORK CITY.
KATY BORNER JOINED US FROM INDIANA UNIVERSITY
TO TALK ABOUT WHAT GOES ON IN THE SCIENCES
AROUND LINKED OPEN DATA.
AND HERE ARE OUR WORKING TEAM.
AND IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT US, WE’RE AT
COMPDB.BLOGSPOT.COM.
THANK YOU.
MY NAME IS STACY WATERS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON.
AND ON BEHALF OF WALTER ANDREWS AND MYSELF, I’D LIKE
TO THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO TALK TODAY
ABOUT THE SVOBODA DIARIES, A "NEW BOOK" PROJECT.
SOMETIME IN THE LATE 18th CENTURY A FAMILY,
PROBABLY OF CZECH ORIGIN, MOVED FROM VIENNA TO BAGHDAD,
WHERE THEY SET UP SHOP AS CRYSTAL MERCHANTS,
OR PERHAPS ARMS MERCHANTS. NO ONE REALLY KNOWS.
AND THEY WERE A PART OF A LARGE MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY
IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
AND ONE OF THEIR DESCENDANTS, A YOUNG ALEXANDER
SOMETIME IN 1897, WROTE A DIARY OF A JOURNEY THAT HE TOOK
FROM BAGHDAD THROUGH DAMASCUS, BEIRUT, CAIRO
TO PARIS AND LONDON.
WHAT’S UNUSUAL ABOUT THIS DIARY IS NOT THAT IT WAS KEPT
BECAUSE THE 19th CENTURY IS LOUSY WITH TRAVEL DIARIES,
BUT THAT HE CHOSE TO KEEP HIS DIARY IN ARABIC.
THE ARABIC IS SLIGHTLY UNUSUAL.
IT MAY REPRESENT A CHRISTIAN DIALECT
OF IRAQI ARABIC, BUT IT ALSO HAS STRONG OTTOMAN INFLUENCES
BECAUSE AT THAT TIME,
BAGHDAD WOULD HAVE BEEN UNDER OTTOMAN RULE.
SO TOGETHER WITH A GROUP OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHERS,
WHOM WE ARE USING TO TAG THE TEXTS AS TEI,
WE ARE CREATING A NETWORK OR AN ECOLOGY OF INFORMATION
ABOUT THE DIARY, ITS SOURCES, GENEALOGICAL INFORMATION.
BUT THE THRUST OF THE NEW PROJECT--
AND WE’RE WISHING THE TAPAS PROJECT GREAT SUCCESS HERE--
IS THAT WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO PRODUCE A PUBLISHABLE BOOK
THAT ANYONE WHO VISITS THE WEBSITE CAN PRODUCE
ON ONE OF THE NOW INCREASINGLY AVAILABLE
ESPRESSO BOOK MACHINES.
AND SO THESE ARE SOME SAMPLES OF WHAT A PRINTED TEXT
MIGHT LOOK LIKE. THANK YOU.
- JAMES WEST, ALSO FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON.
I’M HERE TO TALK ABOUT DESIGNING THE INTERFACE TO VIEW
A VERY LARGE COLLECTION
OF RUSSIAN ARCHITECTURE PHOTOGRAPHS.
THE PROBLEM--SIMPLE. IT’S 30,000 DIGITIZED PHOTOGRAPHS
OF RUSSIAN BUILDINGS.
BIG DEAL. IT’S ANOTHER SLIDE SHOW.
UNFORTUNATELY, IT’S THE SLIDE SHOW FROM HELL
BECAUSE ALL THE INFORMATION IS NESTED.
BUILDINGS ARE OFTEN CONTAINED IN CLUSTERS
THAT HAVE A SINGLE NAME.
THE CLUSTERS ARE SOMETIMES CONTAINED IN LANDSCAPES
AND LANDSCAPES ARE ALSO CATALOGABLE CULTURAL ENTITIES.
THERE ARE MULTIPLE IMAGES OF SOME INDIVIDUAL BUILDINGS,
PERHAPS FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES,
PERHAPS JUST BECAUSE THE PHOTOGRAPHER
LIKED THAT BUILDING.
AND THERE ARE MANY IMAGES
THAT ARE JUST OF COMPONENTS OF BUILDINGS.
SO THIS, OBVIOUSLY, HAS METADATA IMPLICATIONS.
THE METADATA IS GOING TO BE NECESSARILY HIERARCHICAL.
BUT, DAMN. MOST OF THE HIERARCHIES ARE INCOMPLETE
JUST IN THE NATURE OF THINGS.
SO THE FOCAL POINT IN A HIERARCHY
MAY NOT BE AN INDIVIDUAL BUILDING.
IT MAY HAVE TO BE SOME OTHER APPROPRIATE POINT
IN AN INCOMPLETE HIERARCHY.
THAT CAN BE A VERY DIFFICULT CHOICE AND EVEN HARDER TO CODE.
AS FOR ACCESS TO AND DISPLAY OF THESE IMAGES AND THEIR METADATA
IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES, FOR A COLLECTION LIKE THIS,
SEQUENTIAL ACCESS-- THE LIBRARIAN’S FAVORITE--
IS NOT VERY USEFUL.
IT’S NOT EVEN VERY MEANINGFUL.
THE USER NEEDS TO VISUALIZE THE RELATIONSHIPS,
TO EXPLORE RELATIONSHIPS,
AND TO MOVE WITHOUT EFFORT OR DELAY BETWEEN THE TWO KINDS
OF INFORMATION--VISUAL AND VERBAL.
WE THINK THE BEST DISPLAY, THE ONLY VIABLE FORM OF DISPLAY,
IS GOING TO BE INITIALLY DIAGRAMMATIC,
WITH SUBSEQUENT EXPANSION OF THE DISPLAY TO OTHER DATABASES
ON THE WEB.
THAT, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, IS THE WAY THE KREMLIN LOOKS
IN THIS KIND OF DISPLAY.
AND OUR EVENTUAL GOAL, WHICH IS WHAT EXCITES US
AND WHAT WE HOPE WILL EXCITE YOU,
IS INTEGRATION OF THIS KIND OF DISPLAY
WITH THE LINKED OPEN DATA PROJECT
SO THAT WE CAN PLACE RUSSIAN ARCHITECTURE
IN ALL KINDS OF RELEVANT CONTEXTS.
THANK YOU.
- THE INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN THOUGHT
AT THE INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS...
IS HOME TO 5 CRITICAL EDITIONS.
THE EDITIONS COLLABORATE IN SHARING PERSONNEL AND RESOURCES
AND IN SEEKING TO IMPROVE PRODUCTION
AND DISSEMINATION METHODS.
THIS COLLABORATION LED TO STEP.
THE STEP PLATFORM IN AN ONLINE WEB ENVIRONMENT
ENABLES ONE TO TRANSCRIBE, EDIT, AND ANNOTATE DOCUMENTS
AND TO PUBLISH CRITICAL EDITIONS.
THE DRUPAL CONTENT MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK IS USED.
THIS PLATFORM WILL BE UTILIZED
BY THE INSTITUTE’S 5 EDITIONS
AND WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE
TO ALL.
THE CONCEPT UNDERLYING STEP IS
SIMPLE AND ELEGANT,
BUT THE DATABASE AND MODULE DEVELOPMENT IS CHALLENGING.
FORTUNATELY, DRUPAL HAS THE FLEXIBILITY AND STRENGTH
TO SUPPORT THE PLATFORM.
ONCE THE EDITING PLATFORM IS FUNCTIONAL,
THE INSTITUTE WILL DEVELOP A DISSEMINATION PLATFORM.
THE MODULES OF STEP ARE:
1--A REPOSITORY OF DIGITAL IMAGES;
2--A MyQSL DATABASE CONTAINING THOUSANDS OF METADATA;
3--USING A TEI COMPLIANT XML EDITOR FOR GENERATING
MULTIPLE SEQUENCES OF FILES;
4--EDITING THE TRANSCRIPTIONS WITH THE SPECIAL RULES
OF SCHOLARLY CRITICAL EDITING;
5--CONSOLIDATING THE HEADNOTES, EMENDATIONS,
ALTERATIONS, TEXTUAL NOTES, AND REJECTED SUBSTANTIVE VARIANTS;
6--ENTERING AND EDITING THOUSANDS OF NOTES,
EXPLAINING THE CONTENT OF TEXTS, IDENTIFYING PROPER NAMES,
AND PROVIDING BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES
AND CROSS-REFERENCES;
7--A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL RELEVANT DOCUMENTS;
8--A COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHY;
9--BRINGING TOGETHER ALL COMPONENTS OF THE EDITED VOLUME
AND CONVERTING IT INTO A LAID-OUT PUBLISHABLE TEXT.
THANK YOU.