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

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ix FOREWORD “My purpose is to tell of bodies which have been transformed <strong>in</strong>to shapes of a different k<strong>in</strong>d.” Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. R. Humphries. Cogent and <strong>in</strong>sightful, <strong>Rome</strong> Wasn’t <strong>Digitized</strong> <strong>in</strong> a <strong>Day</strong>: Build<strong>in</strong>g a Cyber<strong>in</strong>frastructure for Digital Classicists rewards the reader with a many-faceted exploration of classical studies: the history of this complex and multidimensional field, its development of computer-based resources and tools over the last several decades, its current opportunities and needs <strong>in</strong> a digital era, and prospects for its future evolution as envisioned by digital classicists. Alison Babeu rem<strong>in</strong>ds us early <strong>in</strong> her report of the astonish<strong>in</strong>g reach of classical studies, a field that <strong>in</strong>cludes the discipl<strong>in</strong>es of history, literature, l<strong>in</strong>guistics, art, anthropology, science, and mythology, among others, bounded by the Mycenean culture at its most distant past and cont<strong>in</strong>u<strong>in</strong>g to the seventh century C.E. Not surpris<strong>in</strong>gly, with<strong>in</strong> this historical compass the sources for classicists are equally complex: stone fragments, papyri, pottery shards, the plastic arts, co<strong>in</strong>s, and some of the most breathtak<strong>in</strong>g physical structures the world has known. In the course of this report, the substantial ga<strong>in</strong>s <strong>in</strong> the use of digital technologies <strong>in</strong> service to classical studies become obvious. Over the past 40 years, remarkable resources have been built, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g largescale text databases <strong>in</strong> a variety of languages; digital repositories for archeological data, as well as for co<strong>in</strong>s and cuneiform tablets; and datasets of texts for paleography and epigraphical studies. Applications that assist the scholar <strong>in</strong> morphological analysis, citation l<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g, text m<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g, and treebank construction, among others, are impressive. The challenges are also significant: there persist problems with the <strong>in</strong>tegrity of OCR scans; the <strong>in</strong>teroperability of multimedia data that conta<strong>in</strong> texts, images, and other forms of cultural expression; and the daunt<strong>in</strong>g magnitude of so many languages <strong>in</strong> so many different scripts. The <strong>in</strong>tellectual return on this <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> technology as a service to classical studies is equally startl<strong>in</strong>g and complex. One of the more salient developments has been the reconceptualization of the text. As recently as a generation ago, the “text” <strong>in</strong> classics was most often def<strong>in</strong>ed as a def<strong>in</strong>itive edition, a pr<strong>in</strong>ted artifact that was by nature static, usually edited by a s<strong>in</strong>gle scholar, and represent<strong>in</strong>g a compilation and collation of several extant variations. Today, through the power and fluidity of digital tools, a text can mean someth<strong>in</strong>g very different: there may be no canonical artifact, but <strong>in</strong>stead a dataset of its many variations, with none accorded primacy. A work of ancient literature is now more often deeply contextualized, its transmission over time more nuanced, and its cont<strong>in</strong>uity among the various <strong>in</strong>stantiations more accurately articulated. The performative nature of some of the great works—the epics of Homer are a prime example—can be captured more rigorously by digital technology, which can layer the centuries of manuscript fragments to produce a sharper understand<strong>in</strong>g of what was emphasized <strong>in</strong> the epics over time and what passages or stories appear less important from one era to another, afford<strong>in</strong>g new <strong>in</strong>sight <strong>in</strong>to the cultural appropriation of these fundamental expressions of the human condition. Achiev<strong>in</strong>g these new perspectives has required a cultural change <strong>in</strong> the classics. Scholarship <strong>in</strong> the digital environment is more collaborative, and can <strong>in</strong>clude students as <strong>in</strong>tegral contributors to the research effort. The connections, cont<strong>in</strong>uities, and cultural dialogue to which classical works were subject are reflected by new teams of scholars, work<strong>in</strong>g across traditional discipl<strong>in</strong>es (which can often <strong>in</strong>clude computer science) to develop new methodological approaches and <strong>in</strong>tellectual strategies <strong>in</strong>
x pursuit of knowledge about the ancient world. In this regard, the digital classics encompass new alignments of traditional hierarchies, academic boundaries, and technologies. The <strong>Council</strong> on Library and Information Resources is pleased to publish this far-reach<strong>in</strong>g study. The issues and perspectives to which it gives voice perta<strong>in</strong> significantly to the humanities at large. Its appearance is especially relevant as plans to build very large digital libraries <strong>in</strong> Europe and the United States flourish. Indeed, a transdiscipl<strong>in</strong>ary approach will be essential <strong>in</strong> construct<strong>in</strong>g a digital environment with the scale and sophistication necessary to support advanced research, teach<strong>in</strong>g, and lifelong learn<strong>in</strong>g. As this study suggests, we must cont<strong>in</strong>ue to engage humanists, eng<strong>in</strong>eers, scientists, and all manner of pedagogical expertise <strong>in</strong> pursuit of a new, transformative educational ecology. Chuck Henry President <strong>Council</strong> on Library and Information Resources
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: viii PBW PCA PDB PDL PHI PLANETS PN
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
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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<
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Page 53 and 54: 42 The second fact that Rob
Page 55 and 56: 44 “multimedia scholarly editions
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50 In these cases we must provide a
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52 First, it utilizes a nearest nei
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54 entirely pre-searched for each l
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56 As this research in</str
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58 the inscription
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60 Text Min<strong
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62 This manual analysis provided a
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64 As illustrated by this def<stron
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66 archaeology as a discipl
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68 funded with public money <strong
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70 for re-use is a simple slogan, b
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72 framework to in
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74 then mapped to the CRM-EH so tha
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76 tDAR also stores all resources <
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78 Many look to their in</s
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80 Although the multidiscipl<strong
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82 computer science can make it pos
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84 were created after this time. A
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86 transparency, accessibility, ava
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88 (Research Archive for Ancient Sc
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90 This challenge of not just digit
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92 Part of the research of the Plei
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94 After correctin
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96 Epigraphy Overview: Epigraphy Da
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98 step, because epigraphic texts s
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100 text and to previous annotation
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102 and squeezes as well as a selec
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104 original); typ
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106 To begin this
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108 better set the in</stro
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110 Another related project that ha
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112 used to point
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114 names in texts
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116 and Manuscripts (VRE-SDM) 378 s
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118 level of storage in</st
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120 simplicity, and sensible file n
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122 compliant DTD and schema. 393 I
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124 While the advanced document-rec
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126 Another significant manuscript
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128 compelled to operate in
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130 Cayless thus developed a method
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132 must consider commercial and en
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134 standard developed for the desc
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136 to standard catalogs, identific
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138 present an extension and comb<s
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140 scholars in th
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142 described as the amicitia papyr
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144 to a full text transcription wh
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146 The final majo
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148 One is toward openness; the oth
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150 this idea of personal ownership
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152 prototype 512 in</stron
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154 other assertions made about par
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156 The conclusion drawn from this
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158 and that “is main</st
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160 philology available at the webs
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162 descriptions that provides scho
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164 of multilingua
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166 Another major methodological is
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168 ancient historians. Network ana
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170 Bradley and Short (2005) have o
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172 “apparently disconnected and
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174 sources used and their abbrevia
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176 resources, inc
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178 materials could be found, a rec
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180 or more documents (69 percent)
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182 This work tends to focus on des
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184 A related poin
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186 “infer user
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188 accessed; few providers, if any
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190 information so
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192 features. In addition, while pa
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194 postdoctoral students, who were
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196 computers by ancient historians
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198 Demos (a growin</strong
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200 database of this encyclopedia c
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202 academia.” At the same time,
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204 granted their views of the pote
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206 science and use ICT occasionall
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208 also declared that the m<strong
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210 were exceptionally diverse, as
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212 across virtual collections of d
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214 tradition of European literatur
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216 the related MILARQ project, 649
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218 initial fund<s
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220 SPQR—Supportin</stron
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222 environments in</strong
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224 become less “localized” wit
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226 methods,” Cohen et al. expla<
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228 One might have presumed that ou
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230 This lack of deeper understand<
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232 expertise, tools, experience, a
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234 All link<stron
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236 of architecture, tools and serv
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238 reported that eSAD was develop<
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240 semantic tools that would make
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242 Sustainable Pr
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244 A recent ARL report that explor
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246 organizations and fundi
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248 throughout this review, i.e., o
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250 commercial providers. At the sa
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252 representations beyond the bord
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254 such as Vindol
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256 that the question of in
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258 Linguistic Com
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260 resources and technology overvi
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262 According to B
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264 support the main</stron
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266 Interoperability”). 763 The m
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268 as the point o
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270 This architecture makes it easy
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272 [Aschenbrenner et al. 2008]. As
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274 Editions.” Advances i
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276 [Bodard et al. 2009]. Bodard, G
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278 [Bulger et al. 2011]. Bulger, M
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280 [Choudhury and Stin</st
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282 [Crane et al. 2009a]. Crane, Gr
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284 [Dué and Ebbott 2009]. Dué, C
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286 [Flaten 2009]. Flaten, Arne R.
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288 [Hardwick 2000]. Hardwick, Lorn
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290 Conference on E-Science Worksho
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292 [Lockyear 2007]. Lockyear, Kris
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294 Cambridge, MA: Association for
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296 [Ntzios et al. 2007]. Ntzios, K
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298 [Reddy and Crane 2006]. Reddy,
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300 [Rydberg-Cox 2009]. Rydberg-Cox
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302 [Smith 2010]. Smith, D. Neel.
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304 and the Canadian Academic Commu
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306 [Wallom et al. 2009]. Wallom, D
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