2018-02-19 20 | Utrecht

EAJS EpiDoC Winterschool

Digital Humanities and Jewish Epigraphy

Epidoc – Epigraphic Documents in TEI XML

Slides: https://digicademy.github.io/2018_EAJS_WS_1

Max Grüntgens | Torsten Schrade | Thomas Kollatz
@hou2zi0 | @kol_t | @digicademy | digicademy | CC-BY 4.0

Digital Epigraphy and Traditional Epigraphy

The focus of such a class is not so much an intensive EpiDoc training, but rather demonstrating that structured markup is nothing more than structured thinking about data. The structure of an XML document reflects the structure of an epigraphic edition. Following the strict hierarchy of XML forces one to better organise one’s thoughts, approach towards, and work on an epigraphic document. We have found that it is highly beneficial to be able to process and produce information in a well structured and clearer way, even if the students do not show interest in further DH training.

Bodard and Stoyanova 2016

01

Definitions

What is XML

XML: Extensible Markup Language

semantic in stead of typography: XML is more interested in the meaning of data than in its presentation
XML is device-independent and system-independent
XML is an interchange and communication format

Generalizing … we define markup, or (synonymously) encoding, as any means of making explicit an interpretation of a text.

A Gentle Introduction to XML

xml-structures

<text>
<quote>To be or not to be</quote>
is one of the best known <name>Shakespeare</name> quotations
</text>

XML uses descriptive markup: A textual unit (aka element) is tagged by inserting a start-tag at the beginning of the element and an end-tag at the end of the unit
XML documents must be well-formed

Who's afraid of angle brackets?

<tag>: start tag marks the begin of an element
</tag>: end tag marks the end of an element
<tag>content</tag>: text unit with tagged content
<tag/>: empty tag | milestone– element with no content
<tag attribute="value">: tags can have attributes with values

What does well-formed mean

A well-formed XML [...] obeys the following simple rules:

there is a single element enclosing the whole document: this is known as the root element;

each element is completely contained by the root element, or by an element that is so contained;

elements do not partially overlap one another;

a tag explicitly marks the start and end of each element.

A Gentle Introduction to XML

Learning by Doing

Open Oxygen XML Editor
Write your first text in XML
Try the different modes: Text, Grid, Author

What is TEI XML

TEI: Text Encoding Initiative

The Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) is a consortium which collectively develops and maintains a standard for the representation of texts in digital form. Its chief deliverable is a set of Guidelines which specify encoding methods for machine-readable texts, chiefly in the humanities, social sciences and linguistics. Since 1994, the TEI Guidelines have been widely used by libraries, museums, publishers, and individual scholars to present texts for online research, teaching, and preservation. In addition to the Guidelines themselves, the Consortium provides a variety of resources and training events for learning TEI, information on projects using the TEI, a bibliography of TEI-related publications, and software developed for or adapted to the TEI.

tei-c.org

TEI delivers Guidelines

The TEI Guidelines for Electronic Text Encoding and Interchange define and document a markup language for representing the structural, renditional, and conceptual features of texts. They focus (though not exclusively) on the encoding of documents in the humanities and social sciences, and in particular on the representation of primary source materials for research and analysis. These guidelines are expressed as a modular, extensible XML schema, accompanied by detailed documentation, and are published under an open-source license.

http://www.tei-c.org/Guidelines/

What is EpiDoc

EpiDoc TEI XML: Epigraphic Documents in TEI XML – XML text markup for ancient documents

EpiDoc is an international, collaborative effort that provides guidelines and tools for encoding scholarly and educational editions of ancient documents. It uses a subset of the Text Encoding Initiative's standard for the representation of texts in digital form and was developed initially for the publication of digital editions of ancient inscriptions [...]It addresses not only the transcription and editorial treatment of texts themselves, but also the history and materiality of the objects on which the texts appear.

https://sourceforge.net/p/epidoc/wiki/Home/
http://www.stoa.org/epidoc/gl/latest/

Structure of an EpiDoc Edition

<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" xml:space="preserve" xml:lang="en">
   <teiHeader>
     <!-- Metadata -->
   </teiHeader>

   <facsimile>
      <!-- Information on image files -->
   </facsimile>

   <text>
       <!-- Textdata: edition, commentary, translation, etc. -->
   </text>
</TEI>

EpiDoc offers a template file ex-epidoctemplate.xml
see EpiDoc Guidelines: Structure Of An EpiDoc Edition

Learning by Doing

Open ex-epidoctemplate.xml in the Oxygen XML Editor
Get an overview of the structure of an EpiDoc XML file
Try out the onboard equipment: Use F2

EpiDoc Guidelines: Structure Of An EpiDoc Edition

02

Encoding a headstone from Frankfurt, Battonstreet

Image

Textual features

textblock
lines
linebreaks
abbreviated words
abbrevations
gaps
numbers
form of the text field
writing area
names
…
depends on your research question

source epidat ffb-98

Learning by Doing

Some recommendations that faciltate use of Oxygen XML-Editor

Window > Show View >
1. Elements
2. Attributes
3. Outline
Options > Preferences > Editor > Author > Cursor Navigation
Enable | Disable Arrow keys move the cursor in the reading direction

Learning by Doing The Image of the Headstone can be found here:

http://www.steinheim-institut.de/daten/ffb-98.jpg

Use ex-epidoctemplate
Go to the facsimile-Element
Link the Edition to the Digital Image
For more information on the the chapter entitled Images, Figures and Facsimile in the EpiDoc Guidelines. May be you want to add more Information …

Transcription

‎‎עד הגל הזה ועדה המצבה הזאת 
אשר יריתי לראש ה ורה חשובה מרת בילא בת ר׳ נתן 
שנפטר י״ד בטבת שנת ה׳ אלפים ול״ג לפרט
הצור יפקד נשמת בגן עדן סלה

Learning by Doing

For the following consult Structure of an EpiDoc Edition, esp. the paragraph titled Edition
Copy&Paste the text of the headstone in the <text> element surrounded by the <div type="edition>-Tag as well as the tag for an anonymous block <ab>
How to express that the text is written on the front side of the object?<div type="textpart">
Little tip: Use the Author mode …
Add the language of the inscription <div type="textpart" xml:lang="he-Hebr"> Language-Script
Encode the line-beginnings in Author mode <lb/>
Look at the result in Text mode
Number the beginning of the lines <lb n="1"/>

Learning by Doing

Take a look at the List Of All Transcription Guidelines and discuss
what may be relevant for the Encoding of our example ffb-98
numbers, see Numbers/Numerals Of Known Value <num value="33">
abbreviations, see Abbreviation Fully Expanded or
Expansion Of Abbreviation Including Symbol/Characters
<expan><abbr>בג</abbr><ex>ן</ex></expan>
Line breaks in words <lb n="4" break="no"/>
Editorial Restoration: Segmented Or Adjacent Lacunae
<gap agent="damage" reason="lost" unit="character" quantity="2"/>
or <supplied reason="lost">בח</supplied>

no more fuzziness …

Thus, for the traditionally trained epigrapher (classicist, humanist) an EpiDoc or a more general DH training leaves the sense of a distinct change of methodology. This change, however, is usually perceived as an improvement, the ‘scientific’ methodology adding more detail and nuances to the publication, though sometimes it can leave an uncomfortable feeling of not being allowed any fuzziness.

Bodard and Stoyanova 2016

Example file

result at the end day one

ex-epidoctemplate_EAJS_WS_2.xml

03

Metadata

Why store data about an object, when you have the object itself? Because without data about the objects contained in a space, any sufficiently complex space is indistinguishable from chaos.

Pomerantz 2017

The TEI Header – A proposal

<fileDesc>
    <titleStmt>
        <title>title of document</title>
    </titleStmt>
    <publicationStmt>
        <authority></authority>
        <idno type="filename"></idno>
    </publicationStmt>
    <sourceDesc>
        <msDesc>
            <msIdentifier>
                <repository>museum/archive</repository>
                <idno>inventory number</idno>
            </msIdentifier>
            <physDesc>
                <objectDesc>
                    <supportDesc>
                        <support>description of object/monument  
                            (likely to include <material/> 
                             and <objectType/> information, <dimensions/>, etc.)
                        </support>
                    </supportDesc>
                    <layoutDesc>
                        <layout>description of text field/campus</layout>
                    </layoutDesc>
                </objectDesc>
                <handDesc>
                    <handNote>description of letters, 
                        possibly including <height>letter-heights</height>
                    </handNote>
                </handDesc>
            </physDesc>
            <history>
                <origin>
                    <origPlace>Place of origin</origPlace>
                    <origDate>Date of origin</origDate>
                </origin>
                <provenance type="found"> Findspot and circumstances/context</provenance>
                <provenance type="observed">Modern location(s) 
                               (if different from repository, above)</provenance>
            </history>
        </msDesc>
    </sourceDesc>
 </fileDesc>

Learning by Doing

Install EpiDoc Oxygen framework
Help > Install new add-ons > Show add-ons from >
Insert the following link:

 https://oxygen.adwmainz.net/epidoc_framework/update.xml

> next > finish

Restart Oxygen
To activate the framework, one has to change the end of the file to _EpiDoc.xml or .EpiDoc.xml

EpiDoc Framework

Learning by Doing

Follow the Framework structure
Switch to the Author Mode

Licences

Recommendation: CreativeCommons Choose a licence

source: Rufus Pollock

Form follows Function

What characterises this class of objects is that they form a whole with their physical support. Indeed, the meaning of an epigraph cannot be fully understood without the analysis of the object or monument or other archaeological object on which it appears, just as one cannot fully understand the nature of that particular archaeological object without thoroughly investigating the sense of the inscription or iconographic representation it hosts"

Felicetti et al., 2016

authority files & controlled vocabularies

places (ancient)– Pleiades
places – Thesaurus of Geographic Names [TGN] refer to as http://vocab.getty.edu/tgn/7005293
place names in the Hebrew Script – Kima Historical Gazeteer An open, attestation based, historical database
person names – German National Library Identificators [GND] [example]
physical form | symbols | material
- Arts and Architecture Thesaurus to improve access to information about art, architecture, and material culture [AAT] refer to as http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300266769
- Iconclass a multilingual classification system for cultural content
- EAGLE [The Europeana network of Ancient Greek and Latin Epigraphy] vocabularies

By using controlled vocabularies project-specific findings are addressed by unique identifiers [digital shelf mark]

Shoes of Frankfurt

A Frankfurt house emblem becoming a familyname

1607	1612	1774	1782	1795	1805
ffb-444	ffb-2057	ffb-55	ffb-1584	ffb-52	ffb-1678
Schlomo Schuh Grotwol	Breinlen bat Schlomo	Joswel ben Schlomo Schuh	Schönle bat David Rapp	Breinche bat Süskind Leidersdorf	Gitle bat Izek ben Jaakow Hanau SeGaL

… and displaying 200 years of shoe-design engraved in headstones

challenge

Symbols, ornaments, decoration found on Jewish headstones as well as biblical quotations in the epitaphs or the materials of the headstones or the type of script used are not strictly limited to Jewish cultural life.

Refering to authority files and use of controlled vocabularies help to disseminate the results of our research

Example file

result at the end of day two

ffb-98_EpiDoc.xml

04

Community

Epigraphic Projects

Sharing Data: PEACE Portal and DARIAH-DE

	IIP – Inscriptions of Israel \| Palestine	epidat – Database of Jewish Epigraphy	DIO – Deutsche Inschriften Online
online
quantity	3.634	34.221	ca. 18.000
time	500 BCE - 640 CE	midth 11^th - 20^th century	500-1650 CE
space	Israel \| Palestine	Germany \| The Netherlands \| Czechia \| Lithunia	Germany \| Austria \| South Tyrol
Genre	Different	Funeral Inscriptions	Different
Format	EpiDoc: TEI XML for Epigraphic Documents
Example	QUAMR0001	ffb-80

Synergies

XML-paths works both for

IIP,
epidat,
DIO
as well as many other EpiDoc encoded research data

<!-- path to edition -->
/TEI//body//div [@type='edition']

<!-- path to persons -->
/TEI/teiHeader/profileDesc/particDesc/listPerson/person

<!-- metadata -->
/TEI/teiHeader 
                    
<!-- data -->
/TEI/text

Texts published online with EpiDoc source available

These projects are the source of most examples used in the Guidelines.

Advanced Papyrological Information System (APIS)
Aphrodisias in late Antiquity (ALA)
Corpus of the Inscriptions of Campā (CIC)
Datenbank Jüdische Grabsteinepigraphik (Epidat)
Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri (DDbDP)
Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis der griechischen Papyrusurkunden Ägyptens (HGV)
Inscriptions of Aphrodisias (IAph)
Inscriptiones antiquae Orae Septentrionalis Ponti Euxini graecae et latinae (IOSPE)
Inscriptions of Israel-Palestine
Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania (IRT)
Inscriptions of Roman Cyrenaica (forthcoming) (IRCyr)
Inscriptions of Greek Cyrenaica (forthcoming) (IGCyr)
Pandektis
Roman Inscriptions of Britain (RIB)
Verse Inscriptions of Cyrenaica (forthcoming) (VICyr)
Vindolanda Tablets Online (VTO)
Vindolanda Tablets Online II (VTO2)

http://www.stoa.org/epidoc/gl/latest/app-bibliography.html

EpiDoc Community

https://sourceforge.net/p/epidoc/wiki/Home/

EpiDoc Homepage | Wiki
EpiDoc Guidelines The startpage provides a number of entry points
markup mailinglist i.e. EpiDoc mailinglist for all your questions concerning (Digital) Epigraphy, TEI and EpiDoc TEI XML example: How to deal with names?
Software and tools

From XML to www.mydata.html

EpiDoc Converter API based on the EpiDoc Stylesheets – currently no satisfactory Right-to-Left Support
EpiDoc Stylesheets for transforming EpiDoc XML to HTML, text or ODF

Learning by Doing

Oxygene provides TEI default stylesheets
Document > Transformation > Apply Transformation Szenario
Download the EpiDoc Stylesheets here

/* Hebrew support added to EpiDoc Stylesheets by MG|TKOL 2018-02-21 */
div[lang="he-Hebr"], div[lang="he-Hebr"] span.ab {
direction: rtl;
unicode-bidi: bidi-override;
text-align:right;
}

EFES – EpiDoc Front-End Services

EFES is an ongoing open source project providing a custom and readily customizable platform for publication and search/indexing of EpiDoc files
Installation is quick and easy (15 minutes)
Just follow the Tutorial pages
It is important to use the xml:lang="he-Hebr" Attribute

Hebrew will work after adding the following lines to the base.css-File

div[lang="he-Hebr"], div[lang="he-Hebr"] span.ab {
direction: rtl;
unicode-bidi: bidi-override;
text-align:right;

EFES

Next training opportiunity will be the EpiDoc & EFES training workshop, London April 9–13, 2018

Building up a community

Join the Network JewishEpigraphy_network

TEI

TEI: P5 Guidelines
Lou Burnard: WHAT IS THE TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE? How to add intelligent markup to digital resources
TEI by Example

Digital Epigraphy and EpiDoc

Tom Elliott, Gabriel Bodard, Hugh Cayless et al. (2006-2017), EpiDoc: Epigraphic Documents in TEI XML. Online material, available: <http://epidoc.sf.net>
Julia Flanders; Charlotte Roueché: Gentle Introduction To Mark-Up For Epigraphers
Bodard G. & Stoyanova S. 2016. Epigraphers and Encoders: Strategies for Teaching and Learning Digital Epigraphy. In: Romanello M. & Bodard G, Digital Classics Outside the Echo-Chamber. London: Ubiquity Press.
H. Cayless; C.M. Roueché; Tom Elliott; Gabriel Bodard (2009): "Epigraphy in 2017." Digital Humanities Quarterly 3.1. http://digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/3/1/000030/000030.html

Software

Oxygen XML Editor
Oxygen Framework
- Video Configuring a Framework
- Author Framework Development
EFES – EpiDoc Front-End Services – a free, easy to use, highly customisable platform for the online publication of ancient texts in EpiDoc XML, allowing the creation of multiple indices, search and browse interface, geographical visualisation, and integration with linked open data.

More …

The Programming Historian We publish novice-friendly, peer-reviewed tutorials that help humanists learn a wide range of digital tools, techniques, and workflows to facilitate research and teaching. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive community of editors, writers, and readers.
to be continued …

2018-02-19 20 | Utrecht

EAJS EpiDoC Winterschool

Digital Humanities and Jewish Epigraphy

Epidoc – Epigraphic Documents in TEI XML

Slides: https://digicademy.github.io/2018_EAJS_WS_1

Max Grüntgens | Torsten Schrade | Thomas Kollatz @hou2zi0 | @kol_t | @digicademy | digicademy | CC-BY 4.0

Digital Epigraphy and Traditional Epigraphy

01

Definitions

What is XML

xml-structures

Who's afraid of angle brackets?

What does well-formed mean

What is TEI XML

TEI delivers Guidelines

What is EpiDoc

Structure of an EpiDoc Edition

02

Encoding a headstone from Frankfurt, Battonstreet

Image

Textual features

Some recommendations that faciltate use of Oxygen XML-Editor

no more fuzziness …

Example file

03

Metadata

Metadata

The TEI Header – A proposal

EpiDoc Framework

Licences

Form follows Function

authority files & controlled vocabularies

Shoes of Frankfurt

A Frankfurt house emblem becoming a familyname

challenge

Example file

result at the end of day two

04

Community

Epigraphic Projects

Sharing Data: PEACE Portal and DARIAH-DE

Synergies

Texts published online with EpiDoc source available

EpiDoc Community

From XML to www.mydata.html

EFES – EpiDoc Front-End Services

EFES

Building up a community

TEI

Digital Epigraphy and EpiDoc

Software

More …

F I N I S

סוף דבר הכל נשמע

Max Grüntgens | Torsten Schrade | Thomas Kollatz
@hou2zi0 | @kol_t | @digicademy | digicademy | CC-BY 4.0