January 18^th 2023 | Munich Digital Humanities Networking Meeting

Buber-Correspondences Digital

Report

Academy of Sciences and Literature | Mainz

Thomas Kollatz | 🔗 https://digicademy.github.io/DHN2023_BKD
CC-BY 4.0

Buber-Correspondences Digital

BKD (2021-2045) – 24 years

• about 7,000 correspondence partner
• about 41,400 correspondences
• currently 5,380 archive folders
• 106,073 digitised images
• time span: 1895-1965
• 12 languages
• Geographical scope: worldwide

🔗 agate

Modules

Eight thematic paths

1. Jewish Renaissance - Cultural Zionism - Palestine/State of Israel
2. Religion(s) and Religious Studies
3. Dialogical Thought - Philosophy of Religion
4. Philosophy of Language - Translation - Biblical Commentary
5. Challenges to Christianity and Critical Dialogue with Christian Theology
6. Literature - Art - Theatre
7. Political Philosophy and Social Philosophy
8. Philosophical Anthropology - Pedagogy - Psychology/Psychotherapy

Module 1

Jewish Renaissance - Cultural Zionism - Palestine|Israel

25. Zionist. Kongress ● Aberson, Zevi ● Achad Haam ● Arlosoroff, Chaim ● Auerbach, Elias ● Badt, Hermann ● Balaban, Majer ● Bayer, Ronald ● Becker, Raymond de ● Ben-Gurion, David ● Bergel-Gronemann, Elfriede ● Bergmann, Hugo ● Birnbaum, Nathan ● Bloch, Joseph ● Blumel, André ● Blumenfeld, Kurt ● Blumstein, Leo ● Britschgi-Schimmer, Ina ● Brod, Max ● Chanoch, Giora ● Chofshi, Nathan ● Cohn, Benno ● Exekutive der Zionist. Organisation ● Die Welt ● Diesendruck, Zevi ● Dinur, Ben Zion ● Ehrenpreis, Marcus ● Einstein, Albert u. Elsa ● Epstein, Oskar ● Eshkol, Levi ● Feiwel, Berthold ● Fliesz, Robert ● Freudenberg, Gideon u. Hadassah ● Friedman, Yeshayahu ● Gärtner, Hans ● Glaser, B. ● Goldmann, Nahum ● Gruenbaum, Isaak u. Kirszrot, Jan ● Grunewald, Hans ● Guthmann, Georg ● Haas, Paul u. Else ● Hantke, Arthur ● Herrmann, Hugo ● Herrmann, Leo ● Herzl, Hans ● Herzl, Theodor ● Jacobson, Victor ● Jehuda, Zwi ● Jungjüdischer Club ● Kaznelson, Siegmund ● Kellner, Leon ● Kellner, Viktor ● Kestenberg, Leo ● Klee, Alfred ● Klein, Ludwig ● Kohn, Hans ● Lee Daniel, Sharon ● Lichtenstädter, S. ● Lilien, Ephraim Moses ● Lisod, Avraham ● Luft, Gerda ● Magnes, Judah Leon ● Mansour, Atalla ● Manteuffel, Maxim ● Margulies, Heinrich ● Marshall, James ● Massignon, Louis ● Maus, S. ● Meier-Cronemeier, Hermann ● Mirelman, José ● Müller, Ernst ● Münz, Hermann ● Musaph-Andriesse, Herman u. R. ● Nederlandse zionist. Studenten Organisatie ● Nordau, Max ● Norman, Edward A. ● Nossig, Adolf ● Nussenblatt, Tulo ● Persitz, Shoshana ● Pomeranz, Jochanan Hans ● Radler-Feldman, Benjamin ● Ravdin, Bella ● Reichert, Israel ● Reiner, Markus ● Resek, Felix ● Robinsohn, Abraham ● Rokach, Israel ● Rose, Desiderius ● Rosenblüth, Felix ● Rothschild, Fritz A. ● Ruffer, Jozek ● Rülff, Isaak ● Ruppin, Arthur ● Salten, Felix ● Sandbank, Jakob ● Sandler, Aaron ● Schalit, Isidor ● Scherlag, Mark ● Schild, H.F. ● Schiller, S. ● Schocken, Gustav Gershom ● Senator, David Werner ● Sharett, Moshe ● Shereshevsky, Shimon ● Simon, Johanna ● Simon, Julius ● Simons, Marie E. ● Simonsohn ● Simonson, Emil ● Smilansky, Moshe ● Sokolow, Nahum ● Stapel, Wilhelm ● Stendig, S. ● Stern, Arthur ● Stern, Eva ● Stern, Hugo ● Sternberger, Marcel ● Tabari, Farid-Wajdi ● Thieberger, Friedrich ● Thon, Helene Hanna ● Thon, Osias ● Trietsch, Davis ● Unna, W. ● Ussishkin, Menachem ● Warburg, Otto ● Warszawska Grupa ● Weisl, Wolfgang ● Weiss, Robert ● Weizmann, Chaim ● Weltsch, Felix ● Weltsch, Robert ● Wertheim, Paul ● Westphal, Leni ● Winz, Leo ● Zangwill, Israel ● Zionist Federation ● Zionist Record ● Zionistfoereningen Stockholm ● Zionist. Bibliothek ● Zionist. Föderation Frankreichs ● Zionist. Organisation in Deutschland ● Zionist. Ortsgruppe Hamburg-Altona ● Zionist. Vereinigung für Deutschland ● Zionist. Jugendverband Ungarn ● Zionist. Zentralbüro ● Zlocisti, Theodor ● Zobel, Moritz ● Zweig, Stefan

Transformation

From archive logic to correspondence structure

Archive (NLI)	BKD06626 Weltsch, Felix
3 archive folders	34 BKD-TEI-XML files

Googlespreadsheets

Tool for indexing the content

• from folders to correspondence units
• Link to digital images
• Identification of correspendence units (images == letter)
• Enriching with metadata
• Base for script-driven XML generation
• One-way table

eScriptorium

Transcription tool | HTR

• todo Train HTR-model for Buber's handwriting (currently 94% / 30 pages)
• now eScriptorium as a convenient editing tool
• Export of transcriptions: from pageXml to BKD-TEI-XML
• Integration into file generation: from initial entry in Google via transcription scripts to BKD-TEI-XML file

Concept

Differentiated coverage achieved with TEI

<correspDesc>

interoperability (Type C)

<correspDesc 
    ref="https://bkd.adwmainz.net/correspondences/BKD06626/BKD06626.19271001.01.S">
 <correspAction type="sent">
  <persName  ref="https://lobid.org/gnd/118516477"  
             key="P.0000001">Buber, Martin</persName>
  <placeName ref="https://www.geonames.org/6559112" 
             key="O.0000105">Heppenheim an der Bergstraße</placeName>
  <date when="1927-10-01"/>
 </correspAction>
 <correspAction type="received">
  <persName  ref="https://lobid.org/gnd/117279234"  
             key="P.0005621">Weltsch, Felix</persName>
  <placeName ref="https://www.geonames.org/3067696" 
             key="O.0000165" evidence="conjecture" cert="high">Prag</placeName>
 </correspAction>
</correspDesc>

<text>

Full text with entities mentioned (Type A)

<text><body><div type="content" xml:lang="de"><pb facs="#scan_3777989-10_0009" n="1"/>
 <opener>
  <dateline>Heppenheim <date when="1927-10-01">I.X.27</date></dateline>
  <salute>Sehr geehrter Herr Doktor –</salute>
 </opener>
 <p>Ich wäre natürlich gern bereit, Herrn 
 <rs type="person" key="P.0005944">Dr. <lb/>Koydl</rs> zu schreiben; aber, wie 
 vortrefflich <lb/>er auch selber sein mag, sein 
 <rs type="work" key="W.0000078.01.01">Buch</rs> ist sehr <lb/>schlecht, noch 
 dazu in jener verschwärmten, <lb/>überschwungnen Art, die mir schon an sich 
 <lb/>höchst bedenklich ist. Erweise ich ihm nun <lb/>wirklich einen 
 Dienst, wenn ich ihm das, wenn <lb/>auch in schonenderer Form, sage? Für manche 
 <lb/>Menschen ist doch das <q>Produktions</q>gefühl selber 
 <lb/>ein Halt, und wer es ihnen fraglich macht, erschüt<lb rend="hyphen"/>tert 
 ihre Sicherheit – ohne ihnen dafür einen Ersatz <lb/>anbieten zu können.</p>
 <closer>
  <salute rend="inline">Herzlich grüssend</salute>
  <signed>Ihr <lb/>Buber</signed>
 </closer></div></body> </text>

<abstract>

1. regest (Type A and Type B)

<abstract>
 <list type="content">
  <item>Buber hat Vorbehalte gegen Karl Koydls Gedichtband "Phoenix-Kreise" 
    und lehnt daher Weltschs Bitte ab, Koydl seine Einschätzung zu schreiben.</item>
 </list>

• Item(s) in human-readable easy language
• Quick access to correspondence

<abstract>

2. Entities in static form (registers)

<list type="persons">
 <item><name key="P.0005944">Koydl, Karl</persName></item>
</list>
<list type="works">
 <item><name key="W.0000078.01.01">Koydl, Karl: Phoenix-Kreise</name></item>
</list>
<list type="keywords">
 <item><name key="S.0000022">Werk-Einschätzung</name></item>
</list>

• Register of entities mentioned explicitly and implicitly in the text (persons, places, events, works, keywords, organisations)

<abstract>

3. Entities in dynamic form (relations)

 <listRelation>
  <relation active="P.0000001" name="perceives" passive="W.0000078.01.01"/>
  <relation active="P.0000001" name="criticizes" passive="W.0000078.01.01"/>
 </listRelation>
</abstract>

P.0000001       👤 Buber, Martin
W.0000078.01.01 📖 Koydl, Karl: Phoenix-Kreise

• abstract provides index of the entities relevant for a correspondence unit and, if applicable, their relations in readable form for human and machine
• entities in a network

One Document does it all

Simplification & empowerment

BKD made good experiences with TEI customizing with ODD (one document does it all) for documentation as well as schema development.

metadata managment

openRefine and Wikidata

As far as possible, we link person data with GND (German Authority File), place data with geonames. Where this is not possible, Wikidata entries are created. There is hardly any standards data on organisation and events in particular. OpenRefine has proven to be an extremely helpful tool for indexing, cleaning, enriching and managing the extensive metadata.

proof of concept

From BKD-TEI-XML to RDF and CIDOC-CRM

Internship project Linnaea Söhn: Buber und der Zionismus: Evaluation, Entwicklung und Erprobung eines generischen Datenmodells zur zionistischen Bewegung

• Visualisations of the data modelling
• Transformation of relational data from the TEI-XML files into RDF/XML using XSLT
• Extracted triples in the RDF/XML and Turtle serialisations
• Suggestions for SPARQL queries to the data

share your data

lessons learned

One "lesson learned" of the student internship project, for example, was that it makes a lot of sense to include "implicit" entities, i.e. entities not explicitly mentioned in the correspondence ("the elephant in the room") explicitly in the metadata (=Type B).

internship Linnaea Söhn: Buber und der Zionismus: Evaluation, Entwicklung und Erprobung eines generischen Datenmodells zur zionistischen Bewegung

proof of concept

Graph database as a tool for analysis

Visualisation generated with the help of Andreas Kuczera

• BKD focuses more on the relations between entities ...
• ... less on full text (transcription)
• text may be less important | useful than the structured reproduction of the contents of the correspondence in the abstract

Reproducibility

Share your data

Praxisprojekt

Linnaea Söhn: Buber und der Zionismus: Evaluation, Entwicklung und Erprobung eines generischen Datenmodells zur zionistischen Bewegung

Graph-LAB

in Zusammenarbeit mit Andreas Kuczera (THM Giessen | ADWLM)

DH Jewish Hackathon

The primary aim of this Hackathon, as we understand it, is to create a shared open space in which the participants take time to discuss and experimentally explore topics at the intersection of Digital Humanities and Jewish Studies. Therefore, it is not a question of producing finished results or presenting final products, but of jointly exploring possible paths, developing prototypes, discovering spaces of practice.

AG Jewish Republic of letters

proof of concept

... dare more hackathon ...

As part of the student internship project, the cooperation with relevant graph data bank experts and the hackathon "DH Jewish Studies", the relational data model was and is tested for resilience at a fairly early stage of the project - by external experts. These tests were not really planned, rather serendipity. The experience that third parties understand BKD data, BKD relations and the BKD data model in principle, and actually enable relevant analyses and visualisations from the abstract distinction of the relations is reassuring feedback. Positive was also that, if necessary, weaknesses in the model could be recognised early on and adjustments made.

BKD

team and friends

Editorik Susan Baumert (Jena), Heike Breitenbach (FFM), Francesco Ferrari (Jena), Denise Jurst-Görlach (FFM) Erfassungstabellen Rabea Freund-Biton, Christof Müller Digitale Akademie Julian Jarosch, Thomas Kollatz, Lea Müller-Dannhausen Projektleitung Martin Leiner, Christan Wiese Praxisprojekt Linnaea Söhn Neo4J Andreas Kuczera DH Jewish Hackathon AG Jewish Republic of letters