Feraudi-Gruénais, Francisca

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Introduction to the first  epigraphy.info   workshopin Heidelberg, 21  st   – 23  rd   March 2018by Francisca Feraudi-Gruénais (Heidelberg)Dear participants, let me draft my introduction to this workshop in the shape of a decalogue, intended as ten keywords and thoughts:First of all, good day and a great welcome in the name of the whole team of EDH to ourthree days workshop epigraphy.info! Thank you to all of you for not having spared any expense incoming to Heidelberg and participating in this workshop situated so scenically below HeidelbergCastle!Secondly, we all are aware of the fact that in the next three days we will take decisionswhich will be extremely important for the future of digital epigraphy in terms of its methods andpractice  with  regard  to the  research  of  ancient  inscriptions.  The idea  of  an  open  collaborativeplatform for epigraphy  has been floating around for some time, it has been discussed again andagain on various occasions, and by doing so it has become increasingly apparent that there is novalid alternative if we effectively want to overcome, in a sustainable way, any waste of resourcesand any limitations in providing scientific knowledge by persisting with the insular concepts, whichhave up to now been common practice. This workshop will provide the space for the indispensablefundamental discussion about how to solve this crucial issue.Therefore we are,  thirdly, extremely grateful to the Heidelberg Academiy of Sciences andHumanities, first of all for being ready to accompany this important exchange of ideas, but also forproviding this  wonderful  venue  and the  necessary infrastructure  –   and,  last  but  not  least,  forsupporting the nerves and energy of all of us with the necessary supply of calories and caffeine.It is, fourthly, well known, that the initiative for this workshop epigraphy.info as a specificapproach to give a concrete shape to the already existing considerations and reflections, has startedfrom  EDH. Actually,  tempus urget!, time is pressing!, in so far as the lifetime of  EDH ends inexactly 33 months  and 10 days.   This point,  obviously,  won’t  merely affect  EDH,  but  also allcollaborating  epigraphic  research  projects,  within  EAGLE and  beyond,  not  to  speak  about  thenumerous users worldwide of all of these single and frequently complementary organized data ofbasic research. Within this time much has still to be dealt with: The core business is in primis the systematicprocessing of the round about 12.000 inscriptions and their related metadata of the Gallic-Germanic2provinces. Then the care for the storage of the data post 2020 and their sustainable usage on at leasta  m i n i m u m  l e v e l ;  the  latter,  fortunately,  will  be  ensured  by the  Heidelberg  Academy  ofSciences and Humanities who will provide a data repository and the maintaning of the website,which is calming to know, of course. However, this alone is not enough, if one takes in to account the, summed up for the passed32 years, millions of Deutsche Mark and Euros of (public) funds, the successively grown intensiveuse of the data of  EDH worldwide, and, based on that, the significant number of  linkages andinteractions  within the relevant  digital  epigraphic projects.  What  we all  aim at,  therefore,  is  toestablish an  a d v a n c e d  l e v e l  of sustainability, able to uphold not only the reuse of EDH’s, andhereby also of the EAGLE’s, data as such, but in particular a level of sustainability able to maintainand increase  the  vitality of  digital  epigraphy as  a  whole  by enhancing it  in  an  up-to-date  andforward-looking way. But: How can such a task be realized and managed? This is the big question we have to tryto give an answer, for the perspective of an open collaborative platform is, in our view, not a luxurybut a necessity, and, at the same time, a commitment. Accordingly, the opinion that the building of acollaborative platform must be, not any more, a matter of an ‚if‘ but, on the contrary, of the ‚how‘,seems  now  to  be  an  essential  part  of  the  unanimous  credo  among  the  experts  of  the  digitalhumanities.Hence and  fifthly,  while  EDH,  of  course,  is  the  initiator  and the motor  for  the  presentworkshop, the role of being protagonist belongs to all of the here present participants and to thosewho declared their will to be actively involved though not personally present at this workshop. Thatis a really auspicious starting position, and we can look forward with expectation to the results wewill have worked out until the end of this workshop, and at which destination the next workshopwill bring us all together again.This is,  sixthly, a work-shop with emphasis on work in the sense of a lively exchange ofideas, critical but constructive discussions, and the clear intention of creating a sound concept –even  if  in  several  respects  necessarily  only  preliminary  until  the  next  steps.  The  plan  of  theforthcoming three days takes this into account in so far as  today we'll deal with a wide range of  I m p u l s e s  &  D i s c u s s i o n s  concerning issueslike financing and sustaining a digital platform, the concrete working with an editor and navigatorlike  epigraphy.info,  the  management  of  editorial  platforms,  the  relationship  to  already existingdatabases,  the relation between databases and corpora editions up to the question of  versioningand mini publications. Tomorrow, by contrast, will give space to the w o r k i n g  g r o u p s  dedicated to explore 3themes and issues, which seem to be essential to all of us, and which will be defined by us allduring this afternoon. The third day, finally, will be the ‘day of reckoning’, i.e. our chance for  a future-orienteddefinition of results and concepts and for the formulation of the next steps.Seventh: The focus set here on certain topics, is the result of numerous debates within theHeidelberg team as well as with colleagues from other epigraphic projects, so that they correspond,at least to a large extent, to the major desiderata of the epigraphic community as a whole, and thiswas also confirmed by the considerable feedback of the here present participants. Moreover, we dobenefit from the circumstance, that  epigraphy.info does not have to invent the wheel anew, for itmay learn and take its inspiration from its elder brother papyri.info. A significant part in respect oftechnical opportunities and content-based concepts is already prefigured there, some of it may betransferred,  other aspects will  have to be modified and adapted to the reality of the  epigraphicresearch practice, of course, when building up the functional younger brother epigraphy.info.But,  eighth,  whatever  the  final  product   will  look  like:  envisaged  is,  at  any  rate,  theestablishment of an  o p e n  c o l l a b o r a t i v e  p l a t f o r m  o f   a n c i e n t  e p i g r a p h y  –  tobegin probably, for pragmatic reasons, with the Latin and Greek epigraphy, but this of course has tobe discussed –, (an open collaborative platform of ancient epigraphy) which merges on one side thestandards of fundamental research and on the other the potentials of standardized and sustainableinformation technology for the processing of scientific data, assembling at the same time, in termsof its structure, both the synergetic use and the keeping available of already generated data as wellas those still to be generated. That is what we are aiming at in terms of an  a d v a n c e d  l e v e l  post2020.Ninth, discussing all that will be one of the main topics of the working groups of tomorrow.Therefore,  let’s  explain the procedure: The neuralgic points and questions arising from the justdrafted claim which may need a clarification,  are listed within the options on the  programme(coloured in pink) in your hands. Perhaps they may and should be complemented by further topics,or be completely changed. Therefore we invite you to nominate your favored themes within the nexthours  via  the  googledoc on  the  epigraphy.info   website,  which  will,  in  general,  serve  as  ourcommon working space during this workshop. Out of this googledoc will be defined, this eveningbefore dinner, the thematic focus of the working groups of tomorrow.Finally and tenth: To summarise, let me close with an adhortatio addressed to all of us: let’s maintain  discipline considering the scarce time (i.e. let’s strictly respect the programme, especially today’s tour de force), 4let’s make  suggestions proactively , when appropriate, for further issues regarded as central (especially for the working groups of tomorrow), let’s practise  solution-oriented working  – it is important to be aware that the results generated here are essential, as they will be decisive for what may follow, or not,  let’s reflect, at this stage, what the  concept of epigraphy.info may look like and whatever might be the  tasks for the next workshop .With this in mind: down to work! It is all about the future of digital epigraphy and its contribution to the digital humanities. ________________________________________Dr. Francisca Feraudi-Gruénais Epigraphische Datenbank Heidelberg (EDH)c/o Seminar für Alte Geschichte und EpigraphikUniversität Heidelberg, Marstallhof 4D - 69117 HeidelbergT. 0049 - 6221 - 542239, F. 0049 - 6221 - 542234www.epigraphische-datenbank-heidelberg.de

Introduction to the first Epigraphy.info workshop

in Heidelberg, 21st-23rd March 2018

http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/24360/1/Indroduction_1st-epigraphy-info-ws_FeraudiF.pdf

Introduction to the first Epigraphy.info workshop in Heidelberg, 21st-23rd March 2018

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