Cowey, James

Feraudi-Gruénais, Francisca

Grieshaber, Frank

Lougovaya-Ast, Julia

Heidelberger Dokumentenserver

Reporton the first epigraphy.info workshop in Heidelberg, March 21-23, 2018 In view of the increasingly often expressed interest within the epigraphic community for a digitallybased research platform, with a well conceived strategy for sustainability, there was a pressing needfor  concrete  and structured  working discussions.  After  the  call  for  preregistration at  the  15thInternational  Congress  of  Greek  and  Latin  Epigraphy  in  Vienna  in  September  2017  the  firstepigraphy.info workshop,  which  on  this  occasion  was  organised  be  the  EDH,  took  place  inHeidelberg.Participants The participants were a group of effectively 48 recognized scholars; 19 further scholars who werenot able to come indicated their support and made clear their desire to be involved in further plans.The international group of participants from two continents and 13 countries represents to a verylarge extent a ‘who is who’ of Digital Humanists with a specific interest in Ancient Epigraphy. Expectations & concept As  the  first  workshop of  its  kind,  it  started  with  a  two-stepped approach,  to  decide  above allwhether epigraphy.info should be considered as a suitable format for the future of digital epigraphy;then, in the case of a positive answer to the first proposition,  to set  the decisive course for itsrealization.It had to be completed within the comparatively short time frame of two half days and onecomplete  day and  in  this  period  a  broad spectrum of  aspects  from the  basic  establishment  ofdesiderata  to  the  development  of  a  first  sustainable  concept  had  to  be  achieved.  The  workprogramme took this challenge into account.After  an  introduction the  first  day was  dedicated  to  thematically  wide-ranging  shortpresentations which were aimed at initiating the following discussions; many of these were carriedon at the  social dinner. – On the  second day there were six  working groups, which had beenconstituted from the participants in order to discuss in detail the themes that had been agreed uponfrom the  plenum of  the  first  day.  –  On the  third  day the  results  and answers were gatheredtogether, a venue and date for the second workshop was agreed upon and a programme of workto be achieved before the next workshop was drawn up.As a common communication platform,  googledocs were available throughout the entireworkshop,  in  which  the  results  of  the  working  groups  and  discussions  were  recorded  anddocumented for everyone to see.Results & answersI. Venue & date for the next epigraphy.info workshop:University of Zadar (HR), September 2018, 19th-21st (according to doodle voting of April 2018).II. Concept for epigraphy.info:Two committees were constituted at the workshop: a steering committee and a technical committee.Steering committee chairs (until the next meeting): Francisca Feraudi (Heidelberg) Julia Lougovaya-Ast (Heidelberg) Anamarija Kurilić (Zadar)Technical committee chairs (until the next meeting): Pietro Liuzzo (Hamburg) Frank Grieshaber (Heidelberg) Tom Elliott (New York)1) People / InstitutionsThe people / institutions that will build and keep epigraphy.info are as follows: The participants and their institutions.  Specifically named institutions are: AIEGL (Paris: Silvia Orlandi, Denis Rousset),Brill (Amsterdam: Mirjam Elbers, Ernest Suyvers), CNRS / ANHIMA (Paris: Nicolas Tran, Violaine Sebillotte),Hamburg University (Pietro Liuzzo),ICS (London: Gabriel Bodard),IDEA Association (Pisa: Silvia Orlandi), ISAW (New York: Tom Elliot), Lupa (Wien: Ortolf Harl),Patrimonium (Bordeaux: Alberto dalla Rosa, Vincent Razanajao)PETRAE (Bordeaux: Navarro Caballero, Nathalie Prévôt) Various institutions will be approached to seek involvement of representatives of such areas as Libya (→ Macerata: Antolini / Marengo / Paci), Turkey, Black Sea Region, Syria, Iraq.2) Structureepigraphy.info will be a  c o l l a b o r a t i v e  p l a t f o r m  for ancient inscriptions – initially with thefocus on Latin and Greek inscriptions – that builds upon some basic ideas and experiences of theEAGLE project but will go well beyond the scope of  EAGLE because the way in which  EAGLEmanages integration is not sustainable, being both technologically brittle and time-, effort- and cost-intensive. It will incorporate existing databases both large and small, active and inactive and willallow for adding new projects or collections of inscriptions. The basic features of this platform are  e d i t i n g  of all sections of the platform (metadataand  transcriptions)  within  a  precisely  defined  workflow,  controlled  by  an  editorial  board,  andoffering s e a r c h i n g  a n d  b r o w s i n g  facilities for transcriptions and metadata. All submissionsinto the epigraphy.info platform will make clear their precise origin, like e. g. EDR, EDH and anyindividual contributors etc. The platform will version all changes made to the data, DOIs will beassigned to changes to create user specific micro-publications. An integral part of the platform will be an e d i t o r i a l  b o a r d : This will be constituted ofdelegates from major databases and outside specialists as senior advisers. The mass of inscriptiondata could be grouped e. g. by date, region, type among members of the board. The board overseesall  steps in the peer  reviewed publication process  of  inscription data,  defines  policies  and bestpractices (including ethical decisions / policies / protections / intellectual property rights) and isinvolved in PR and community building.ChallengesWhile during the EAGLE project already a lot of work has been done on harmonizing metadata andstandards of transcription, quite a number of challenges are still open and need to be addressed inthe future: The standards for the EpiDoc XML used must be checked and robust ways ensured that theEpiDoc is consistent throughout the platform. References in the external databases to individual published editions and other bibliographyare idiosyncratic  and largely recorded as  human-formatted  strings  of  text.  A central,  controlledbibliographic database needs to be built, based on existing bibliographies already in use at variousprojects,  where each bibliographic entry is citable.  Some basic preliminary work for inscriptioncorpora has already been conducted by Trismegistos. Existing  components  of  an  epigraphic  ontology  (controlled  vocabularies,  semanticrelationships, data model) are insufficient to express and manage characteristics of and relationshipsbetween inscriptions and other entities of interest (e. g. places, people, objects). Prototyping and next stepsFor demonstration purposes it was agreed to prototype an editor and a cross-database textual andkeyword search mechanism with a more sustainable and open data interchange model than EAGLE,using existing interfaces/APIs (like IIIF for images and DTS for inscription texts) and Linked OpenData (RDF) for the data transport mechanism. Doing so with EAGLE data plus one other externaldatabase like e. g. the  Epigraphische Datenbank zum antiken Kleinasien, would also qualify thedegree to which the existing EpiDoc-XML is useful for (or an impediment to) particular searchfeatures.  This prototype web application will  be demonstrated during the  second   epigraphy.infoworkshop in Zadar.This envisioned prototype will offer only a very basic, streamlined functionality; more work needsto be invested after the Zadar meeting into completing work on the epigraphic ontology for missingentities and relations, into including smaller projects, and into incorporating into the online platforma defined workflow for entering and editing inscriptions which includes members of the editorialboard and their decision making. Another issue would be to incorporate Greek texts, which has itsown challenges in terms of searching and editing of transcriptions. Another step would be deeperannotations, like morphological and linguistic annotations. Prosopographic data needs to be dealtwith in a more systematic way than is done in current projects, for this a central prosopographicdatastore and web service is essential; some preliminary work has been done in the SNAP project.An automatic way of notifications of changes in the platform could point users to new editions ofinscriptions.3) FinanceFinancial support for the building and maintenance of epigraphy.info itself could not be solved atpresent. –  COST  (http://www.cost.eu/COST_Actions)  as  an  EU-funded  programme  is  to  be  taken  inconsideration as a networking instrument for cooperation and coordination (traveling, workshops,trainings, etc.) for nationally funded research activities; the very tight deadline for the next call inApril  20th 2018 made it  impossible,  but a future call  should undoubtedly be kept in mind (L.Calvelli).–  If  institutions  paid yearly fees  to  IDEA Association some of  the  funds raised  to  go towardssupporting a member of the editorial board as well as creating a co-funding starting point.–  Attention was drawn to “Next European Framework Programme (FP9:  2021-2027):  Mission-oriented research and innovation and Impact of Social Sciences and Humanities for a EuropeanResearch Agenda – Valuation of SSH in mission-oriented research”, Vienna, 28-29 November 2018(https://era.gv.at/directory/262)–  A number of  smaller  tasks  that  will  contribute  to  aspects  of  the  platform were identified  asprojects for which applications might be made (harmonization of data building upon existing workbut bringing it to a satisfactory level for implementation in the platform). III. Tasks until & for the second epigraphy.info workshop (Zadar, September 2018):To be worked on until  the next workshop: elaborate a technical environment (demo/alpha version) preliminary discussions concerning the integration of Greek inscriptions exploring possibilities for financing and institutional anchoringTo be worked out during the next workshop: evaluation of the demo/alpha version integration of Greek inscriptions definition of the duties of the editorial board workflow of submission and finalization formalising descriptive vocabularies technical solution for bibliographical questions and unique identifier for inscriptions  various: e. g. strategic and legal questions in dealing in epigraphy.info with unpublished inscriptions, ensuring that the publication privileges are respected (also including those on the black market and other ethical issues); instrumentum domesticum / portable supports. Heidelberg, April 20th 2018James COWEY / Francisca FERAUDI-GRUÉNAIS / Frank GRIESHABER / Julia LOUGOVAYA-ASTAppendixParticipants (with email addresses):J. Cowey (DE, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, EDH); F. Feraudi-Gruénais (DE, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, EDH); B. Gräf (DE, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, EDH); F. Grieshaber (DE, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, EDH); J. Osnabrügge (DE, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, EDH); C. Witschel (DE, University of Heidelberg, EDH); T. Hölscher (DE, University of Heidelberg, EDH); S. Evangelisti (IT, University of Foggia, EDR); S. Orlandi (IT, University La Sapienza Rome, AIEGL); C. Cenati (AT, University of Vienna); T. Corsten (AT, University of Vienna, SEG);V. Hofmann (AT, University of Vienna); M. De Pauw (BE, KU Leuven,Trismegistos); C. Bruun (CDN, Univerity of Toronto); R. Ast (DE, University of Heidelberg); U. Ehmig (DE, University of Heidelberg); O. Gengler (DE, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Malalas); E. Giele (DE, University of Heidelberg); R. Haensch (DE, Commission for Ancient History and Epigraphy Munich); A. Hartmann (DE, University of Augsburg); M. Horster (DE, University of Mainz); A. Jördens (DE, University of Heidelberg); M. Khayutina (DE, University of Munich); P. Liuzzo (DE, University of Hamburg); J. Lougovaya-Ast (DE, University of Heidelberg); L. Maylein (DE, Heidelberg University Library); A. Rampichini (DE, University of Heidelberg); D. Svoboda-Baas (DE, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Digital Humanities); F. Weise (DE, University of Hamburg); A. Campos (FR, CNRS/ANHIMA Paris); A.Alonso Déniz (FR, HiSoMA Research Center Lyon, e-SEC); D. Rousset (FR, EPHE Paris); N. Tran (FR, University of Poitiers); G. Bodard (GB, University of London); S. Vanderbilt (GB, University of Nottingham); D. Demicheli (HR, University of Zagreb); A. Kurilić (HR, University of Zadar); L. Calvelli (IT, University Ca' Foscari of Venice); A. Felicetti (IT, University of Florence); C. Lasagni (IT, University of Turin); F. Murano (IT, University of Florence); M. Elbers (NL, SEG/Brill); E. Suyver (NL, SEG-Brill); R. Ardevan (RO, University of Cluj); A. Ragolić (SLO, University of Ljubljana); O. Pelcer Vujačić (SRB, University of Belgrade); T. Elliott (USA, New York University).Not personally present at the workshop but interested to be involved:F. Beutler (AT, University of Vienna); W. Spickermann (AT, University of Graz); K. Harter-Uibopuu (DE, University of Hamburg); K. Matijević (DE, University of Flensburg); G. Staab (DE, University of Cologne); J. Gómez Pantoja (ES, University of Alcalá de Henares, HepOnl); E. Santin (FR, HiSoMA Research Center Lyon); S. Lambert (GB, Cardiff University); A.Mullen (GB, University of Nottingham); C. Kokkinia (GR, National Hellenic Research Foundation,KERA); A. Makres (GR, Greek Epigraphic Society, HERC); A. Bencivenni (IT, University of Bologna); A. Felle (IT, University of Bari, EDB); G. Sarullo (IT, University of Enna); S. Babamova(MAK, Archaeological Museum of Macedonia Skopje); R. Varga (RO, University of Cluj-Napoca);R. Benefiel (USA, Washington and Lee University); J. Bodel (USA, Brown University); J. Sosin (USA, Duke University).Interested people subsequently added:O. Harl (AT, Vienna, Lupa); F. Mitthof (AT, University of Vienna); N. Sharankov (BG, University of Sofia);  A. dalla Rosa (FR, University of Bordeaux, Patrimonium); N. Laubry (FR, École française de Rome); M. Navarro Caballero (FR, University of Bordeaux, CNRS, PETRAE); N. Prévôt (FR, University of Bordeaux, PETRAE); V. Razanajao (FR, University of Bordeaux, Patrimonium); V. Sebillotte (FR, CNRS/ANHIMA); S. Antolini (IT, University of Macerata); S. M.Marengo (IT, University of Macerata); G. Paci (IT, University of Macerata).

Report on the first Epigraphy.info workshop in Heidelberg, March 21-23, 2018

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Report on the first Epigraphy.info workshop in Heidelberg, March 21-23, 2018

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