Digital Humanities in the History of Science: Strategies at MPIWG and the Local Monographs Project Dagmar Schäfer 薛鳳, Director Shih-Pei Chen 陳詩沛 Martina Siebert 馬汀蘭 Dirk Wintergrü n, IT Urs Schöpflin, Head of Library Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) 馬克斯普郎克科學史研究所
Holland House Library, Kensington, UK destroyed around 1940 in WW II
Miro Johannes (Artist; Finland), Destroyed Libraries Digital Art Piece 2014
View into the Library of the MPIWG
歐陽修 : 筆說 博物說 Ouyang Xiu: Bishuo - Bowu shuo : 草木虫魚, 詩 家自爲一學,博物尤難 Photo: 台北達觀線上博物館,Taipei DGVAS Museum on line
書院 圖書館 博物 院 Book Hall Library Museum
Ship wreck porcelain bowl with reign mark, no date Guan mark incorporated in the inscription on the base of a white porcelain bowl unearthed from the crypt of the Jingzhi Temple, Dingzhou. Wang Guangyao, Zhongguo gudai guanyao zhidu (China's ancient system of official kilns), preface by Quan Kuishan, Beijing: Zijincheng Chubanshe, 2004, Copyright, Shanghai bowuyuan Ship wreck porcelan bowl with chenghua reign. no data vailable
崇偵庚 2 0 1 4 D A D 辰仲冬 H 制于康署 Inscription on furniture (table), naming it splace of production and sales value, as well as the address of the trader. Wang Shixiang 王世襄 (2007) describes some exceptional furntures in the Palace museum with reign marks (141)
Omnitruncated 120/600 cell by Jonathan Gray, (jwyg on flickr
Library and/or Museum and/or Database? Storage System and/or Finding Aid? Or more?
The Max Planck Society Most successful German research organization for basic research Independent, non-profit organization under private law in the form of a registered association 80 institutes (in Germany and abroad)
MPIWG Research Departments Dept. I - Jü rgen Renn Structural Changes in Systems of Knowledge 2 0 1 4 D Dept. A II - D Lorraine HDaston Ideals and Practices of Rationality Dept. III - Dagmar Schäfer Artefacts, Action and Knowledge Several MPG-funded or 3 rd party funded Research Groups
Research at MPIWG scope of primary sources 3000 B.C. to 20th century research across disciplines, time periods, cultures and languages collaborative working groups multiple usage of primary sources and scholarly data virtual combination of sources and collections contextualization and scholarly work create added value Leibniz on Alchemy, manuscript, 17th cent.
Research at MPIWG: Moving digital Internet as a medium of research, for scientific communication and publication extension of empirical basis open access Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI): <http://cdli.ucla.edu> interoperability scholarly infrastructures for the humanities development of specific tool
Open Access Declaration Our mission of disseminating knowledge is only half complete if the information is not made widely and readily available to society. New possibilities of knowledge dissemination not only through the classical form but also and increasingly through the open access paradigm 2 via 0 the Internet 1 4 have D to be supported. A D H We define open access as a comprehensive source of human knowledge and cultural heritage that has been approved by the scientific community. Max Planck Society, Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in Science and Culture, 2003
Book scanner Strategy for Acquisition of Sources digitization of primary sources in adequate quality digitization equipment: flat bed scanners, digital cameras, copy stand with light system, microfilm scanners, slide scanners digitization of books, manuscripts, maps, photos, architectural drawings, etc. high quality images ECHO image viewer digilib for digitized sources Mobile digitization Dagmar Schaefer, Max equipment Planck Institute for the History of Science, December 2, 2014
Digitization of Cuneiform Tablets <www.cdli.ucla.edu>
Vision: Open Access to Primary Sources, Scholarly Data and Tools Online availability of sources, scholarly metadata and research results Enabling collaborative work Immediate verification of scholarly interpretation Creating a new situation for peer reviewing Preservation of cultural heritage Open access journal of CDLI with hyperlinks to sources
Digitization of Artefacts <echo.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/content/archaeology/ure>
Digitization of Archival Material
Image Manipulation Development of tools and workflows for analysis and presentation of primary sources 2 0 1 4 D A image D viewer Hdigilib for online image manipulation for specific research questions Open access to sources and tools http://echo.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/echodocuview? pn=1&ws=1&wx=0.4043&wy=0.4901&ww=0.0418& wh=0.0236&mk=0.4195/0.4926&mode=imagepath& url=/mpiwg/online/permanent/echo/lueneburg/ebsto_1293/pageimg -04&viewMode=images Ebstorf World Map, 13 th century, original 3.5 x3.5 m, destroyed in 1943, digital representation based on historical photos, ca. 1 GB
Developed a procedure for transcribing texts in images Define rules for typing: what to capture and how Table of contents Headings and texts Footnotes 2 0 and 1 image 4 captions D A D H Unidentified characters Use <tags> to capture information aside of texts Automated procedure to transform typed texts into valid XML Texts become computable Easy to associate images with texts Customized display according to tags Allow dictionaries to be plugged in. Allow morphological full text search and text analysis etc.
Text Analysis production of xmlstructured fulltexts (transcriptions, translations) morphological analysis linguistic tools to support analysis and interpretation (e.g. linking to dictionaries, encyclopedies) Monte, Guidobaldo del, Mechanicorum liber, 1577
Annotation of Texts Benedetti, Diversarvm specvlationvm mathematicarum, et physicarum liber, 1585, with annotations by Guidobaldo del Monte (MPIWG)
Challenges: Dissemination of Research Results Future perspective: Sources and commentary with additional print on demand Workflow combining 2 0 1 4 D A current D status Hof research results with online sources Open access Free download as e- book with Creative Commons License Print-on-demand service ebook-beispiel aus der Edition Open Access
Edition Open Access <www.edition-open-access.de>
Dissemination: Creation of Virtual Exhibitions virtual exhibition as documentation format of temporary physical exhibitions new publication format: exhibition without walls Virtual exhibition Albert Einstein Engineer of the Universe, 2005 <einstein-virtuell.mpiwgberlin.mpg.de>
From Tagging to Mapping Historical Chinese Data: the Local Monographs Project at MPIWG ( 地方志計畫 )
The Goal of the Local Monographs Project 1) To provide a computer assisted tagging interface to help the collection of data easily from digital texts. 2) Provide an online data repository where collected datasets can be stored safely, be shared among our peers, and the collection efforts can be well cited. 3) Connect datasets with GIS, visualization, and analysis tools that are just one-click away. To turn texts into data then to maps
What are Chinese local monographs (difangzhi 地方志 )? What historical writing is to a state, local monographs are for a locality Encyclopedic collection about the present state and history of an administrative unit (county, prefecture, province, state), i.e. of its 2 natural 0 and 1 constructed 4 D landscape A and D its inhabitants, H cultural achievements, etc. database in prose Tool of local identity building: localities develop and constantly gain historical details, dynasties come and go Tool of the state: administrative handbook or reference work, an owner s manual (Bol 2001)
Extant Local Monographs ( -1949) 45 600 1200 Song/Yuan (968-1368) 2 0 1 4 D A D Ming (1368- H 1644) 5900 Qing (1644-1911) Republic (1911-1949) 8000+ Chinese local monographs are extant today 70% are on the county level
Defining a place out of its categories Geography 地理志 : location, scope Buildings/infrastructure 建置 : schools, temples, bridges Local products 物產 : grains, plants, animals, commodities Tracing 2 changes 0 1 of local 4 government D A 沿革 D H People 人物 : famous historical figures, officials, celebrity Literature 藝文 : stone inscriptions, representative writings
Local Materialities : the local products chapter 物產 / 土產 Distribution of 2,000 local monographs in the Erudition Zhongguo Fangzhiku database. Background map: 1820 China with prefecture boundaries from China Historical GIS
Local materialities : 物產 Flowers: plum, camellia, crab apple Bamboo varieties: hairy cat bamboo, spotted bamboo Example pages on local products: 福建通志 Fujian tongzhi (Qing, 1737)
Local materialities : 物產 Birds & beasts: those identical with other places and those special to the locality Commodities: silk, paper, tea, lacquer, honey, wax, oil, candle, charcoal... Changzhou fuzhi (Qing, 1695) Chun an xianzhi (Ming, early 16th c.)
Digital texts are not enough Text Data Plain, unstructured Structured (computer-readable) Prose Tables Full text search Enables computational manipulations => mapping, analysis
Example: Recreating 陳正祥 Chen Zhengxiang s Locust Temple Map Chen spent 8 month flipping through 3,000 local monographs archived in Taiwan, China, and Japan in order to collect records on locust temples 八蜡廟 / 蝗神廟 and locust disasters 蝗災 His result: two maps (i) the distribution of locust temples in China 蝗神廟之分佈 (ii) frequency of locust disasters during Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) 明代北方蝗災之頻率
(i) Distribution of locust temples in China 蝗神廟之分佈 (ii) Frequency of of locust disasters of Ming 明代北方蝗災之頻率
Problems for manual data collection in prints 1) One cannot closely examine all the collected records, since the maps are printed maps (static images) rather than GIS maps (interactive with digital datasets behind). 2) One cannot reuse the collected dataset for other purposes. 3) One cannot reproduce the collection effort for another topic easily, since it takes much time.
1) A computer assisted tagging interface Import > Tag > Export 49 This interface is developed by 彭維謙 Wai-him Pang in the China Biographical Database project
2) Online repository for sharing research data The Dataverse Network (DVN) developed by Harvard IQSS: an open source software for archiving and sharing research data with recognition to data authors/contributors http://thedata.org
WorldMap: online sharing and publishing map layers and datasets
3) Interactive mapping & visualization tools just one-click away The PLATIN tool, developed under the DARIAH EU framework
Paring with Chen s map
Research group Research group Research group Application layer for visualization and analysis tools to work with the data Timeline tool GIS tool Network tool Textual analysis tools Mor e The proposed architecture 2 Open 0 Access 1 Data 4 layer D A D H for storing & sharing the extracted data (1) To store the extracted structural data produced by scholars via the middleware, (2) To provide open access for the produced data Middleware for indexing & data extraction (1) To allow indexing service for the full texts, (2) To allow scholars to extract structural data from the full texts Digital full texts