dm-l September 2011

dm-l@uleth.ca

16 participants
16 discussions

Call For Papers: Vagantes 2012
by Dot Porter 30 Sep '11

30 Sep '11

For any graduate students on the list... = = = Call for Papers *Vagantes 2012* March 29-31 Indiana University, Bloomington Vagantes is the largest conference in North America for graduate students studying the Middle Ages, and aims to provide an open dialogue among junior scholars from all fields of medieval studies. This year’s conference will feature keynote speakers Shannon Gayk (Associate Professor of English, Indiana University) and Professor Jordan L. Zweck (Assistant Professor of English, University of Wisconsin-Madison). They will be joined by at least twenty-four student presenters and an audience of approximately 100 people. Vagantes emphasizes interdisciplinary scholarship; each year, presenters from backgrounds as varied as Comparative Literature, Archaeology, Art History, Classics, History, Anthropology, English, Philosophy, Manuscript Studies, Musicology, and Religious Studies come together to exchange ideas. In this manner, Vagantes fosters a sense of community for junior medievalists of diverse backgrounds, and because the conference does not have a registration fee, this community can flourish within the margins of a graduate student budget. Abstracts for twenty-minute papers are welcome from graduate students on all topics considering the Middle Ages. In keeping with the mission of Vagantes to advance interdisciplinary studies, we invite submissions in areas including but not limited to history, literature, art history, philosophy, religious studies, and musicology. Vagantes is sponsored by the Medieval Academy of America. Please email a brief vitae and abstract of no more than 300 words by October 25, 2011 to: Diane Fruchtman dsfrucht(a)indiana.edu For more information, find us on the web at www.vagantesconference.org. Download our flyer at: www.vagantesconference.org/VagantesCFP.pdf Find us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/Vagantes2012 -- *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Dot Porter (MA, MSLS) Digital Medievalist, Digital Librarian Email: dot.porter(a)gmail.com *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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Seminar: Digital Humanities Centers and the New Humanities
by Stuart Dunn 30 Sep '11

30 Sep '11

With apologies for cross-postings. Digital Humanities Centers and the New Humanities Wednesday 5 October 2011, 18:00 Anatomy Theatre & Museum, King's College London (for directions see http://atm.kcl.ac.uk/location) Neil Fraistat, University of Maryland In association with arts-humanities.net What is the function of the digital humanities center within a rapidly changing humanities landscape? Although they have a great capacity for focusing, maximizing, and networking local knowledge, local resources, and local communities of practice, digital humanities centers are also at risk of being silos, overly focused on their home institutions, rarely collaborating with other centers, and unable to address by themselves the larger problems of the field. They also siphon off grant funding from schools unable to afford a digital humanities center of their own and can make it harder for scholars at such places to participate in the larger projects that help to shape the possibilities and future of the field. Are digital humanties centers crucial to the future of the field, or deleterious to it? Or to point the question more finely: in what ways and under what circumstances might digital humanities centers be seen as more crucial to the field than deleterious? I'll be discussing these issues especially in terms of the centerNet initiative, which seeks to create a truly global network of local digital humanities centers. About the speaker Neil Fraistat is Professor of English and Director of the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) at the University of Maryland. He is a founder and general editor of the Romantic Circles Website, the Co-Chair of centerNet (an international network of digital humanities centers), and he has published widely on the subjects of Romanticism, Textual Studies, and Digital Humanities in various articles and in the eight books he has authored or edited. Fraistat has engaged in projects involving the preservation of virtual worlds and born digital creative works; the development of the Open Annotation Collaboration framework for sharing annotations of digital content across the World Wide Web; and the building of international cyberinfrastructure. He currently serves on the advisory boards of Project Bamboo, CLARIN, D-SPIN, NINES, INKE, Project MUSE, and CHAIN, a coalition of humanities and arts infrastructures and networks that includes DARIAH, Project Bamboo, CLARIN, ADHO, and centerNet. Fraistat has been awarded the Society for Textual Scholarship's biennial Fredson Bowers Memorial Prize, the Keats-Shelley Association Prize, honorable mention for the Modern Language Association's biennial Distinguished Scholarly Edition Prize, and the Keats-Shelly Association's Distinguished Scholar Award. For more information, see:http://www.kcl.ac.uk/innovation/groups/cerch/events/fraistat.aspx <https://kclmail.kcl.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=0d59056454a54d4f952a5affce1d6d5b…> -- Dr Stuart Dunn Research Fellow Centre for e-Research King's College London www.stuartdunn.wordpress.com Tel +44 (0)207 848 2709 Fax +44 (0)207 848 1989 stuart.dunn(a)kcl.ac.uk Centre for e-Research 26-29 Drury Lane London WC2B 5RL UK Geohash: http://geohash.org/gcpvj1zm7yp1

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TextGrid: presentation in Lyon, France
by Marjorie Burghart 22 Sep '11

22 Sep '11

Dear list members, This event may be of interest to some of you: we will have the pleasure to hear a presentation of the TextGrid project in Lyon, on Tuesday 27 September. Details below (attendance is free, but if you plan to attend, please send an email to claire.giguet(a)ish-lyon.cnrs.fr <mailto:claire.giguet@ish-lyon.cnrs.fr> ) Best wishes, Marjorie Afin d'ouvrir un espace de débat et de réflexion dans le domaine des *humanités numériques*,Mutecorganise un cycle de conférences assorties de démonstrations d'outils présentés par leurs utilisateurs. Ce cycle s'adresse aux *chercheurs*, *enseignants-chercheurs*, *ingénieurs, techniciens* concernés par les évolutions engendrées par la généralisation des usages du numérique dans la recherche en sciences humaines et sociales. *Les "Conférences-démos" de MutEC* *Débats et réflexions sur l'impact du numérique* *dans la recherche **en sciences humaines et sociales* **** * *Mardi 27 septembre 2011* *17h-19h, amphi Descartes, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon * *Oliver Schmid (Centre of Digital Humanities at the University of Trier <http://www.uni-trier.de/>)* sur le thème *TextGrid, a virtual research environment for philologists, linguists, musicologists and art historians /* *"TextGrid, un environnement de travail virtuel pour les philologues, linguistes, musicologues et historiens de l'art" * * * *Abstract* : The joint project TextGrid <http://www.textgrid.de/en/startseite.html> aims to support access to and exchange of data in the arts and humanities by means of modern information technology (the grid). In 2006 development began on a web-based platform, one which will provide services and tools for researchers for analysis of text data in various digital archives - independently of data format, location and software. TextGrid serves as a virtual research environment for philologists, linguists, musicologists and art historians. As a single point of entry to the virtual research environment, TextGridLab provides integrated access to specialized tools, services and content. TextGridRep is a long-term archive for research data in the humanities embedded in a grid infrastructure, which will ensure availability and access to its research data as well as interoperability. The joint research project TextGrid is part of the D-Grid initiative, and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for the period starting June 1, 2009 to May 31, 2012. *Résumé* : Le projet TextGrid vise à faciliter l'accès et l'échange de données pour les lettres, les sciences humaines et les sciences sociales en s'appuyant sur les moyens offerts par les technologies de l'information (grille). En 2006 a débuté le développement d'une plateforme web qui propose aux chercheurs des services et des outils pour l'analyse de données textuelle provenant de différentes archives numériques, indépendamment de leur format et de leur localisation. TextGrid est conçu comme un environnement de travail virtuel pour les philologues, linguistes, musicologues et historiens de l'art. Le point d'entrée unique dans cet environnement virtuel de recherche, TextGridLab, propose un accès unifié à des outils, services et contenus spécialisés. TexGridRep est un service d'archivage pérenne pour les données de la recherche en lettres, sciences humaines et sciences sociales, basé sur une infrastructure de grille qui assurera acces et interoperabilité aux données de la recherche. Le projet TextGrid fait partie de l'initiative D-Grid, financé par le Ministère Fédéral Allemand de l'Education et de la Recherche, pour la période allant du 1er juin 2009 au 31 mai 2012. *** Conférence ouverte à tous et suivie d'un temps d'échange convivial autour d'un verre. *Inscription souhaitée - contact : *claire.giguet(a)ish-lyon.cnrs.fr <mailto:claire.giguet@ish-lyon.cnrs.fr> -- Marjorie BURGHART EHESS (pôle de Lyon) / UMR 5648 Histoire et Archéologie des Mondes Chrétiens et Musulmans Médiévaux 18 quai Claude Bernard 69007 Lyon - FRANCE

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Proposed changes to DM bylaws, Request for Comments (deadline 19 September)
by James Cummings 19 Sep '11

19 Sep '11

Dear Digital Medievalist community, At the last Digital Medievalist elections it was suggested by myself and others that we limit the number of terms any community member might be elected to the Digital Medievalist Board in a row. We already had a limit of 6 years that someone could be elected director in a row, and it seemed fitting to extend this to all Board members. i.e. after 3 two-year terms on the Board, someone would have to take a break for at least a year. The point of this is to encourage fresh blood and new ideas on the Digital Medievalist Board and promote a mature organisation. (In case anyone is wondering, I'm proposing this even though it would mean that I will not be allowed to stand in the 2012 elections.) However, we are a community-based organisation -- if you are receiving this email you are a member of that community whether you view yourself as a digital medievalist or not -- and so we thought it best that any changes to the bylaws be approved by the community itself. But we also noticed that we had not documented the process by which we should be allowed to make amendments to our bylaws. We have come up with a suggested process consisting of four major steps which can be summarised as: - The DM Board composes changes to the bylaws, and a simple majority (5 out of 8) vote means they can be presented to the membership - The DM Board will publish these on the mailing list/website with a minimum 10 days request for comments - The DM Board will discuss any suggested changes, with a simple majority agreeing any changes - After these changes, the bylaws will be presented for voting for at least a week and will pass with a two-thirds majority of votes recorded in the voting period. This is the process we are following for the current proposed changes to the bylaws. A majority of the DM Board has already approved them. The old bylaws are at: http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/bylaws.html The proposed bylaws with substantial additions and deletions marked are at: http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/bylaws-new.html We would appreciate any comments on the changes be sent to the DM Board by email at: board _at-sign_ digitalmedievalist.org by noon GMT on the 19th September 2011. Of course, you are free to discuss this openly here on the the dm-l mailing list as well. In more detail the proposed changes to the current bylaws include: - adding a statement "To undertake other activities relating to its purposes and objectives or the promotion of DM as a community." to the list of our objectives and activities - adding a statement that "Any ties in voting shall be decided by the existing DM Board members excluding any who are standing for re-election." (While this has not yet happened, we thought it best to include some mechanism.) - adding a statement that "No member may be elected to the DM Board for more than three consecutive terms (six years). After three terms, the member must wait one year before becoming qualified for re-election to the DM Board." - replacing a statement saying that "no person may serve continuously as Director for more than 6 years in a row" with one that says "no member may be elected as Director for more than six consecutive terms (six years). After six terms, the member must wait one year before becoming qualified for re-election as Director." So that it uses the same agreed language as with Board members - And the new section on amendments which says: 1. Amendments to these bylaws can be composed by the DM Board and become proposed amendments with a simple majority of the total DM Board membership. 2. Proposed amendments will be published on the DM mailing list (dm-l) and the DM website with a minimum 10 day period requesting comments by the DM membership. 3. The DM Board will discuss comments on the proposed amendments received from the DM membership incorporating changes agreed by a simple majority of the DM Board. 4. The agreed version of the amended bylaws will be presented as a whole to the DM membership for voting over a minimum 7 day period. The amended version of the bylaws will pass with a two-thirds majority of votes recorded during the voting period. I look forward to any and all comments on the proposed changes before noon on the 19th September and in the meantime the DM Board is happy to answer questions concerning them. Many thanks, James Cummings Director, Digital Medievalist

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Fwd: Medievalists' use of digital resources: invitation to participate in a survey
by Dot Porter 14 Sep '11

14 Sep '11

[apologies for any cross posting. please feel free to share this message] Dear Digital Medievalists, In 2002 as part of my MSLS degree work I undertook a research project entitled "Medievalists' Use of Electronic Resources," which surveyed a selected group of medievalists on faculty at universities across the US on their use of and attitudes towards electronic resources ( http://ils.unc.edu/MSpapers/2807.pdf). The survey asked faculty how they preferred to access various different types of resources (journals, translations, facsimiles, etc.) and attempted to gauge preferences for using digital resources across the community (junior faculty vs. chaired faculty, preferences in different fields, etc.). Much has changed in the nine years since 2002. Google Books was first introduced in 2004. ACLS released its final report on Cyberinfrastructure, "Our Cultural Commonwealth" in 2006. The NEH, which had long supported digital projects, awarded the first Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants in 2007, and founded the Office of Digital Humanities in 2008. In medieval studies, more and more digital resources are released every year, there is an established community of "Digital Medievalists", and the International Congress on Medieval Studies has had a steady growth in the number and profile of presentations and events on issues relating to digitization. Digital resources in the medieval studies are ubiquitous. Are they being used? Now is the perfect time to return to this project, to undertake the survey again, and to see just how (or if) attitudes and use have changed over the past nine years. Looking forward, this research can help resource developers design projects to best serve their audiences. This message serves as an open invitation to participate in this research project. Any medievalist at any level is welcome to participate. Participation involves filling in an online survey, located at the link below. It should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MUDR_open This study is completely confidential and I will report only aggregated results in any published articles. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at dot.porter(a)gmail.com. Thank you for taking the time to help me with this research project. Sincerely, Dot Porter, MA, MSLS -- *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Dot Porter (MA, MSLS) Digital Medievalist, Digital Librarian Email: dot.porter(a)gmail.com *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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Workshop at Kalamazoo Congress: Digital Medieval Studies for Dummies
by James Ginther 14 Sep '11

14 Sep '11

Dear Colleagues: This is a CFP of a different sort. the digital medievalist is sponsoring a workshop at Kalamazoo 2012 that will introduce the basic topics and methods of digital humanities for medieval studies. This "call" asks for two things: 1. What kind of topics would medievalists like to see at this session? We will only have 90 minutes, so it won't be possible to cover everyting. However, if there is a consensus on (or just a large demand for) a given topic or topics, I want to make sure this workshop covers them. Possible topics could be: "what is text encoding and why should I like it?" "How to talk to software developers nicely to get them to do what I need." "Why should I have to know about databases?" "Should I learn the basics of a programming language and how would I go about doing that? So if there is something you've always wanted to ask about doing digital work, or if there is certain things you as an established DHer think every digital medievalist should now, please send me your ideas. I am happy to credit the source(s) of all ideas. 2. Are there any brave volunteers who would like to facilitate this kind of workshop? Are there any of you who have already done this type of workshop and would like to take your show on the road? If so, send me your contact details, and a very brief description of your instructional experience by 15 September (or so). Regards Jim -- ---------- James R. Ginther, PhD Professor of Medieval Theology & Director, Center for Digital Theology Saint Louis University ------------------------- ginthej(a)slu.edu Faculty Page: Departmental Page<https://sites.google.com/a/slu.edu/james-ginther/> <https://sites.google.com/a/slu.edu/james-ginther/>Research Blog: http://digital-editor.blogspot.com Twitter: DH_editor <http://twitter.com/#!/DH_editor> <http://digital-editor.blogspot.com> "Blessed are the Geeks for they shall encode the Earth" "...debet esse oratio devota, ne mens sit in foro dum os psallit in choro." - Robert Grosseteste "Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are frozen." -Edward V. Berard

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CFP: Panel Discussion on Sustainability in Digital Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo 2012)
by James Ginther 14 Sep '11

14 Sep '11

This is very late in coming, but I hope I can attract some additional panelists. Remember, you can be a panelist AND give a paper in another session at Kalamazoo. ---------------------- The Digital Medievalist is sponsoring a session at Kalamazoo 2012 entitled: Panel Discussion on Sustainability in Digital Medieval Studies This panel will lead a discussion on how medievalists should address the issue of sustainability in digital projects. Once the grant runs out, how do we ensure our new projects will survive? This issue not only concerns continued accessibility but also the sticky questions about hardware and storage, about ensuring application interfaces remain usable, etc. Each panelist will make a short presentation of no more than 10 minutes, so that the bulk of the session will be devoted to a panel-led discussion. If you are interested in participating in this panel session, please send your name, institutional affiliation (but independant scholars and non-academics are most welcome!), contact details (address, phone and email), and whether you require any A/V for your short presentation. please send these details to James Ginther (ginthej(a)slu.edu). Thanks Jim -- ---------- James R. Ginther, PhD Professor of Medieval Theology & Director, Center for Digital Theology Saint Louis University ------------------------- ginthej(a)slu.edu Faculty Page: Departmental Page<https://sites.google.com/a/slu.edu/james-ginther/> <https://sites.google.com/a/slu.edu/james-ginther/>Research Blog: http://digital-editor.blogspot.com Twitter: DH_editor <http://twitter.com/#!/DH_editor> <http://digital-editor.blogspot.com> "Blessed are the Geeks for they shall encode the Earth" "...debet esse oratio devota, ne mens sit in foro dum os psallit in choro." - Robert Grosseteste "Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are frozen." -Edward V. Berard

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Re: [dm-l] Proposed changes to DM bylaws, Request for Comments(deadline 19 September)
by O'Donnell, Dan 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

I think the changes are very good. The only things I can see are a) the language in the section about tie splitting is written quite broadly when you are actually only referring to election to the board: maybe something like 'in the event of a tie among candidates for election to a vacancy on the board, the succesful candidate will be decided by a simple majority of continuing members of the board.' And b) personally, and speaking as a Canadian, I find a simple majority to be a pretty low bar for proposing amendments to the bylaws--surely nobody would want to proceed with a proposal that had a 5/3 split. Personally I'd recommend 6 out of 8 to indicate that bylaw changes should be well considered and very consensus oriented. I don't think it is likely to be a huge deal in practice of course. And notwithstanding these suggestions, I think these are great proposals from a group that has been doing great work. Sent from my Samsung Captivate(tm) on Rogers James Cummings <James.Cummings(a)digitalmedievalist.org> wrote: Hi Grant (and DM-L) We've been fairly good at getting a strong field of candidates each year and hope this will continue. It will involve some changes in the first couple years, I suspect, but by which time those who have served before could serve again. I don't foresee a dramatic change in this, but the slate for each year's elections has always been a (pleasant) surprise. We also wish to increase activities undertaken by the community itself as volunteers. You know this being one of those wonderful volunteers. I envision that in my minimum 1-year off, I will certainly be volunteering some technical expertise with regards to updating the technical infrastructure behind DM. There might be a sudden lack of some specific skills but hopefully this is something that the community can provide. Best, -James On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 15:32, Simpson, Grant Leyton <glsimpso(a)indiana.edu> wrote: > Dear James, > > I think these are positive changes to the bylaws. Do you or the rest of > the board anticipate having problems with having enough interest in > filling seats if some long-term board members must be gone for a year? > > Best, > Grant > > On 9/6/11 10:01 AM, "James Cummings" > <James.Cummings(a)digitalmedievalist.org> wrote: > >>Dear Digital Medievalist community, >> >>At the last Digital Medievalist elections it was suggested by myself >>and others that we limit the number of terms any community member >>might be elected to the Digital Medievalist Board in a row. We >>already had a limit of 6 years that someone could be elected director >>in a row, and it seemed fitting to extend this to all Board members. >>i.e. after 3 two-year terms on the Board, someone would have to take a >>break for at least a year. The point of this is to encourage fresh >>blood and new ideas on the Digital Medievalist Board and promote a >>mature organisation. (In case anyone is wondering, I'm proposing this >>even though it would mean that I will not be allowed to stand in the >>2012 elections.) >> >>However, we are a community-based organisation -- if you are receiving >>this email you are a member of that community whether you view >>yourself as a digital medievalist or not -- and so we thought it best >>that any changes to the bylaws be approved by the community itself. >>But we also noticed that we had not documented the process by which we >>should be allowed to make amendments to our bylaws. >> >>We have come up with a suggested process consisting of four major >>steps which can be summarised as: >>- The DM Board composes changes to the bylaws, and a simple majority >>(5 out of 8) vote means they can be presented to the membership >>- The DM Board will publish these on the mailing list/website with a >>minimum 10 days request for comments >>- The DM Board will discuss any suggested changes, with a simple >>majority agreeing any changes >>- After these changes, the bylaws will be presented for voting for at >>least a week and will pass with a two-thirds majority of votes >>recorded in the voting period. >> >>This is the process we are following for the current proposed changes >>to the bylaws. A majority of the DM Board has already approved them. >> >>The old bylaws are at: >> >>http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/bylaws.html >> >>The proposed bylaws with substantial additions and deletions marked are >>at: >> >>http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/bylaws-new.html >> >>We would appreciate any comments on the changes be sent to the DM >>Board by email at: board _at-sign_ digitalmedievalist.org by noon GMT >>on the 19th September 2011. Of course, you are free to discuss this >>openly here on the the dm-l mailing list as well. >> >>In more detail the proposed changes to the current bylaws include: >> >>- adding a statement "To undertake other activities relating to its >>purposes and objectives or the promotion of DM as a community." to the >>list of our objectives and activities >>- adding a statement that "Any ties in voting shall be decided by the >>existing DM Board members excluding any who are standing for >>re-election." (While this has not yet happened, we thought it best to >>include some mechanism.) >>- adding a statement that "No member may be elected to the DM Board >>for more than three consecutive terms (six years). After three terms, >>the member must wait one year before becoming qualified for >>re-election to the DM Board." >>- replacing a statement saying that "no person may serve continuously >>as Director for more than 6 years in a row" with one that says "no >>member may be elected as Director for more than six consecutive terms >>(six years). After six terms, the member must wait one year before >>becoming qualified for re-election as Director." So that it uses the >>same agreed language as with Board members >>- And the new section on amendments which says: >>1. Amendments to these bylaws can be composed by the DM Board and >>become proposed amendments with a simple majority of the total DM >>Board membership. >>2. Proposed amendments will be published on the DM mailing list (dm-l) >>and the DM website with a minimum 10 day period requesting comments by >>the DM membership. >>3. The DM Board will discuss comments on the proposed amendments >>received from the DM membership incorporating changes agreed by a >>simple majority of the DM Board. >>4. The agreed version of the amended bylaws will be presented as a >>whole to the DM membership for voting over a minimum 7 day period. The >>amended version of the bylaws will pass with a two-thirds majority of >>votes recorded during the voting period. >> >>I look forward to any and all comments on the proposed changes before >>noon on the 19th September and in the meantime the DM Board is happy >>to answer questions concerning them. >> >>Many thanks, >> >>James Cummings >>Director, Digital Medievalist >> >>Digital Medievalist -- http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/ >>Journal: http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/journal/ >>Journal Editors: editors _AT_ digitalmedievalist.org >>News: http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/news/ >>Wiki: http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/wiki/ >>Twitter: http://twitter.com/digitalmedieval >>Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=49320313760 >>Discussion list: dm-l(a)uleth.ca >>Change list options: http://listserv.uleth.ca/mailman/listinfo/dm-l > > Digital Medievalist -- http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/ Journal: http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/journal/ Journal Editors: editors _AT_ digitalmedievalist.org News: http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/news/ Wiki: http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/wiki/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/digitalmedieval Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gidI320313760 Discussion list: dm-l(a)uleth.ca Change list options: http://listserv.uleth.ca/mailman/listinfo/dm-l

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A single con-/-us sign (9) for 'correction'?
by Szelp A. Szabolcs 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

Dear all, I'm adressing you in matters which are note digital-medievalist in particular, but merely medievalist in nature. There is a well known abbreviature, in the shape of a 9 shifted to sit on the base-line with it's o-component with the tail featuring as a descender (like the regular 9 in old-style numerals, e.g. in the Georgia font). [It is encoded in Unicode as U+A76F LATIN SMALL LETTER CON, but I won't use it in this e-mail, as font support is poor. Below in the message a 9 (nine) will mean the character without further explanation]. This abbreviature was used alone meaning Latin "cum", alone with a further abbreviation mark similar to a tilde "con[tra]". In the beginning of words the prefix "con-" and its assimilated forms (cor-, com-, etc. as in corruptio, commemorabilis, etc.). In Cental European manuscripts and incunabula (German, Czech, Hungarian,...), at the end of a string, however it stood for "-us".* I have come upon a manuscript (first quarter of the 16th c.), where a lonesome 9 could potentially be interpreted as meaning 'correction' or similar. However, I am hesitant with this reading, as I have not found such an expansion of the sole 9 in any reference work so far. (And, like with the tilde of "con[tra]" I'd be expecting further signs of abbreviation). However, I'm particularly intrigued by the fact, that in certain traditions of editing (19th, 20th c.), corrections by the editor are indicated by a turned c, e.g. such: "... plunia (ɔ: pluvia) ...". While to my knowledge this is usually read as "recte: ..." ('correctly:...'), I could not help noticing that it could be interpreted as "correctio: ..." ('correction: ...') and that in medieval times ɔ was a common allograph of the 9 meaning con-, etc. (for that cf. e.g. Cappelli). Could it be, that the lonesome 9 of the mentioned manuscript indeed stands for "correction" (and that the modern (ɔ:...) stens from the same tradition)? Did you encounter in your work single 9-s meaning something from the semantic field of errors and corrections? Can you help me with corroborating data from your research experience? Thank you in advance for your insightful answers, André Sz. Szelp __ * Cappelli, who has sampled mostly Italian and French manuscripts only knows the raised small 9-shaped sign for "-us" (the predecessor of the apostrophe sign), and attributes to the baseline form only the cum, con- meaning. However there are myriads of examples of baseline-9 final -us in German incunabula and manuscripts.

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Text Editor for Tagging Arabic Texts
by Maxim Romanov 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

Dear all, I wonder if anyone can help me with the following problem. I am tagging Arabic texts (classical Arabic sources, mostly biographical dictionaries and chronicles) to be converted into XML format for the following analysis. Currently I am doing that in MS Word 2007, which, despite all improvements, does not handle long text files well and crashes from time to time. I was desperately trying to find a good alternative, but did not succeed so far. I need a text editor which have/do the following: - Support for bi-directional text and Unicode; - Support for large text files (mine are not too big, but may go up to 20Mb of TXT in UTF-8; Yaqut’s *Mu‘jam al-Buldan* is ~9Mb, Ibn ‘Imad’s *Shadharat al-Dhahab* is ~8Mb; Ibn al-Jawzi’s *al-Muntazam* is 12Mb); - Changing Font and its Size; - Custom Highlighting: an editable list of symbols and phrases (in Arabic) to be highlighted for visibility. The sources I work with have a number of technical topoi (most obvious examples are the words like bab, fasl, harf etc.) that mark the structure of the book as well as transition points between information of different kind (for example, in al-Sam‘ani’s *Kitab al-ansab* the explanation of most of nisba names begins with phrases like wa-hadhihi-l-nisba ila and ends with wa-l-mashhur bi-hadhihi-l-nisba, or wa-ilay-ha, or wa-ntasaba[t] ila etc.). Having them highlighted makes the structure of the test highly visible and tagging process much faster and easier. - The editor should be stable and fast. I will deeply appreciate any comments and suggestions. Best regards, Maxim G. Romanov PhD Candidate in Arabic & Islamic Studies Department of Near Eastern Studies University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.A.

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dm-l September 2011