Dear digital medievalists,
We invite applications for a two-day workshop in digitizing and encoding
ancient seals, hosted by the Venice Centre for Digital and Public
Humanities (VeDPH) at the Department for the Humanities, Ca' Foscari
University of Venice, January 20-21, 2020.
The aim of the workshop is to present and discuss solutions, currently
under development, concerning an XML-based and TEI-compliant data model for
the description of Byzantine seals - and, with minor adjustments, of other
coin-like objects, such as bread stamps, Hellenistic or Western Medieval
seals and sealings. For this purpose, participants will be introduced to a
new encoding standard: SigiDoc, the first attempt to adapt and extend the
digital approach - already applied to inscriptions, coins and papyri - to
seals. SigiDoc builds on the experience of the EpiDoc encoding standard and
its customisable publication platform EFES (EpiDoc Front End Services). The
introduction into the methodology and functionalities of both SigiDoc and
EFES will take place during the first half of the workshop, followed by
hands-on training sessions on the second day. The final session of the
workshop will be dedicated to discussing challenges and solutions to open
issues within the development of SigiDoc, as well as the questions and
suggestions arising from the participants.
The workshop will also feature an introduction and a practical
demonstration of Reflective Transformation Imaging (RTI), a cutting edge
imaging technology especially well-suited for the digitization of seals.
With RTI, an object is photographed multiple times with lightning from
different angles. These images are then computationally processed and
presented in a way that allows the viewer to virtually move the light
source on-screen, thus making visible and discernible finest and most
subtle structure of the object's surface. Legibility and analysis of visual
features can be significantly improved. Participants in the RTI session
will be introduced into the use of RTI technology, techniques and
equipment, and their applications in sigillography. During the RTI session,
seals and other objects (brought by the participants) will be digitised
using a custom built RTI dome.
Lessons and hands-on training will be offered by Alessio Sopracasa
(Sorbonne University, Paris), Simona Stoyanova (University of Nottingham),
Martina Filosa (University of Cologne), and Marcel Schaeben (CCeH,
University of Cologne).
To apply for a place on this workshop, please send an application to
vedph@unive.it by December 27 including a brief description of your
interest in the workshop as well as your scholarly background. Basic
knowledge of TEI-XML as well as of Ancient/Byzantine Greek are desirable.
Programme:
Monday, 20 Jan 2020
13.00 Welcome
13.15 Introducing SigiDoc - A digital standard for describing seals
14.15 Digitizing seals - A practical introduction to RTI
15.30 Coffee Break
16.00 Encoding seals - Introduction to EFES (Metadata encoding, inscription tagging)
19.00 End
Tuesday, 21 Jan 2020
09.00 Indexing and authority files
10.00 Coffee Break
10.30 Faceted search and other features
12.00 Lunch Break
13.00 Hands-on training SigiDoc/EFES
14.30 Evaluation of the RTI test results
15.00 Coffee Break
15.30 Hands-on training SigiDoc/EFES
17.00 Closure
Venue: Sala Piccola, Palazzo Malcanton Marcorà , Dorsoduro 3484/D - 30123
Venezia
Application deadline: *27 December 2019*
Contact: vedph@unive.it
More information at: https://www.unive.it/vedph
All the best,
Franz