Category: Article

Two graphical models for the analysis and comparison of cartularies

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Dear digital medievalists,

We are very pleased to announce the publication of our latest article:

Two graphical models for the analysis and comparison of cartularies
by Julio Escalona, Cristina Jular Pérez-Alfaro and Anna Bellettini

Abstract:

This paper presents and discusses two of a number of methods for the computer-aided analysis of cartularies that are currently under development at the Instituto de Historia – CSIC. The first one, which we call the Order/Date Model, is oriented to the integral visualization and analysis of an individual cartulary as a project. The second, which we call the Order/Order Model, is applied to pairs of cartularies that share at least part of their contents, and is aimed at revealing to what extent the most recent one made use of the oldest. Our method is based upon a relational database that stores all the information about the cartularies and a number of statistical graphs that generate a two-dimensional grid (the Order/Date or the Order/Order grids) upon which additional variables can be displayed. Our method draws on traditional codicological and palaeographical methods of analysis, but it represents a significant development, as it allows to visualize in an intuitive way very complex phenomena that are otherwise hard to grasp or difficult to analyze manually.

You can read the full paper at: http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/journal/10/escalona/

Clustering of medieval scripts through computer image analysis: Towards an evaluation protocol

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Dear digital medievalists,

I am happy to announce the publication of a new article in Digital Medievalist, “Clustering of medieval scripts through computer image analysis: Towards an evaluation protocol” by Dominique Stutzmann.

Here the abstract:

This paper addresses the question of objective categories of medieval scripts and their elaboration through both medieval palaeography and image analysis. It introduces a dataset of 9800 images and metadata from the catalogues of dated manuscripts in France, as a ground truth and evaluation protocol, to be used for image feature analysis, taxonomy building, and clustering methods. It further compares the results of the categorization performed by two teams, one in Lyon (LIRIS/INSA, Frank Lebourgeois) and the other in Tel-Aviv (The Blavatnik School of Computer Science at Tel Aviv University, Lior Wolf). It also addresses the questions of taxonomy, interpretation and goals of the interdisciplinary research, such as development of expert systems or exploratory research.

You can access the full article here. It is the last full article of the current volume #10. But before closing, a review on the visualization tool CatView will follow soon. Watch this space!

And enjoy reading: http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/journal/

Kind regards,
Franz Fischer
Editor-In-Chief, Digital Medievalist Journal

From “anhelitus” to “hanellissement”: Cross-referencing in the Anglo-Norman dictionary

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The Digital Medievalist Journal has published a new article, “From anhelitus to hanellissement: Cross-referencing in the Anglo-Norman dictionary” by Katariina Nara-Zanotti.

Here is the abstract:

Digitization of dictionaries originally in book form as well as the creation of online dictionaries has revolutionized the way dictionaries are presented and offers not only the opportunity of presenting textual links between dictionary headwords but the possibility of directly connecting one online dictionary to another. This article is an introduction to one of the new functions of the online Anglo-Norman dictionary, i.e. cross-referencing, the provision of links from the Anglo-Norman dictionary entries to other relevant medieval and modern dictionaries. In addition to establishing the usefulness of cross-referencing for dictionary users and presenting how this has been achieved in the Anglo-Norman dictionary, this article examines some of the potential pitfalls that need to be addressed when implementing live links to other dictionaries.

Access the full article here.

Alliteration and character focus in the York Plays

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The Digital Medievalist Journal has published a new article, “Alliteration and character focus in the York Plays” by Richard Khoury and Douglas W. Hayes.

Here is the abstract:

This paper presents the first complete statistical study of alliteration in the York Cycle of Mystery Plays. To this end, an algorithm is designed to render the phonetic reading of the words of the play and to measure alliteration in the speeches of individual characters. Next, the alliteration statistics of the characters are studied in the entire Cycle, and in each individual play, in order to gain new insight on the possible significance of that linguistic feature in the Plays. Our results indicate that alliteration may have been used as a tool to focus the attention of the audience on one or two major characters in each individual play. Taken in the context of the entire Cycle, there is also a hint of repeating patterns in the manner that alliteration is used within the play.

Access the full article here.