Referencing annotations as a core concept of the hallerNet edition and research platform

name: Title
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## *Referencing annotations* <br/>as a core concept of the <br/>*hallerNet* edition and<br/> research platform

<p>Peter Daengeli, Cologne Center for eHumanities, <br/>University of Cologne</p>
  <p>Christian Forney, Institute of History, University of Bern</p>

<p><strong><em>TEI 2019<br/> What is text, really? TEI and beyond</em></strong></p><p>September 16-20, University of Graz, Austria</p>

<p style="font-size: 12px;">DOI: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3446232">10.5281/zenodo.3446232</a></p>
</div>

---

## Point of departure

</div>

<div class="contentarea">
  <ul>
    <li>Haller as a subject of research since mid 19<sup>th</sup> century</li>
    <li>Continuously supported by digital means since 1991</li>
  </ul>
</div>

???

Research on the Bernese poet, savant, physician, botanist, collector, encyclopedian, professor, experimenter, and magistrate **Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777)** has considerable tradition. After becoming a subject of research in the middle of the 19th century (with the main interest lying on poetic and political writing, theology and philosophy), the edition of sources and an engagement with Haller’s scientific work came to the fore during the 20th century.

The last three decades (since ca. 1991) saw an enormous effort to catalog Haller's works and letters and to collect biographical metadata on all his ca. 1200 correspondents as well as other relevant actors in Haller's environment. This research was carried out using a commercial database software (FAUST Professional) and was published in a number of high-quality works, among the most notable of which figure the *Repertorium zu Albrecht von Hallers Korrespondenz 1724–1777* (Boschung et al. 2002) and *Bibliographia Halleriana* (Steinke and Profos 2004).

---

## Transformation project “Haller online” (2016-2019)

.contentarea[
* Transform the database-internal structure into a semantically modelled data structure (following the <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" id="teilogo" height="38" viewBox="0 0 800 800" width="38" version="1.1">
 <title>I don't think this needs explaining at the TEI conference ¯\_(ツ)_/¯</title>
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* Keeping everything under control <svg version="1.1" id="Layer_1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px"
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   <title>Git Version Control (currently using Gitlab)</title>
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* Gradually opening the rich data corpus (goal: FAIR data)
* Setting the stage for the digital edition of Haller's correspondence and literary reviews
* Inviting thematically related projects to the platform

The “hallerNet” platform, launched in May 2019, is the most visible result of this transformation project: [https://hallernet.org](https://hallernet.org).
]

???

To future-proof the research data compiled in the database and to lay the foundations for future research, the Albrecht von Haller foundation granted financial support for a transformation project that followed the goal to homogenise the data and make it available to interested scholars. Following up with the growing interest for digital correspondence editions, this project entailed the development of a (relatively) generic edition platform and a piloting correspondence edition.

The project was successfully carried out in a cooperation between the Institute of History of the University of Bern, providing in-depth expertise on the data structures, and the Cologne Center for eHumanities, contributing knowledge and experience in data modelling and digital editing.

---

## Enriching transcriptions with Metadata I

.contentarea[
Where quality of earlier editions allows for it, the encodings are based on the printed editions (through either OCR, double keying or prepress files).

Print indices serve as a valuable source of knowledge. References to persons, places, institutions, works, topics and more may be extracted with a simple transformation after applying some styling to a digitised index.

]

???

The hallerNet dataset, eocompassing metadata on some 3400 places, 17000 letters, 25000 actors and 34000 publications as well as several hundreds of archives, other institutions, documents, plants, and more serves as a unique foundation for the editorial work on the ca. 8000 letters and more than 9000 book reviews that are being edited in the course of the ongoing SNF research project “Online-edition of Albrecht von Haller's book reviews and letters: expertise and communiction in the emerging scientific community.” [(SNF project 157963)](http://p3.snf.ch/Project-157963).

In order to reach the ambitious goals on time, the encoding process is based on retro-digitised print editions where available (and of appropriate quality). In addition to the transcription of the sources, the printed indices are of special interest. By manual analysis of the lemmata and applying some simple highlighting in MS Word, it is easy to extract the referenced entities (by page or letter, depending on the edition) and relate them to the digital encodings. This way, the manual linking process is assisted considerably.

---

## Enriching transcriptions with Metadata II

From footnotes to annotated references / referencing annotations

<p style="font-size: 12pt;">Example from <em>Sonntag, Haller-Münchhausen correspondence</em>, Münchhausen's letter to Haller, 8 October 1736 (prepress file, MS Word).</p>
]

???

Whereas the information lifted from the indices is very valuable for classification and linking, the transcriptions of the sources account for the bulk of the editorial work. Besides checking and emending the transcriptions, their processing also involves consideration of the (past) editor's annotations, usually given in footnotes. This quickly led to a reflection on the character of annotations in a digital edition. Given the datacentric scope (and legacy) of the hallerNet platform and its primacy of object references, we chose to rearrange footnotes from print wherever possible as annotated references to specific database objects.

---

## Enriching transcriptions with Metadata II

The hallerNet transcription model employs three types of annotations:

||||
|-|-|-|
|`annotRef`| |Annotations that concern an object contained in the database<br/>`<rs type="person/place/etc" key="{$ID}"><note type="annotRef"/></rs>`|
|||
|||
|`annotText`| |Textual annotations<br/>`<note type="annotText">`|
|||
|||
|`annotFree`| |(Primarily historical) annotations that do not concern any specific object but<br/> e.g. the situation in which a letter was written<br/>`<note type="annotFree">`|
]

???

For this kind of annotation we coined the type `annotRef`, the main one of three types of annotations allowed in the transcriptions. The other two types are `annotText` for textual annotations and `annotFree` for loose annotations that are not attachable to any specific object.

---

<br/><br/>An example from Münchhausen's letter to Haller, 8 October 1736:

```xml
<p>Und da Sie selbst eine reise anhero zu thun gedencken, welches vermuthlich gegen die zeit, da 
  der <rs type="person" key="person_00478" xml:id="Sonntag_2017_AvH-GAM_letter_05493_ref-4">H.  
  D. Hugo<note type="annotRef" n="1">
    <p>H. was currently attending the visiting King George II at Göhrde, near Lüneburg. In 
      <rs type="letter" key="letter_15016" xml:id="Sonntag_2017_AvH-GAM_letter_05493_ref-5">his 
      letter to Johannes Geßner of 14 Dec.</rs>, Haller mentions that he saw (in November) H.’s 
    beautiful botanical library and herbarium in Hanover.</p>
  </note></rs>, als dero guter freund,
```

???

This example illustrates the very straightforward TEI encoding of an `annotRef`.

The reference to the database object `person_00478` (H. D. Hugo) is annotated with a `note` of the type `annotRef`. This note contains another (simple, not furter annotated) reference to a letter.

Annotated references could, in theory, nest.

---

<br/><br/>And its rendering in the frontend:

<!-- <script>
    function pictureChange()
    {
          document.getElementById("ex").src="images/ex2.png";
    }
</script>

<button id="modal" style="position: absolute; top: 500px; left: 965px; background-color:#939309; color: white; font-size: 16px;">Click to trigger the modal.</button>

???

In the user interface, all referenced objects are displayed in a modal that offers some basic information about the object and a link to the database. Wherever a reference is enriched by this kind of reference annotation, this is also printed in the modal and thus lending more context to the linking of the object, in many cases also explaining the reason why a specific object is linked and with what certainty.

---

name:

## Primacy of object references

.contentarea[
Analytical potential: deriving social profiles of correspondences based on structured information on social positions and places of activity of mentioned actors.

]

```xml

<note n="sn_16.113.000">
  <term n="sn_16.113.100" cRef="#tax_16.113.000_student"/>
  <date type="analytical" n="sn_16.113.200" from="1709" to="1711"/>
  […]
</note>
<note n="sn_16.113.000">
  <term n="sn_16.113.100" cRef="#tax_16.113.000_arzt"/>
  <date type="analytical" n="sn_16.113.200" to="1760" from="1715"/>
  […]
  <date type="to" n="sn_16.113.220" notBefore="1750" notAfter="1760" 
  cert="low">
     <note type="evidence">Position wohl bis zum Tod 
     inne gehabt.</note>
  </date>
</note>

<note n="sn_16.041.000" hal:desc="korres_verbund_wirkungsorte">
  <ref n="sn_16.041.100" target="place_00718">Leiden</ref>
  <date type="analytical" n="sn_16.041.200" from="1709" to="1711"/>
  […]
</note>
<note n="sn_16.041.000" hal:desc="korres_verbund_wirkungsorte">
  <ref n="sn_16.041.100" target="place_00603">Hannover</ref>
  <date type="analytical" n="sn_16.041.200" from="1715" to="1760"/>
  […]
  <date type="to" n="sn_16.041.220" notAfter="1760">
     <note type="evidence">Wirkungsort wohl bis zum Tod</note>
  </date>
  […]
</note>
```
]

<!--
(Münchhausen:)

<note n="sn_16.041.000">
   <ref n="sn_16.041.100" target="place_00651">Jena</ref>
   <date type="analytical" n="sn_16.041.200" from="1707" to="1709"/>
   […]
</note>
<note n="sn_16.041.000">
   <ref n="sn_16.041.100" target="place_00594">Halle a.d. Saale</ref>
   <date type="analytical" n="sn_16.041.200" when="1710"/>
   […]
</note>
<note n="sn_16.041.000">
   <ref n="sn_16.041.100" target="place_01086">Utrecht</ref>
   <date type="analytical" n="sn_16.041.200" when="1711"/>
   […]
</note>
<note n="sn_16.041.000">
   <ref n="sn_16.041.100" target="place_00651">Jena</ref>
   <date type="analytical" n="sn_16.041.200" from="1711" to="1712"/>
   […]
</note>
<note n="sn_16.041.000">
   <ref n="sn_16.041.100" target="place_00473">Dresden</ref>
   <date type="analytical" n="sn_16.041.200" from="1714" to="1716"/>
   […]
</note>
<note n="sn_16.041.000">
   <ref n="sn_16.041.100" target="place_00398">Celle</ref>
   <date type="analytical" n="sn_16.041.200" from="1716" to="1722"/>
   […]
</note>
<note n="sn_16.041.000">
   <ref n="sn_16.041.100" target="place_00596">Hamburg</ref>
   <date type="analytical" n="sn_16.041.200" from="1722" to="1723"/>
   […]
</note>
<note n="sn_16.041.000">
   <ref n="sn_16.041.100" target="place_00623">Hildesheim</ref>
   <date type="analytical" n="sn_16.041.200" from="1723" to="1726"/>
   […]
</note>
<note n="sn_16.041.000">
   <ref n="sn_16.041.100" target="place_00921">Regensburg</ref>
   <date type="analytical" n="sn_16.041.200" from="1726" to="1728"/>
   […]
</note>
<note n="sn_16.041.000">
   <ref n="sn_16.041.100" target="place_00603">Hannover</ref>
   <date type="analytical" n="sn_16.041.200" from="1728" to="1770"/>
   […]
</note>
-->

<div style="position: absolute; left: 900px; top: 510px;">
We have yet to settle on sensible rules for the computational evaluation of (concurring) <code>@from</code>, <code>@to</code>, <code>@notBefore</code>, <code>@notAfter</code>.
</div>

???

It is quite common for edition projects to compile "-ographies" and to interlink occurrences between the source text(s) and the object metadata. Given that the hallerNet editions can build on a very rich metadata collection from day one, this linking practice is evidently being applied, too.

However thanks to the rich information available on the hallerNet actors, object references are also used analytically, e.g. to derive a social profile of a specific correspondence (based on the level on a social stratum when a letter was written).

To better understand this slide: imagine Gerlach Adolph von Münchhausen (`person_00703`) is mentioned in a letter written at a given date. The object reference allows to query the metadata for Münchhausen's social status and place of activity at that point in time. Applied over the whole (or a chosen phase) of a correspondence this allows to derive significant information that is otherwise hardly evaluable.

This functionality is not yet part of the hallerNet platform, but all the pieces exist and wait to be plugged together.

---

## Future developments

* Further internal unification and interlinking of the data, esp. the bibliographical data (cf. [TEI 2019 paper by Antonio Rojas Castro](https://gams.uni-graz.at/o:tei2019.114/sdef:TEI/get?context=context:tei2019.papers)).
* Tighten model and adherence to it (by adding more specific Schematron checks)
* External interlinking
   * [correspsearch.net](https://correspsearch.net) (letters)
   * [histhub.ch](https://histhub.ch) (persons, places)
   * [metagrid.ch](https://metagrid.ch) (persons, places)
* And we are also looking forward to implement the [prosopogrAPhI](https://github.com/GVogeler/prosopogrAPhI).
]

</div>