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Section I
Background and Overview
Leta Hunt
InscriptiFact Project Overview
Project Objectives
The objectives of the InscriptiFact Project are to design a data and image
base system for optimal use and distribution of image archives of ancient
inscriptions and material culture from the Near Eastern and the Mediterranean
World. The system is intended to benefit students, philologists,
archaeologists, linguists, and others interested in the subject domain, as
well as the general public.
Background Information
The name InscriptiFact is derived from two words, "Inscriptions"
and "Artifacts" and is meant to convey the concept of a scholarly
archive of facts about inscriptions and artifacts.
Ancient manuscripts present significant barriers that inhibit dissemination
and analysis. Fragments and imagery of a single text are frequently scattered
in institutions throughout the world. The physical objects are almost universally
in poor condition due to centuries of deterioration. Access to the materials
is sought by a variety of groups with different, sometime conflicting, views
of the data.
An additional barrier to effective access and analysis is the necessity of viewing
and comparing images at high resolution. Usually images of fragments must be
viewed side-by-side at maximum detail in order to match or compare them. All
potential inscriptional data must be carefully analyzed to distinguish the
inscribed material from the noise of deterioration.
The capacity to bring together, view and compare images of text-fragments
located at various institutions at high resolution will, in itself,
decisively recast the ability to reclaim inscriptions and interpret their
meaning.
Since appropriate documentation of a given text involves a range of images
encompassing many fragments, there must necessarily be a means to present
images of fragments in a coherent and intuitive order that retains the
organization of the entire text. Additionally there must be a way to search
and retrieve images of spatially defined areas of the text.
The opportunity to produce reliable, and verifiable, scholarly
interpretations is based substantially on the capacity to determine what was
in fact inscribed as revealed in photographic and digital images.
Search and Retrieval System Brief Description
The primary task of the search and retrieval system is to facilitate
retrieval of the images and metadata that the database contains. There are
many images of dispersed fragments of a single text and usually many texts in
a corpus. A two-pass approach is proposed in which the query is first
narrowed to encompass a single text, and in the second pass desired images of
the text are selected.
The search for images of a text will proceed along one of two tactics. In
one, a spatial area of a reference image of the selected text will be defined
by "clicking and dragging" a box. Images which are spatially
referenced to the defined area will then be retrieved. In the other, a
selection from a hierarchical list of text divisions will be made. Images
will then be viewed and compared at high resolution.
Overview of
the InscriptiFact Prototype
The InscriptiFact prototype will not constitute a fully working system.
Rather, it will serve as an effective demonstration of how the proposed
InscriptiFact working system will look and behave when completed. It will
achieve two goals.
From the perspective of software engineering, the prototype will serve to
verify the functional requirements prior to development of the working
system. The domain of ancient inscriptions and artifacts is essentially new
to information technology. A "look and feel" view of the proposed
working system and its functionality that can be evaluated by users will
reduce errors in communicating the vision to development engineers.
The InscriptiFact prototype will be demonstrated both nationally and
internationally. Because its purpose and distribution are far-reaching, it
must have an artistic design and a graphical integrity. A great deal of
effort will be expended to gain acceptance and appreciation from potential
users of the working system.
In order to ensure artistic design and graphical integrity, a graphics team
has been hired to design the graphical user interface.
Definitions
"A Text": A discrete, written document as defined
according to mainstream, scholarly usage. Texts can be further classified
into the following types:
Simple - A document, which
according to mainstream scholarly usage, is not subdivided.
Complex - A text that is subdivided into sections or parts according
to mainstream, scholarly practice.
"Corpus": A group of texts having something in common, as
defined by mainstream, scholarly usage. A corpus may be defined:
according to type of medium:
hard media: for
example, stone, clay, metal, bone, shell
soft media: for
example, papyrus, skin, leather, parchment, vellum
according to genre:
for example,
seals, literary texts, religious texts, legal texts, administrative texts
according to location of
discovery:
for example,
Lachish, Ugarit, Qumran, Elephantine
"Photograph": an image of a text or text portion.
Usually, for every corpus there are many texts. For every text there are many
photographs. Since a "text" often consists of many fragments, there
may be numerous photographs for every fragment.
"Medium": The actual material on which a document was
created, that is, the material components of given texts (including pieces,
fragments, pages, etc.) as defined according to mainstream, scholarly usage.
Next: Section II
Prototype Table of Contents
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