Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture最新文献

{"title":"Introduction: the Dissemination of the Digital Humanities within Research on Biblical, Early Jewish and Christian Studies","authors":"C. Clivaz, Sarah Bowen Savant","doi":"10.1163/9789004399297_002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004399297_002","url":null,"abstract":"This third volume of Digital Biblical Studies (DBS) represents a turning point in the birth of the series, as well as in the dissemination of the Digital Humanities within “Biblical, Early Jewish and Christian Studies”. The title acknowledges the three research groups devoted, since 2012 and 2013, to the Digital Humanities at the annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), the inter-national SBL (ISBL), and the European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS). Our introduction will comment on the development of the Digital Humanities and offer a preview of the contents of this volume.","PeriodicalId":355737,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125132362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Teaching Epigraphy in the Digital Age","authors":"H. Parker, C. Rollston","doi":"10.1163/9789004399297_011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004399297_011","url":null,"abstract":"Fields of knowledge are always in transition, with data continuing to accumulate and analyses of the data constantly nuancing previous understandings. No exception to this is the field of Northwest Semitic epigraphy. Northwest Semitic epigraphy is the broad study of ancient inscriptions written in the daughter languages of Proto-Northwest Semitic (e.g., Hebrew, Aramaic, Phoenician, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, and Ugaritic). It is concerned with linguistic, grammatical, syntactic, lexicographic, onomastic, historical, palaeographical, and/or genre studies.2 Within this article, we will delineate certain aspects of the history of this field and will discuss the traditional means of studying ancient texts in light of new technological innovations. Our primary goal is to demarcate how these innovations are impacting the ways we do research, as well as how they can facilitate the presentation of our research and the ways we teach students in our field. The focus of this article is linear alphabetic Northwest Semitic scripts; nonetheless, similar techniques and methodologies can be used for other epigraphic fields.","PeriodicalId":355737,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture","volume":"59 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129494639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Using Natural Language Processing to Search for Textual References","authors":"Brett Graham","doi":"10.1163/9789004399297_008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004399297_008","url":null,"abstract":"In natural languages, as opposed to computer languages like C or Pascal, the words and syntax are not artificially defined; instead, they develop naturally. Typical examples of natural languages are those that are spoken in human communication, such as the English, French, and Japanese languages. However, the term natural language can also refer to written text, such as Facebook postings, emails or even text messages. As well as changing over time, natural languages also vary among different cultures and people groups. So, for example, the words and syntax that a teenager might use to write a text message on their phone are likely to be different to the words and syntax that Shakespeare used to write Othello. Within computer science, the term Natural Language Processing (NLP) refers to way computers are programmed to understand natural languages. At a basic level, NLP involves three steps – lexical analysis, syntax analysis, and semantic analysis. The complexity of each of these steps is perhaps best illustrated through looking at how three well-known programs incorporate NLP; namely, Microsoft Word, the Google search engine, and Apple’s Siri. If you were to type (or copy and paste) the following string – “Can I be worn jeens to church?” – into Microsoft Word then it will perform simple lexical analysis by grouping the characters into tokens (i.e. words) using the whitespace and punctuation as separators. Having done this, the program will then consult its dictionary and recognize that “jeens” is not a valid entry. As a result, it will place this word in red, somewhat like this:","PeriodicalId":355737,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture","volume":"109 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133200094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“What no eye has seen”: Using a Digital Microscope to Edit Papyrus Fragments of Early Christian Apocryphal Writings","authors":"Brent Landau, Adeline Harrington, J. C. Henriques","doi":"10.1163/9789004399297_005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004399297_005","url":null,"abstract":"Scholars working with ancient papyri are often confronted with manuscripts that are challenging to read. Aside from the basic fact that papyri are often preserved in fragmentary condition, the deciphering of letters in the portions that remain frequently presents challenges. Sometimes only small parts of letters are preserved; at other times the ink may have faded away to near invisibility; and at still other times the letters are rendered almost unrecognizable by blotches of ink. Papyri may also be covered with an obscuring layer of silt as the result of inadequate conservation or a lack of conservation altogether, leaving scholars unclear as to what is ink and what is dirt. Faced with such challenges, editors still labor valiantly to produce accurate transcriptions of ancient texts. Nevertheless, uncertainties in readings still remain, and texts that have been edited more than once will sometimes have very different transcriptions. The difficulties in deciding which readings to prefer may even lead to the conclusion that such decisions are hopelessly arbitrary. A relatively new technology, however, may be able to resolve some of these papyrological impasses, at least in part: digital microscopes. Although some of the leading repositories of papyri collections have had analog microscopes available for use by researchers for some time, digital microscopes have three significant advantages over analog microscopes. First, a digital microscope can be connected to a computer via a USB port, allowing for the image to be seen on a computer screen, rather than straining through a tiny eyehole. Second, a digital microscope can take photographs of the manuscript under magnification, allowing an editor to provide key photographic evidence in favor of one reading over another – and this paper will include a selection of photographs taken with a digital microscope. Third, some digital microscopes – including the one used by the authors – have the added feature of ultraviolet and infrared lighting modes, and these different light spectra can greatly improve the legibility of ink in some cases.","PeriodicalId":355737,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture","volume":"526 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123311710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Electronic Transcriptions of New Testament Manuscripts and their Accuracy, Documentation and Publication","authors":"H. Houghton","doi":"10.1163/9789004399297_009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004399297_009","url":null,"abstract":"The adoption of digital tools to edit the Greek New Testament has fundamentally changed the methodology of creating such an edition. In the past, data was painstakingly gathered in the form of collations of manuscripts against a standard printed text, which were then combined to create an apparatus of readings.1 The base text used for collation was a fixed point against which everything was measured; once the apparatus was constructed, the individual collations were no longer required. In contrast, electronic editing software (in particular, the widely-adopted Collate program and its successors) is based not on a single apparatus but on multiple files, each of which consists of a complete electronic transcription of a single manuscript witness.2 The apparatus is compiled automatically from these files, using an algorithm to improve alignment and creating meta-files to assist with the normalisation of the data. This has at least four distinct advantages over the previous method: the performance of the mechanical task of compilation by a computer is much quicker, less susceptible to human error, reproducible and reconfigurable. A collation can be re-run from the same files with different settings or a different selection of witnesses. It is therefore the complete electronic transcriptions rather than","PeriodicalId":355737,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131454198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Power of Visual Culture and the Fragility of the Text","authors":"Peter Phillips","doi":"10.1163/9789004399297_004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004399297_004","url":null,"abstract":"The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full DRO policy for further details.","PeriodicalId":355737,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture","volume":"73 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123885219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synagogue Modeling Project Report: a Multi-faceted Approach to 3D, Academic Modeling","authors":"B. Erickson","doi":"10.1163/9789004399297_014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004399297_014","url":null,"abstract":"With the click of a button, my body is transported through time and space. A flicker of light catches my eye. I look up. Flames dance upon the plaster walls, casting eerie shadows on the mosaic floor upon which I stand. I am in a synagogue. An ancient synagogue. Yet at the same moment, in the same space, I am also standing in my office. I feel like I could reach out and touch the mosaic floor. As I try to do so, I notice another hand stretching forth, a hand that is stylized in the mosaic below me. It is the hand of God, reaching from the heavens to stay Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. I am standing in the ancient synagogue of Beth Alpha on a mosaic scene depicting the Aqedah of Genesis 22. I get on my hands and knees to examine the scene more closely. Each tessera of the mosaic stands out more clearly as my eyes draw nearer to the floor. I can almost count each individual piece of stone. I begin to count, but a sound from another world snaps me back to reality. My phone is ringing. I remove the virtual reality (VR) headset as my office comes back into focus. The light from the flicker of ancient oil lamps is overtaken by the luminescence of a lightbulb. I have removed myself from Beth Alpha but Beth Alpha has not yet left my memory. The distance between objects, the number of steps I traveled, and how the moonlight poured through the windows – these are some of the experiences I remember from my time exploring one of the 3D environments created for study with virtual reality.","PeriodicalId":355737,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122383782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Qualitative Analysis of Semantic Language Models","authors":"Thibault Clérice, M. Munson","doi":"10.1163/9789004399297_007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004399297_007","url":null,"abstract":"The task of automatically extracting semantic information from raw textual data is an increasingly important topic in computational linguistics and has begun to make its way into non-linguistic humanities research.1 That this task has been accepted as an important one in computational linguistics is shown by its appearance in the standard text books and handbooks for computational linguistics such as Manning and Schuetze Foundations of Statistical Natural Language Processing2 and Jurafsky and Martin Speech and Language Processing.3 And according to the Association for Computational Linguistics Wiki,4 there have been 25 published experiments which used the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) standardized synonym questions to test the performance of algorithmic extraction of semantic information since 1997 with scores ranging from 20% to 100% accuracy. The question addressed by this paper, however, is not whether semantic information can be automatically extracted from textual data. The studies listed in the preceding paragraph have already proven this. It is also not about trying to find the best algorithm to use to do this. Instead, this paper aims to make this widely used and accepted task more useful outside of purely linguistic studies by considering how one can qualitatively assess the results returned by such algorithms. That is, it aims to move the assessment of the results returned by semantic extraction algorithms closer to the actual hermeneutical tasks carried out in the, e.g., historical, cultural, or theological interpretation of texts. We believe that this critical projection of algorithmic results back onto the","PeriodicalId":355737,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture","volume":"61 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116784576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"HarvardX’s Early Christianity: The Letters of Paul: a Retrospective on Online Teaching and Learning","authors":"J. Quigley, L. Nasrallah","doi":"10.1163/9789004399297_012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004399297_012","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":355737,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122164258","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Manuscripts, Monks, and Mufattishīn: Digital Access and Concerns of Cultural Heritage in the Yale Monastic Archaeology Project","authors":"S. Davis","doi":"10.1163/9789004399297_006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004399297_006","url":null,"abstract":"and Arabic Manuscripts in the Monastery of the Syrians: A Preliminary Report,” in: Studia Patristica XCII: Papers Presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies , held in Oxford 2015, Volume 18, Markus, Vincent, 2017, Louvain: Peeters, 179-185. More recently, I have presented three reports updating our progress, with a special focus on the biblical collection and on historical information gleaned from scribal and readerly insertions in those manuscripts, at the Eleventh International Congress of Coptic Studies (Claremont, CA, July 2016), at the 2016 Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (San Antonio, TX, November 2016), and at the Oxford seminar, New Perspectives on Mediterranean History (Balliol College, Oxford University, June 2017). These presentations formed the basis of a new article entitled “Marginalia Coptica et Arabica: Traces of Scribes, Patrons, Restorers, and Readers in the Biblical Collection at the Monastery of the Syrians (Dayr al-Suryān),” to be published in: Proceedings of the Eleventh International Congress of Coptic Studies , Claremont, CA, July 25th-30th 2016, Louvain: Peeters, 2019, forthcoming.","PeriodicalId":355737,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132661921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}