Complementing Static Scholarly Editions with Dynamic Research Platforms

Abstract

In 2000 the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen (WAB) published the CD-ROM edition of Wittgenstein's Nachlass: The Bergen Electronic Edition (BEE). However, since the publication, it has become increasingly obvious that this edition does not meet all demands of the community that uses Wittgenstein's manuscripts (his "Nachlass") for research and learning. WAB has, therefore, for more than a decade now worked towards complementing the static CD-ROM edition with an interactive web platform that allows a more comprehensive, yet also a more tailored and user-specific utilization, of WAB's Nachlass resources. The paper describes and discusses two specific web service tools of this platform: Interactive Dynamic Presentation (IDP) of the Wittgenstein Nachlass, and Semantic Faceted Search and Browsing (SFB) of Wittgenstein metadata. The paper argues that it is only when these two tools are fully implemented and functional that WAB can adequately serve the scholarly needs of the Wittgenstein Nachlass user community. The paper describes some selected features and functionalities of these two tools in detail. While pilot versions of both tools are already in use on the platform, they need substantial extension and optimization. This upgrade is being implemented within the Norwegian CLARINO+ project. Data and Metadata for Use of Wittgenstein in Research and EducationDuring his lifetime, the Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) published only one philosophical book, the Logisch-philosophische Abhandlung / Tractatus logicophilosophicus (1 st ed. 1921/22), and a Dictionary for Elementary Schools (1 st ed. 1926). However, on his death in 1951, he left behind a significant 20,000 page corpus of unpublished philosophical notebooks, manuscripts, typescripts and dictations. This oeuvre, called "the Wittgenstein papers" or "Wittgenstein's Nachlass" (von Wright, 1969), was early recognized to be one of the most important philosophy archives of all times. It was subsequently brought to the wider public through posthumous book publications such as Philosophical Investigations (1 st ed. 1953) and Culture and Value (1 st ed. 1977).The practice of bringing the Nachlass to digital users reached its first milestone in 1998 with Vol. 1 of the Bergen CD-ROM edition Wittgenstein's Nachlass: The Bergen Electronic Edition (BEE;Wittgenstein, 2000), edited by the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen (WAB, http://wab.uib.no/). 1 The edition became notable for creating unprecedented new access and research possibilities (Meschini, 2020, ch. 4). Since its establishment in 1990, WAB has worked towards providing digital data and metadata for using the Wittgenstein Nachlass in research and education (Huitfeldt, 2006). This includes the creation of machine-readable transcriptions with specialized markup. The transcriptions were originally produced in MECS-WIT (Huitfeldt, 1994). But at present they are maintained in XML TEI format (Pichler, 2010). XML TEI transcription samples of 5000 Nachlass pages were ma...

Complex Philosophical Oeuvre and Its Complex User Community: Reflections on the Past, Present, and Future Digitisation of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Writings

“…Simultaneously, it made the Nachlass available to a large readership across the world. Thus, BEE clearly demonstrated some of the advantages of a digital edition over a print one, especially for a body of writings as complex as Wittgenstein's Nachlass, including giving users more flexibility in how they could access it (Pichler 2021). In general, BEE remains an invaluable resource as the record of a pioneering attempt to digitise one of the most complex philosophical oeuvres that exists.…”

“…Thus, Wittgenstein's account of the nature and structure of meaning and concepts provides a framework within which an appropriate computational ontology may be conceived, especially perhaps for Wittgenstein's own complex oeuvre and others in a similar mould. However, the detailed theoretical conception and practical development of this envisioned framework, not to mention its concrete implementation, remains a major challenge (see Pichler et al 2021). The pilot currently available on Wittgenstein OWL employs the RDF (Resource Description Framework) data model in an attempt to organise the entire Wittgenstein domain-not only the Nachlass but also other sources (including scholarly secondary literature)-under three top classes: Source, Person, and Subject (Pichler and Zöllner-Weber 2013).…”

DHNB2023 Conference Proceedings

“…Thus, Wittgenstein's account of the nature and structure of meaning and concepts provides a framework within which an appropriate computational ontology may be conceived, especially perhaps for Wittgenstein's own complex oeuvre and others in a similar mould. However, the detailed theoretical conception and practical development of this envisioned framework, not to mention its concrete implementation, remains a major challenge (see Pichler et al 2021). The pilot currently available on Wittgenstein OWL employs the RDF (Resource Description Framework) data model in an attempt to organise the entire Wittgenstein domain-not only the Nachlass but also other sources (including scholarly secondary literature)-under three top classes: Source, Person, and Subject (Pichler and Zöllner-Weber 2013).…”

Wieloaspektowe projektowanie i modelowanie naukowych edycji cyfrowych w filozofii

“…Tym, co wpływa na NEC, biorąc pod uwagę różne dziedziny, i je charakteryzuje, są metodologia i cele. Dzisiaj potrzebujemy interaktywnych platform, dzięki którym będzie można wszechstronniej i w bardziej spersonalizowany sposób dopasowywać do potrzeb użytkowników narzędzia i usługi internetowe 30 . Oznacza to, że szczególną uwagę należy zwrócić na modelowanie i projektowanie, a w zasadzie na współprojektowanie, zorientowane na potrzeby badaczy i na nich skoncentrowane.…”