2022 Spring Symposium on “Structures of Knowledge”

March 15, 2022 in Abstracts of Conference Papers, Conference, Conference Announcement, Uncategorized

2022 RGME Spring and Autumn Symposia
on “Structured Knowledge”

1 of 2: Spring Symposium
“Structures of Knowledge”
Saturday, 2 April 2022 (Online)

2020 Spring Symposium "From Cover to Cover" Poster 2

2020 Spring Symposium Poster 2

[Posted on 15 March 2022, with updates]

In 2022, the Research Group returns to our series of Symposia (formerly held in person). The series underwent an interruption with the cancelled 2020 Spring Symposium, “From Cover to Cover”. See its record in the illustrated Program Booklet, with Abstracts of the planned presentations and workshops. Its core and its promise inspire this renewal.

This year, each Symposium in the pair is designed as a one-day event, with sessions and workshops of about 1 and 1/2 hours, giving scope for discussion. The Spring Symposium will be held online by Zoom. (The Autumn Symposium would be held online, but, conditions permitting, it might be hybrid, that is, partly in person, as well as online.) See 2022 Spring and Autumn Symposia.

Structures of Knowledge (Spring)
Structures for Knowledge (Autumn)

These events, by request, flow in addition to — and partly from — our other activities during the year:

1) Continuing Episodes in the online series of The Research Group Speaks (2021–)

https://manuscriptevidence.org/wpme/the-research-group-speaks-the-series/

Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases (Part I)

2) Our four sponsored and c0-sponsored Congress Sessions at the 57th International Congress on Medieval Studies (online) in May

https://manuscriptevidence.org/wpme/2022-international-congress-on-medieval-studies-program
(Abstracts of the Papers are included).

Structured Knowledge (Parts I and II)

The interlinked pair of Spring and Autumn Symposia examine themes of Structured Knowledge.

Some proposed presentations at these Symposia offer refreshed materials which had been planned for the cancelled 2020 Spring Symposium.

See https://manuscriptevidence.org/wpme/2020-spring-symposium-save-the-date, with a published Program Booklet including illustrations and Abstracts.

The Spring Symposium is dedicated to “Structures of Knowledge”. The Autumn Symposium considers “Supports for Knowledge”. Sessions include approaches to databases and library catalogs; specific case studies and projects; issues relating to reproductions and display, research and teaching, and more.

Part I: Spring Symposium (Saturday, 2 April 2022)
on “Structures of Knowledge”

Note: If you wish to register for the Symposium, please contact director@manuscriptevidence.org.

Eugene, Oregon, University of Oregon, Knight Library, MS 027, folio 25r. Manicle as outstretched paw, with cuff. Photography Zoey Kambour.

Presenters, Respondents, and Presiders for the Spring Symposium include (in alphabetical order): Phillip A. Bernhardt-House, Linde M. Brocato, Mildred Budny, Katharine C. Chandler, Barbara Williams Ellertson, Howard German, Hannah Goeselt, Thomas E. Hill, Eric. J. Johnson, Zoey Kambour, David Porreca, Jessica L. Savage, Derek Shank, Ronald Smeltzer, and David W. Sorenson.

As the Program evolves, adapting to changes in some speakers’ plans or requirements, we thank all the speakers who responded willingly to such changes, even at short notice, for example by expanding an intended “Response” to a “Presentation”, or the reverse, so as to keep to the time-allotments of the Sessions. We also thank the Presiders for their help in monitoring each of the Sessions during the course of the Symposium.

We acknowledge, with thanks, the renewed sponsorship of the Symposia this year by Barbara A. Shailor.

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Tags: Advertisements in Early Scientific Publications, BASIRA Project, Book Arts, CANTUS Chant, Decretals of Gregory IX, Esoterica, Fragmentarium Database, Gobelin Tapestries, History of Cataloging, History of Paper, Library Catalogues, Lima (OH) Public Library Staff Loan Assistance Fund, Louise Ege, Manuscript studies, Otto Ege Collection, Otto Ege Manuscript 6, Otto F. Ege, Shahnameh, Structured Knowledge, Structures of Knowledge, Tale of Cupid and Psyche, The Ohio State University, University of Oregon MS 027, Vassar College Library, Warburg Institute Library
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Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases (Part I)

February 9, 2022 in Manuscript Studies, Research Group Speaks (The Series), Uncategorized

Card Division in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Photograph circa 1900-1920. Image Public Domain.

The Research Group Speaks
Episode 6

Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases (Part I)
A Roundtable

19 February 2022

[Posted on 9 February 2022, with updates, now with the accomplishment of the event.]

By special request, a roundtable discussion aims to consider challenges and opportunities encountered in making, and using, catalogs and databases — with a focus especially on bibliographical and manuscript materials. This aim flows from the plan to hold a lunch at the Index of Medieval Art at Princeton University during our 2020 Spring Symposium (which had to be cancelled), to bring together participants engaged with such issues, from the Index of Medieval Art, the BASIRA Project, the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, and elsewhere.

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Anonymous, Still Life of an Illuminated Book, German School, 15th century. Oil on Wood. Opened book with fanned pages. Image via Wikimedia, Public Domain.

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Anonymous, Still Life of an Illuminated Book, German School, 15th century. Image Public Domain.

As the next episode in the online series of webinars, workshops, and other meetings wherein The Research Group Speaks, the February 2022 Roundtable explores challenges and opportunities for the catalogs, metadata, and databases, the characteristics of the materials which these structures seek to address, and some case studies. Examples include the BASIRA Project on “Books as Symbols in Renaissance Art”, the Index of Medieval Art Database, Digital Scriptorium 2.0, the Pinakes/Πίνακες Database of Greek Texts and Manuscripts, and approaches to cataloging collections or selected source materials (such as artists’ books).

Speakers and Respondents include Barbara Williams Ellertson, Jessica L. Savage, Linde M. Brocato, Lynn Ransom, Katharine Chandler, Georgi Parpulov, Howard German, and David Porreca. Subjects for consideration include “Standards and Vocabularies in Art-History Cataloging”, “Labelling, Way-finding, and Meaning”, “About ‘Aboutness’ “, “Teaching Cataloguing Today”, “The Pinakes Database”, “Digital Scriptorium 2.0: Manuscript Description in a Linked Open Data Context”, and more. See the Program below.

We gather perspectives from those who make, and those who use, such resources.

Preparations for the roundtable offer ‘Handouts’ in online format.

1) Below here:

a preliminary list of Questions for discussion at the roundtable and beyond, with a view also to planning further sessions on these subjects
an announcement about Future Plans, as Some Next Steps, for further sessions on these and related subjects.

2) Also, as an individual webpage:

an online Handout with a Draft List of Links to projects, databases, and other resources, including some mentioned in presentations in the roundtable:
Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases: A Handlist of Links.

The roundtable is designed to compare notes, formulate questions, express wishes, and plan further sessions. For example, we prepare sessions on “Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases, Continued“, for the pair of Spring and Autumn Symposia on “Structures of Knowledge” and “Supports for Knowledge”. They belong to one of the overarching themes for RGME activities in 2022: “Structured Knowledge“.

We welcome advice, suggestions, and contributions.

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Tags: BASIRA Project, CANTUS Chant, Controlled Vocabulary, DACT Project, Digital Scriptorium, Digital Scriptorium 2.0, Fragmentarium, History of Cataloging, Index of Medieval Art, Linked Open Data, Manuscript studies, Metadata and Databases, Pinakes | Πίνακες Database, Structures of Knowledge, Supports for Knowledge, The Research Group Speaks
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How to Be Indiana Jones in the Catalog

November 29, 2021 in Manuscript Studies, Uncategorized

The Research Group Speaks
Episode 4

Rennes, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 255, folio 1 recto. L’Estoire del saint Graal, Opening initial, with the Holy Grail. Photographer: Peter Scott. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

How to be Indiana Jones in the Catalog

Treasure and Power
In/Of the Bibliographical Record

Linde M. Brocato

The Series So Far

During a time of pandemic, before in-person events might resume, the RGME aims for some online events.

The Series at which “The Research Group Speaks” online began in July 2021. This Episode rounds out the set for the calendar year, and points the way toward the themes for the new year.

*****

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, German School. Image Public Domain, via Wikimedia.

Episode 1 (July 2021)

Barbara Williams Ellertson and BASIRA, with a Timeline

The series commenced with an Interview with our Associate, Barbara Williams Ellertson (July 2021).

Barbara spoke about the BASIRA Project, its background, and her other interests.

For information about the Project on Books as Symbols in Renaissance Art, its subjects, its scope, and its aims, see https://basiraproject.org.

*****

Episode 2 (September 2021)

Platina, De honesta voluptate et valetudine (Venice, 1494). Image via BEI, Public Domain.

Southern Italian Cuisine Before Columbus

Next came a Presentation and Demonstration by the food historian Linda Civitello (September 2021).

Linda spoke about the early history of Italian cuisine, especially Cuoco Napolitano, and its ingredients, sources, and influences — for Southern Italian cuisine and beyond. Inspired by the 15th-century sources in manuscript and early printing, Linda described approaches to the subject and gave a demonstration.

*****

Episode 3 (November 2021)

Tales from the Library Crypt

Worcester Cathedral, Crypt. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Then we offered an informal round-table discussion, to compare notes about searching bibliographic materials in a time of pandemic.

Over the past year and more, under exceptional circumstances, there are doubtless to be encountered challenges and disappointments through closures of libraries, access to library resources, and other factors.

But there can also be successes, through serendipity, resourcefulness, friendship, and solidarity across institutions and among wider readership. Comparing notes might offer tips and guidance. Commiseration can come in handy. And the successes are worth celebrating. There are stories to tell.

*****

Next Up

Episode 4 (December 2021)

How to Be Indiana Jones in the Catalog:
Treasure and Power in/of the Bibliographical Record

Linde Brocato, scholar librarian, proposes to give a guided tour of several specimens and case-studies offering bibliographical and cataloguing challenges. (On her experience and expertise, see Linde Brocato, Linde M. Brocato, Curriculum Vitae, and Google Scholar.)

The plan:

Understanding the dynamics and rules of cataloging gives strong insight into how to search: When to use the basic search box, i.e. keyword search; and When to use advanced search, i.e. the indexes.

I will discuss the bibliographic record, the kinds of decisions catalogers make about how to encode information, and tools to release and enhance your power to find the bibliographic treasure you seek!

P. S. If it is, perchance, the Holy Grail that you seek, see, for example, Rennes 255:

Rennes, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 255, folio 1 recto. L’Estoire del saint Graal, Opening initial.
Photographer: Peter Scott. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Also, for reference:

Grail diary of Henry Jones, Sr., from the film ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ (1989), displayed at the Hollywood Museum, Hollywood, California. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Handout

The single-page Handout for Linde’s Presentation is available for download as a pdf.

“Passages”

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Into the Light:

*****

This episode opens a set of explorations on the subject of “Structured and Structuring Knowledge”. It is one of our themes for next year — with an eye, for example, to Catalogues, Metadata, and Databases.

More Episodes are in preparation. See The Research Group Speaks: The Series.

Episodes in the New Year will begin in January 2022.

Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga: The mid 15th-century Saint Vincent Panels, attributed to Nuno Gonçalves. Image (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Nuno_Gon%C3%A7alves._Paineis_de_S%C3%A3o_Vicente_de_Fora.jpg) via Creative Commons.

*****

Do you have suggestions for subjects? Please let us know. Please leave your Comments below , Contact Us, and visit our FaceBook Page. We look forward to hearing from you.

*****

Tags: Bibliographal Quests, Bibliographical Records, History of Cataloging, Holy Grail, Indiana Jones, The Research Group Speaks
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2022 Spring Symposium on “Structures of Knowledge”

2022 RGME Spring and Autumn Symposia
on “Structured Knowledge”

1 of 2: Spring Symposium
“Structures of Knowledge”
Saturday, 2 April 2022 (Online)

Structured Knowledge (Parts I and II)

Part I: Spring Symposium (Saturday, 2 April 2022)
on “Structures of Knowledge”

Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases (Part I)

The Research Group Speaks
Episode 6