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Demonstrator of Intertextual Cultural Threads

by Billiani, Sabine, von Held, Pendlebury, Marin Laak and CULTOS content group

Table of Contents and Executive Summary

The reports from the six teams of thread builders collected in this deliverable divide into two groups. Presented first are the reports on individual threads, both completed and projected, that have been provided by the five groups of literary and cultural studies specialists (DLF, IRS, Soton, TAU, and TUB).

This first group of reports is followed by the report provided by Klett Verlag of the threads built to test the capacity of the ontology to support threads built for applications in schools and in educational publishing.

In the case of the reports of completed threads built to store and display specialist literary and cultural studies research, each report begins with a description of the thread and its investigative aims, together with an explanation, where appropriate, of how it fits into the structure of a larger 'Encapsulating thread'. The thread builders then provide reports indicating the categories of relations that they have used, as well as giving an idea of the size of the threads constructed and the range of entities and relations included, and providing examples of the attributes that have been assigned to relations. Due to the significance that the issue of copyright clearance has for the construction, and future on-line display, of threads, the thread builders also report on progress in securing permission for the reproduction of part or all of individual texts featured in the threads.use of the ontology in building thread. In each case, a summary is also given of problems encountered in using the ontology to define relations between texts, and of further requirements identified. Where relevant, difficulties in accessing features of the ontology using Release 1.2 of the Authoring Tool are also pointed out, as are particular problems arising with regard to copyright laws.

Reports are also supplied of work in progress, and of threads projected for completion over the next few months. As thread content and relationships employed are rarely fixed until the last stages of the thread-building process, these projected threads are reported on in less detail to completed work, to the greatest degree of accuracy possible.

The report by Klett Verlag contains brief descriptions of two threads, and also considers how the ontology could be re-modelled, if necessary, to suit a wider range of applications within educational publishing. The report also includes some proposals on how the threads could be viewed on-line. This is an issue still under discussion by the members of the content group, as there is a sizable range of modes of presentation and access that have been considered as potentially suitable to the units of research which can be constructed using the CULTOS authoring package.

1 Thread Reports from Content Group Teams

1.1 Report from Marin Laak - DLF: The encapsulating thread "The Estonian National epic Kalevipoeg (Kalev's Son)"
1.2 Report from Francesca Billiani - IRS: The encapsulating thread "Ugo Iginion Tarchetti and the Gothic genre
1.3 Report from Mark Sabine - IRS: The encapsulating thread "The poetry of Alberto"
1.4 Report from Phoebe von Held - IRS: "The intertextual implications of adapting Diderot's La Religieuse for the stage" (Work in Progress)
1.5 Report from Alison Pendlebury - SOTON: The autonomous thread "Gender, 'Race' and Madness in Jane Eyre and its Intertexts"
1.6 Report from Arnold Groh - TUB: The thread: "European capitals"
1.7 Report from TAU: The encapsulating thread "Don Quixote"
1.8 Report from TAU on the encapsulating thread "Akeda (the binding of Isaac)"
1.9 Report from TAU on the encapsulating thread "Jesus's Crucifixion"
1.10 Report from Tali Konas - TAU: The encapsulating thread "Le Voyage D'Hiver by Georges Perec"
1.11 Report from Liza Chudnovsky - TAU: The autonomous thread "The Library of Babel" by J.L. Borges, and the Internet"
1.12 Report from Michal Ben-Horin - TAU: The autonomous thread "Beethoven's Fifth Symphony" (Work in Progress)

2 Report from the Cultos Publishing Group - Klett Verlag on the uses of the Ontology in pedagogical publishing

2.1 Analysis of the Cultos Ontology in educational publishing
2.2 Assessment of the usability of the authoring tool in the field of educational publishing
2.3 Report from Wofgang Volz - Klett: The encapsulated thread "The Tragedy of William Shakespeare"
2.4 Report from Robert Erber: The encapsualted thread "Beginning of the Weimar Republic 1918-1923"

Appendix 1: Thread-building methodological manual (supplied by TAU)

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