***************************************************************** * * * File: 10-1-95.TXT Dateilänge: 8 KB * * * * Autor: Maria Sollohub, Bergen - Norwegen * * * * Titel: THE WITTGENSTEIN ARCHIVES AT THE UNIVERSITY * * OF BERGEN (2) * * * * Erschienen in: WITTGENSTEIN STUDIES, Diskette 1/1995 * * * ***************************************************************** * * * (c) 1995 Deutsche Ludwig Wittgenstein Gesellschaft e.V. * * Alle Rechte vorbehalten / All Rights Reserved * * * * Kein Bestandteil dieser Datei darf ganz oder teilweise * * vervielfältigt, in einem Abfragesystem gespeichert, * * gesendet oder in irgendeine Sprache übersetzt werden in * * irgendeiner Form, sei es auf elektronische, mechanische, * * magnetische, optische, handschriftliche oder andere Art * * und Weise, ohne vorhergehende schriftliche Zustimmung * * der DEUTSCHEN LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN GESELLSCHAFT e.V. * * Dateien und Auszüge, die der Benutzer für seine privaten * * wissenschaftlichen Zwecke benutzt, sind von dieser * * Regelung ausgenommen. * * * * No part of this file may be reproduced, stored * * in a retrieval system, transmitted or translated into * * any other language in whole or in part, in any form or * * by any means, whether it be in electronical, mechanical, * * magnetic, optical, manual or otherwise, without prior * * written consent of the DEUTSCHE LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN * * GESELLSCHAFT e.V. Those articles and excerpts from * * articles which the subscriber wishes to use for his own * * private academic purposes are excluded from this * * restrictions. * * * ***************************************************************** * * * Sollohub, Maria (1995) THE WITTGENSTEIN ARCHIVES AT THE * * UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN (2); in: * * Wittgenstein Studies 1/95, File: 10-1-95; hrsg. von * * K.-O. Apel, F. Börncke, N. Garver, B. McGuinness, P. Hacker, * * R. Haller, W. Lütterfelds, G. Meggle, C. Nyíri, K. Puhl, * * Th. Rentsch, A. Roser, J.G.F. Rothhaupt, J. Schulte, * * U. Steinvorth, P. Stekeler-Weithofer, W. Vossenkuhl * * (3 1/2'' Diskette) ISSN 0943-5727 * * * ***************************************************************** INTRODUCTION On his death, the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) left behind around 20,000 pages of manuscripts and typescripts; most of these are still unpublished today. The goal of the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen is to create a machine-readable version of the Wittgenstein Nachlass, including an electronic facsimile and a complete set of machine-readable transcriptions. MARKUP The transcriptions under preparation at the Wittgenstein Archives are coded in a primary format using a syntax called MECS (Multi Element Code System). MECS defines the syntax for the Wittgenstein Archives' registration standard, MECS-WIT, while MECS software enables the production of diplomatic and normalised printouts, word lists, numerical and statistical data. MECS has been developed by Claus Huitfeldt, the leader of the Wittgenstein Archives. It is designed with the intention of ensuring that MECS-conforming transcriptions can be easily formatted for output to other applications. The Wittgenstein Archives emphasizes the need to prepare the transcriptions in a format which is neither system nor application dependent. The relationship between MECS and SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) can be outlined as follows. All SGML documents are formally MECS-conforming, but not vice versa. MECS contains some of the properties of SGML, but it also contains additional, simpler mechanisms for representing structures which are cumbersome in SGML. Unlike SGML, MECS allows overlapping elements and does not require a Document Type Definition, although it allows (but does not require) the specification of a similar (though simpler) Code Definition Table. As of May 1995, approximately 8,000 pages of the Wittgenstein Archives has been transcribed, and transcription of the entire Nachlass is expected to be complete by 1999. ELECTRONIC FACSIMILE The Nachlass will initially be published by Oxford University Press as an electronic facsimile on CD-ROM, with the option to supplement the facsimile with the machine-readable transcriptions prepared at the Wittgenstein Archives. A considerable amount of preparatory work has gone into experimentation with data capture, and the current situation (May 1995) is that the Wren Library, Cambridge, has agreed to use a digital camera to scan images from their Nachlass material. It is hoped that digitalisation of the complete Nachlass will be underway in the near future. Use of a digital camera was ultimately preferred to scanning from colour microfilm. In so doing, it is hoped that a superior long-term quality can be achieved and that the margin for error in cataloguing will be reduced. The intention is to transfer high resolution colour images onto several CD-ROM, while a single CD-ROM with black-and-white or greyscale images in lower resolution will be available for purposes of quick reference and browsing. SOURCE MATERIAL The work of the Wittgenstein Archives is dependent upon access to best quality copies of the source material as well as inspection of the original documents themselves. The libraries in whose possession the original documents are to be found (Wren Library, Cambridge; Bodleian Library, Oxford; Austrian National Library, Vienna) have been helpful in both these respects. The Wittgenstein Archives has at its disposition a complete set of copies of the Nachlass. WITTGENSTEIN TRUSTEES An agreement between the Wittgenstein Archives and the Trustees of the copyright in the Wittgenstein Nachlass [Professor G.E.M. Anscombe (Cambridge), Sir Anthony Kenny (Oxford), Professor Peter Winch (Urbana-Champaign, Illinois) and Professor Georg Henrik von Wright (Helsingfors)] has made the work of the Archives possible. The Wittgenstein Trustees have granted the University of Bergen the exclusive rights to publish the entire Nachlass in electronic form and have endorsed a publishing agreement between the Wittgenstein Archives and Oxford University Press. Conclusion For Wittgenstein researchers, the availability of a machine-readable edition of the Nachlass (including both an electronic facsimile and machine-readable transcriptions) will drastically alter the situation many researchers struggle with today (i.e. limited access to copies of the Nachlass and less than half the Nachlass available in book form). Feedback from the many visiting researchers who have become acquainted with the work of the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen has been overwhelmingly positive.