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Digital Archive of Edvard Munch’s Writings
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Technical Information

Under this heading we have collected everything related to the technical aspects of this Web site.

Internationally recognized standards

We make a point of using internationally recognized standards in our work. We encode all of our material – both primary sources and new texts produced in the course of the project – in the XML standard from Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). (See more detailed information below.) The XML files are transformed to HTML with the help of an XSLT stylesheet. The HTML display is formatted with the help of a CSS stylesheet. All of our files will be valid according to these standards.

TEI P5, an international text encoding standard for the humanities

For the encoding of Munch’s texts we are using the newest version (P5) of the international XML-based text encoding standard developed by Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). The aim of encoding the texts with the help of TEI P5 is to create texts that can be treated digitally and used in web-based research, teaching and conservation.

The TEI encoding standard provides alternatives for modification but we have decided to keep to the standard without making any changes or additions. We will document our use of the standard and will publish our set of TEI P5 encoding guidelines on this website when they are fully developed.

XInclude

An encoded text from our archive consists of a set of XML files. Each page (represented by a digital facsimile) is encoded in it's own separate XML file. One XML file collects and gathers the files which make up the complete text. For this purpose we use XInclude which is «a processing model and syntax for general purpose inclusion. Inclusion is accomplished by merging a number of XML information sets into a single composite infoset. Specification of the XML documents (infosets) to be merged and control over the merging process is expressed in XML-friendly syntax (elements, attributes, URI references).» Using XInclude it is thus possible to gather and merge into one file a set of files or parts of files or a combination of the two.

Other standards and XML technologies

We are also using these standards:

  • XSLT
  • Javascript
  • CSS

We try our best to follow the guidelines of the standards.

Free software and open source codes

We have made a point of using software that is available free of charge as well as software that has an open source code. We strive to find good solutions that are well-tried and where it is easy to find documentation and get help.

The software on our Web site

Here is a list of the software that is in use on our Web site.

— responses and good ideas

We would very much like to hear your thoughts about our Web site. There is a feedback tag in the right margin of all of our web pages. Click on the tag and choose between reporting a mistake and going to the attached discussion forum to add comments, questions or ideas for alternative functions, etc.

If you have research-related questions or comments please feel free to contact one of the project collaborators directly.

We would love to hear from you!

The feedback software is available for free from UserVoice: http://uservoice.com/.

Snap Shots — previews of external links

With the help of the software Snapshots, all external links and a selection of the internal links will be visible in a little pop-up window when you point to the link with the mouse cursor.

Google Analytics

We analyse the traffic on our website with the help of Google Analytics.

Browser limitations

At present the pages on our website are adapted for Mozilla Firefox and some of the solutions do not function on other web browsers, for instance Internet Explorer. (This is because Internet Explorer does not use standards such as CSS properly.) This means that the web pages will not be shown as they are meant to be.

If you wish to try Firefox, you can download it here. The program is free of charge and has many interesting functions. Among the additional useful programs is Rotate Image, which allows you to rotate pictures on the website.

By the time our website is completed and launched, however, it will function on all of the most common web browsers.

Timeline

The preliminary timeline and map function has been created with the help of the software Timeline (created in the project Simile), and Google Maps. The software can be downloaded free of charge here: http://code.google.com/p/timemap/. Facts and information can be stored with the help of several different specifications, such as JavaScript, XML or JSON.

Software used in working with Munch’s written material

Here is a list of the software used in-house on the project.

Filemaker Pro

Filemaker is a database program, and is contingent on a license fee.

We store most of our self-initiated material in databases. We have databases for events, individuals, institutions, places and the text items. In addition, we draw on the museum’s other repositories. The material to be published in the internet archive will be exported from the databases over to the TEI P5 format.

<oXygen/> XML Editor

<oXygen/> is an XML editor, and is contingent on a license fee. However, inexpensive licenses are available for academia.

The <oXygen/> group is interested in providing assistance to international academic circles preoccupied with technology in the humanities and has therefore incorporated support for the text encoding standard from Text Encoding Initiative.

We use to encode and validate our XML files and to transform them to HTML. We also edit our XSLT and CSS stylesheets in . It is easy to create valid files in because the program reads the encoding standard that is the basis for the file and gives continuous feedback about the code you are writing. The program displays alternative tags (with the help of a drop-down menu) when you begin typing the angle brackets so that you avoid coding and spelling mistakes, and so that the encoding process proceeds faster.

Image Markup Tool

Image Markup Tool (IMT) is developed by Image Markup Tool Initiative under Martin Holmes, Humanities computing and Media Centre (HCMC) and Text Analysis Portal for Research (TAPoR) at the University of Victoria in Canada.

In IMT you can mark an area of a picture, transcribe a text or make a footnote about something within the indicated area, store these as TEI P5 files and generate a web display. IMT currently only works with one picture at a time, but aside from this it is a very user-friendly program that is extremely helpful.

IMT is available free of charge and the source code is also open to all for use.

eXist-db. Open Source Native XML Database

We store and arrange our XML files with the help of the XML database eXist-db.

eXist-db is available free of charge and the source code is also open to all for use.

The digital archive

Building the archive

We are building the archive using a solution already implemented and used by other TEI encoding members of the digital humanities community. The solution consists of the web server Apache Tomcat, the XML database eXist and the framework solution Apache Cocoon.

We are inspired mostly by the Humanities Computing and Media Centre (HCMC) at the University of Victoria in Canada, and their developer, Martin Holmes. At the HCMC they have used this suite of tools successfully in a number of projects, see e.g. the Colonial Despatches and the Robert Graves Diary Project. The Henry III Fine Rolls project, which is a cooperation between the National Archives, the History Department and the Centre for Computing in the Humanities at the King's College London, and the Department of History and American Studies at the Canterbury Christ Church University of Kent. The Henry III Fine Rolls project is not using the XML databse though.

The most prominent advantage of using a solution others have been using and still are using, is of course that we know that the solution works, and also that we can ask for help when we need to.

Here is a list of the software used in building the digital archive:

The XMl database eXist will form the base of the archive as it contains all of Munch's texts and the project's own resources. All files will be encoded in TEI XML P5. The Cocoon framework, run upon an Apache Tomcat web server, will administer and render the web site. All software in the digital archive are available free of charge and has an open source code. The resulting web site can be run on any operating system as long as Java virtual machine is installed as well. Our web site is currently running on a test server using the Ubuntu Linux operating system.

This is a short description of how the web site will work: Queries (written in XQuery) are sent to the database and as a result, texts are sent in return. These texts are either XML fragments or files. The result is transformed into XHTML using XSLT and then rendered with CSS in a browser. Design and functionality are added using CSS and Javascript.

Timeline

Cf. above.

Tool for annotation and tagging

We are planning a tool which will make it possible to write notes, annotate and publish annotations as well as tag texts with one's own tags and add links between pages.