SCHOLIA: a web-based reading tool for the study of language and literature

poster / demo / art installation
Authorship
  1. 1. Wendell Piez

    Mulberry Technologies, Inc., Piez Consulting Services

Work text
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SCHOLIA: a web-based reading tool for the study of
language and literature

Wendell
Piez

Mulberry Technologie, Inc.
wapiez@mulberrytech.com

2002

University of Tübingen

Tübingen

ALLC/ACH 2002

editor

Harald
Fuchs

encoder

Sara
A.
Schmidt

This project was developed for a very practical reason. I was sitting down to
read a text in German, a language in which I have some facility but no great
fluency. When studying classical languages, I was schooled in a straightforward
technique that can apply to any foreign literary text: it entails looking up
unknown words in a dictionary or lexicon as I go, and writing an apparatus (in
pencil on note paper) to help me put it all together in rereadings. After some
years of (fairly feeble) practice, I have even refined this process somewhat:
the apparatus takes the form of two separate texts, a running vocabulary and a
translation. A running vocabulary, of course, takes the simple form of a
glossary, listed in order of the appearance of glossed words or phrases in the
original (thus facilitating reference to them when rereading). The translation
provides a record of the larger sense of sentences and passages.
Of course, sitting down to do this recently I found the work both as laborious
and as inefficient as I had when trying to learn languages as an undergraduate.
Reflecting on the shortcomings of my process -- and comparing these methods to
the methods of others who, I imagined, were better language students -- I came
up with a design for a set of XML-based tools that I thought would help lighten
the sheer "toil factor" of the exercise, letting me concentrate on the reading.
My objective was twofold:
1. Make it easy to transcribe my apparatus in a standards-based,
non-proprietary electronic form tractable for automated processing;
2. Provide this format with a reading interface that would make
consulting the text and apparatus easier than the old paper-based,
back-and-forth, page-to-notes process I was used to. It should be
lightweight and easy to use.

The results of this effort may be seen on my web site at . It works like
this:
A native-language version of the text under study (in the prototype,
Robert Musil's German-language short story "Die Amsel") appears in a
panel to the left of the screen. Certain terms in the text are
highlighted by appearing in a different color.
Roving a mouse over a highlighted ("flagged") text and letting it sit
for a second pops up a small "tool tip" for a moment. An
English-language translation or short gloss of the word or phrase is
provided.
Also, if you click on the text, a running translation (in English) of
the sentence or clause you have clicked on appears in the right-hand
panel of the screen.
The entire running translation (right-hand panel) may be "toggled" on
and off by clicking on it. Roving your mouse over it also provides
visual cues lining up the sentences or clauses in the original with the
translation.

The idea is that the English apparatus (the scholia or "trot") is unobtrusive and
easy to make disappear; but is readily accessible using just a mouse roll-over
or click whenever the reader wants it.
Because the interface relies on scripting that employs both CSS2 and the W3C DOM
API (Level 2), only a new DOM-compliant web browser will render the page
properly. Internet Explorer 5+ is sufficient, albeit with a couple of small
features not supported. Netscape 6.2 works the best among browsers I have tested
(available versions of IE or NN; I have not tested Opera at the time of
writing). Unfortunately, Netscape version 4.x does not support the W3C DOM and
can't provide the reading functionalities that are the point of this project.
Upgrade your browser to one that supports a standard document object model!
In addition to this HTML reader's interface, I have an authoring environment
configured for SoftQuad XMetaL, a commercially-available XML structured editing
tool. With its strong customization and macro features, XMetaL facilitates
composing these texts with a minimum of fuss. (Notwithstanding this, the project
is not at all dependent on XMetaL, as the source tag set is designed to be
simple enough to create even in a text editor with minimal support for XML.)
Of course, after inital prototyping had satisfied me that these basic goals were
achievable, I added several subordinate goals, including (but not limited
to):
Base the encoding on a TEI-compatible format. Starting with TEI I am
able to get a head start with stylesheets and tool configuration, while
potentially easing interchange (and helping other users who may also
know TEI).
Demonstrate the utility of W3C DOM interface scripting on the client
beyond simply adding gloss, jazz or "dancing bologna" to a web page:
here it provides an application with an actual real-world use (the study
of literature in a foreign language) at least for one user (me), and
hints at others (since the process model and even tagging could be
fairly readily adapted to other uses).
Demonstrate some practical advantages of a two-tier publishing model.
The complex and cumbersome HTML presentation code does not have to be
written by hand, but instead is generated out of an XML source whose
design is optimized for authoring. Novice learners of XML markup should
be able to create the texts. Teams of students and scholars can break up
the work of creating the texts, and yet share access to them.
Demonstrate how XML-based transformation technologies enable all these
benefits while providing for a measure of interoperability with other
uses and forms of electronic text (especially, in this case, TEI texts);
and yet illuminate the tradeoffs and design challenges that this
objective poses.

I named this project "Scholia", which applies to the architecture as a whole and
to its component parts (as described below). But any of these components could
be switched out for an improved or adapted equivalent without changing the basic
design, thus making the Scholia application somewhat like my grandfather's axe.
(Even though my father changed the shaft and I changed the head, it's my
grandfather's axe.)
In detail, the architecture is as follows:
A formal document model (TEI-derived) taking the form of a custom XML
DTD along with a related SGML DTD written in TEI P3-compatible form.
(The SGML DTD is a close superset of the XML DTD, which is considered to
be normative.) Either DTD can be used for structural validation, which
in itself is enough to assure referential integrity of cross-references
in the output (thus cross-references do not need to be encoded
explicitly).
A small set of extra-DTD parameters for "driving" and/or configuring
the function of the (DOM/DHTML) output, described in related
documentation, and capable of being validated with an XSLT stylesheet.
One or more XML documents, such as my prototype "Amsel", conforming to
the models and extra-DTD constraints.
An XSLT stylesheet that can be used to transform an XML Scholia
document into HTML, for viewing in a DOM-compliant web browser. (The
conversion can be run either in batch mode, allowing a server to deliver
HTML, or dynamically on a client machine.)
An HTML page, whose design is determined by the stylesheet, proving
source text with the reading interface. This is what readers (students
of the text) will work with.

Optional components of the architecture include:
Stylesheets to create other reading versions, for example annotated or
parallel texts in print;
A transformation that would enable Scholia-compliant texts to be
written out in strict TEI interchange format;
A transformation that would "scrub" any arbitrary TEI text into a form
suitable for marking up with new scholia;
A supplementary transformation that would enable the conversion of
"repository" or "interchange" versions into the scripted HTML reading
version (or other reading/browsing versions);
Transformations that would filter Scholia-compliant texts into other
forms, for example to facilitate web- or email-based collaboration in
writing them;
A "unified" interface for composition and reading, potentially
web-based, for example using forms or editing capabilities of modern
browsers and the latest DOM standards.

But with the exception of a few "quality control" transformations, none of these
exist at the time of writing; nor may any of them be strictly necessary to the
success of the project (and so I propose to implement them only if and as there
is a practical demand of some kind).
At ACH/ALLC 2002, my paper, poster or demonstration will include:
A concise review of project goals, non-goals and requirements;
A demonstration of the Scholia reading interface (in the Netscape 6.2
and IE5.5 web browsers),
A demonstration of an authoring interface (using SoftQuad's XMetaL)
along with (if time permits), an alternative "low end" authoring
interface (using a plain text editor),
A presentation of the enhancements or "layer" on top of TEI that
provides the authoring document model, with discussion of the design
principles applied and decisions made, along with the rationales for
those decisions in the light of requirements.
Any attention to the "guts" of the DOM scripting and XSLT
transformations that time may allow.

If this content appears in violation of your intellectual property rights, or you see errors or omissions, please reach out to Scott B. Weingart to discuss removing or amending the materials.

Conference Info

In review

ACH/ALLC / ACH/ICCH / ALLC/EADH - 2002
"New Directions in Humanities Computing"

Hosted at Universität Tübingen (University of Tubingen / Tuebingen)

Tübingen, Germany

July 23, 2002 - July 28, 2008

72 works by 136 authors indexed

Affiliations need to be double-checked.

Conference website: http://web.archive.org/web/20041117094331/http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/allcach2002/

Series: ALLC/EADH (29), ACH/ICCH (22), ACH/ALLC (14)

Organizers: ACH, ALLC

Tags
  • Keywords: None
  • Language: English
  • Topics: None