Following the fruitful practice of other COMSt meetings, the third workshop of Team 4 – with the decisive contribution of Team 3 – will be conceived mainly in the form of a round table.
In the first session (coordinated by Team 4) – Electronic catalogues (flat; in a database; on-line; on DVD, etc.): a survey – after a theoretical introduction, the invited speakers, all involved in important electronic cataloguing projects, will be required to report briefly (10-15 min. each) on the state of the art of this topic, presenting examples of various formats of digital catalogues, in order to have a wide idea of their characteristics and “philosophy”. A discussion among all the participants will follow.
The second session (coordinated by Team 4) – Benefits and disadvantages of different “models” of electronic catalogues: printed catalogues transformed into electronic catalogues; printed catalogues transformed into online databases; ad hoc designed electronic catalogues (checklists, analytical catalogues, etc.) – again after a theoretical introduction, will focus on what an electronic catalogue can do that a printed catalogue cannot and vice versa. The discussion will be open to all participants, who will expose their specific experience and their own opinions.
The third session (coordinated by Team 3) – Hypercatalogues and portals – will address the basic ideas of hypercatalogues and portals that render access to distributed manuscript repositories and the like. It will consist of a demonstration of existing hypercatalogues such as Manuscripta Medievalia and a basic outline of the technical background (esp. ontology-based metadata schemes such as MARC or METS) and will end up in a discussion of requirements in the field of Oriental manuscript cataloguing.
Lastly, the fourth and last session (coordinated by Team 3) – the Practical session – will start with an introduction to the TEI’s manuscript description module and to the XML software (about 45 min.). The rest of the time will be spent asking some “volunteers” to encode a catalogue entry or a description of a manuscript practically. This will show clearly the difficulties and the choices that a cataloguer faces when he/she opts for an electronic catalogue.
The meeting is open for everyone to attend.
The workshop venue is
Nordisk Forskningsinstitut
Three travel grants are available for those willing to attend the workshop and unable to carry their expenses. The call is open from 20 March to 10 April 2012.
