Andreas Aschenbrenner

TextGrid and eHumanities

TextGrid is a new Grid project in the framework of the German D-Grid initiative, with the aim to deploy Grid technologies for humanities scholars working on historical (German) texts. Its two roots, humanities computing and eScience (Grid computing used by research together with modern communication technologies), are the basis for TextGrid to provide pioneer work in eHumanities. After summarizing Humanities Computing and modern network technologies, community expectations in the fields of philological edition and other application areas are set forth, from which functional requirements such as modularity, distribution, etc. are distilled. The first version of the TextGrid architecture was designed in accordance with these requirements, and focuses on openness by standard conformance and encapsulation. It provides storage Grid services via a pure Web Services interface to dedicated Web Services tools for different aspects of text processing, analysis and retrieval. This platform aims to provide easily usable tools for scholars, but also specifies interfaces for external program developers to add functionality.

Preparing DARIAH

This paper analyses the results of the technical and scientific work in the DARIAH preparatory phase, a European infrastructure for digital arts and humanities. We were looking for an infrastructure model that would allow for the integration of services built around communities. To this end, DARIAH will be developed as a social marketplace for services. The paper presents the design decision we made and our proof-of-concept demonstrators and experiments.

Austrian Online Archive Processing: Analyzing Archives of the World Wide Web

With the popularity of the World Wide Web and the recognition of its worthiness of being archived we find numerous projects aiming at creating large-scale repositories containing excerpts and snapshots of Web data. Interfaces are being created that allow users to surf through time, analyzing the evolution of Web pages, or retrieving information using search interfaces. Yet, with the timeline and metadata available in such a Web archive, additional analyzes that go beyond mere information exploration, become possible. In this paper we present the AOLAP project building a Data Warehouse of such a Web archive, allowing its analysis and exploration from different points of view using OLAP technologies. Specifically, technological aspects such as operating systems and Web servers used, geographic location, and Web technology such as the use of file types, forms or scripting languages, may be used to infer e.g. technology maturation or impact.

Uncovering Information Hidden in Web Archives: A Glimpse at Web Analysis Building on Data Warehouses

The Internet has turned into an important aspect of our information infrastructure and society, with the Web forming a part of our cultural heritage. Several initiatives thus set out to preserve it for the future. The resulting Web archives are by no means only a collection of historic Web pages. They hold a wealth of information that waits to be exploited, information that may be substantial to a variety of disciplines. With the time-line and metadata available in such a Web archive, additional analyzes that go beyond mere information exploration become possible. In the context of the Austrian On-Line Archive (AOLA), we established a Data Warehouse as a key to this information. The Data Warehouse makes it possible to analyze a variety of characteristics of the Web in a flexible and interactive manner using on-line analytical processing (OLAP) techniques. Specifically, technological aspects such as operating systems and Web servers used, the variety of file types, forms or scripting languages encountered, as well as the link structure within domains, may be used to infer characteristics of technology maturation and impact or community structures.

Open ehumanities digital ecosystems and the role of resource registries

The last few years have seen a massive push towards collaborative working methods in the humanities. Many large and small eHumanities Digital Ecosystems (DEs) have sprung into existence. The big challenge ahead is now to see how these subsystems can begin to merge into one larger eHumanities DE while still maintaining their individual characters and strengths. Starting out from a presentation of TextGrid as an exemplary DE in the eHumanities, the article studies two prerequisites for successful interoperability between DEs in the field, namely loosely-coupled services and the visibility of resources. The authors then propose a reference ontology for eHumanities resources, both services and documents alike.

The Quality in Quantity-Enhancing Text-based Research

Computers are becoming more and more a tool for researchers in the humanities. There are already several projects which aim to implement environments and infrastructures to support research. However, they either address qualitative or quantitative research methods, and there has been less work considering support for both methodologies in one environment. This paper analyzes the difference between qualitative and quantitative research in the humanities, outlines some examples and respective projects, and states why the support for both methodologies needs to be combined and how it might be used to form an integrated research infrastructure for the humanities.

Synergies between Grid and Repository Technologies - A Methodical Mapping

Next generation research works across institutional boundaries, disciplines, even across language and culture. Grid and repository technologies both address these requirements, yet, they have - up to now - developed largely isolated from each other. The grid and the repository community can benefit greatly from a convergence of their respective technologies towards an integrated content- and context-aware e-Science infrastructure. This paper classifies interfaces between digital repositories and grid technologies on a storage, an object, and a service level; the potential opportunities; as well as respective activities to date.

TextGrid: eScholarship und vernetzte AngeboteTextGrid: eScholarship in a Network of Resources

Zusammenfassung Das TextGrid-Konsortium bringt acht über ganz Deutschland verteilte Institutionen aus dem akademischen und kommerziellen Sektor zusammen, um eine modulare Plattform für verteilte und kooperative wissenschaftliche Textdatenverarbeitung zu erarbeiten. Unter Einsatz der Grid-Infrastruktur führt es verschiedene Datenstrukturen aus unterschiedlichen Projekten in einem virtuellen Korpus zusammen, das als Ganzes oder in ausgewählten Teilen analysiert und bearbeitet werden kann. Als dezidiert auf Kollaboration auch über die Grenzen von TextGrid selbst ausgerichtete Plattform verändert sie auch den Arbeitsalltag des geisteswissenschaftlichen Forschers, weg vom Bild des weitgehend isoliert arbeitenden Philologen hin zur Teamarbeit an Daten und Werkzeugen gleichermaßen. Aus Informatiksicht ist TextGrid wiederum ein Beispiel für ein komplexes, lose gekoppeltes Digitales Ökosystem mit Spielern aus vielen Disziplinen und Ländern.

Putting the World Wide Web into a data warehouse: a DWH-based approach to Web analysis

The World-Wide Web, due to its sheer size and dynamics, has turned into one of the most fascinating and important data sources for large-scale analysis and investigation, ranging from content-based information location, dynamics of change, to community analysis. Yet, most projects so far rely on special-purpose tools optimized for a given task, providing only limited flexibility. In this paper we propose a data warehouse-based approach to analyze the World-Wide Web. Information contained in the Web pages, meta data on the documents, as well as information acquired from additional sources such as the WHOIS database, are integrated into a multidimensional view of the Web. The resulting system allows for flexible analysis of the various characteristics of the Web. Results from a prototypical study of the Austrian national Web space as part of the AOLA project demonstrate the potential of the presented approach.