Fontes Civitatis Ratisponensis III

The method called "Integrated Computer-Supported Editing" was developed to combine reliable techniques in scholarly editing with recent information technologies. The goal of the method is the support of interdisciplinary work and the transparency of a widely defined editing process by the application of formal methods combining rule-based automated procedures with the application of an editor`s special knowledge. To reach as many interested parties as possible, local computers as well as networked systems are used as a carrier for the documentation of highly structured sources and web-based facsimile editions. The result is an integrated information system not only for the archiving of historical sources but even for the analysis of the written tradition of an imperial city (Reichsstadt) of the Middle Ages and the early Modern Times. Therefore this system offers a lot of additional aids like indexes and search engines and it allows different ways of access depending on the particular user group: For the casual user editions are exported from the basic system to a websystem and are presented via the Internet or on CDROM. The requirements of an advanced user will be satisfied by assistant-driven CGI-based interface. The expert user is able to directly access to released parts of the systems objects themselves. The goals of this project are firstly the completion and unification of the data produced in the antecedent projects. Secondly the Virtual Archive will be advanced by the integration of an "stock spanning" development of all sources and of an evaluation system. Thirdly the total system should be migrated to an extensively open system format that obeyes the current industry standard. The especial attention will be turned to long-dating preservation of the data of former and cooperating projects. To provide for this in the context of the Virtual Archiv requires the development of metadata: on the one hand it is necessary to describe the stocks themselves and on the other hand it is indispensable to document all steps of processing and producing the data in the overall-system. This procedure provides for tracing the different steps of editing.

In the framework of the project series "Fontes Civitatis Ratisponensis (FCR)" methodological and technical expertise has been acquired and implemented in a variety of systems in the area of documenting and editing the unique delivered written cultural heritage. The FCR is based theoretically and methodologically on the "Integrated Computer-Supported Editing (ICE)" and follows, in a dynamic implementation of this concept, a work-in-progress strategy. In addition to the digital editions online-repertories were developed in the sense of archival finding aids and a so-called virtual archive that provides archivists with a basic inventory of items, including digital representations, from a variety of perspectives. In concrete, the project essentially was dedicated to the three main topics: 1. Data from predecessor projects and cooperating partners have been completed, standardized and subjected as far as possible. 2. The virtual archive was developed from a prototype to the first version of a production system and integrates descriptions and digital facsimiles of different locations. 3. The completed and standardized data of the core system were migrated to an XML-based repository. The results of the work include a large amount of heterogeneous data and concrete feasibility studies and implementations. These include the changeover from a software-oriented to a data-oriented focus in the system design, the explicit formulation of the work-in-progress strategy, the export from proprietary systems into a general data repository and expert workshops and informal discussions in the frame of the FCR as part of a feedback process. The area of example-oriented basic research has, for the most part, been concluded, and provides a basis for the development of a continuative application system. The Fontes Civitatis Ratisponensis provide an integration of documentary and editorial work, realized in the virtual archive and the digital editions - for this purpose they are matter of public concern for everybody interested in the unique delivered written cultural heritage of Regensburg. Beyond the concrete work on Regensburg`s materials they offer an exemplary solution for scientific activities in this field, concerning the integration of traditional production steps and recent applications of information technology. This research project was funded by the FWF and by the city of Regensburg. More information is available in the World-Wide-Web at the address http://www.fcr-online.com and http://hfi.uni-graz.at.