About the project

Projects

This page informs you about small-scale projects, whether concluded, ongoing or scheduled for the future, which are used to coordinate our work and give credit to those involved. Some of the descriptions that you will find below are little more than working notes, but they should give you a general sense of the aims and scope of each project. Work on the technology behind CODECS will not usually be included here.

in progress


Adding the early medieval vitae of Saints Gall and Deicolus
Start: September 2020 Texts, Agents Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The vita of St Deicolus; the early medieval vitae of St Gall and related texts; add records for saints and authors;  London, British Library, MS Additional 21917.


Hiberno-Latin: prayers and hymns from a selection of manuscripts
Start: June 2020 Texts, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The focus will be on a selection of six manuscripts: 1. the Antiphonary of Bangor (Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS C 5 inf); 2. the Book of Cerne (Cambridge, University Library, MS Ll. 1. 10/ff. 2-99); 3. Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, MS A VII 3; 4–5. Irish Liber hymnorum (Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1441 and Dublin, University College, MS Franciscan A 2); 6. Ivrea, Biblioteca capitolare, MS 85.


Works of Columbanus
Start: June 2020 Texts Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The purpose is to catalogue the sermons, letters, rules and other works by or attributed to Columbanus. On hold.


Penance in early medieval Ireland and abroad: penitentials, canon law and related texts
Start: December 2019 Texts Elaine Pereira Farrell, Dennis Groenewegen in progress
Description forthcoming. The aim is add key texts relating to penitential practices in early medieval Ireland, Britain and mainland Europe. This subproject benefits from the descriptions written by Elaine Pereira Farrell on the website https://penitentials.wordpress.com, which she started when writing her PhD thesis on “Taboos and penitence: Christian conversion and popular religion in early medieval Ireland”. This thesis was submitted in 2012 (see the bibliography) and is currently being transformed into a book publication to appear with Brepols.


Vergiliana, phase 1
Start: November 2019 Texts, Manuscripts, Bibliography Dennis Groenewegen in progress
Add entries for texts and commentaries (Scholia Bernensis, the Explanationes, the Expositio and De epythetis Virgilii); add entries for manuscripts with Irish and Breton associations; and start adding to the bibliography.


Hiberno-Latin: grammars and grammatical commentaries
Start: November 2018 Texts Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The aim is to record as many Latin grammars and grammatical commentaries as possible which are thought to be Irish or Irish-influenced in origin. Even where the argument for Irishness seems weak today, it may be worthwhile to record them nonetheless and alert readers to past discussion. Currently on hold because of lack of access to essential publications.


Adding links to Thesaurus Linguae Hibernicae (TLH)
Start: January 2017 Bibliography, Texts Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The aim is to make sure that every publication used by TLH (2006–2011) – online (last updated in 2011) is recorded and to include links to its transcriptions in TEI XML markup (editions as well as translations). Publications listed in the Primary sources sections of entries for texts will automatically show these links.

proposed


Senchas Már, first third
Texts proposed
Create or improve entries for the following texts: Pseudo-historical prologue to the Senchas Már; (1) Introduction to the Senchas Már; (2) Cethairshlicht athgabálae; (2a) Di choimét dligthech; (3) Di gnímaib gíall; (4) Cáin íarraith; (5) Cáin shóerraith; (6) Cáin aicillne; (7) Cáin lánamna; (8) Córus béscnai.


Indexing O'Davoren's glossary
Texts proposed
On hold because the responsible digital module will be revised.


Adding Irish legal commentaries and digests
Texts, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
While we have barely begun to include Irish legal texts in our catalogue, there are later kinds of text, such as the legal commentary or the legal digest, which - though derivative - deserve to be included, too. Above all, these texts and their manuscripts contexts can be studied to shed light on the times in which they written and on the interests of the legal discipline and its scholars in particular.


Irish hagiography about biblical characters
Texts proposed
Irish hagiographical writing (lives, passions, homilies, legends, miracle stories, etc.) about biblical characters: the Apostles (both collectively and individually: Andrew, Bartholomew, James the Great, Paul, Peter, Philip and Thomas), John the Baptist, Longinus, Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Michael the archangel. We will also include the legend of John the Evangelist (Eoin Bruinne, LFF), even though he is a character only on the grounds of his identification with John the Apostle. Ch. Plummer’s overview in his Miscellanea hagiographica hibernica will come as a convenient first guide. Many of the individual texts have been added a while ago, but this project serves to streamline coverage of the ‘corpus’ as a whole.


Bring back simple manual indices of persons and places as an optional feature for text entries
Texts, Agents, Places Dennis Groenewegen proposed
In addition to annotating texts section by section and deriving indexes of persons and places from them automatically, it should additionally be possible to list persons and places by hand, along with links to persistent items and comments. Such a feature existed in the early years of the project but was removed. This feature allows for easy re-use of pre-existing indices.


Welsh prognostications and related texts
Texts proposed
The aim is to add prognostic texts that are either written in Welsh or in some cases, that are written in Latin but are believed to be of Welsh provenance.


Poems in Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin
Texts, Manuscripts proposed
The aim is to produce a table of contents and an entry for each poem contained in the manuscript. A basic table of contents is now available (latest insights from multi-spectral imaging not yet incorporated).


Senchas Már, middle third
Texts proposed
Create or improve entries for the foll. texts: Sechtae; Bretha comaithchesa; Din techtugud; Tosach béscnai and the Kinship poem; Recholl breth; Di astud chirt ocus dligid; Di thúaslucud rudrad; Fuidir tract; Di fhodlaib cenéoil túaithe; Di dligiud raith ocus somaíne la flaith; Díre tract; Bandíre tract;  Bechbretha; Coibnes uisci thairidne; Bretha im fhuillema gell; Bretha im gatta.


Hiberno-Latin: Towards a model of ‘Irish symptoms’
Manuscripts, Texts, Infrastructure Dennis Groenewegen proposed
The goal is to develop a new data model for capturing ‘Irish symptoms’, signs that might betray Irish involvement or influence in Insular and continental manuscripts and texts (early medieval biblical exegesis, grammars), e.g. ‘title heading of the Psalms in the tres lingae sacrae’. While surely many of Bernhard Bischoff’s arguments have come under considerable scrutiny, the aim is not to prove or disprove but to offer tools that allow users to make better informed analyses and interpretations.


Contents of the Barzaz-Breiz as texts
Texts Pierre Faure proposed
The Barzaz-Breiz by La Villemarqué is a 19th-century collection of popular Breton songs, on which much has been written in the decades after its initial publication. Perhaps cataloguing songs individually as texts could help us sort out the secondary literature as well as group songs by (alleged) place of origin, type of song, etc. On CODECS, songs could potentially be treated much like poetic texts.


Welsh chronicles (#1): texts and manuscripts
Texts, Manuscripts proposed
The chronicles of medieval Wales and related historical writings, in Welsh as well as in Latin (scope yet to be determined). The primary focus will be on manuscript evidence and the availability of source editions.


Bischoff’s Wendepunkte #1: (presumed) Hiberno-Latin and Irish-influenced commentaries
Texts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
Make sure that each text has at the very least a basic entry following a set of minimum requirements. (Part 2 will deal with the manuscripts)


Welsh poetry: englynion from Canu Llywarch Hen, Canu Heledd and Canu Urien
Texts proposed


Early Fenian corpus: updates
Texts proposed
The publication of Kevin Murray’s The early Fenian corpus (Cork University Press, 2021), which may be called a reference companion to his discussions in The early Finn Cycle (Four Courts Press, 2017), provides ample scope for a wide range of updates. For instance, his suggestions of textual dating are likely to take precedence over earlier such work, especially since much of our current information is still largely based on Kuno Meyer’s Fianaigecht (1910). The scope of this project has yet to be decided.


Senchas Már, last third
Texts proposed
Create or improve entries for: The sellach/court tract; Status tract; Bretha for techt Medbae; Bretha for macshlechtaib (al. Maccshlechta); Bretha for catshlechtaib (al. Catshlechta); Bretha for conshlechtaib (al. Conshlechta); Bretha cairdi (al. Cairde tract); Slicht othrusa; Bretha crólige; Bretha Déin Chécht; Di ércib fola (al. Injury tract); Bretha Creidini; Lestrai; Muirbretha; Béscnae ráithe; Tract on marriage and divorce; Fidbretha; Di brethaib gaire; Dúilchinni; Bretha sén formae; Córus aithni; Díguin tract; Turbaid tract; Osbretha (fragments).


First Scottish Gaelic dictionaries and other lexicographical works
Texts, Bibliography, Manuscripts proposed
The aim is to provide entries for the first Scottish Gaelic dictionaries, glossaries and other lexicographical works, beginning with the Kirk-Ó Broin glossary; a Gaelic translation of John Ray’s Dictionariolum trilingue (1675); William Nicolson’s Scottish Historical Library (1702); a school dictionary used by MacDonald; the first printed Gaelic-English dictionary, which is that compiled by Alexander MacDonald (publ. 1741); the glossary in A. MacDonald’s Ais-eiridh na sean choin Albannaich (1751); the ‘Erse index of the names of plants’ of John Lightfoot‘s Flora Scotica (1777, 1789, 1792); William Shaw’s An analysis of the Galic language (1778) and Galick and English dictionary (1780); Robert MacFarlan’s A New Alphabetic Vocabulary, Gailic and English (1795); Peter MacFarlane, New and Copious English and Gaelic Vocabulary (1815); Robert Archibald Armstrong’s Gaelic-English-Gaelic dictionary (1825); the manuscripts of the unpublished dictionary compiled by Alexander Robertson of Kirkmichael for the Highland Society of Scotland; the Dictionarium Scoto-Celticum (1828); Norman Macleod and Daniel Dewar, A dictionary of the Gaelic language (1831, 1839); Neil Macalpine A pocket pronouncing Gaelic dictionary for schools in the Highlands and Islands (1834); Ewen MacEachen’s Faclair Gailig us Beurla (1842); Alexander Macbain’s Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language (1896); and finally, Edward Dwelly’s Gaelic-English dictionary (1909).


Poetry of the Carolingian Renaissance: by and about the Irish
Texts proposed
Irish poets: Dúngal, Sedulius Scottus, Josephus Scottus, Hibernicus Exul, etc.; poets about the Irish at court: Theodulf of Orléans, Gottschalk.


Hiberno-Latin: Carmina of John Scottus Eriugena
Texts proposed
Poems as edited, translated and discussed by M. Herren and A. Dunning (rev. ed. 2020; originally published in 1993).


Hiberno-Latin: The circle of Sedulius Scottus – manuscripts and texts
Texts, Manuscripts proposed
Foll. BCLL nos. 672–686 (+ 737, 756); Kenney, Sources, 553–569.


Hiberno-Latin and Irish-influenced biblical commentaries
Texts, Manuscripts proposed


Late fianaigheacht poetry: phase #1
Texts proposed
A suitable starting point is formed by the poems edited by Ó Siochfhradha in Laoithe na Féinne (1941) and by O’Daly in Laoithe fiannuigheachta (2 vols, 1859–1861) as well as the poems listed in BILL vol. 1 (1913), under ‘Ossianic poetry: particular poems’ (pp. 190–195). The aim at this stage is simply to identify a large body of poetry, concentrating on quantity first; in-depth information is not required at this point, nor any detailed survey of the manuscript evidence, which should become the focus of a successive project.


Irish tracts on entitlements and obligations
Texts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
From at least the Middle Irish period onwards, we find dozens of possibly propagandistic tracts in prose and verse that purport to outline the rights, privileges and obligations (tributes, customary services, etc.) which underlie the relationship or ‘contract’ (typically) between a ruler or lord and subject peoples or kindreds. The aim here is to create entries for them in the catalogue and create pages for some of their metadata.


Setting up Fontes Hibernici
Texts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
Following the example of the Fontes Anglo-Saxonici, the aim is to build the infrastructure of a register of written sources used by Irish authors.


Sources for the Irish and other peregrini in Lotharingia: texts and manuscripts
Texts, Manuscripts proposed


Hiberno-Latin: Works of John Scottus Eriugena
Texts proposed
Create or improve entries for the following texts: De divina praedestinatione; Glosa Prisciani; Annotationes in Marcianum; Tractatus in Matheum; Versio operum sancti Dionysii; Ambigua ad Iohannem; De imagine; Quaestiones ad Thalassium; tr. of Ancoratus (lost); Periphyseon; Expositiones in Ierarchiam coelestem; Versio operum sancti Dionysii Areopagitae revised; Glossae divinae historiae; Vox spiritualis aquilae; Commentarius in evangelium Iohannis; Excerpta Macrobii; and Tractatus de uisione Dei (lost). The manuscripts containing these texts are not within the scope of this project. His poems (Carmina) will be dealt with separetely.


Gael and Gall: political prophecy in medieval Irish poetry
Texts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
The aim is first, to add a number of medieval Irish poems that make use of political prophecy, such as those that predict the coming of a hero that will redeem native Ireland from a foreign invader, sometimes following a future period of destruction and decline. This will include poems edited by Nicholas Kearney in a book that was published in the heat of the Ossian controversy and which did little good to his reputation and career.


Drawing up a table of contents for the Book of Llandaf
Manuscripts, Texts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
The early 12th-century Book of Llandaf offers a variety of textual material - gospel texts, numerous charters or transactions records and saints' lives. The aim is to offer a table of contents which does justice to its complex history, structure and layout.


Irish hagiography about European saints: post-biblical
Texts proposed
Irish hagiographical writing (lives, passions, homilies, miracle stories, etc.) about (non-Irish) European saints who were supposed to have lived after the events described in the Bible, from the early Christian martyrs to Francis of Assisi. The material to be covered is concerned with the following saints: Albertus, Alexius, Barlaam and Josaphat, Catherine, Christopher, Cirycus and Julitta, Eulalia, Eustace (Eustachius), Francis of Assisi, George, Gregory the Great, Gregory Thaumaturgus, James Intercisus, Jordanus, Juliana, Lawrence (Laurentius) of Rome, Marcellinus, Margaret of Antioch, Martin of Tours, Mary of Egypt, Paphnutius and Onophrius, Sebastian, the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, pope Silvester and Constantine, and Thomas of Canterbury. Ch. Plummer’s overview in his  Miscellanea hagiographica hibernica serves as a convenient starting point. Fraser’s edition of St Christopher’s passion will be transcribed in TEI XML format.


Irish metrical forms: completing the dataset
Texts, Subjects Dennis Groenewegen proposed
Catalogue entries on Irish poems can carry semantic annotations for specific metrical forms. To make them selectable, a dataset is required containing their titles, syllabic formulae within stanzas and references to Gerald Murphy’s and Kuno Meyer’s discussions (e.g. aí fhreisligi, 7³+7²+7³+7², Murphy no. 54, Meyer no. 41).  The dataset, which currently holds only 30+ entries, should be completed and a query form should be developed using metrical forms as a search criterion.


Describing the contents of Acallam na senórach (phase 1)
Texts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
Aims to the describe the contents of the Acallam na senórach. This project is undertaken in conjunction with the development of a revised feature that lets us build ‘smart’ tables of contents as well as annotate particular items within a text. It is also intended to lay the groundwork for further annotations focusing for instance, on the characters, places visited, passed or mentioned, items of verse quoted, etc. The scope of phase 1 has yet to be determined.


Medieval Welsh religious prose: selection
Texts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
Epistol y SulY GroglithYstoria AddaVal a cauas Elen y GrogCredo seint AthanasiusCredo Athanasius (Gruffudd Bola) • Ymborth yr enaidYstorya gwlat Ieuan VendigeitGwyrthyeu e Wynvydedic VeirEsgyniad Mair i'r Nef Hystoria gweryddon yr AlmaenPy delw y dyly dyn credu y DuwYmryson y bugelydd i wybod pwy waethaf...Ystorya Titus Aspassianus.

planned


Breton Latin hagiography
Start: December 2020 Texts Dennis Groenewegen planned
On hold. Description forthcoming.


Adding early ‘Celtic’ charters and memoranda
Start: August 2019 Texts, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen planned
On hold. The aim is to add the early medieval charters or memoranda from Wales, Brittany, Ireland and Scotland, those which Wendy Davies previously described as ‘Celtic’.


Adding texts whose style is described in the literature as bérla na filed
Start: May 2018 Texts Dennis Groenewegen planned
On hold.


Revise how we define textual scope and variation
Infrastructure, Texts Dennis Groenewegen planned
The catalogue covers a variety of textual variants and textual make-ups: multi-recension entries, multiple recensions, redactions or versions, poems with later prose introductions, prose works with redactions of earlier poems, composite works, translations and adaptations, items occurring within different textual contexts, etc. Parts of the current system of description and annotation that is used to come to grips with these varieties of composition, transmission and reworking and with these varieties of textual structure may need to be revised, somewhat augmented but above all, more efficiently organised.


Colophons and marginalia of Irish scribes (phase 1)
Infrastructure, Texts, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen planned
Description forthcoming.

done


Add or improve five key texts concerning the origin legend of the Fothairt (small-scale project)
Start: 7 June 2021 Texts Dennis Groenewegen done
(a) rosc beg. A Eochaid Airtt Fuath arafalnather iath aneoil; (b) poem beg. Feidlimid athair Echach; (c) poem beg. Fothairt for clannaib Concorb; (d) Genealogical tract on the Fothairt; (d) prose text On the settlement of the Fotharta and the Laigsi; (e) Dinnshenchas of Ráith Chrinna.


Adding Irish and Hiberno-Latin prognostications
Start: August 2018 Texts Dennis Groenewegen done
Prognostics concerning the weather (thunder, winds, etc.), animals or animal sound, the day of the week on which one is born, Somniale Danielis, Revelatio/Supputatio Esdrae.


List the dinnshenchas texts in Rennes MS 598
Start: 2014 Texts, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen done


Dinnshenchas Érenn (phase 2011-2012)
Start: 2011 Texts Dennis Groenewegen done
Dinnshenchas Érenn (‘Lore concerning the prominent places of Ireland’) is the term that is most commonly used to describe a compilation or body of medieval Irish literature in which the origins of particular Irish placenames are explained with reference to certain legendary events. During this first phase of the project, every text will be indexed in our database, together with some metadata and bibliographic information. Lists of manuscript witnesses are to be completed at a later date (many entries will simply show you the sigla that E. Gwynn assigned to the MSS and which are explained on Dinnshenchas Érenn).

in progress


Peniarth collection
Start: 12 April 2022 Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The aim is to provide at least a basic skeletal framework of catalogue entries for all manuscripts in the Peniarth collection, laying foundations for further work in future projects.


Redesigning Tionscadal na Nod
Start: September 2021 Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The aim is not a complete overhaul, but it is time for both cosmetic restylings and structural changes. Some of the structural decisions previously taken will be revised and the current look and feel could use a slight makeover.


Tutorials for working with manuscript data
Start: January 2021 Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen, Pierre Faure in progress
CODECS never had tutorials or walkthroughs for the purpose of instructing our team of editors and maybe didn't need them at first, but since the complexity of the project, especially in the way data are interrelated, has grown as well as that of the interface to manage them, at least some clarification is no luxury. The tutorials are meant to be brief. More detailed information about the particulars is meant to go to contextual information, which is usually provided by way of tooltips.


Hiberno-Latin: prayers and hymns from a selection of manuscripts
Start: June 2020 Texts, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The focus will be on a selection of six manuscripts: 1. the Antiphonary of Bangor (Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS C 5 inf); 2. the Book of Cerne (Cambridge, University Library, MS Ll. 1. 10/ff. 2-99); 3. Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, MS A VII 3; 4–5. Irish Liber hymnorum (Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1441 and Dublin, University College, MS Franciscan A 2); 6. Ivrea, Biblioteca capitolare, MS 85.


Vergiliana, phase 1
Start: November 2019 Texts, Manuscripts, Bibliography Dennis Groenewegen in progress
Add entries for texts and commentaries (Scholia Bernensis, the Explanationes, the Expositio and De epythetis Virgilii); add entries for manuscripts with Irish and Breton associations; and start adding to the bibliography.


Early medieval manuscripts containing Old Irish and early Middle Irish
Start: January 2015 Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The aim is to have at least basic entries for all early medieval manuscripts known to contain specimens of Early Irish (glosses, scholia, etc.), primarily those used in the Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus.

proposed


Welsh chronicles (#1): texts and manuscripts
Texts, Manuscripts proposed
The chronicles of medieval Wales and related historical writings, in Welsh as well as in Latin (scope yet to be determined). The primary focus will be on manuscript evidence and the availability of source editions.


Drawing up a table of contents for the Book of Llandaf
Manuscripts, Texts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
The early 12th-century Book of Llandaf offers a variety of textual material - gospel texts, numerous charters or transactions records and saints' lives. The aim is to offer a table of contents which does justice to its complex history, structure and layout.


New round of adding and enriching information about repositories of Irish manuscripts
Agents, Bibliography, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
This time round using De Brún’s handlist, Lámhscríbhinní Gaeilge: treoirliosta, as a guide, with a focus on the time of acquisition, especially for late additions that are not covered by the major catalogues.


Sources for the Irish and other peregrini in Lotharingia: texts and manuscripts
Texts, Manuscripts proposed


Adding Irish legal commentaries and digests
Texts, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
While we have barely begun to include Irish legal texts in our catalogue, there are later kinds of text, such as the legal commentary or the legal digest, which - though derivative - deserve to be included, too. Above all, these texts and their manuscripts contexts can be studied to shed light on the times in which they written and on the interests of the legal discipline and its scholars in particular.


Hiberno-Latin: Towards a model of ‘Irish symptoms’
Manuscripts, Texts, Infrastructure Dennis Groenewegen proposed
The goal is to develop a new data model for capturing ‘Irish symptoms’, signs that might betray Irish involvement or influence in Insular and continental manuscripts and texts (early medieval biblical exegesis, grammars), e.g. ‘title heading of the Psalms in the tres lingae sacrae’. While surely many of Bernhard Bischoff’s arguments have come under considerable scrutiny, the aim is not to prove or disprove but to offer tools that allow users to make better informed analyses and interpretations.


Poems in Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin
Texts, Manuscripts proposed
The aim is to produce a table of contents and an entry for each poem contained in the manuscript. A basic table of contents is now available (latest insights from multi-spectral imaging not yet incorporated).


From Lough Kinale to Fenagh: book shrines in Ireland
Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
Of the archaeological artefacts which are not yet covered but do merit attention because of their special relationship to manuscript culture, the book shrine, or cumhdach in Irish, probably comes to mind first. The aim is to create new pages for them, taking into account both their original creation and later refurbishments, and compile a basic bibliography. Any inscriptions, if they bear any, will be dealt with in the appropriate place under 'Inscriptions', with structured links to the object.


First Scottish Gaelic dictionaries and other lexicographical works
Texts, Bibliography, Manuscripts proposed
The aim is to provide entries for the first Scottish Gaelic dictionaries, glossaries and other lexicographical works, beginning with the Kirk-Ó Broin glossary; a Gaelic translation of John Ray’s Dictionariolum trilingue (1675); William Nicolson’s Scottish Historical Library (1702); a school dictionary used by MacDonald; the first printed Gaelic-English dictionary, which is that compiled by Alexander MacDonald (publ. 1741); the glossary in A. MacDonald’s Ais-eiridh na sean choin Albannaich (1751); the ‘Erse index of the names of plants’ of John Lightfoot‘s Flora Scotica (1777, 1789, 1792); William Shaw’s An analysis of the Galic language (1778) and Galick and English dictionary (1780); Robert MacFarlan’s A New Alphabetic Vocabulary, Gailic and English (1795); Peter MacFarlane, New and Copious English and Gaelic Vocabulary (1815); Robert Archibald Armstrong’s Gaelic-English-Gaelic dictionary (1825); the manuscripts of the unpublished dictionary compiled by Alexander Robertson of Kirkmichael for the Highland Society of Scotland; the Dictionarium Scoto-Celticum (1828); Norman Macleod and Daniel Dewar, A dictionary of the Gaelic language (1831, 1839); Neil Macalpine A pocket pronouncing Gaelic dictionary for schools in the Highlands and Islands (1834); Ewen MacEachen’s Faclair Gailig us Beurla (1842); Alexander Macbain’s Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language (1896); and finally, Edward Dwelly’s Gaelic-English dictionary (1909).


Build integration with JSON files of manuscript collation models from VisColl
Infrastructure, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
While Project 17034 is meant to cover standard descriptions, we also want to cater for more advanced use cases using separate modules. The current Foliation scheme module allows for foliation, pagination, columniation and alternative numberings in parallel; page dimensions; notes on the condition of the leaves; numeral system (e.g. roman vs arabic) and some other information. However, it does not represent the structure of a gathering in the way that VisColl does. An in-house module, including a web form, may be developed which integrates these needs and wishes.


Hiberno-Latin: The circle of Sedulius Scottus – manuscripts and texts
Texts, Manuscripts proposed
Foll. BCLL nos. 672–686 (+ 737, 756); Kenney, Sources, 553–569.


Developing a Welsh counterpart to Tionscadal na Nod
Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
In the same way that Tionscadal na Nod focuses on Irish manuscripts, we could use a project that does the same thing for medieval Welsh manuscripts (Prosiect y Byrfoddau or maybe Talfyriadau?).


Hiberno-Latin and Irish-influenced biblical commentaries
Texts, Manuscripts proposed

planned


Adding early ‘Celtic’ charters and memoranda
Start: August 2019 Texts, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen planned
On hold. The aim is to add the early medieval charters or memoranda from Wales, Brittany, Ireland and Scotland, those which Wendy Davies previously described as ‘Celtic’.


Colophons and marginalia of Irish scribes (phase 1)
Infrastructure, Texts, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen planned
Description forthcoming.


Making improvements to data structure for manuscripts (miscellaneous)
Infrastructure, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen planned
First, the data model for the physicality/materiality of manucripts is in need of some attention: (a) make number of pages/folios ‘machine-countable’ (see now ‘Improved support for collation and foliation formulae’), (b) revise inaccurate and arguable uses of the term "vellum" (when in doubt, use "parchment" ); (c) maybe other fixes. Second, alternative classification systems should be simplified and made easier.

done


British Library, Add. MSS 14866–15089: Welsh manuscripts and manuscripts relating to Wales
Start: June 2022 Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen done
The modest purpose of this minor project is to have a skeletal framework of basic catalogue entries for Welsh manuscripts in the collections BL Add. MSS 14866–14961 and 14962-15089 (except probably 15084 and 15087, which do not seem relevant for our purposes). As in BL’s online catalogue, they will be based, initially, on the 1850 catalogue for additions in 1841–1845. Dates provided in the online catalogue should be viewed critically or taken as provisional, in part because some of them appear to refer to dates of textual composition rather than those of the writing and copying of the manuscripts. It should also be noted that printed material interleaved with manuscripts should be dated separately from the manuscript. More detailed and more accurate information is reserved for later projects and these will no doubt avail themselves of the new Repertory by Daniel Huws.


Install an IIIF-compliant image viewer and set up relevant infrastructure
Start: 6 August 2021 Infrastructure, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen done
Many libraries are making digital facsimiles or images of manuscripts available using standards set by the IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) Consortium. The aim is to install one of the available image viewers (probably Mirador 3), embed its use in appropriate contexts and let MS entries store links to IIIF Manifests. Good to have: ability to open the manuscript on a particular page, with a particular zoom level, but there will be a Content State API, which is still in draft. Entries about discrete MS units would especially benefit from this.


Improved support for collation and foliation formulae
Start: August 2021 Manuscripts, Infrastructure Dennis Groenewegen done
Current input for information about collation and foliation has been mostly simply descriptive. We should take a more structured approach, allowing editors to choose between two standardised, form-assisted methods of description, depending on the information that is available: (a) add a collation formula, or (b) add the number of leaves. The total number of leaves should be computed automatically from this formula (unless perhaps there is good reason not to depend on it; flyleaves are counted separately) and the template will take the input to produce formatted notations. Two new properties will be introduced (one of which will ultimately be used to assist in querying for manuscripts based on the number of leaves). This small-scale project is intended to cover most use cases. For another, more detailed approach, see the VisColl project elsewhere in this list.


Five medieval English historical manuscripts of Irish and Scottish interest
Start: August 2021 Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen done
A selection of five Latin manuscripts: (i) Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 4126 = Poppleton MS; (ii) Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 175; (iii) London, British Library, MS Harley 4003 (possibly Anglo-Irish); (iv) Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff. 1. 27 and (v) Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 66 + 66a.


List the dinnshenchas texts in Rennes MS 598
Start: 2014 Texts, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen done


Improve historical numbering system for object collections
Infrastructure, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen done
The aim is to make manuscripts and archival records more easily discoverable by recording their older signatures or catalogue numbers, defining the numbering system used and the collection to which this numbering system pertains. It should not matter whether the collections are themselves historical (e.g. Hengwrt collection) or extant and whether or not they still house a particular item. This is intended to supersede the current system, whose organisation is not as tight as it could be and may be confusing to editors working with the form.Update: data overhaul completed in January 2023; next step: searchability (no date set).

in progress


Maintenance work scheduled for Spring/Summer 2021 (ORCID, DIB, CDI)
Start: April 2021 Agents, Infrastructure, Bibliography Dennis Groenewegen in progress
[1] Add ORCID identifiers as special "equivalent" links [now shown on Show:Agent] -- [2] Update references to the Dictionary of Irish biography (moved to https:/dib.ie) - The new Dictionary of Irish biography published by the RIA is a continuation of that formerly published by CUP on cambridge.dub.ie (although at the time of checking the website, some entries were available only from the Cambridge website). Updates should be easy since the IDs we've registered are part of the DOIs listed, except for the a prefix, which will have to be removed. However, the current DIB lists DOIs that are not accessible, perhaps not yet accessible, so this operation will have to wait until this situation is cleared up [update: DOIs listed should become valid sooner or later this year] -- [3] The Celtic Digital Initiative has new URLs for their website as well as new names for the files of scanned documents it provides. A list of new URLs has been kindly made available to us (thanks to Kevin Murray and Margaret Lantry) -- [4] Clean up some outdated and temporary work -- [5] The transition to the current system of recording and managing agents in their own namespace is not yet complete for contributors to publications (authors, editors, etc), which relies on a temporary measure. Semantic properties will be revised, redirects will be transferred and forms will handle autocompletion differently (done).


Building new interface for browsing publications by subject heading
Start: June 2020 Infrastructure, Bibliography Dennis Groenewegen in progress
On hold. This has found a new solution.


Indexing Gaulish inscriptions (phase 1)
Start: May 2020 Inscriptions, Bibliography Pierre Faure, Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The primary aim is to index all Gaulish inscriptions and to make them uniquely referentiable for the bibliography. Some basic information will be provided and the sites of inscribed objects, with the probable exception of coins, will be located on a map. The landing page for inscriptions is to be found on this page.


Vergiliana, phase 1
Start: November 2019 Texts, Manuscripts, Bibliography Dennis Groenewegen in progress
Add entries for texts and commentaries (Scholia Bernensis, the Explanationes, the Expositio and De epythetis Virgilii); add entries for manuscripts with Irish and Breton associations; and start adding to the bibliography.


Incorporating Steve Hewitt’s bibliography of Breton linguistics
Start: February 2019 Bibliography Stephen Hewitt, Dennis Groenewegen in progress
Steve Hewitt compiled a bibliography of Breton linguistics, which he has kindly offered to us for use on CODECS. Each individual publication listed will be added the site and when the interface for it is ready, should be findable under its appropriate heading (‘Breton language‘). On hold.


Adding links to Thesaurus Linguae Hibernicae (TLH)
Start: January 2017 Bibliography, Texts Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The aim is to make sure that every publication used by TLH (2006–2011) – online (last updated in 2011) is recorded and to include links to its transcriptions in TEI XML markup (editions as well as translations). Publications listed in the Primary sources sections of entries for texts will automatically show these links.

proposed


New round of adding and enriching information about repositories of Irish manuscripts
Agents, Bibliography, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
This time round using De Brún’s handlist, Lámhscríbhinní Gaeilge: treoirliosta, as a guide, with a focus on the time of acquisition, especially for late additions that are not covered by the major catalogues.


First Scottish Gaelic dictionaries and other lexicographical works
Texts, Bibliography, Manuscripts proposed
The aim is to provide entries for the first Scottish Gaelic dictionaries, glossaries and other lexicographical works, beginning with the Kirk-Ó Broin glossary; a Gaelic translation of John Ray’s Dictionariolum trilingue (1675); William Nicolson’s Scottish Historical Library (1702); a school dictionary used by MacDonald; the first printed Gaelic-English dictionary, which is that compiled by Alexander MacDonald (publ. 1741); the glossary in A. MacDonald’s Ais-eiridh na sean choin Albannaich (1751); the ‘Erse index of the names of plants’ of John Lightfoot‘s Flora Scotica (1777, 1789, 1792); William Shaw’s An analysis of the Galic language (1778) and Galick and English dictionary (1780); Robert MacFarlan’s A New Alphabetic Vocabulary, Gailic and English (1795); Peter MacFarlane, New and Copious English and Gaelic Vocabulary (1815); Robert Archibald Armstrong’s Gaelic-English-Gaelic dictionary (1825); the manuscripts of the unpublished dictionary compiled by Alexander Robertson of Kirkmichael for the Highland Society of Scotland; the Dictionarium Scoto-Celticum (1828); Norman Macleod and Daniel Dewar, A dictionary of the Gaelic language (1831, 1839); Neil Macalpine A pocket pronouncing Gaelic dictionary for schools in the Highlands and Islands (1834); Ewen MacEachen’s Faclair Gailig us Beurla (1842); Alexander Macbain’s Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language (1896); and finally, Edward Dwelly’s Gaelic-English dictionary (1909).


Start a bibliography of Irish colleges in continental Europe
Bibliography, Agents proposed
(a) First, make sure that the Irish colleges (typically in the form, City, Irish college) and the major players (Cusack, etc.) are identified and described in the database; (b) add key publications not already present and where possible, refine data connections with reference to said colleges and actors.


Index Annales de Bretagne (1886–1973)
Bibliography Pierre Faure proposed


Add additional ISBN/ISSN/OCLC-based features for locating publications
Bibliography, Infrastructure Dennis Groenewegen proposed
The aim is to offer extra tools based on ISBN, ISSN and OCLC references for linking publications to the outside digital world, such as library catalogues, digital repositories and online shops, allowing users of the bibliography to find their materials more easily. This will be undertaken in the understanding that we currently lack the manpower to add those references widely and consistently.


Bibliography, journals: Y Cymmrodor
Bibliography, Agents proposed

planned


Indexing the Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies
Start: January 2019 Bibliography planned
Four volumes captured and indexed, BBCS vol. 5 very nearly so. Currently on hold.

done


Bibliography, journals: Kuhns Zeitschrift 23 (1877)–50 (1922)
Start: December 2021 Bibliography Dennis Groenewegen done
Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen, also known colloquially as Kuhns Zeitschrift (after its founder Adalbert Kuhn).


Clearing cobwebs: cleaning up obsolete code and depreciating legacy features of the bibliography
Start: October 2020 Infrastructure, Bibliography Dennis Groenewegen done
The template and main form for bibliographic records are among the oldest on this site, dating back to at least 2010. Their functionality has greatly progressed since, but there are still traces of older approaches that haven't been entirely cleaned up yet. Especially, the  structure for contributors and online resources, and the form fields used for them, need to be updated and sanitised. This will necessitate re-editing hundreds maybe thousands of records using find and replace scripts. The visible effect of these actions will probably be negligible except to our editors but they will allow for saner, less cluttered and better manageable code.


Indexing articles in Celtic studies journals (2020)
Start: January 2020 Bibliography Pierre Faure, Dennis Groenewegen done
Every year we index articles in some of the major and lesser known journals in Celtic studies or related disciplines. Journals we are targeting this year include Études celtiques, the Journal of Celtic Linguistics and others to be revealed at a later date.

recurrent


Adding links to Corpus of Electronic Texts (CELT)
Bibliography recurrent


Adding links to Internet Archive
Bibliography Dennis Groenewegen recurrent

in progress


Indexing Gaulish inscriptions (phase 1)
Start: May 2020 Inscriptions, Bibliography Pierre Faure, Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The primary aim is to index all Gaulish inscriptions and to make them uniquely referentiable for the bibliography. Some basic information will be provided and the sites of inscribed objects, with the probable exception of coins, will be located on a map. The landing page for inscriptions is to be found on this page.

proposed


Indexing Celtiberian inscriptions
Inscriptions Pierre Faure proposed
Using Jordán Cólera (2019), Celtibericas, index the Celtiberian linguistic material as is done for the Gaulish inscriptions.

in progress


Maintenance work scheduled for Spring/Summer 2021 (ORCID, DIB, CDI)
Start: April 2021 Agents, Infrastructure, Bibliography Dennis Groenewegen in progress
[1] Add ORCID identifiers as special "equivalent" links [now shown on Show:Agent] -- [2] Update references to the Dictionary of Irish biography (moved to https:/dib.ie) - The new Dictionary of Irish biography published by the RIA is a continuation of that formerly published by CUP on cambridge.dub.ie (although at the time of checking the website, some entries were available only from the Cambridge website). Updates should be easy since the IDs we've registered are part of the DOIs listed, except for the a prefix, which will have to be removed. However, the current DIB lists DOIs that are not accessible, perhaps not yet accessible, so this operation will have to wait until this situation is cleared up [update: DOIs listed should become valid sooner or later this year] -- [3] The Celtic Digital Initiative has new URLs for their website as well as new names for the files of scanned documents it provides. A list of new URLs has been kindly made available to us (thanks to Kevin Murray and Margaret Lantry) -- [4] Clean up some outdated and temporary work -- [5] The transition to the current system of recording and managing agents in their own namespace is not yet complete for contributors to publications (authors, editors, etc), which relies on a temporary measure. Semantic properties will be revised, redirects will be transferred and forms will handle autocompletion differently (done).


Adding the early medieval vitae of Saints Gall and Deicolus
Start: September 2020 Texts, Agents Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The vita of St Deicolus; the early medieval vitae of St Gall and related texts; add records for saints and authors;  London, British Library, MS Additional 21917.

proposed


New round of adding and enriching information about repositories of Irish manuscripts
Agents, Bibliography, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
This time round using De Brún’s handlist, Lámhscríbhinní Gaeilge: treoirliosta, as a guide, with a focus on the time of acquisition, especially for late additions that are not covered by the major catalogues.


Bring back simple manual indices of persons and places as an optional feature for text entries
Texts, Agents, Places Dennis Groenewegen proposed
In addition to annotating texts section by section and deriving indexes of persons and places from them automatically, it should additionally be possible to list persons and places by hand, along with links to persistent items and comments. Such a feature existed in the early years of the project but was removed. This feature allows for easy re-use of pre-existing indices.


Start a bibliography of Irish colleges in continental Europe
Bibliography, Agents proposed
(a) First, make sure that the Irish colleges (typically in the form, City, Irish college) and the major players (Cusack, etc.) are identified and described in the database; (b) add key publications not already present and where possible, refine data connections with reference to said colleges and actors.


Bibliography, journals: Y Cymmrodor
Bibliography, Agents proposed


Irish literati in the Fiants of Elizabeth I
Agents proposed
The aim is to use the evidence of poets (rimers), historians and judges in the Fiants of Elizabeth I and to add semantic links to entries in the Agents index.

done


New feature: lists of secular and ecclesiastical office terms
Start: January 2021 Agents, Places Dennis Groenewegen done
For any secular or ecclesiastical office, e.g. for the kings of Ailech or abbots of Iona, allow editors to add a term of office identifying the identity of the incumbent, probable start and end dates (and gaps if any), indicate if the term of office is historical or something else (in the case of legendary and pseudo-historical traditins), and add comments.

in progress


Re-implementing the Places data infrastructure
Start: May 2020 Infrastructure, Places Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The aim is to continue implementing a database infrastructure for places and related entities, such as territories and peoples. With the help of forms, these places can be indexed as entities with their own set of data, starting with simple data such as names in different languages, identifications of corresponding modern places and coordinates (no plan yet for areas that can be approximately delineated). Links to  such places in annotations anywhere on the website (texts, manuscripts, publications, agents, events) should point to the database and follow appropriate naming conventions. It is foreseen that some classes of entities could equally belong to the Agents category and that it may difficult sometimes to draw the line between families and entities denoting both dynastic groups and the territories named after them.

proposed


Bring back simple manual indices of persons and places as an optional feature for text entries
Texts, Agents, Places Dennis Groenewegen proposed
In addition to annotating texts section by section and deriving indexes of persons and places from them automatically, it should additionally be possible to list persons and places by hand, along with links to persistent items and comments. Such a feature existed in the early years of the project but was removed. This feature allows for easy re-use of pre-existing indices.

done


New feature: lists of secular and ecclesiastical office terms
Start: January 2021 Agents, Places Dennis Groenewegen done
For any secular or ecclesiastical office, e.g. for the kings of Ailech or abbots of Iona, allow editors to add a term of office identifying the identity of the incumbent, probable start and end dates (and gaps if any), indicate if the term of office is historical or something else (in the case of legendary and pseudo-historical traditins), and add comments.

proposed


Irish metrical forms: completing the dataset
Texts, Subjects Dennis Groenewegen proposed
Catalogue entries on Irish poems can carry semantic annotations for specific metrical forms. To make them selectable, a dataset is required containing their titles, syllabic formulae within stanzas and references to Gerald Murphy’s and Kuno Meyer’s discussions (e.g. aí fhreisligi, 7³+7²+7³+7², Murphy no. 54, Meyer no. 41).  The dataset, which currently holds only 30+ entries, should be completed and a query form should be developed using metrical forms as a search criterion.

in progress


July-September 2021: maintenance, bug fixing and refinements
Start: 1 July 2021 Infrastructure Dennis Groenewegen in progress
(1) Editing bibliographic records page by page can take more time than is necessary. For the routine action of adding basic metadata and descriptions, I will create a form that answers to a query, initially for articles belonging to the same edited volume. Each article will come with fields for abstracts, subject headings, texts discussed, etc.; (2) because agents should share a common set of semantic properties with other entities, agent-specific properties will be depreciated in favour of more generic ones that can be used by other entities; (3) when appropriate, it should be possible to link religious foundations to relevant Christian orders; (4) continue rearranging source code for textual items (not yet public).


Maintenance work scheduled for Spring/Summer 2021 (ORCID, DIB, CDI)
Start: April 2021 Agents, Infrastructure, Bibliography Dennis Groenewegen in progress
[1] Add ORCID identifiers as special "equivalent" links [now shown on Show:Agent] -- [2] Update references to the Dictionary of Irish biography (moved to https:/dib.ie) - The new Dictionary of Irish biography published by the RIA is a continuation of that formerly published by CUP on cambridge.dub.ie (although at the time of checking the website, some entries were available only from the Cambridge website). Updates should be easy since the IDs we've registered are part of the DOIs listed, except for the a prefix, which will have to be removed. However, the current DIB lists DOIs that are not accessible, perhaps not yet accessible, so this operation will have to wait until this situation is cleared up [update: DOIs listed should become valid sooner or later this year] -- [3] The Celtic Digital Initiative has new URLs for their website as well as new names for the files of scanned documents it provides. A list of new URLs has been kindly made available to us (thanks to Kevin Murray and Margaret Lantry) -- [4] Clean up some outdated and temporary work -- [5] The transition to the current system of recording and managing agents in their own namespace is not yet complete for contributors to publications (authors, editors, etc), which relies on a temporary measure. Semantic properties will be revised, redirects will be transferred and forms will handle autocompletion differently (done).


Building new interface for browsing publications by subject heading
Start: June 2020 Infrastructure, Bibliography Dennis Groenewegen in progress
On hold. This has found a new solution.


Re-implementing the Places data infrastructure
Start: May 2020 Infrastructure, Places Dennis Groenewegen in progress
The aim is to continue implementing a database infrastructure for places and related entities, such as territories and peoples. With the help of forms, these places can be indexed as entities with their own set of data, starting with simple data such as names in different languages, identifications of corresponding modern places and coordinates (no plan yet for areas that can be approximately delineated). Links to  such places in annotations anywhere on the website (texts, manuscripts, publications, agents, events) should point to the database and follow appropriate naming conventions. It is foreseen that some classes of entities could equally belong to the Agents category and that it may difficult sometimes to draw the line between families and entities denoting both dynastic groups and the territories named after them.


Module for dossiers
Infrastructure Dennis Groenewegen in progress
By dossiers are meant curated collections of materials that underpin the study of any topic of subject area. The aim is to set up an organisational structure by which editors can set up dossier pages with the necessary information. Projects can be initiated to make contributions to a dossier.

proposed


Build integration with JSON files of manuscript collation models from VisColl
Infrastructure, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen proposed
While Project 17034 is meant to cover standard descriptions, we also want to cater for more advanced use cases using separate modules. The current Foliation scheme module allows for foliation, pagination, columniation and alternative numberings in parallel; page dimensions; notes on the condition of the leaves; numeral system (e.g. roman vs arabic) and some other information. However, it does not represent the structure of a gathering in the way that VisColl does. An in-house module, including a web form, may be developed which integrates these needs and wishes.


Hiberno-Latin: Towards a model of ‘Irish symptoms’
Manuscripts, Texts, Infrastructure Dennis Groenewegen proposed
The goal is to develop a new data model for capturing ‘Irish symptoms’, signs that might betray Irish involvement or influence in Insular and continental manuscripts and texts (early medieval biblical exegesis, grammars), e.g. ‘title heading of the Psalms in the tres lingae sacrae’. While surely many of Bernhard Bischoff’s arguments have come under considerable scrutiny, the aim is not to prove or disprove but to offer tools that allow users to make better informed analyses and interpretations.


Install and configure ElasticSearch as search backend, implement it here using both CirrusSearch and ElasticStore for SMW
Infrastructure Dennis Groenewegen proposed


Add additional ISBN/ISSN/OCLC-based features for locating publications
Bibliography, Infrastructure Dennis Groenewegen proposed
The aim is to offer extra tools based on ISBN, ISSN and OCLC references for linking publications to the outside digital world, such as library catalogues, digital repositories and online shops, allowing users of the bibliography to find their materials more easily. This will be undertaken in the understanding that we currently lack the manpower to add those references widely and consistently.

planned


Adding a new subject class to the ecosystem: narrative world
Start: September 2019 Infrastructure Dennis Groenewegen planned
On hold. By narrative worlds or narrative settings we denote the environments, time-frames and circumstances, whether fictional or not, which are evoked in narratives. Even if variation exists in the way these worlds are depicted in texts, iconography and elsewhere, these semi-coherent subjects remain useful as linked data that can be used to group together related texts and agents and enable new ways of navigating content.


Colophons and marginalia of Irish scribes (phase 1)
Infrastructure, Texts, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen planned
Description forthcoming.


Revise how we define textual scope and variation
Infrastructure, Texts Dennis Groenewegen planned
The catalogue covers a variety of textual variants and textual make-ups: multi-recension entries, multiple recensions, redactions or versions, poems with later prose introductions, prose works with redactions of earlier poems, composite works, translations and adaptations, items occurring within different textual contexts, etc. Parts of the current system of description and annotation that is used to come to grips with these varieties of composition, transmission and reworking and with these varieties of textual structure may need to be revised, somewhat augmented but above all, more efficiently organised.


Making improvements to data structure for manuscripts (miscellaneous)
Infrastructure, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen planned
First, the data model for the physicality/materiality of manucripts is in need of some attention: (a) make number of pages/folios ‘machine-countable’ (see now ‘Improved support for collation and foliation formulae’), (b) revise inaccurate and arguable uses of the term "vellum" (when in doubt, use "parchment" ); (c) maybe other fixes. Second, alternative classification systems should be simplified and made easier.

done


Upgrade to MediaWiki 1.35 and revise deployment
Start: October 2021 Infrastructure Dennis Groenewegen done
MW 1.31 is declared to be EOL, meaning that any further support in terms of maintenance and security releases has come to an end and it is strongly recommended to upgrade to MW 1.35. Because of the limitations of our budget hosting plan, this will possibly necessitate that the website will be down for some time, though hopefully no longer than two weeks, or if resources allow it, that the website will be temporarily closed to new editing activities. The latter is the preferred solution. It is expected that a good deal of the intervening time will be occupied by processes refreshing the database and testing of software extensions in the new environment. For installation, integration, testing and deployment, a new plan will be developed that takes advantage of the possibilities offered by Gitlab.


Install an IIIF-compliant image viewer and set up relevant infrastructure
Start: 6 August 2021 Infrastructure, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen done
Many libraries are making digital facsimiles or images of manuscripts available using standards set by the IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) Consortium. The aim is to install one of the available image viewers (probably Mirador 3), embed its use in appropriate contexts and let MS entries store links to IIIF Manifests. Good to have: ability to open the manuscript on a particular page, with a particular zoom level, but there will be a Content State API, which is still in draft. Entries about discrete MS units would especially benefit from this.


Improved support for collation and foliation formulae
Start: August 2021 Manuscripts, Infrastructure Dennis Groenewegen done
Current input for information about collation and foliation has been mostly simply descriptive. We should take a more structured approach, allowing editors to choose between two standardised, form-assisted methods of description, depending on the information that is available: (a) add a collation formula, or (b) add the number of leaves. The total number of leaves should be computed automatically from this formula (unless perhaps there is good reason not to depend on it; flyleaves are counted separately) and the template will take the input to produce formatted notations. Two new properties will be introduced (one of which will ultimately be used to assist in querying for manuscripts based on the number of leaves). This small-scale project is intended to cover most use cases. For another, more detailed approach, see the VisColl project elsewhere in this list.


Module for projects
Start: October 2020 Infrastructure Dennis Groenewegen done
By projects are meant coordinated series of tasks to achieve concrete aims, whether by a team of editors or a single individual. Projects may serve a public goal by making known our work and the team which make this possible; and in tandem with the Dossiers module (forthcoming), by providing visitors navigating the site with a better sense of what we've covered and how. The present aim is to set up an organisational structure by which editors can announce and briefly document their work by creating project pages with the necessary information. Note that technical improvements and changes will not usually be covered by this module. A separate, internal issue tracker on Gitlab is used instead.


Clearing cobwebs: cleaning up obsolete code and depreciating legacy features of the bibliography
Start: October 2020 Infrastructure, Bibliography Dennis Groenewegen done
The template and main form for bibliographic records are among the oldest on this site, dating back to at least 2010. Their functionality has greatly progressed since, but there are still traces of older approaches that haven't been entirely cleaned up yet. Especially, the  structure for contributors and online resources, and the form fields used for them, need to be updated and sanitised. This will necessitate re-editing hundreds maybe thousands of records using find and replace scripts. The visible effect of these actions will probably be negligible except to our editors but they will allow for saner, less cluttered and better manageable code.


Improve historical numbering system for object collections
Infrastructure, Manuscripts Dennis Groenewegen done
The aim is to make manuscripts and archival records more easily discoverable by recording their older signatures or catalogue numbers, defining the numbering system used and the collection to which this numbering system pertains. It should not matter whether the collections are themselves historical (e.g. Hengwrt collection) or extant and whether or not they still house a particular item. This is intended to supersede the current system, whose organisation is not as tight as it could be and may be confusing to editors working with the form.Update: data overhaul completed in January 2023; next step: searchability (no date set).
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