July 4 9-3
July 4, 2012
If a sequence of events is disputed (e.g. one author includes an event in a sequence but another author does not) we should have a sequence that includes bibl entries for different authors. Conditionally then, we can say that when a sequence of events lists more than one author in its corresps we have a potential dispute - and we can render it in a way that highlights the dispute.
When groups are included in events, we do not mean to imply that every member of the group participated in the event. For example, although the Argonauts go to Colchis, and should be listed as doing so, Heracles, although a member of the Argonauts, does not go to Colchis. We will want to add a notice or disclaimer of some sort to the user interface to reflect this.
This means that whenever someone is explicitly named as taking part in an event, that person should be added as an individual to the event, even if a group of which that person is a member is also listed as taking part in the event.
How will we render gaps in the text? There are several lacunas that are currently not expressed in in the website. I will check in the copy I have so see what they do, but we need something there because it seriously affects the meaning of certain passages and the flow of the text.
Here's an example of one such gap:
he returned with his army <note anchored="true" resp="#ed"
>He was met by a Peloponnesian army at the Isthmus of <placeName corresp="places.xml#corinth"
>Corinth</placeName> and there defeated and slain in single combat by <name type="character"
corresp="characters.xml#echemus">Echemus</name>, king of <placeName
corresp="places.xml#tegea">Tegea</placeName>. Then, in virtue of a treaty which they had
concluded with their adversaries, the <name type="group" corresp="groups.xml#heraclids">Heraclids</name> retreated to <placeName
corresp="places.xml#attica">Attica</placeName>and did not attempt the invasion of <placeName
corresp="places.xml#peloponnese">Peloponnese</placeName>again for fifty years. See
<bibl>Diod. 4.58.1-5</bibl>; <bibl n="Paus. 8.5.1">Paus. 8.5.1</bibl>. These events may have
been recorded by Apollodorus in the lacuna which follows.</note><gap/> of <name
type="character" corresp="characters.xml#hercules">Hercules</name>
Leaving early for a medical appointment.
Today I have:
- Written a basic script to run the two saxon transforms on my original source data. This script will have more transformations added to it eventually, forming a full process from db output XML to CSV file for JS-R.
- Added detection of liquidated properties and liquidated property controls (although I'm still working on data that doesn't have the required identification of purchasers to allow detection of actual liquidations -- still waiting on JS-R to add that to the db).
- Implemented basic transaction-chain detection. This is remarkably slow, but does appear to be working. So far it's listing all titles in a single-title transaction chain. Next I need to do something when I reach a fork in the chain (perhaps generate a nested chain, which could be un-nested in the next transformation).
Moving forward. Tomorrow I should be able to finish transaction chains, and presumably get some idea from JS-R of what kind of output format he would like.
A reader pointed out that we have two competing abbreviations for what is now Libraries and Archives Canada, LAC and the older NAC. We have now replaced all instances of NAC with LAC, and updated the search engine to take account of the change.
July 3, 2012
Met with CC to go over plans for the application, and tweak the French translation of the technical description we wrote the other week.
The latter is rendered in quotes, so interacts with level a titles and regular quotes; watch out for strange results if nested, especially when following punctuation needs to be pulled into the quotes.