Digital Chronicle
Digital Theodor Fontane Chronicle and Bibliography (ChroBi)
As part of the project Ditigal Theodor Fontane Chronicle and Bibliography, cultural data on the life and work of Theodor Fontane, compiled by researchers in the form of the five-volume Theodor Fontane Chronicle and the three-volume Theodor Fontane Bibliography, will be made freely available for use on the web portal of the Theodor Fontane Archive. This means that a much sought-after treasure trove of scholarly data, previously only available in expensive book editions, will be integrated into the Theodor Fontane Archive’s existing digital services and made accessible as Open Culture Data for cultural, scholarly, and artistic/creative use.
The Digital Fontane Chronicle
In the form of a new digital edition, a central tool of Fontane research is presented online: the Theodor Fontane Chronicle, compiled by Roland Berbig, which was published in 2010 as a five-volume print publication by De Gruyter. The Fontane Chronicle (ca. 3800 printed pages) systematically chronicles all available information on the life and work history of Theodor Fontane, lists them under eight individual headings (place of residence, daily events, works, readings, prints, publications about Fontane, letters from Fontane, letters to Fontane) and presents them chronologically. Each entry is referenced with its source.
Key data on the project
Project Management:
Prof. Dr. Peer Trilcke
Dr. Anna Busch
Duration:
September 2020 – December 2020
Sponsor:
»Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (BKM)«
Results:
At the start of the project, the print data was available as weakly structured BITS/XML data. A CMS was set up at the TFA by the Trier Center for Digital Humanities (with FuD as a virtual research environment and editorial system as well as an Elasticsearch engine). To make it available, the weakly structured data of the Fontane Chronicle were analyzed and digitally modeled in order to parse them into the CMS in a structured way. In the digital infrastructure of the CMS, corresponding data models were first implemented, i.e. data masks and indices for the storage and editing of the data were developed. As soon as the digital infrastructure had been expanded accordingly and the data integrated, a web-based front end with differentiated search and display options was developed. The resultingDigital Fontane Chronicle can be used here.
The Fontane Bibliography Online
The Theodor Fontane Bibliography, edited by Wolfgang Rasch, lists all primary and secondary literature by and about Theodor Fontane. At the beginning of the project, an online catalog already existed. The data was available in a highly structured form. Since its online launch in March 2019, this resource has been the most frequently requested web offering of the Theodor Fontane Archive.
The catalog was still based on an Allegro C database and was integrated into the archive’s existing research data infrastructure (FuD). For this purpose, appropriate data models had to be implemented in the CMS digital infrastructure first, i.e. data masks and indices had to be developed for holding and editing the data. The goal was to link the bibliography with other data holdings of the Theodor Fontane Archive and to be able to access centrally managed indexes/registers as well as standards data within the in-house system. The developed Digital Service Fontane Bibliography online can be used here.
Subsidized by:
