VMs: dB request: was: transcriptions and shorthand notes

["GC" <gc-@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Rene wrote:

> This is a real problem, as we have indicated from
> the beginning. Both r and s appear in different
> forms, and there are intermediate forms as well.
> How much is this due to natural variation in
> handwriting?
>
> Have a look at f76r for some different versions of
> the 's'. (Beinecke ID 1006210).

Maybe I'm used to the handwriting, but I just went through every incidence
of <r> and <s> on f76r in the color jpeg (don't have the sid yet - only 140
sids to go!), and I can identify every one clearly.  It will be interesting
to go back over my transcription for this page and see if I had any errors
in this regard.   I remember seeing two on the page just awhile ago that are
"instructional", in fact this page has a high number of instructions on it.
These are the ones that may be considered "intermediate"?  I haven't looked,
but this is most probably a [bx] page.  There are only a specific number of
variations for each glyph (usually three, and four for compound glyphs), and
this page has nothing beyond that consideration.

Before someone takes this and turns it around the wrong way, let me say that
it is a high priority for me right now to get all of these categorized and
displayed on the web.  This requires of course that I finish my
transcription, but I'm only a few pages away from that at the moment.  I
will have to go back over it now, given the new information, but so far I've
only seen things that confirm what I first laid out, and very little new.

My approach to things is mostly visual and hands-on, so I've troubled for
some time trying to figure out how to display the amount of information I
need to display with the visual aspect that is necessary (at least to me).
I'm pretty much a pen-and-paper mark-up person, so transferring this to
computer medium has been a labor.  But here's my intention:

If you may remember, I published a few pdf files colorfully demonstrating
unique words, as well as words exclusive to [a1] [b1] folios.  This all
needs to be done in a searchable database, but it's too laborious to clip
and index images of every "word" in the manuscript.  It's not that
monumental a task to clip and index every line in the VMS however, using the
line numbering in the interlinear as an index for the line clips.  JPG
images for this purpose are fine, and by cross-referencing separate EVA and
VGBT transcription databases to the images by folio and line number, one can
click on a graphically displayed glyph, variant or wierdo, and pull up every
line in the VMS that contains that object.  Other information can also be
displayed about each line, such as Couriers "hands and languages" [a1].
[b1], etc.  A "word" database for all avaliable transcriptions can also be
tied in, and through that a search can be performed using portions of words,
or word "sound-alike" searches.  One doesn't need to know the "alphabet" for
the selected transcription, simply click on the pictorial glyph to compile
the search word, then press "enter" or "submit".

I spent a lot of time and effort hunting down the glyph variations, not just
identifying them in the VMS, but finding correlaries and comparing them to
determine if they were variations in handwriting or something deliberate.
Almost all are deliberate, (with a handful of corrected errors), but with
the poor black and whites, I once in awhile took counsel from the "rough
vellum" theory and marked these incorrectly, especially in the [bx]
sections.

With the new color images, I think it's high time that this database got off
the ground, because there's nothing like viewing these instances together to
bring you to some semblance of my viewpoint. :-)  To this database can also
be linked images of lines from analogous manuscripts, especially the few
astronomical shorthand images I've collected in the last 1 1/2 years.  If
you saw these side by side the VMS script, you'd have no doubt in your mind
the origin of the VMS script, the scholastic background of our author, and
even the origin of the script style and some critical elements of the shorth
and... Bohemian, if I'm correct. (Why'd you think I was going to say
"English"?)  Whatever the answer you finally determine for yourself, this is
a tool that is necessary in the understanding of the script.  In fact, I
don't think anything like this has ever been attempted on the web before,
which would make it a "first".

I certainly wouldn't be able to complete such a database of images in short
order, and the only one I know that has the skills to make something like
this manageable on the web is Nick (not dissing anyone else, it's just that
individual skills are not something usually discussed on the list, so in my
long absence I'm unaware if any new members are as willing or capable).
Size of the database would have to be estimated to determine whether I can
host it on my present site, or purchase a devoted site for the purpose.
Bandwidth per search needs to be estimated to determine the requirements of
such a site, which I think we'll use quite heavily.

Most importantly, a few devotees would be necessary to tediously clip and
index the images of each line accordingly.  A few pages per person would
suffice, maybe?  The transcription dB's are easy to set up, and the graphic
glyph interface is not that difficult.    Rather than having to know the
transcription alphabet of EVA or VGBT, all one would have to do is click on
a picture of "8" + "a" + "m", and the three glyph assignments are copied to
a box that calls up all lines containing "8am" in my transcription, or
"daiin" in EVA transcription, depending on the user's initial transcription
selection.  Currier, D'Imperio, Frogguy, and other transcriptions should be
added as linked database choices, so visual continuity between all
historical transcription methods is maintained.  Such a presentation would
end my sustainedv opposition to EVA, and IMHO would go a long way in
increasing the learning curve.

Yes Nick, I know we discussed this 1 1/2 years ago, but those discussions
were nothing more than teenage chat, enduring the long progress into
adulthood.  The painful wait that all adolescents endure is over, the color
images marking the lively progression that all good ideas follow.  If there
was ever a right time for this idea to blossom, that is now.

GC

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