Factsheet

Resource reviewed
Title Walter Benjamin Digital
Editors Nadine Werner, Burkhardt Lindner
URI https://www.walter-benjamin.online/
Publication Date 2019
Date of last access 15.07.2022
Reviewer
Name orcid-icon Untner, Laura
Affiliation Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Place Vienna, Austria
Email laura.untner@oeaw.ac.at
Documentation
Bibliographic description
Is it easily possible to describe the project bibliographically along the schema “responsible editors, publishing/hosting institution, year(s) of publishing”?
yes
Contributors
Are the contributors (editors, institutions, associates) of the project fully documented?
yes
Contacts
Does the project list contact persons?
yes
Selection
Is the selection of materials of the project explicitly documented?
yes
Reasonability of the selection
Is the selection by and large reasonable?
yes
Archiving of data

(?)
Choose yes if you have reason to believe that the archiving and long term sustainability of the data is cared for (e.g. because the data is part of a platform that cares for these aspects), even if the documentation makes no explicit statement about it.
Does the documentation include information about the long term sustainability of the basic data (archiving of the data)?
no
Aims
Are the aims and purposes of the project explicitly documented?
yes
Methods
Are the methods employed in the project explicitly documented?
no
Data model
Does the project document which data model (e.g. TEI) has been used and for what reason?
no
Help
Does the project offer help texts concerning the use of the project?
yes
Citation
Does the project supply citation guidelines (i.e. how to cite the project or a part of it)?
yes
Completion
Does the editon regard itself as a completed project (i.e. not promise further modifications and additions)?
no
Institutional curation

(?)
Select yes, if there is either an explicit claim that continuous maintenance for the project is provided by some institution or you have strong reason to believe that this is the case, even if it is not explicitly claimed, otherwise select no.
Does the project provide information about institutional support for the curation and sustainability of the project?
no
Contents
Previous edition
Has the material been previously edited (in print or digitally)?
yes
Materials used
Does the edition make use of these previous editions?
yes
Introduction
Does the project offer an introduction to the subject-matter (the author(s), the work, its history, the theme, etc.) of the project?
yes
Bibliography
Does the project offer a bibliography?
no
Commentary
Does the project offer a scholarly commentary (e.g. notes on unclear passages, interpretation, etc.)?
no
Contexts
Does the project include or link to external resources with contextual material?
no
Images
Does the project offer images of digitised sources?
yes
Image quality
Does the project offer images of an acceptable quality?
yes
Transcriptions
Is the text fully transcribed?
yes
Text quality
Does the project offer texts of an acceptable quality (typos, errors, etc.)?
yes
Indices
Does the project feature compilations indices, registers or visualisations that offer alternative ways to access the material?
yes
Types of documents

(?)
Single manuscript: a single physical document or a series of documents belonging together, like a multi volume manuscript or a series of notebooks.
Single work: a single work, e.g. Plato’s Laches, which might be transmitted in multiple manuscripts.
Collection of texts: several abstract texts across the documents of their transmission, e.g Aristotle’s Physics and Simplicius’ Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics.
Collected works: a collection of several works of one or several authors, e.g. the works of Plato.
Papers: a collection of personal or family documents or personal papers.
Archival holding: the collection of a repository.
Charters: texts documenting a legal fact by using a special form supporting its validity, e.g. the Magna Carta.
Letters: letters of one or several authors.
Diary: one or several diaries of one or several authors.
Which kinds of documents are at the basis of the project?
Single manuscript
Document era

(?)
Classics: before 500 CE.
Medieval: 501 CE until 1500 CE.
Early modern: 1501 CE until 1800 CE.
Modern: 1801 CE until today.
What era(s) do the documents belong to?
Modern
Subject
Which perspective(s) do the editors take towards the edited material? How can the edition be classified in general terms?
History, Philology / Literary Studies, Philosophy / Theology
Spin-Offs

(?)
App: any application (for personal computer or mobile devices) apart from browsers with which the project can be accessed.
Mobile: a browser-version adapted for mobile devices.
PDF: the project or parts of as PDF files.
Does the project offer any spin-offs?
None
Access modes
Browse by

(?)
Structure: Select this if the project allows browsing by elements used to structure a text, e.g. chapters, sections, paragraphs, etc.
Documents: Select this if the project offers to browse by individual source objects, e.g. by the individual letters in a letter-edition, the individual charters in a charter-edition, etc.
Images: Select this if the project allows browsing by facsimile (e.g. through a gallery).
By which categories does the project offer to browse the contents?
Works, Versions, Structure, Pages, Documents, Images, Persons
Simple search
Does the project offer a simple search?
yes
Advanced search

(?)
Any search that offers more complex search than just a word or a phrase, e.g. boolean operators, wildcards, restricted search, etc.
Does the project offer an advanced search?
yes
Wildcard search

(?)
Any search that offers to substitute a defined set of possible characters by special characters, e.g. ‘king*’ searching for ‘king’, ‘kings’, ‘kingdom’, etc.
Does the search support the use of wildcards?
yes
Index

(?)
Select yes if it is possible to access an index of a search field, e.g. if the search field ‘author’ is present, a list of all authors the project contains is accessible.
Does the search offer an index of the searched field?
yes
Suggest functionalities

(?)
Any search that offers possible search as soon as the first characters are typed into the search field.
Does the search offer autocompletion or suggest functionalities?
no
Help texts

(?)
Texts that explain how to use the search function, e.g. explanation of wildcard characters, operators, etc.
Does the project offer help texts for the search?
yes
Aims and methods
Audience
Who is the intended audience of the project?
Scholars
Typology

(?)
Facsimile edition: Focuses on the visual layer of texts with additional information for access and understanding; no transcription.
Archive edition: Focuses on the width of a work, the documents of its transmission, its context; aims at completeness.
Documentary edition: Related to the school of “documentary editing”, focuses on the documents rather than on abstract texts; tries to give truthful representations of the documents with (often: diplomatic) transcription and additional information.
Diplomatic edition: Focuses on the text (not the visual layer) of documents, tries to give a transcription as accurate as possible.
Genetic edition: Focuses on the genesis of texts, usually on the level of microgenesis (within a document) sometimes on the level of macrogenesis (across documents).
Work critical edition: Focuses on the (potentially: complete) work of an author, aims at completeness on the level of the abstract work (and what needs to be presented to accomplish this).
Text critical edition: Focuses on the construction of a “best text” or definitive reading by means of textual criticism.
Enriched edition: ’Enriched Edition’ describes digital representations of texts that put a particular emphasis on extracting information from the text, e.g. by elaborate indices, extensive comments and annotations on the content, linking of related information, or formal representation of content.
Database edition: Transforms text and documents into structured data to capture the semantic information.
Digital library: Provides a collection of scholarly material without the approach of critical engagement with single documents, texts, or works; or simple digital facsimiles; not a scholarly digital edition in the sense of the review criteria.
Collection of texts: Textual representations without critical commentary, the application of textual criticism or paratexts that describe, explain or contextualize the texts; not a scholarly digital edition in the sense of the review criteria.
Which type fits best for the reviewed project?
Diplomatic edition
Critical editing

(?)
Transmission examined: Attempt to establish the transmission of the text, the results of which are traditionally reflected in a Stemma Codicum.
Palaeographic annotations: Accounts of the palaeographic dimension of a text.
Normalization: The orthography has been normalised according to a chosen standard (e.g. ’seyn’ to ’sein’).
Variants: Accounts of textual variants, i.e. textual differences between documents transmitting the same text.
Emendation: Corrections or revisions have been applied to the text.
Commentary notes: Comments regarding any of the phenomena mentioned before or other textual phenomena (not regarding the content).
In how far is the text critically edited?
Other: diplomatic reproduction of the manuscript
XML
Is the data encoded in XML?
yes
Standardized data model
Is the project employing a standardized data model (e.g. TEI)?
yes
Types of text

(?)
Facsimiles: Any copy of historical documents.
Diplomatic transcription: Transcription of the document taking account of features like spelling, punctuation, abbreviations, deletions, insertions, alterations, etc.
Edited text: A reading text as constituted by the editor(s), based on procedures like recensio, examinatio, emendatio, correction, normalization, modernization etc.
Translations: Any translations into languages different from that of the original text.
Commentaries: Scholarly commentary on the content of the documents.
Semantic data: Transformation of the text (e.g. an account book) into a database or representation of its content as RDF or the like.
Which kinds or forms of text are presented?
Facsimiles, Diplomatic transcription, Edited text
Technical accessability
Persistent identification

(?)
DOI: Digital Object Identifier according to the definition of The International DOI Foundation. The DOIs should be resolvable through http://doi.org/.
ARK: Archival Resource Key according to the definition of the California Digital Library. An ARK URL contains the label: ‘ark’ after the URL’s hostname.
URN: Uniform Resource Name using the urn: scheme. URNs always start with the label ’urn:’.
PURL.ORG: Persistent Uniform Resource Locator using the PURL concept and administered by the Online Computer Library Centre.
Persistent URLs: Choose this if the project promises permanent URLs or uses a local resolving system between URLs and underlying technical addresses but does not use any of the external services mentioned in the options.
None: Choose this if no persistent identifiers and adressing system are used at all.
Are there persistent identifiers and an addressing system for the edition and/or parts/objects of it and which mechanism is used to that end?
None
Interfaces
Are there technical interfaces like OAI-PMH, REST etc., which allow the reuse of the data of the project in other contexts?
None
Open Access

(?)
Are the contents of the presentation freely accessible without subscription fee?
Is the edition Open Access?
yes
Accessability of the basic data

(?)
The data from which the HTML or other spin-offs have been produced, e.g. the XML of a specific part of the project. If the basic data is only accessible as a download package containing the entire data, select ’no’ here.
Is the basic data (e.g. the XML) of the project accessible for each part of the edition (e.g. for a page)?
yes
Download

(?)
Can the basic data be downloaded as a whole via HTTP- or FTP-Link, i.e. not only individual parts like the XML of a specific part of the project.
Can the entire raw data of the project be downloaded (as a whole)?
no
Reuse
Can you use the data with other tools useful for this kind of content?
yes
Declaration of rights
Are the rights to (re)use the content declared?
yes
License

(?)
CC0: Creative Commons license CC0 applied.
CC-BY: Creative Commons license CC-BY applied.
CC-BY-ND: Creative Commons license CC-BY-ND applied.
CC-BY-NC: Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC applied.
CC-BY-SA: Creative Commons license CC-BY-SA applied.
CC-BY-NC-ND: Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC-ND applied.
CC-BY-NC-SA: Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC-SA applied.
PDM: Work is in the Public Domain.
Under what license are the contents released?
No license
Personnel
Editors Lindner, Burkhardt
Werner, Nadine
Contributors *produktivbüro Jork (Karlsruhe)
Nowak, Anja
pagina GmbH (Tübingen)