CHAPTER 4.3 SGML/XML:
IATH'S "THE WORLD OF DANTE"
SUMMARY
IATH's "The World of Dante" web site features an SGML-marked up version of
Dante's Inferno.
The SGML markup allows the web site's visitors to create advanced search
queries of the Inferno, and of IATH's informational markup of the Inferno.
In addition, the informational annotations can be called up with the
user's mouse. Also, a wide variety of pictures and images are associated
with specific lines in Dante's text, and can be called up with a click of
the mouse.
The site also features a virtual reality (VRML) wire-frame model of Dante's
Inferno, with colored triangles representing persons, creatures, etc.,
positioned according to Canto number and occurrence.
The user chooses which types of inhabitants are to be displayed, even
specifying subclasses (e.g., mythical persons, historical persons, etc.).
The SGML markup allows these choices to be located quickly in the text, and
the appropriate inhabitants are then injected into the virtual reality model.
The user can then "fly around" inside the model. This allows students to get
a visual feel for how the inhabitants being studied are situated and
referenced in Dante's work.
[ The following section consists of key portions
reprinted from the "World of Dante" web site. I have
selected those portions which will give a quick-yet-thorough
overview of the "World of Dante" web site and its
key features. ]
"The World of Dante offers a hypermedia environment for the study of the
Inferno. This project is designed to appeal to the different purposes of a
wide range of readers, not simply those with scholarly interests. This
version of the Inferno is generated by software from a densely encoded
electronic text. Unlike other versions of the poem presently online, this
copy of the Inferno has been tagged using SGML."
The project offers users the ability to "navigate through a considerable
amount of data, and to connect this information, or parts of it, in
complex ways."
"Search results are retrieved and presented using DynaWeb, a product of the
Inso Corporation. The text and searching enabled by DynaWeb and the
underlying SGML demonstrates the potential of electronic resources in the
humanities."
(The URL for Dynaweb will be given in Chapter 5, "Important URLs." Dynaweb
is an "SGML-aware web server.")
The Dante web site is "still under construction; its purpose is to show and
test an interface design for The World of Dante."
Currently, according to the web site, the Dante project is only in an
"initial stage of markup." To date, SGML tags have been completed for
"passages pertaining to persons, geographical sites on Earth and in Hell,
mythical creatures, deities, architectural and artistic structures, and
Dante's and Virgil's travel through Hell."
"This copy of the Inferno is also accompanied by a wide variety of
visual material."
"We have compiled and will continue to assemble photographs, engravings,
and illustrations of many of the geographical sites and structures named in
the poem."
"Unlike certain illustrated editions of the Comedy, The World of Dante
often furnishes multiple views (of places or structures). This project is
ongoing, and it will take more time to assemble images of geographical sites
mentioned in the Inferno."
"All the images have been keyed to specific line numbers."
"Viewed in conjunction with the photographs of geographical sites,
engravings of towns, and maps, we hope these illustrations will enhance
readers' appreciation of Dante's remarkable visual imagination, and the
responses it has inspired in artists."
[ The following section consists of key portions
reprinted from the "World of Dante" web site. ]
"The World of Dante allows users to search Dante's text and the editorial
markup in any of three ways:"
* Simple keyword search
* Structured search
You can do two major types of structured searches.
You can search Dante's text (looking for Dante's words),
or search references (searching the editorial markup of Dante's text)
Structured Text Search
Keyword search terms can be limited to a particular
context (Person, Place Diety, Structure, Creature).
"To get a feel for information such searches can yield, try searches
on words such as Dio, Virgilio, Firenze, Piero della Vigna, Cocito,
Beatrice. ...To keep track of the nature of the search simply check the
bottom screen, and the information in the SGML tagging scheme will
appear in the long horizontal box."
Structured Reference Search
"Users can also search references by type. One can search for all
people, for example, whose nature is historical, who were affiliated
with the Ghibelline party, and whose origin place is Firenze (Florence).
...Simply click on the appropriate circles and then "search references"
to find results."
"Users familiar with TEI markup can perform more sophisticated and
specialized searches." (The Inferno is marked up with the TEI,
or Text Encoding Initiative, document type. TEI is a SGML-based markup
language, the same way that HTML is a SGML-based markup language).
* Text Visualization
"The third way in which users can search Dante's Inferno, as part
of the World of Dante, is through a text visualization. ...Navigate a 3D
View of Dante's Inferno."
Navigate a 3D View of Dante's Inferno
("Searchable Text Visualization")
On this portion of IATH's "World of Dante" site, you can fill out a short
form to specify which elements of the Inferno should be flagged as
grey triangles, and which should be highlighted as triangles of various
colors.
A VRML file (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) will be generated
dynamically, and displayed in your web browser.
The above link requires a web browser capable of displaying "frames."
If your browser is not frames-capable, you might be able to "sneak" around
the restriction by going instead to this link:
http://urizen.village.virginia.edu/hell/twodee.html
You will need a VRML viewer or plug-in in your web browser, to view
the finished VRML file. The Inferno file will be in VRML 2.0 format.
|
USER'S INSTRUCTIONS
[ Reprinted portions, from the World of Dante web site ]
"The available criteria are all the same things you would find under the
structured reference search: people, deities, creatures, places, structures,
travel."
"You can choose among three colors to be used in flagging the location of
the type or types of references you're interested in. If you prefer, you can
simply use the checkboxes to the left in the lower frame, and the entire
category will be flagged in grey."
"Once you've selected the search criteria, hit the 'generate' button, and
you will get back a VRML model of the Inferno, with each canto
represented by one circle in a cone-shaped model, and each line by one point
on a circle. Flags of various colors will be distributed across the
text-model, showing the clustering and distribution of various types of
references."
HOW DOES IT WORK?
[ Reprinted from the World of Dante web site ]
"How does it work? The form is connected to a CGI script that reads
through the SGML-tagged text and looks for the tags that correspond to the
types of references you've asked for. Based on what you've selected, the
script then creates a VRML file and sends it back to this window, where you
can move around inside it."
"The purpose of this dynamically generated VRML visualization of Dante's
Inferno is to show the distribution, density, and proximity of various
references in Dante's text (such as all mentions of biblical people, or all
references to mythical places)."
"In the 3D model of Dante's text, each reference point links back to the
SGML-tagged transcription of the Italian text, presented by Dynaweb: in the
transcription, you can read the text that constitutes each reference, see
that reference in its context, and browse or search the entire text of
the Inferno."
Search the text of Dante's Inferno
("Structured Searches of SGML Documents")
Try a complex "structured search" of Dante's Inferno.
An easy-to-fill-out form will be your interface.
The form will be large and in-depth, but you will only need to
fill out the part or parts which apply to your desired search.
Search results will be pointed to or highlighted in red.
Example: enter "amore" in the first text field, then click 'Search Text'
and see what happens!
(Note: Your search results will be displayed on the screen described in the
section below. Please read the section below, to derive maximum benefit.)
Powerful search capability is another benefit of SGML and XML. This is why
SGML/XML is well suited to humanities research.
Browse the text of Dante's Inferno
This is a good example of the interactivity and search capability
made possible by SGML and XML.
Please read the "Instructions" below, to derive maximum benefit.
(Note: You will need a web browser capable of displaying "frames,"
to use the above link.)
USER'S INSTRUCTIONS
The above link will allow you to browse, read, or search Dante's text.
Canto numbers are listed in the screen's left frame. Clicking on a canto
number will display the text of that canto, in the screen's right frame.
Blue asterisks will display IATH's informational annotation, when the mouse
pointer is moved over an asterisk. A text-box will appear, containing the
information IATH has encoded in the SGML markup. (E.g., information
concerning Virgil, including his nature, origin place, dates, and the
regularized form of his name.)
"To find out more about the kinds of information that can be found
concerning persons, places, structures, deities, creatures, and all allusions
to traveling, click on any of the asterisks."
Small "arrow" icons are often found in the text's right margin. Clicking
one will generate a set of clickable hypertext links in the screen's bottom
frame. These links will display images illustrating the corresponding line
of Dante's text.
If you choose to use the search function on this third "TRY IT NOW" link
(not to be confused with the search form at the second "TRY IT NOW" link),
the elements you search for will be highlighted in red, in the canto text.
"Searches of the text must be performed in Italian. ...consult the
Authority List for Searching Dante's Inferno, which lists normalized
forms of names for persons, places, creatures, and deities."
Wildcards can be used in the searches, using the * (asterisk) wildcard
character.
Example: "amor*" will find "amor, amore, and amorosa." (TRY IT!)
The full instruction sheet for IATH's "World of Dante" web site can be
accessed from the Dante home page.
The file is called "Instructions for Navigating The World of Dante" and is
located at
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/dante/help.html
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Current page was last modified/altered on: 8-31-98
