Rosette ProjectRosette ProjectInformatique & EgyptologieInformatique & Egyptologie
Computer GroupComputer Group
Vienna – July 10th, 2008
A computer-assistance for the student, the epigraphist, and the
philologist
Vincent Euverte
The Rosette ProjectThe Objectives
– To provide assistance in the reading and translating of ancient Egyptian texts
Recognition of hieroglyphs, through to lexical analysis and final publishing of graphic text
– To facilitate the collection of translated and documented texts
Provision of a freely available Internet service to all, in several languages, and using any browser
The Means by which they can be achieved – A multidisciplinary, international team of
benevolent volunteers – A legal association protecting our copyright– An Internet forum and daily discussions on MSN– Frequent meetings, in Paris and elsewhere
History of Rosette• Launched on August 17th, 2004
• Prototype MS-Access: September 7th, 2004
• An approach to Wiki: December 2004
• First version PHP / SQL: March 2005
• Migration on a dedicated website: January 2006
• A Presentation to I&E at Oxford: August 2006
• Version V2.1 : September 2007
• A Presentation to the AUC: October 2007
• International Congress Rhodos : May 2008
• I&E Computer Group in Vienna : July 2008
The Rosette website
The Rosette modules
The Catalogue• 3200 + hieroglyphic signs recognised • Conforms to EGPZ standard, set down in Unicode• Available in three fonts (Inscribe, and 2 Rosette fonts)
• Each hieroglyph is described and documented • Displays the phonetic value (using transliteration font)
• Holds a collection of paleographic images • Multi Search facility • Direct access from any hieroglyph of the application
The Catalogue
The Dictionary• 6 000 phonetic entries• 12 000 semantic variants
• 12 200 graphic representations
• All English entries from "Faulkner" (© Griffith Institute) and French counterpart (© Association Medjat of amateurs)
• Multi-criteria search facility (using Transliteration, Gardiner-code, Keyword : French or English, semantic type, ...)
• Thematic lists under construction: including kings, gods, military titles, geographic names, eulogistic formulae...
• Publication in PDF format (under evaluation)
The Dictionary
The Text EditorSimilar to most hieroglyphic text-editing programs • Compliant with the "Manuel du Codage 1988" • Offering additional functions
(adjustable positioning of signs, creation of sign-groups...)
• At-hand lexical analysis from the dictionary
Among the many improvements planned: • Compatibility: format-exchange with WinGlyph,
GOT, Inscribe, JSesh, WikiHiéro ... • Export to printer and / or to PDF, Word, ... formats • Interface with the Corpus of texts (see after)
• Semantic analysis
The Text Editor
The Corpus of texts
• More than 90 texts are available • With MdC-code, transliteration and translation • Associated source photographs in high-resolution • Bibliographic reference• Characteristics of the artefacts in the MET standard• Lexical analysis from the dictionary • Allows editing on-line by team members• A "blog" is available, for comments/ corrections
• Current project: White Chapel of Senusret Ist
The Corpus of texts
The Corpus of texts
Four years experience
• Information technology can definitely be a real and effective aid
• The database structure offers virtually unlimited capacity.
• But the user must make choices on his own at different stages of translation ; the final interpretation remains with the human being.
• The monitoring of standards (such as MdC, MET, Unicode, XHTML...) is a guarantee of durability.
• The contribution of volunteers is a viable alternative to the lack of budget.
The Future of Rosette
• The growing capabilities of servers are offering more and more powerful functions.
• Internet allows a collaborative approach. With a validation by a "referee", the Wiki approach may open a direct capture by visitors.
• The desire for a common and standardized storage has been made on many occasions:
– Rosette proposes both a format and an infrastructure in which the text-collection can immediately begin.
– If a standard ultimately gets established, everything that has been capitalized by Rosette can readily be converted and used under the GNU-GPL!
Thanks for your attention
and all the others ...