The "XML/Repetti" Project: Encoding and Manipulation of Temporal Information in Historical Text Sources

The paper deals with the deployment of XML-related technologies in Cultural Heritage applications concerningthe encoding of temporal semantics in the digital versionof historical documents. Since written sources have oftenthe same importance as material evidence in medievalarchaeology, our approach can be applied to thedevelopment of tools for the support of archaeologicalresearch. In previous work, we developed an XML/XSLinfrastructure called “The Valid Web” for the definitionand management of historical information within Webdocuments. In this paper we describe the application andextension of such an approach to the realization of theelectronic version of Repetti's historical-geographicaldictionary of Tuscany. The extension concerns the uniformmanagement of temporal indeterminacy, the use ofmultiple calendars and granularities and the proposedsolutions have been inspired by similar research done fortemporal query languages. From the user viewpoint, theproposed XML extensions allow the addition of historicalmetainformation to the encoded text sources and their“intelligent” temporal navigation via standard Webbrowsers. The project also involves the definition ofoptimized search algorithms, storage and temporalindexing of XML-encoded Repetti's Dictionary items,implementation of a prototype. As a byproduct, also a toolfor computer-aided temporal XML-encoding of textsources will be developed to be used by Cultural Heritageoperators (e.g. archaeology researchers).