Vindolanda Tablets Revisited (Roued-Cunliffe)

Vindolanda Tablets Revisited
This project is linked in with the Vindolanda Tablets Online(VTO) project from 2003. There are several parts to the project:
 * The first was to encode Tab.Vindol.III accourding to the newest EpiDoc style XML.
 * This soon led to a much more detailed encoding than previously in the VTO project, which included encoding of conventions such as [abc].
 * Next we decided to include contextual encoding of lemma, personal names, geography and dates. We used the indices from the Tab.Vindol publications and added this information to the XML documents.
 * At this point we realised that with the new encoding there was so much more that could be done with the tablets other than just publishing them online. We decided to use the more granulated encoding to build a website that was much more interactive than VTO using AJAX LiveSearch and Web Service technology.
 * The Web Service (called APPELLO) allows us to search the words in the tablets and create an index. It is possible to send patterns to the APPELLO and it will retrieve words and the tablets in which they can be found based on this pattern.
 * This new encoding together with APPELLO also benefits Henriette Roued's thesis research: Decision Support Systems for the reading of Ancient Documents. APPELLO can be accessed from the Decision Support System (DSS) and provide suggestions which can aid readers in their interpretation process.

References and Abbreviations

 * Tab.Vindol.I : Bowman, A. K. and Thomas, J. D. (1983). Vindolanda: The Latin Writing Tablets. London: Society for Promotion of Roman Studies.
 * Tab.Vindol.II : Bowman, A. K. and Thomas, J. D. (1994). The Vindolanda Writing Tablets : (Tabulae Vindolandenses II). London: British Museum Press.
 * Tab.Vindol.III : Bowman, A. K. and Thomas, J. D. (2003). The Vindolanda Writing Tablets (Tabulae Vindolandenses III). London: British Museum Press.

Contact
This work is mainly being conducted as a part of Henriette Roued's thesis research, which is a part of the e-Science and Ancient Documents (eSAD) project, together with Charles Crowther from the Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents (CSAD) at University of Oxford.

henriette dot roued at classics dot ox dot ac dot uk