Taking back place-names – from dusty library to digital life

TY - ABST

T1 - Taking back place-names – from dusty library to digital life

AU - Knudsen, Bo Nissen

PY - 2011/9/5

Y1 - 2011/9/5

N2 - Danish place-names have been under publication since 1922 in the scientific series Danmarks Stednavne (Place-Names of Denmark) but only recently the huge project of a digitization of the series has been undertaken. Around 120,000 name articles are now on their way to the web as part of the Digital atlas of the Danish historical-administrative geography.Digitization and presentation of a scientific place-names edition poses many interesting problems in itself, especially regarding the variation over time in both the selection of names and the build-up of scholarly knowledge. How are we to convey to end users the understanding of the limitations of the early volumes compared to the newer ones, and how are we to avoid confusion due to the uneven distribution of the names selected for publication – even in neighbouring parishes?And, furthermore, how can we transfer the advantage of the physical mobility of the book format into a digital context – by making the content available as an application for mobile devices such as smart phones and iPads? Adding geocodes to the name articles could open up the possibility of a digital place-name lexicon allowing the end user to move around in a place-name environment with a very close connection between place, place-name – and scholarly knowledge of the name.

AB - Danish place-names have been under publication since 1922 in the scientific series Danmarks Stednavne (Place-Names of Denmark) but only recently the huge project of a digitization of the series has been undertaken. Around 120,000 name articles are now on their way to the web as part of the Digital atlas of the Danish historical-administrative geography.Digitization and presentation of a scientific place-names edition poses many interesting problems in itself, especially regarding the variation over time in both the selection of names and the build-up of scholarly knowledge. How are we to convey to end users the understanding of the limitations of the early volumes compared to the newer ones, and how are we to avoid confusion due to the uneven distribution of the names selected for publication – even in neighbouring parishes?And, furthermore, how can we transfer the advantage of the physical mobility of the book format into a digital context – by making the content available as an application for mobile devices such as smart phones and iPads? Adding geocodes to the name articles could open up the possibility of a digital place-name lexicon allowing the end user to move around in a place-name environment with a very close connection between place, place-name – and scholarly knowledge of the name.

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

T2 - ICOS

Y2 - 5 September 2011 through 9 September 2011

ER -