Ceramic Technologies Digital Library: A Research Design for a Classificatory Digital Library

A. Simon¹ / G. Indruszewski^2,3 / C. Lübke⁴ / G. Farin⁵ / A. Razdan⁵ / J. Rowe⁵

(1Arizona Research Institute (ARI), Tempe, AZ, USA / 2Museum für Antike Schifffahrt, Mainz, Germany / 3Viking Ship Museum Roskilde, Denmark / 4Historisches Institut, EMA Universitaet Greifswald, Germany / 5PRISM (Partnership for Stereo Modelling), Arizona State University (ASU), Tempe, AZ, USA)

The digital library is a joint project proposal of the Historisches Institut at EMAU Greifswald University, Germany, the Partnership for Research in Spatial Modeling (PRISM) and the Archeological Research Institute (ARI) at Arizona State University (ASU), Tempe, Arizona, USA. The work, scheduled to begin in 2006, will concentrate on internet publication of early medieval Slavic ceramics from ca. A.D. 600 to around 1400. The project is aimed at the creation of a digital library, which will become a virtual repository center open to both the interested specialists and the general public. As such, the project is international in both scope and methodology.
The overall goal of the proposed digital library is to develop an Internet-based, classificatory database of ceramic collections from the Germania-Slavica research area (Central European area including regions from Germany, Poland, and Czech Republic) that will facilitate access to the visual and quantified study of ceramic technologies and their relationship to cultural traditions, ethnic identities, and the social, economic, and political interactions among multi-ethnic communities. The extensive spatial and temporal database of various existing ceramic collections will be gathered into a long-term digital archive, using standard archaeological and geometric concepts and terminology applied systematically in the database development.
The resulting database and archive of ceramic collections from Central Europe will have a sustained web address where users can gain virtual access to otherwise restricted, endangered, or not publicly available material that will be accurately replicated through the use of 3D scanning technology.