User:MLavazza/Sandbox2

History

As most Wittgenstein scholars and aficionados are well aware, the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen maintain a rich collection of online resources related to Ludwig Wittgenstein's Nachlass.

In particular, since 2012, the WAB's "Semantic faceted search and browsing" (SFB) website allows readers and researchers across the globe to search, filter and display individual remarks from the Nachlass, or collections thereof, based upon their content or relevant metadata. Since 2016, the WAB's "Interactive dynamic presentation" (IDP) website makes it possible for users to view entire manuscripts or typescripts to display the text of Wittgenstein's writings, in a linear or diplomatic style, while dynamically selecting what information to display.

Both work by using dedicated software to index and parse the WAB's transcriptions of Wittgenstein's manuscripts and typescripts. These are based on the handwritten or typed material and encoded as XML files according to the TEI guidelines. While they were originally published as part of the CD-based Bergen Electronic Edition, the SFB and IDP websites now allow anyone who has an Internet to easily browse them.

As of late 2022, the many graphics and figures that Wittgenstein had included in the 20.000 pages he wrote were rendered by the transcriptions in two main alternative ways:

• Some had been encoded using a combination of Unicode characters and XML markup that the IDP parsing engine renders as HTML;
• Others (generally speaking, those that were visually more complex) had been redrawn, as had previously been done by publishers with the drawings included in Wittgenstein's writings that had appeared in print.

The quality and consistency of the WAB's redrawn graphics, however, was not considered entirely satisfactory. This prompted Alois Pichler, director of the WAB, and Michele Lavazza, coordinator of the Ludwig Wittgenstein Project, to start a cooperation intended to redraw all these visuals.

With funding from the WAB, the project lasted from October 2022 to April 2024 and resulted in the recreation of approximately 1000 image files which were embedded in the transcriptions (and thus incorporated in the public sites) as they became available. The drawings were made by Michele Lavazza and graphic designer Sara Lavazza under the supervision and coordination of Alois Pichler. Precious help and consultancy was provided by Michael Biggs, Rune Falch, and Daphne Bielefeld.

This website is the result of an organic cooperation between the WAB and the LWP.

Scope and purpose

This website contains high-quality, "normalised", redrawn visuals that correspond to the hand-drawn graphics and figures from the manuscripts and typescripts in Ludwig Wittgenstein's Nachlass.