2021
Publication of research and datasets EEMEE!
The majority of the papers presented at the EASE workshop at ICEHL-21 (see here) have been published as part of a special issue of the journal Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik. This issue details the web application Evoke, the history of A Thesaurus of Old English, and several research projects carried out by scholars from various institutes across Europe. Many of the articles within are published open access. Moreover, datasets created for this research have been released to the public, too, and are now available for browsing in Evoke!
'Digital personal copies' presented at eLex 2021
At
eLex 2021, a conference on electronic lexicography, Sander Stolk presented a novel approach for annotating and extending lexicographic resources (such as dictionaries and thesauri). Users of Evoke can start annotating material without first requiring a user account. Their annotations are digital, explicit, reference the original material, and are stored in the user's own internet browser. Thus, the lexicographic resource can be customized by the user without affecting the original resource. User additions are available only in the digital personal copy of that user. This approach has many advantages over existing systems for both publishers and users (e.g., publishers do not need to host and moderate user content, users do not need to create accounts first).
EASE workshop at ICEHL-21
A full-day workshop on working with
A Thesaurus of Old English and the digital platform Evoke was held at the 21st International Conference on English Historical Linguistics (
ICEHL-21).
The full programme, available
here, lined up talks that demonstrated ways in which these two digital resources, at times complemented with additional data, can be used to explore exciting new aspects. Old English language and culture, developments of metaphors, lexis used in specific texts or by specific authors, lexicographical practices, ways in which Old Germanic languages can be contrasted with each other, and the use of these digital resources in a classroom setting -- there was plenty of variation between these talks.
The majority of the papers presented at this workshop will be part of a special issue of the journal
Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik that is titled 'Exploring Early Medieval English Eloquence' and will be published by the end of 2021.
2020
Onomasiological profiles presented at SOEMEHL42
On December 18th, Dr Thijs Porck presented preliminary findings of his work with Evoke on creating onomasiological profiles of Old English texts. His talk at the 42nd edition of the Symposium on Old English, Middle English and Historical Linguistics in the Low Countries included a number of semantic word analyses for animals; an introduction into thesauri and the principles behind linked data; and specialized thesauri that he created for the Old English texts Beowulf, Andreas, and The Old English Martyrology.
Second EASE workshop
The second EASE workshop, held on October 17th, proved to be captivating!
The day was filled with presentations by scholars from across Europe, who met up online to discuss their researches that utilize 2 digital resources: the digital platform Evoke and A Thesaurus of Old English.
Listening to the variation and depth of these talks, ranging from onomasiological profiling of texts and authors to use in educational settings, made for a splendid way to spend a rainy October Saturday!
Many thanks to all who participated.
The final results of these and other projects will be presented at the pre-conference
EASE workshop at ICEHL-21 on June 7th, 2021.
Vlog: How would you complain about bad weather if you woke up in the Middle Ages?
With the arrival of autumn, the weather has become rainier. Complaining about such bad weather is something of a tradition in a number of countries. How would you have complained about it, though, if you had lived in the year 900? A vlog released on October 13th answers this question by turning to Old English vocabulary explored using the online platform Evoke.
Grant awarded
The EASE project has been awarded a grant to explore early medieval English eloquence!
New releases of Evoke
This year saw a number of new releases of the Evoke platform (now at v4.1).
New functionality includes easier browsing and better analyses (examples are shown below).
Moreover, the releases introduced another powerful feature!
You can now add your own information through annotations.
These annotations are stored privately, in your own browser (instead of in the cloud) and can be downloaded and shared with others if you choose to do so.
After all, the added information is yours. It should be yours to control.
2019
First EASE workshop
The first workshop in the Exploring Anglo-Saxon Eloquence series was held at Leiden University on February 1st, 2019.
The workshop drew attention to the new digital platform Evoke and explored its value for various fields of research.
The first thesaurus that Evoke supports is A Thesaurus of Old English, which allows scholars to take a closer look at Anglo-Saxon language and culture.
Researchers met up to explore the kinds of inquiries they would want to make using these resources in order to ensure that such efforts can be accomplished with relative ease.
2018
Teaching with Evoke
How does one explore language and culture using digital resources?
Students from Leiden University dealt with precisely this question during a workshop titled 'Digital resources for the 21st-century Anglo-Saxonist' on November 13th, 2018.
The focus of this workshop was on two tools specifically:
A Thesaurus of Old English, accessed through
Evoke, and the
Dictionary of Old English Corpus.
Thus, the students learned how culture is encoded in vocabulary and how they can scrutinize words in their context in a corpus, actively engaging with both of these digital resources.
The educational materials will soon be made available on the
teaching page.
