This illustration from
This illustration was created by
Gift of Estate of Richard Beck to Special Collections at the University of Victoria. This illustration from
Call number: NE962 N67M64
The purpose of my Ph.D. project was to create a prototype for a digital image repository and web page for illustrations of Old Norse gods and heroes from manuscripts and early print sources. The website was launched on June 6, 2013 with one hundred and one illustrations.
In the fall of 2018, MyNDIR became part of the Endings Project in the Humanities Computing and Media Centre at the University of Victoria. The purpose of the project is to archive websites by creating a static version of a site that can be used independent of the internet. The total number of illustrations in MyNDIR for the Endings Project is 151 as of November 27, 2018. I will continue to add illustrations to the website.
I initially used a Roma Schema with the modules:
All proper nouns for the metadata for the illustrations are marked up with TEI P5 by using: <gi>persName</gi> for beings such as gods, giants, humans, authors, illustrators etc. and <gi>name</gi> for animals, monsters, and artifacts. The <att>xml:id</att>s for proper nouns are always mixed case abbreviations that begin with a capital. The <gi>list</gi> elements always have <att>type</att> and usually have <att>subtype</att> as well. All other TEI tags such as: <placeName/> for places, <orgName/> for archives, and <person/> were used in the manner demonstrated by the TEI P5 guidelines. I use the <att>xml:lang</att> for all of these elements. The keyword items for all proper nouns are linked to further descriptive data in a Names directory (names.xml).
I also create keyword items consisting of simple nouns, which were marked up as <gi>term</gi> to correspond to names of artifacts, animals, and monsters, e.g. Megingjörð = belt, Sleipnir = horse, Jörmungandr = serpent. The keyword items for all simple nouns are also entered in the names.xml file. The <att>xml:id</att>s for simple nouns are not abbreviated, always begin in lower case, are always in English, and are camel back when consisting of more than one word.
The critical approach for the selection of illustrations is focused through the theoretical lens of Material Philology which considers books and their material details, such as covers and illustrations, as cultural artifacts. This selection criteria results in a repository of images that is capable of revealing aspects of book history, culture, and production that the words of the texts alone cannot provide. Consequently, iterations of illustrations with minimal differences are not only included but valued for their research potential, e.g., illustrations from the first and second editions of
Old Norse orthography was the preferred representation for all names; however the English orthography was supplied in the keywords for Þōrr for Thor. Old Norse, English and other spellings were recorded in the names.xml file.
The spelling conventions for Old Norse conform to the practice established in