Work with source objects
In this section you learn how to work with source objects in your Geovistory Toolbox project.
In Geovistory, you can manage your sources on three levels. Depending on your research needs, you can:
Add source objects & basic information about them: Add a new Source and name it accordingly or integrate an existing Source Object into your project (existing source objects were added by other users).
Bring structure into your source objects: Structure the different source objects and their content in "collections" and "sections". Use Section and Collection.
Add advanced information: In case, you want to go further and analyze specefics informations on the publication of your source objects (e.g. date of publication, author etc.), you have to activate corresponding classes.
Hint: your source objects in the Geovistory library can be linked with your project's entities via the annotation & linking process.
1. Add source objects & basic information
As a researcher you may want to add a list of sources (archival documents, literature, images, technical reports, etc.) in order to refer to them and link relevant information to them.
When you add a new source object, you first need to select one of the five different kinds of source objects:
a) Add a new Source Object
Depending on the kind of source you have selected, you will find other fields that you can complete in order to store information concerning your source object. For example, you can fill in different fields such as "Short Title", "Bibliographical citation" or your own "Naming" as you want them to appear. You can also link them to a Collection or specify their Type depending on your research.
Basics Fields of each Source Object class
Unique Source Object
Short title: You can give a short title to your document in order to facilitate your research.
Naming: You can give different naming in different language to your document and specified the naming with a type in the controlled vocabulary section.
Belonging to a collection: This field is dedicated to associate a Unique Source Object to a collection (museal, archival, library).
Definition: Always give a small definition to explain to other users what it is about. You can inform about the localisation and the temporality for example.
Type: If you work with different kinds of documents, you can specify the type in the Controlled vocabulary setting (for ex. register, illuminated manuscript, unpublished work, etc.).
Hint: For each naming, it is possible to specify the language used. If the appropriate language does not appear in the preselection, simply enter the first few letters and a larger drop-down list will appear.
Note: It is mandatory to add a short definition (250 characters) to the source. This is a way of identifying it quickly - even by others.
b) Add an existing Source
Sometimes other users have already entered the source that you want to integrate into your project. You can simply select it and add it to your project and - if needed - adapt the related informations directly in your project. This will not affect other projects, because each project keeps its specific view on the data.
The clip below explains how an existing Source Object can be added and opened in your project.
2. Work with 'Sections'
A section is a portion of a source's content.
With sections you can structure or divide the content of any kind of source object (unique source object, serially produced source, web source, publication exemplar, etc.).
Used with Unique source object or Serially produced Source, it allows reproducing portions of the content contained in these source objects. For example, split your book or journal into articles, chapters, peritexts, or even pages and paragraphs. Depending on the level of information you work with.
Hint: You can simply add Type according to your research question, such as "Chapter", "Paragraphs", Audio-section", "dictionary entry", etc. by using the Controlled vocabularies module.
Examples of section include:
Article of a journal, a magazine
Chapter, page, paragraph, peritext
Entry in a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a diary, a register, etc.
Advertisement in a magazine
Audio or video sequence
Practical example: The diary of Anna Maria Preiswerk-Iselin:
How to add a Section
switch to "edit mode"
click on the three dots and select "section"
Note that you have to first enable the edit-mode before you can add/remove sections. (this is not shown in this older video)
Further examples of a Section include:
Article : A piece of writing about a particular subject in a newspaper, a magazine or a scientific journal.
Chapter : A separate section of a book, usually with a number or title.
Page : One side of a sheet of paper in a book, magazine, etc., usually numbered.
Paragraph : A section of a piece of writing, usually consisting of several sentences dealing with a single subject. The first sentence of a paragraph starts on a new line.
Peritext : A textual or visual material that is incorporated within the physical format of a published work as a supplement to the main body.
Preface : An introduction to a book, often explaining the author’s intentions.
Foreword : A short introduction at the beginning of a book, usually written by a person other than the author.
Afterword : A section at the end of a book often putting into context the main text, sometimes written by a different author.
Dedication : A statement indicating to whom a text is dedicated.
Epigraph : A line of writing, short phrase, etc. introducing a part of a book.
Footnote : An extra piece of information given at the bottom of a page, below the main text.
Blurb : A brief descriptive paragraph or note on the contents or character of a book, printed as a commendatory advertisement, on the jacket or wrapper of a newly published book.
Entry : An item, for example a piece of information, that is written or printed in a dictionary, an account book, a diary, etc.
Dictionary entry : An entry in a dictionary.
Encyclopedia entry : An entry or article in an encyclopedia.
Catalogue entry : An entry in a catalogue.
Diary entry : An entry in a personal diary.
Nominative list entry : An entry in a nominative list.
Register entry : An entry in a register.
Advertisement : A notice, picture in a book, newspaper or magazine informing people about a product, job or service, usually paid for by the advertiser.
Illustration : A drawing or picture in a book, newspaper, magazine, document, used for decorative or explanatory purpose.
Audio sequence : Part of an audio recording.
Video sequence: Part of a film showing a particular moment.
3. Work with 'Collections'
Use "collections" to bundle source objects that are associated with the same collection.
The class collection is used to express the fact that an object or a source is maintained ("curated" or "preserved") in a specific collection during a given time-span.
As a collection may belong to another collection, it is possible to structure the collection and thus provide informations about the hierarchy of an archival's repository or a museum's reserves.
How to work with collections
Create a new collection in the entity module. This is the same procedure as if you would add a new person to your project (see screenshot below).
Connect your source object with the newly created collection. For this, select "contains" and then "is about" to link your collection to a unique source object, a publication exemplar or another collection.
You can connect Unique Source Objects & Publication Exemplars with your collections. For this, select the field "contains"/"belonging to a collection" in the entity card of your source objects and select "is about".
An example of a collection
For example, in Switzerland, the canton of Vaud maintains the collection of the "Archives Cantonales Vaudoises". One of the objects in this collection is the register Ac 29. This register belongs to the sub-collection "A", which contains all the documents concerning the "Savoyard and episcopal period". More precisely, it belongs to the sub-sub-collection "Ac" which contains the documents relating to the "Bishopric, the chapter and the cathedral of Lausanne". It is the 29th document of this collection. In the example below, all these different levels are indicated.
It is up to you to know which granularity of information is necessary for you. You can also juste create a collection "Ac 29" in the "Archive cantonales vaudoise" collection, or just attach the object Ac 29 to the main collection, in that case the archival repository of "Archives Cantonales Vaudoises".
Hint: You can group your sources into one or several collections, for example a source object can be part of an archival and a museal collection.
4. Activate profiles to add more information
If you want to include additional information on your source objects such as the date of the creation of a manuscript, indicate the author or the publisher of a book, or if you want to inform about the place it was created, you have to activate the corresponding profile named "Intellectual and literary life".
Learn here how to work with the profile "Intellectual and literary life".
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