The Papyrological Publication Platform (P3): Innovative Data Exchange

• Applicants: Dr. Jochen Apel, since 11/2023; Dr. Rodney Ast
• Subject Area: Ancient History ; Greek and Latin Philology
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 437521971

‘The Papyrological Publication Platform (P3)’ is a joint project of the Institute for Papyrology and University Library at Heidelberg University, in collaboration with Duke University. Its aim is twofold: first, to bridge electronic papyrological data repositories and scholarly publishing, two worlds that have until now traditionally been kept separate; and second, to support the first ever e-journal in papyrology, which incorporates a range of computing methods such as linked open data, robust citability, machine learning, and a dynamic user interface. Under development since July 2019, the P3 project has created and implemented a semi-automatic data conversion service for editions of Greek, Latin and Coptic papyri. This conversion tool transforms scholarly articles written in Word into XML that can be published online in the project’s e-journal and in data repositories such as papyri.info. Concurrently to the development of this tool, the project set up a Diamond Open Access semi-annual e-journal called Pylon. Editions and Studies of Ancient Texts International license. The University Library in Heidelberg will host the journal long term in the context of Propylaeum, the specialized information service for ancient studies. Articles appearing in Pylon are published in both HTML and PDF, with both formats drawing on one and the same underlying XML. New editions of papyri published in Pylon are transferred shortly after first publication to papyri.info via the P3 transformation process. This data exchange model marks a significant milestone in the pursuit of more efficient transfer of information, as it meant that editions do not have to be entered into papyri.info manually. The journal data can be repurposed electronically. For the second phase of the project, the team wishes to extend P3’s scope by targeting inscriptions from Egypt and papyri in demotic Egyptian and Arabic script, which will be published both in Pylon and papyri.info. The goal is to create a research and publication environment that better reflects the wide boundaries of the modern study of papyrology, which in the past tended to focus almost solely on Greek texts written on portable materials, mainly papyri and ostraca. In addition to pursuing greater inclusivity, this phase of the project will draw on machine learning techniques such as text-image alignment and automatic translation tools. Through text-image alignment, it aims at new ways of interacting with texts and images in Pylon, and by deploying an automatic translation tool within the journal, it will make it easier for people who are not proficient in the discipline’s accepted publication languages (English, French, German, Italian) to have access to new scholarship appearing in Pylon. By the end of the project, P3 will have established a new model of publishing, visualizing, converting and reusing scientific results and research data in papyrology.

• DFG Programme: Science Communication, Research Data, eResearch (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• Participating Institution: Duke University
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Dr. Veit Probst, until 11/2023