VedaWeb 2.0 - Developing a collaborative workspace for Old Indo-Aryan texts

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Daniel Kölligan; Dr. Claes Neuefeind; Professorin Dr. Uta Reinöhl; Professor Dr. Patrick Sahle
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages ; Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics ; Data Management, Data-Intensive Systems, Computer Science Methods in Business Informatics
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 470926253

The project „VedaWeb 2.0“ develops the VedaWeb platform (https://vedaweb.uni-koeln.de) with its current focus on the Rigveda into a collaborative digital workspace for Indo-Aryan texts. The initial VedaWeb, developed over the past three and a half years as a DFG- funded project (project no. 329358806), is already the most advanced web-based platform for linguistic and philological work with Old Indo- Aryan texts. The project is now ready to take the next step, namely the leap from a locally developed and curated platform into a collaborative workspace which will be shaped by the needs of the community of Indo-Aryanist researchers as a whole. VedaWeb 2.0 will boost research on Old Indo-Aryan languages in linguistics, philology, and beyond. Whereas the initial VedaWeb platform focussed on the Rigveda as its pilot text, VedaWeb 2.0 will, as a collaborative research platform, integrate several additional Indo-Aryan texts which can be enriched by users with diverse types of annotations, multiple translations, and links to dictionary entries. The project also involves the integration of a novel data type: audio recordings of recitations of the Rigveda and other Old Indo-Aryan texts. Data layers in all possible combinations and in a variety of formats will be exportable. In addition, a powerful search engine will allow combined queries across all data layers, including similarity searches. By encoding the data according to Linked Open Data (LOD) principles and with the expansion and creation of API endpoints, Vedaweb 2.0 will provide the research community with applications and data that follow state- of-the-art standards and technologies implementing the FAIR principles. Above and beyond the already sizable number of users of the VedaWeb platform, we expect a further increase in participants working and net-working on the platform. In this regard, the newly integrated data type of audio recordings of recitations is expected to be of special appeal to broader groups of users, including interested laypeople.

• DFG Programme: Research data and software (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• International Connection: Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland, USA
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Eugen Hill; Felix Rau
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Mathieu D' Aquin; Dr. Dieter Gunkel; Privatdozent Dr. Oliver Hellwig; Jakob Moesgaard; Professor Dr. Kevin Ryan; Salvatore Scarlata; Professor Dr. Paul Widmer