1. The Missing Links:
Defining the Mamluk Empire as a Node,
and What the Network Knows about It
Kilian Schmidtner – Klaus Thoden
Everything is on the Move:
The “Mamluk Empire” as a Node in (Trans-)Regional Networks.
6th-9th December 2012
co-funded by the European Union

2. The Past, the Present and ...
“In Enquire, I could type in a page of
information about a person, a device, or a
program. Each page was a "node" in the program,
a little like a index card. The only way to
create a new node was to make a link from an
old node. The links from and to a node would
show up as a numbered list at the bottom of
each page, much like the list of references at
the end of an academic paper.”
Tim Berners-Lee: Weaving the Web. 1998, p. 10.
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3. What you will learn
RDF
Resource Description Framework
http://www.w3.org/RDF/
XML
Extensible Markup Language
http://www.w3.org/XML
TEI
Text Encoding Initiative
http://www.tei-c.org
METS
Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard
http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/

4. And what the Network knows about It …
1. Looking back: Where are the Mamluks in German
Orientalist Research (ca. 1850-1950)?
2. Setng Links: Weaving a Web of Mamluk Resources by
following the Traces in Secondary Literature.
3. Diving into Texts: Relatonships between Textual
Sources
4. The Medieval Hypertext: Authors and their Relatonship
in scientfic Manuscripts (ISMI)
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5. Who we are
Europeana
http://www.europeana.eu/portal/
DM2E - Digitzed Manuscripts to Europeana
http://dm2e.eu/
•Humboldt Universität Berlin, DE
•European Associaton for Jewish Culture
•ExLibris, DE
•Universität Mannheim, DE
•Max-Planck-Insttut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, DE
•Natonal Technical University of Athens, GR
•Net7, IT
•Open Knowledge Foundaton, UK
•Österreichische Natonalbibliothek
•Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, DE
•University of Bergen, NO
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6. What we do
Europeana
RDF
OPAC OPAC SBB-digital ismi
kalliope.staatsbibliothek- coming soon
berlin.de sbb-digital. http://ismi-dev.mpiwg-
staatsbibliothek-berlin.de berlin.mpg.de/home
Kalliope ISMI
Handschriften- Orient- Images
abteilung abteilung
Max Planck Institute for the
States Library Berlin History of Science
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7. RDF – Resource Description Framework
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8. RDF – Resource Description Framework
• Subject – Predicate – Object
<gnd:Person
rdf:about="http://d-nb.info/gnd/102747083">
<gnd:preferredNameForThePerson>
Littmann, Enno
</gnd:preferredNameForThePerson>
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9. RDF – Resource Description Framework
• Subject – Predicate – Object
<gnd:Person
rdf:about="http://d-nb.info/gnd/102747083">
<gnd:preferredNameForThePerson>
Littmann, Enno
</gnd:preferredNameForThePerson>
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10. OWL – Web Ontology Language
• Controlled vocabularies
• Domain specific
• Vocabulary for books and publicatons: BIBO
• OWL for Mamluk officials' ttles
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11. Linked Data
• GND
• "Mameluckenreich"
• http://d-nb.info/gnd/4405212-1
• Who was mamluk sultan in 1419?
• 1419? Islamic or Christan (Gregorian or Julian) or
Hebrew …
• Did he have a daughter?
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12. RDF – Resource Description Framework
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13. And what the Network knows about It …
1. Looking back: Where are the Mamluks in German
Orientalist Research (ca. 1850-1950)?
2. Setng Links: Weaving a Web of Mamluk Resources by
following the Traces in Secondary Literature.
3. Diving into Texts: Relatonships between Textual
Sources
4. The Medieval Hypertext: Authors and their Relatonship
in scientfic Manuscripts (ISMI)
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14. The „Mamluks“ in german orientalist research
0 Mamluken
60 Orientalisten
http://kalliope.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de
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15. Finding aid „Enno Littmann“
Authority File data set: Enrico Cerulli
<gnd:UndifferentiatedPerson
rdf:about="http://d-nb.info/gnd/102747083">
<gnd:publication>Gallina, Francesco: Suppl.. -
1940</gnd:publication>
<gnd:publication>Cerulli, Enrico: Studi
etiopici</gnd:publication>
<gnd:preferredNameEntityForThePerson
rdf:parseType="Resource">
<gnd:forename>Enrico</gnd:forename>
<gnd:surname>Cerulli</gnd:surname>
</gnd:preferredNameEntityForThePerson>
<gnd:preferredNameForThePerson>
Cerulli, Enrico
</gnd:preferredNameForThePerson>
<gnd:oldAuthorityNumber>(DE-
588a)102747083</gnd:oldAuthorityNumber>
<gnd:gndIdentifier>102747083</gnd:gndIdentifier>
</gnd:UndifferentiatedPerson>

16. Finding aid Enno Littmann
Authority File data set: Carl Brockelmann
<gnd:DifferentiatedPerson rdf:about="http://d-nb.info/gnd/118862014">
<gnd:publication>Geschichte der islamischen Völker und Staaten. -
1939</gnd:publication>
<gnd:preferredNameForThePerson>Brockelmann,
Carl</gnd:preferredNameForThePerson>
<gnd:variantNameForThePerson>Brūkilmān, Kārl</gnd:variantNameForThePerson>
<gnd:variantNameForThePerson>Brockelmann, C.</gnd:variantNameForThePerson>
<gnd:publication>Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur</gnd:publication>
<gnd:biographicalOrHistoricalInformation>Dt. Orientalist, Prof an d. Univ.
Halle</gnd:biographicalOrHistoricalInformation>
<gnd:publication>Mitteltürkischer Wortschatz nach Mahmūd Al-Kašgarīs Divān
Lǔgat at-Tǔrk. - 1928</gnd:publication>
<gnd:preferredNameEntityForThePerson rdf:parseType="Resource">
<gnd:forename>Carl</gnd:forename>
<gnd:surname>Brockelmann</gnd:surname>
</gnd:preferredNameEntityForThePerson>
<gnd:variantNameForThePerson>Brockelmann,
Carolus</gnd:variantNameForThePerson>
<gnd:geographicAreaCode rdf:resource="http://d-
nb.info/standards/vocab/gnd/geographic-area-code#XA-DE"/>
<gnd:variantNameForThePerson>Brok'êlman, K.</gnd:variantNameForThePerson>
<gnd:dateOfDeath>1956</gnd:dateOfDeath>
<gnd:oldAuthorityNumber>(DE-588a)131112783</gnd:oldAuthorityNumber>
<gnd:professionOrOccupation rdf:resource="http://d-nb.info/gnd/4415844-0"/>
<gnd:oldAuthorityNumber>(DE-588a)118862014</gnd:oldAuthorityNumber>
<gnd:gndIdentifier>118862014</gnd:gndIdentifier>
<gnd:publication>A. Socin's Arabische Grammatik. - 1929</gnd:publication>
<gnd:dateOfBirth>1868</gnd:dateOfBirth>
<gnd:gndSubjectCategory rdf:resource="http://d-nb.info/vocab/gnd-
sc#11.2p"/>
<gnd:affiliation rdf:resource="http://d-nb.info/gnd/2024162-8"/>
<gnd:oldAuthorityNumber>(DE-588a)174042531</gnd:oldAuthorityNumber>
<gnd:variantNameEntityForThePerson rdf:parseType="Resource">
<gnd:forename>Karl</gnd:forename>
<gnd:surname>Brockelmann</gnd:surname>
</gnd:variantNameEntityForThePerson>
…
</gnd:DifferentiatedPerson>

17. Who is in Kalliope?
Enno Littmann and his
Correspondence
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18. My Dear Friend …
Two Postcards from Julius Wellhausen to Enno Littmann, July 1902
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19. NGram – Shortly explained
http://books.google.com/ngrams/
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20. NGram-Comparisons
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21. NGram, Lifetime and Publications
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22. Other Interests
ägyptschen, hellenistschen,
Türkische, arabische, Britschen,
Deutsch-türkische, Kulturpolitsche,
pädagogische, Äthiopischen, Babylonisch-assyrisches,
syrischer, hellenistsch-römischer, bischöfichen,
islamische, Nordsemitschen, semitsche, Mandäische,
babylonischen, assyrischen, indischen, Sabäische,
ägyptsche, Früharabische, aegyptsches, Koptsche,
Hellenistsche, griechischen, Türkisch-deutsches,
Orientalische, persische, diplomatschen,
hieroglyphische, Altaegyptschen, Neuaegyptschen,
Koptschen, Koptsches, Demotsche, altarabischen,
Kritsche, religiös-politschen, arabischen, aramäischen
Nachlass 245, Enno Littmann, Kasten 99:
Reisebilder IV-V
Weitere Photos aus Abessinien u. von Inschriften
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23. Other Interests
Geschichte, Wesen, Zeit, Krieg,
Grundlagen, Gegenwart, Analyse, Gedanken
Kitāb, Islam, Deutschland, Mysterienreligionen,
Sternglaube, Sterndeutung, Grammatk, Sprache,
Syrie, Zwei, Storia, Arabern, Schattentheater,
Inschriften, Türkei, Aegypten, Altertum,
Babylonian, Studien, Orientalia,
Zivilprozeßordnung, Lesestücke, Gebr., Unterricht,
Reste, Heidentums, Hochschulreform, Kant,
Bildungskrise, Lebensfragen, Weltreiches,
Problem, Bildung, Kulturkrise,
Interessengemeinschaften, Aufgaben, Reiches,
Universität, Akademie, ...
Nachlass 245, Enno Littmann, Kasten 99:
Reisebilder IV-V
Weitere Photos aus Abessinien u. von Inschriften
04.12.12 23

24. And what the Network knows about It …
1. Looking back: Where are the Mamluks in German
Orientalist Research (ca. 1850-1950)?
2. Setng Links: Weaving a Web of Mamluk Resources by
following the Traces in Secondary Literature.
3. Diving into Texts: Relatonships between Textual
Sources
4. The Medieval Hypertext: Authors and their Relatonship
in scientfic Manuscripts (ISMI)
04.12.12 24

25. A Mamluk Manuscript
Ms. or. quart 1817,
States Library Berlin.
http://digital.
staatsbibliothek-
berlin.de
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26. From a Mamluk to a Mamluk
Ms. or. quart. 1817, f. 50b Ms. or. quart. 1817, f. 1a
04.12.12 26

27. The Secondary Literature-Graph
Visualization of bibliographic
metadata of secondary literature as a
RDF-Triple-Graph.

28. Adapted after al-Qalqashandi
al-Qalqašandī: Ḍauʾ aṣ-ṣubḥ al-musfir wa-
ǧinā ad-dauḥ al-muṭmir. (Salāma,
Maḥmūd, Ed.) Miṣr 1906, S. 241.
Ms. or. quart. 1817, f. 1b
04.12.12 28

29. And what the Network knows about It …
1. Looking back: Where are the Mamluks in German
Orientalist Research (ca. 1850-1950)?
2. Setng Links: Weaving a Web of Mamluk Resources by
following the Traces in Secondary Literature.
3. Diving into Texts: Relationships between Textual
Sources
4. The Medieval Hypertext: Authors and their Relatonship
in scientfic Manuscripts (ISMI)
04.12.12 29

30. Harriot Online
22.01.13 30

31. Harriot Online
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32. Harriot Online
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33. Harriot Online
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34. Harriot Online
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35. Harriot Online
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36. Harriot Online
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37. Harriot Online
22.01.13 37

38. And what the Network knows about It …
1. Looking back: Where are the Mamluks in German
Orientalist Research (ca. 1850-1950)?
2. Setng Links: Weaving a Web of Mamluk Resources by
following the Traces in Secondary Literature.
3. Diving into Texts: Relatonships between Textual
Sources
4. The Medieval Hypertext: Authors and their
Relationship in scientific Manuscripts (ISMI)
04.12.12 38

39. ISMI
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40. ISMI
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41. ISMI - History
• started as an Access database nearly 20 years ago
• rigid structure, no relaton between fields
• Persons and places not always unique
• Local soluton
• However: being a digital database already, it can be
converted into something more usable
22.01.13 41

42. ISMI
Biographies
Database Manuscripts
Bibliography
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43. ISMI - Asking questions
• Who could have studied the text?
• Where and when did copies of the text exist?
• Who copied the text, when and where?
• Which other texts are related to this text
(commentary, copies)?
• Understand the network of knowledge represented
by the manuscripts.
22.01.13 43

44. ISMI
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45. ISMI
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46. ISMI
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47. ISMI
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48. ISMI
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49. ISMI
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50. ISMI
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51. Conclusion
Representations of text come to electronic
devices (Printed books will diminish.)
Research will move into the web.
Research tasks will be automated.
Research is communication.

52. Thank you for your attention!
Questons?
Kilian Schmidtner
kilian.schmidtner@sbb.spk-berlin.de
Klaus Thoden
kthoden@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de