Articles by Ilaria Bonincontro

As part of the Caere Project, the author describes the diverse stages that have characterised the acquisition and encoding in a digital format of the excavation diaries through the application of SGML. This encoding language for electronic documents is focused mostly on describing the internal structure of the data and the information contained in the text. The SGML syntax in some aspects is complex, and inevitably this has been an obstacle to the diffusion of the language. The transcription and the encoding of the diaries have been completed and a flexible querying system of the SGML documents has been created. The decision to use the Internet in order to distribute information has also implied a study of the viability of converting SGML documents into XML, which in the last few years has been replacing SGML, from which it derives. However, the completion of the encoding project of the excavation diaries does not represent the final stage; in fact, it is the new phase that it has initiated which is important: further DTDs will be created which will allow the acquisition and encoding of the descriptions of every find. The user will be able to navigate and explore the textual data and, where a more detailed study is required, analyse the objects together with the topographical information.

The main subject of this article is the problem of the filing of textual data in archaeology in order that they can be analysed and processed automatically. This problem is closely associated to another topic, that of text encoding. An electronic text may contain more than one markup level. The first one is the character encoding, usually the ASCII - 7 bit set, that offers 127 bit combination to represent letters, digits and a few other signs. The ASCII code has the advantage of being a standard valid for every operating system. It is therefore suggested, to encode other signs not included in the ASCII set, the use of a combination of the 127 available characters rather than a combination of 8 bit (256 possible combinations), because the number codes greater than 127 are used for different signs on different systems. A document file may contain another markup that encodes format parameters. To transform a simple document into a “database” where information can be searched and retrieved, the conceptual components must be encoded. The Standard Generalized Markup Language appears to be a good tool to produce files that are software and hardware independent, easy to be managed and ready to be automatically analysed by a software in order to retrieve pieces of information.

Multimedia is increasingly spreading through many different fields (research, didactics, entertainment) but the meaning of this word is not always clear. The term multimedia can actually signify two things: something that is spread through different media, or a product that contains more than one media and that can thus transmit other and more complicated information. In this paper the second meaning is discussed. A list of projects is offered in order to present the state of the art in research on multimedia. Three topics are examined: a) implementation of conceptual models to plan and produce multimedia: the same models can be used at the same time to evaluate an applet; b) benefits of multimedia application in didactics; c) what kind of multimedia products are mainly requested in Cultural Heritage.

This study deals with the correct storage of data concerning scientific analysis within cultural heritage. An analysis of the present situation indicates the danger of the dispersal of information. The data acquired in scientific analysis appear as signals and images. The different problems involved in both cases have been discussed. The case of the XRF spectra is presented as a detailed example of the proposed approach.

CThe “Giunone” project concerns the implementation of a numismatical database, designed to become a valid tool for researchers in the field of numismatics and coin collection history. The database was built in conformity with the entity-relationship model and is used in this phase under a Unix System. The task of data entry can be carried out by different people using a programme that works on IBM computers.