lars Lundqvist, Riksantikvarieämbetet

Project Digitala Sveriges Runinskrifter

The project aim is to digitize 'Sveriges runinskrifter' (Sweden's Runic Inscriptions) and in dialogue with researchers design a powerful, web-based research platform, that would support and provide antiquarian information, as well as to facilitate communication with people with interests in runic inscriptions. The purpose of the modeling of the research platform is also that it would be useful as model in other research areas.

The project goals were to:

- Digitize sets of volumes of Sveriges runinskrifter (about 7000 pages) and make it freely available on the Internet.
- Establish a link between Sveriges runinskrifter and objects that carries runic inscriptions.
- In cooperation with runologists design a model for a web-based, infrastructural platform (e-runic), for research, antiquarian activities and communication / cooperation on runic inscriptions - based on K-samsök (SOCH - Swedish Open Cultural Heritage).
- Create a generic model for how data in a subject area can be tied together, a model that can be reused in similar solutions.

The project's results

Project three main goals were achieved.
- The Swedish runic inscriptions have been digitized and the complete work was published on January 16 at the Swedish National Heritage Board website.
- There is a proposal for a web-based platform for research, antiquarian activities and communication / co-creating on inscriptions.
- Digitization, and the proposal to research platform can be used as a model for other digitization projects and other types of data.

The series of monographs of Sveriges runinskrifter is highly desirable and demanded, and some volumes have been difficult to acquire, but through antiquarian acquisitions and loans, scan samples could be supplemented. Digitizing service included scanning, OCR and creation of archive files in uncompressed TIFF format and display files in PDF (300 dpi), with descriptive metadata. Of the 4 invited vendors only one offer was received from Avdelningen för e-resurser (The Division of E-resources) at Stockholm University Library which corresponded with the basic requirements for the assignment. Digitala Sveriges runinskrifter (Digital Swedish Runic Inscriptions) are published on a web page with regular, non-persistent links to PDF files containing text, photographs and graphics.

The main purpose of the proposed research platform, called e-runic, is that it will support qualified research of runic inscriptions, which means researchers all over the world, simply and quickly could obtain basic facts about the inscriptions and references to scholarly works. It will also serve as support for preservation actions and for maintaining an overview of antiquarian measures. A third aspect of e-runic is that it can function as a collaborative (community) and could help promote and make visible committed individuals who work with runes. This also include the need to make runic information available to individuals and to support learning in schools.

e-runic is aimed to gather and display the contents of the relevant databases Samnordisk runtextdatabas, Digitala Sveriges runinskrifter, Fornvännen, FMIS (database of archaeological sites and monuments) , Bebyggelseregistret (Database of Built Heritage) and museum collections of objects connected to the K-samsök. K-samsök acts like a hub between the databases and e-resources, and will make it possible to integrate and link to them from one interface.

The research platform will have an open API, which means that rune-related data can be used by others to build applications that support other knowledge processes (An open API means that anyone can build services on the content or data).

To maximize the research platform's usability and sustainability, the project has worked closely with runologists and curators at the Swedish National Heritage Board and runologists linked to Uppsala runforum (Uppsala Runic Forum). Collaboration has occurred via phone calls and e-mail, but the project members have also met and discussed common issues at a workshop in Uppsala, and two meetings in Stockholm. System developers from the National Heritage Board's IT department and business developers from the Division of Information Development also participated in the meetings.

Sketches and design of the proposed research platform and the search interface and search results page are included in the Swedish National Heritage Board's complete final report.

Management and continued work

The proposed research platform means that the responsibility for the content of each database lies with the respective database managers. This means that when information is updated in the respective databases, the updated information can be seen in e-runic. The model also provides opportunities for others to use the information via the open API of K-samsök and develop customized web applications.

The open solution for the research platform means that other data sources relevant to research on runic inscriptions can be connected, provided that they are based on standards defined by K-samsök and e-runic. The platform will thus be simple to adapt to future needs, for example to include new data sources and as well as managing existing data sources that are shut down. Several exciting and potential sources are under development.

Swedish National Heritage Board is working on projects resulting in future sources that can be integrated with other sources of runic data. The "Runverket 2.0" is meant to be a sustainable infrastructure for research information and antiquarian information about runic inscriptions in Sweden and will be based on an interactive, web-based, digital platform. It is intended to contain service records of new runic findings, activities, additions and corrections. There should also be room for comments, literature references and other references. Furthermore, the Swedish National Heritage Board's project Laborativa runanalyser (laborative runic analyses) is designed to make the 3D data and the analysis results, for example from analysis of paint pigments, X-rays, etc., available.

Among interesting external projects is Svensk runbibliografi (Swedish runic bibliography) conducted at the Department of Scandinavian Languages at Stockholm University and was funded by the R & D funds from the National Heritage Board. Svensk runbibliografi is a web-based special bibliography of all research into Swedish runic inscriptions.

Communication

Information and knowledge about the project has been provided in several ways; one news article on the Swedish National Heritage Board website, presentations at a workshop and three seminars. Project group participants have also posted information on the blogs K-blog, Conservation Forum and Facebook, as well as Google + Twitter. Posts to Google + and Twitter and are not reported below.

News Article
Maria Jansson (Swedish National Heritage Board): Digitala Sveriges runinskrifter. 2012-01-17.

Presentations
Lars Lundqvist (Swedish National Heritage Board): Digitaliseringen av Sveriges runinskrifter, och vidare visioner.
Magnus Källström (Swedish National Heritage Board): Digital publicering av nyfynd och supplement. Presentationer vid: Digitalisering av runinskrifter. En workshop om digitaliseringsprojekten vid Uppsala runforum och Swedish National Heritage Board. Uppsala universitet, 2011-05-12.
URL: http://www.runforum.nordiska.uu.se/workshop-20110512/

Lars Lundqvist (Swedish National Heritage Board): Vad Riksantikvarieämbetet jobbar med.
Presentation vid: Seminarium kring infrastruktur för forskning. Riksarkivet 2011-10-25.
URL: http://www.slideshare.net/surikat/samordningssekretariatet-fr-digitalisering-riksarkivet-20111025

Lars Lundqvist (Swedish National Heritage Board): Presentation för Riksdagens Kulturutskott. Stockholm, 2011-12-01.

Lars Lundqvist (Swedish National Heritage Board) & Åsa M. Larsson (Stockholms universitet): Research and outreach in the digital age. XI Nordic TAG Conference. Kalmar. April 2011.

Articles in the National Heritage Board's K-blog
Lars Lundqvist (Swedish National Heritage Board): En halv miljon till världens runforskning!
2010-10-25.
URL: http://www.k-blogg.se/2010/10/25/en-halv-miljon-till-varldens-runforskning/

Gun Larsson (Swedish National Heritage Board): Nu digitaliserar vi Sveriges runinskrifter 2011-09-30.
URL: http://www.k-blogg.se/2011/09/30/nu-digitaliserar-vi-sveriges-runinskrifter/

Av: Gun Larsson (Swedish National Heritage Board): Digitala Sveriges runinskrifter vid första basen
2012-01-17.
URL: http://www.k-blogg.se/2012/01/17/digitala-sveriges-runinskrifter-vid-forsta-basen/

Posts on the National Heritage Board Facebook Page
URL: http://www.facebook.com/riksantikvarieambetet

Lars Lundqvist (Swedish National Heritage Board): En halv miljon till världens runforskning!
2010-10-25.

Gun Larsson (Swedish National Heritage Board): Nu digitaliserar vi Sveriges runinskrifter
2011-09-30.

Gun Larsson (Swedish National Heritage Board): Här kan ni skåda en riktig dyrbarhet! 2011-10-11.

Gun Larsson (Swedish National Heritage Board): Digitala Sveriges runinskrifter vid första basen 2012-01-17.