Black Sea Representation in Literary and Historical sources: Virtual Map

The online platform was created within the framework of the winning project in the intra-university competition at Ilia State University in 2021. The platform operates under the name of the project - Representation of the Black Sea Space in Georgian Literature and Historiography: Virtual Map (test version). With appropriate research approaches, the project envisages the creation of such an online platform that allows cultural memory to be presented in a virtual form. In particular, the Black Sea connected literary narratives (later - the countries of the Black Sea basin: Ukraine, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Russia) and the cultural representations/models existing with the forms of the Georgian written monuments (since the Middle Ages, including modern literary and historiographical narratives). The project also tries to present them as a digital map.

Project group

• Professor - Bela Tsipuria
• Assistant Professor - Tsira Kilanava
• Professor - Mzago Dokhturishvili
• Associate Professor - Grigol Jokhadze

The idea by

• Tsira Kilanava -The coordinator of the group

Research Assistant

• Anna Othemezuri

Group members

• Teona Gurgenidze
• Nana Zardiashvili
• Anna Chrelashvili
• Beka Khojava
• Ketevan Katamadze

Developers

• Tamaz Mindiashvili
• Rati Gumashvili

Methodology

The textual data connected to the Black Sea area, reflected in the Georgian literature were identified through the diachronic principle at the initial stage of the project. To reveal the cultural attitudes towards the Black Sea area, the texts were processed using the online tool - doccano. Positive, negative and neutral relations/lexical markers denoting emotion were identified this way.

Navigation

Map

The page consists of two components: the central part is devoted to the map itself, with the markers displayed on it, and the other part covers the scale of records. The clustered markers can be filtered through their allocation. Clicking on a marker, the user can open a window where the statistics of particular place-related records can be found. From that window, it is also possible to move to the page of records filtered according to the appropriate places.

The buttons on the map are for zooming and repositioning.

The limited dates of the scale are dynamically generated according to the records registered in the database.

Texts

All texts registered in the database can be viewed from the corresponding menu item ("Texts"). The filters allow the user to find the desired record with any possible parameter:

• "Category" sorts the records according to literary and historical themes;
• With the field spaces named "type" and "genre", the user can filter the data with the appropriate parameters;
• The field "Period" divides data into time intervals;
• The field "Century" must be filled in only with Latin characters. Select AC/BC to indicate the period before or after Christ. For example XII AC etc.;
• The field "Limited dates" can be applied (for example: 1920 to 1924) in case the exact date of the creation of the work is unknown/unspecified;
• "Place" — this field filters the places that are mentioned in this or that text;
• Records can also be searched by author's name, surname and/or pseudonym;
• In the of project’s current stage, it is possible to see the Georgian language records from the field "Texts".
• Besides this, it is also planned to display the textual data of the Black Sea basin countries. Identifying and comparing the analysis of diachronically existing emotional attitudes towards the Black Sea area is the primary purpose of the following stages.

It is possible to save the parameters for searching and already generated results through the corresponding function. This function also allows the values specified in the filter to be sent ​​ to the desired e-mail.

The data is generated in the form of a table. By pressing the info button in the first column, it is possible to view the record quickly. The opened window contains information about the name of the work, author, date, type, place and extra notes.

Here the platform user can see a map and a text fragment. The user can also see the full version of the record either from the mentioned window or by pressing the corresponding button on the right-hand edge of the column of the table.

With the help of the button on the left side of the table, the application allows us to simultaneously select several texts and load them into the selected records. It should be noted that only two and/or less than four records can be viewed simultaneously.

The export data button allows us to export the records in CSV format.

Entry (inside page)

The page is represented by several components. Here, the user can see the original and annotated versions of the text, complete metadata (category, text, type, genre, period, century, year, author, place and additional information), critical comments of the researchers, as well as other texts that related to the author and place.

The buttons next to the title of the work allows the user to get to know the original and annotated versions of the text. From the drop-down menu, the user also can

• Print or email the relevant text;
• save the corresponding link of the record;
• Download the annotated version of the text in JSON format.

The annotated text is presented as a table containing three columns. The first column (ID) contains the unique identifier of the sentence, which is assigned to the record automatically by the website – doccano. In the "text", it is possible to see the notes broken down to the sentence level, and in the "marker" column - the corresponding emotional meaning determined by the researchers for the sentences.

The panel below the table allows us to see the general statistics of the emotional markers of the text.

Clicking on the coloring button allows us to color the table according to the markers (at the initial stage of the research, three values ​​(Neutral, Positive and Negative) were planned to be described), and the visualization button generates a graph based on the statistics of the record.

Citation

When citing the resource (the records contained in the existing database) are kindly asked to use the standard below.

General citation

Representation of the Black Sea Space in Georgian Literature and Historiography: Virtual Map (Tbilisi, 2021), http://blacksearepresentation.iliauni.edu.ge. Ilia State University, Institute of Comparative Literature. Access date: __/__/____ (current date)

Feedback

Receiving feedback on database content and usability nuances are very welcomed. The project team is also open to accepting business proposals related to the resource development. Please contact BSR Coordinator and Editor, Assistant Professor Tsira Kilanava (tsira.kilanava@iliauni.edu.ge).