The Wittgenstein Incubator and Swicky Notes - Alois Pilcher

How we can envisage a researcher successfully browsing Wittgenstein Web

contents, but why s/he also should be able to annotate the contents, and what needs to be in place for such annotation

Alois Pichler (WAB)

Cortona & Berlin, 17. & 21.1.2013

Alois Pichler (WAB). CCPL BY-NC-SA

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OA Wittgenstein resources 2012

• (1) A substantial amount of Wittgenstein primary sources available OA– http://www.wittgensteinsource.org/

• (2) A substantial amount of Wittgenstein secondary sources available OA– http://wab.uib.no/agora-wab– http://wab.uib.no/agora-alws– http://www.nordicwittgensteinreview.com/

• (3) A substantial amount of Wittgenstein metadata available OA– http://www.wittgensteinsource.org/– http://wab.uib.no/cost-a32_philospace/wittgenstein.owl– DM2E …


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Adequate utilization

Adequate utilization of these resources requires:

• (4) An open RI which integrates and interlinks the resources and offers an attractive environment for work on them along the lines of ”research primitives”/ ”scholarly primitives”Such utilization should also include the

possibility to annotate the resources furtherPundit


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My plan for this presentation

• (1) Scholarly scenarios for searching, browsing and focusing– RI: wittgensteinsource.org-SwickyNotes

• (2) The case for annotation, and elements of what is needed for it (→ Pundit)– Annotation tool– Controlled vocabularies and ontologies

• Three steps: Wittgenstein Source → SwickyNotes → Pundit


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Wittgenstein Source


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SwickyNotes


Pundit


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Wittgenstein Sourceresearch scenario

• A scholar wishes to investigate Wittgenstein’s thought about language learning

• Searching for ”learning of language” on the OA Wittgenstein Source http://www.wittgensteinsource.org/ brings her to a number of relevant passages

• She gets particularly interested in a specific passage from the Brown Book: http://www.wittgensteinsource.org/Ts-310,1[1]_d


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Wittgenstein Source: Searching for ”learning of language”


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Wittgenstein Source: Search results for ”learning of language”


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Wittgenstein Source: Focusing on a specific passage, containing ”learning of language”


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But we need more than Wittgenstein Source alone:

The case for something like SwickyNotes

• The researcher wishes to learn more about the Ts-310,1[1] passage, including about the Ts-310 item and the context to which it belongs.– She wants more data (more texts: relevant primary and

secondary sources)– She wants more metadata (relevant data about these texts and

the relations within and between them: bibliographic, semantic … metadata)

– She wants to browse the data and metadata in interconnected ways


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In order to get his wish fulfilled, the researcher has to …

• … be able to find out that there are other relevant texts (primary and secondary sources)

• … have access to these texts, ideally OA• … be able to find, have access to and efficiently

browse information about these texts and about the relations within and between them (metadata), ideally OA

• … be able to use all these resources together, in interlinked and integrated ways, ideally, through one interface, and with nice graph vizualisation tools as support


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In order to get his wish fulfilled, the researcher has to … (cont.)

• … get data and metadata organized in an OA RI with an ontology as its backbone– Ontology (classes, subclasses, instances,

relations/properties), see http://wab.uib.no/cost-a32_philospace/wittgenstein.owl

• We have this RI now getting in place(!) thanks to EU DISCOVERY (2006-09), NordForsk JNU VWAB (2008-11), EU Agora (2011-13), EU SemLib (2011-12), EU DM2E (2012-14), NB-UBB Digitale Fulltekstarkiv (2012-13), … For a brief description of the situation in 2012 see Pichler & Smith & Falch & Krüger 2012.


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The SwickyNotes browsing tool / RI

• The best currently available browsing tool / RI for Wittgenstein research is SwickyNotes– SwickyNotes has the great benefit of offering one

interface for working with primary sources, secondary sources and metadata in interlinked ways

– Three key components• Resource • Graph • Ontology

– Bi-directional interaction between Graph and Resource

• SwickyNotes is a desktop application.


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The SwickyNotes Trio

(2b) Text / Resource

→

(2a) Graph

←(1) Ontology


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SwickyNotes: Integrating sources, ontology and graph vizualisation


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Searching for ”Lernen der Sprache”


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Interlinked browsing of texts (data) and relations (metadata)


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Exploring Wittgenstein’s references to Augustine further


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Checking PG 1969, Part II, §17, and focusing on one of its sources


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Results from focusing on the source of PG 1969, Part II, §17


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Bi-directional interaction

• In order to pursue the original Nachlass context further, the scholar browses in Wittgenstein Source to the next Bemerkung (Ms-114,47v[6]et48r[1]_n).

• This leads to an automatic update of the graph window which now displays the relations recorded for Ms-114,47v[6]et48r[1].


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Pursuing the co(n)text of PG 1969, Part II, §17 in the Nachlass source


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”Semantic” queries

• Now the scholar wants to query Wittgenstein secondary sources for the topic of language learning.

• On the list of ”Issue” instances he finds a number of relevant terms, among them ”language acquisition” and ”learning”.*– ”learning” leads him to two articles on the subject.

*A note: The secondary sources issues are derived from keywords provided by the authors of these sources.


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From ”language acquisition” …


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… to a secondary source author …


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… to ”form of life”


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Querying the relation between ”published works” and Nachlass

• The Wittgenstein scholar familiar with the so-called ”Published Works” from Suhrkamp or Blackwell or … wishes to consult the original Nachlass about a certain passage he knows from the ”work” ”Philosophical Grammar”: PG 1969, Part II, §17.

• She focuses in the Wittgenstein ontology on the instance W-PG1969:PartI:II:sect17 which leads her to the instance Ms-114,47v[5], the Nachlass source for the ”work” publication.


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Now the scholar wants to add new knowledge to the existing knowledge: Annotation through adding

comments / explicating existing relations

• Annotation can be carried out through ”free comments”

• However, even such ”free” annotation greatly benefits from support through controlled vocabularies and ontologies:– By referring to and using the same ontological

background, Wittgenstein scholars’ engagement and interaction with the resource and each other can become incomparibly more structured and shareable.

– We can more quickly start talking about the same things!


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”Talking the same language”

Shared concepts for objects (in square brackets):

• ”The text [Bemerkung: Ts-310,1[1]_d]]”– ”discusses [Issue: learning of language]” (NB: multilinguality!)– ”is authored by [Person: Wittgenstein Ludwig]”– ”is part of [TS: Ts-310]”– ”has been published in [Work: W-BBB]”– ”dates from [Date: 19341000-19350500]”– ”has other version in [Bemerkung: Ms-141,1[1]_d]”– ”refers to [Person: Augustine]”– ”refers to [External Source: Augustine: Confessiones]”

• ”[Work: W-BBB] is referred to in [Secondary Source: VenturinhaNuno_2004]”

• [Secondary Source: VenturinhaNuno_2004] discusses several issues, including [Issue: style]”

• …


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”Talking the same language” (cont.)

Shared concepts for relations:

• The strings in square brackets (e.g. ”Bemerkung: Ts-310,1[1]_d”) in the slide above describe the stable nodes of the map (the instances), while the strings between the entries in square brackets refer to relations between these nodes (the relations).

• For each relation, its domain and range are defined so that they are ascribed in consistent and coherent ways.– E.g.: In our Wittgenstein ontology, it is excluded that one

predicates about an instance of Issue that it has a date (relation: hasDate); only an instance of Source can have a date.


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WAB’s Wittgenstein ontology (for a brief description see Pichler & Zöllner-Weber 2012)


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Source


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Subject


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Person

• Tba.


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Source branch (classes) • Source: A thing which is a primary or a secondary source.• Primary source: A primary source for Wittgenstein scholarship, authored by Wittgenstein or in cooperation with

Wittgenstein, or not by Wittgenstein but referred to by Wittgenstein.• Wittgenstein primary source, subclass of Primary source: A primary source for Wittgenstein scholarship, authored

by Wittgenstein or in cooperation with Wittgenstein.• External primary source, subclass of Primary source: A primary source for Wittgenstein scholarship, not authored

by Wittgenstein nor in cooperation with Wittgenstein, but referred to in a Wittgenstein primary source.– Example of instance: Goethe JWv: Faust; Augustine St: Confessiones

• MS, subclass of Wittgenstein primary source: A Wittgenstein primary source physical item, handwritten.– Example of instance: Ms-115; Ms-139a

• TS, subclass of Wittgenstein primary source: A Wittgenstein primary source physical item, typed.– Example of instance: Ts-213; Ts-310

• Bemerkung, subclass of Wittgenstein primary source: A single remark in a Wittgenstein primary source.– Example of instance: Ts-310,21[2]et22[1]

• Sentence, subclass of Wittgenstein primary source: A single sentence in a Wittgenstein primary source.– Example of instance: Ts-310,21[2]et22[1]_1; Ts-310,21[2]et22[1]_2

• Chapter, subclass of Wittgenstein primary source: A single chapter in a Wittgenstein primary source.– Example of instance: Ts-213,ch-i

• Work, subclass of Wittgenstein primary source: A standard publication (“work”) of a Wittgenstein primary source.– Example of instance: W-CV; W-TLP

• Secondary source: A secondary source for Wittgenstein scholarship, not authored by Wittgenstein nor in cooperation with Wittgenstein, but referring to Wittgenstein or a Wittgenstein primary source.

– Example of instance: PichlerAlois_2001; WallgrenThomas_2008


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Person branch (classes)

• Person: A thing which is a person.• Author, subclass of Person:

– Example of instance: KantImmanuel; PichlerAlois; WallgrenThomas

• NB: In addition to instances of the subclass Author, the Person class is also populated with direct instances of person – Example of instance: Socrates; Moses;

WittgensteinPaul


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Subject branch (classes)• Subject: All things which are neither a source nor a person (nor a relation)• Place, subclass of Subject:

– Example of instance: Skjolden; Cambridge• Date, subclass of Subject:.

– Example of instance: 19361105; 19450000• Issue, subclass of Subject:

– Example of instance: philosophy; logical analysis• Point, subclass of Subject:

– Example of instance: Logical analysis is essential to philosophy• Field, subclass of Subject: A field of philosophical discussion.

– Has subclasses: Metaphysics; Epistemology a.o.• Example of subclass structure: Field > Epistemology > Scepticism > Rule-

FollowingScepticism

• Perspective, subclass of Subject: – Has subclasses: APichler_Course_TLP; APichler_Course_PI a.o.

• Example of subclass structure: Perspective > APichler_Course_TLP > [Instances] Kontradiktion-contradiction; Sachverhalt-state_of_affairs …


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Relations (selection)

•isPartOf ↔ hasPart

– Example of instance:[Ms-114,48v[5]et49r[1]] isPartOf [Ms-114];[Ms-114] hasPart [Ms-114,48v[5]et49r[1]]

• isPublishedInWork ↔ isWorkPublishedFrom– Example of instance:

[Ms-114,48v[5]et49r[1]] isPublishedIn [W-PG1969:PartI:II:sect19]; [W-PG1969:PartI:II:sect19] isPublicationOf [Ms-114,48v[5]et49r[1]]

• refersTo ↔ isReferredToIn– Example of instance:

[Augustinus, Aurelius: Confessiones] isReferredToIn [Ms-114,48v[5]et49r[1]];[Ms-114,48v[5]et49r[1]] refersTo [Augustinus, Aurelius: Confessiones]

• hasAuthor ↔ isAuthorOf– Example of instance:

[ArisoJM] isAuthorOf [ArisoJM_2003]; [ArisoJM_2003] hasAuthor [ArisoJM]

• hasDate ↔ isDateOf– Example of instance:

[Ms-118,11r[2]] hasDate [19370825]; [19370825] isDateOf [Ms-118,11r[2]]

• hasOtherVersion– Example of instance:

[Ms-114,48v[5]et49r[1]] hasOtherVersion [Ms-152,38[2]]


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Relations (selection, cont.)• Discusses[Issue/Point] ↔ is[Issue/Point]DiscussedIn

– Example of instance: [ArisoJM_2003] discusses [dream]; [dream] isDiscussedIn [ArisoJM_2003];[W-TLP] discusses [Philosophical analysis is essential to philosophy];[Philosophical analysis is essential to philosophy] isDiscussedIn [W-TLP]

• isContra ↔ isArguedAgainstIn– Example of instance:

[Philosophical analysis is essential to philosophy] isArguedAgainstIn [W-PI];[W-PI] isContra [Philosophical analysis is essential to philosophy]

• isPro ↔ isArguedForIn– Example of instance:

[W-TLP] isPro [Philosophical analysis is essential to philosophy];[Philosophical analysis is essential to philosophy] isArguedForIn [W-TLP]


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Conceptual mappings (cf. http://dm2edata.hu-berlin.de/neologism/dm2e)

WAB speech DM2E data model

isPartOf ↔ hasPart [dct:isPartOf] ↔ [dct:hasPart]

isPublishedInWork ↔ isWorkPublishedFrom [dm2e:publicationOfRemark]

refersTo ↔ isReferredToIn [dm2e:refersTo]

hasAuthor ↔ isAuthorOf [dm2e:author]

hasDate ↔ isDateOf [dm2e:dateOfRemark]

hasOtherVersion

Discusses[Issue/Point] ↔ is[Issue/Point]DiscussedIn

isContra ↔ isArguedAgainstIn

isPro ↔ isArguedForIn


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WAB’s Wittgenstein ontology:a very great number of RDF triples

• The model is throughout: aRb, where a and b stand for instances (objects), and R for the relation between them– Objects can enter into different configurations (pairs)

– but not all combinations are possible– Between the same pair of object a range of different

relations can obtain – but not all relations– Formalized example:

• [instance1]R1[instance2] & [instance1]R1[instance3] & [instance2]R2[instance7] & …

A web of connections• Cf. Wittgenstein’s Tractatus logico-

philosophicus!


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The RDF triple ”code”: an example

<Bemerkung rdf:about="http://wittgensteinsource.org/Ms-115,118[1]_n">

<rdfs:label>Ms-115,118[1]</rdfs:label><hasAuthor rdf:resource="http://discovery-project.eu/ontologies/wittgensteinsource/Wittgenstein_Ludwig"/><hasDate rdf:resource="19360800-19361100"/><isPublishedInWork rdf:resource="http://discovery-project.eu/ontologies/wittgensteinsource/W-EPB1970"/>

</Bemerkung>


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Some figures

As of today (January 2013), our ontology comprises:

• 10+ types of relations• 100+ instances of External Source

[Source]• 500+ instances of Secondary Source

[Source]• 1 000+ instances of Issue [Subject]• 10 000+ instances of Bemerkung [Source]


Moreover: The case for user-driven augmentation of the ontology!

• Why the annotator needs to be able not only to:– Create free comments– Explicate already existing relations (picked from a

pre-established set) between already existing instances (picked from a pre-established set)

• But also to:– Create new instances and relation types


The case for user-driven augmentation of the ontology (cont.)

Creating new instances

• A new [Secondary source]– A scholar has published a new article which discusses a certain Wittgenstein primary source; he wants to make the public aware

of this achievement and (1) adds to the existing ontology a new secondary source instance, and (2) establishes through the property refersTo the relation between his secondary source and the Wittgenstein primary source.

• A new [Issue]– Moreover, the scholar (1) adds a philosophical theme (issue) treated in the article to the list of issues, and (2) establishes through

the property discusses the relation between his secondary source and the issues. [NB: it shall be possible to add the new issue in a different language (or a translation of an already existing issue) → language labels!]

• A new [Point]– Also, the scholar (1) adds a philosophical claim (point) to the list of points, and (2) establishes through the property discusses the

relation between his secondary source and the point. [NB: the new point can be added in a different language → language labels!]• A new [Date]

– The scholar disagrees with WAB’s dating of a specific Wittgenstein Bemerkung and wants to propose an alternative date. She (1) adds to the existing ontology a new date instance, and (2) establishes through the property hasDate the relation between the Bemerkung and this date. In addition, (3) the scholar creates a point ”Bemerkung […] hasdate […]” and (4) labels, through the relation isPro, his article to support this point.

• …

There must be procedures and premises for sharing and including user annotation in the backbone ontology!– Legal– Technical– Scholarly– …


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Work flow for user-driven augmentation of the ontology (adding of new instances and

additional relation types)

• Creating (to begin with in one’s own ”notebook”) new ontological instances and relations

• Sharing one’s suggestions for new instances and relations with others

• Submitting the new instances and relations for review by the ontology coordinators

• (Having the new instances and relations included in the master ontology the ”master notebook”)


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URLs and referencesEntrance:• (2006-) http://wab.uib.no/wab_philospace.pagePrimary and secondary sources:• (2009-) http://wittgensteinsource.org• (2011-) http://wab.uib.no/agora-alws • (2011-) http://wab.uib.no/agora-wab• (2012-) http://www.nordicwittgensteinreview.com/WAB’s ontology:• (2011-) http://wab.uib.no/wittgenstein.owlSwickyNotes:• (2010-) http://dbin.org/swickynotes/downloads.php

References:• (1921) L. Wittgenstein: Logisch-philosophische Abhandlung. In: Annalen der Natur- und

Kulturphilosophie 14. pp. 185-262.• (2012) A. Pichler & A. Zöllner-Weber: Towards Wittgenstein on the Semantic Web. In: Digital

Humanities 2012 Conference Abstracts. pp. 318-321. Hamburg University Press.• (2012) A. Pichler, D. Smith, R. J. Falch & W. Krüger: Elements of an e-platform for Wittgenstein

research. In: Ethics - Society - Politics. Contributions of the Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society. Edited by Martin G. Weiss and Hajo Greif. pp. 268-270. Kirchberg am Wechsel: ALWS.

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The Wittgenstein Incubator and Swicky Notes - Alois Pilcher

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