Zola2024-03-11T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/atom.xmlNutzung von KI bei der Erschließung und Onlinepublikation von Museumsbeständen2024-03-11T00:00:00+00:002024-03-11T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/nutzung-von-ki-erschliessung/<p>Präsentation im Rahmen eines Erfahrungsaustauschs des Arbeitskreises selbstständiger Kulturinstitutionen (11.3.2024; Online).</p>
Veröffentlichte Bestände in museum-digital durchsuchen2023-12-14T00:00:00+00:002023-12-14T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/oeffentliche-bestaende-durchsuchen/<p>Interner Vortrag im Freien Deutschen Hochstift / Frankfurter Goethe-Museum.</p>
Platform for Multimodal Indexing and Digital Publication of Museum Data2023-11-23T00:00:00+00:002023-11-23T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/platform-for-multimodal-indexing/<p>Presentation as part of the programme "Information Tour for Museum Professionals 'For a diverse museum landscape'", organized by the Foreign Office of Germany as part of their Visitors Programme. Held at the German Romanticism Museum.</p>
What Makes museum-digital?2023-11-07T00:00:00+00:002023-11-07T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/what-makes-museum-digital/<p>Presentation during one of the monthly meetings of regional administrators of museum-digital in Germany. Discusses the different components of museum-digital on a technical level.</p>
Neuerungen und Visionen: Automatisierung, Nächstenliebe, und mehr2023-10-17T00:00:00+00:002023-10-17T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/neuerungen-und-visionen/<p>Online-Vortrag auf der ersten museum-digital Usertagung.</p>
Datenqualität messen dank offenen Standards und Linked Open Data2023-10-10T00:00:00+00:002023-10-10T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/abstracts/herbsttagung/<p>Pünktlich zur Herbsttagung wird ein neuer, allgemein verfügbarer Online-Dienst von museum-digital veröffentlicht: <a href="https://quality.museum-digital.org/">https://quality.museum-digital.org/</a>. Die grundlegenden Tools zur Qualitätsschätzung von Objektdatensätzen bei museum-digital, der Publikations-Qualitätsindex und das Tool zur Schätzung der Plausibilität von angegebenen Personen- und Zeitbezügen, die bisher nur im internen Sammlungsmanagement-System verfügbar waren, werden hiermit einer breiten Öffentlichkeit zur Verfügung gestellt. Dies geschieht einerseits über eine offene API, anderseits über eine Weboberfläche.</p>
<p>Mit diesen können Museen und andere Interessierte ihre Objektdaten in LIDO - aber auch einigen anderen Formaten - hochladen und analysieren lassen. Perspektivisch ließen sich die Datenqualitäts-Tools von museum-digital über die API auch in andere Sammlungsmanagement-Software integrieren. In diesem Vortrag wird das neue Tool aus Anwender- und aus Systemperspektive beleuchtet, um abschließend auf mögliche zukünftige Erweiterungen, Anwendungsszenarien und die Beschränkungen des Tools zu sprechen zu kommen.</p>
Datenqualität messen dank offenen Standards und Linked Open Data2023-10-10T00:00:00+00:002023-10-10T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/datenqualitaet-messen/<p>Vortrag auf der Herbsttagung der Herbsttagung 2023 der Fachgruppe Dokumentation des Deutschen Museumsbunds am Konrad-Zuse-Institut, Takustraße 7 Berlin (9.10.2023-11.10.2023).
[<a href="https://www.jrenslin.de/abstracts/herbsttagung/">Abstract</a>]</p>
Von Storytelling bis Scrollytelling: Geschichten erzählen im Digitalen Raum2023-07-14T00:00:00+00:002023-07-14T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/von-storytelling-bis-scrollitelling/<p>Vortrag im Rahmen eines gleichnamigen Workshops mit <a href="https://www.zib.de/members/kitaeva">Xenia Kitaeva</a> im Rahmen der digiS Summer School. [<a href="https://www.digis-berlin.de/digis-summer-school-material-mitschnitte/">Mitschnitt</a>]</p>
2023-07-07: Kurzbiographie für NFDI4Culture2023-07-07T00:00:00+00:002023-07-07T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/bio/nfdi4culture/<h2 id="kurzbiographie">Kurzbiographie</h2>
<p>Joshua Ramon Enslin schloss sein Studium der Südostasienwissenschaften an der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt ab. Heute arbeitet er als Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter für Digital Humanities am Freien Deutsches Hochstift. Ehrenamtlich ist er der zentrale Ansprechpartner für die technische Entwicklung der Museumsplattform museum-digital. Sein Interesse gilt insbesondere den Möglichkeiten der Automatisierung im Kultur- und Forschungsbereich - vom Einsatz von offenen Standards und Linked Open Data bei der Datenerfassung und Weitergabe bis zur Entwicklung neuer Auswertungs- und Veranschaulichungstools.</p>
<h2 id="kontext">Kontext</h2>
<p>Genutzt für die Bewerbung des Workshops <a href="https://nfdi4culture.de/events/default-1775f04b09.html">"Subsequent Quality Improvement: Analysing, Cleaning and Enriching Data"</a> von NFDI4Culture.</p>
Objektdaten anreichern und nutzen - Arbeit erleichtern, Interoperabilität schaffen, Forschung ermöglichen2023-07-07T00:00:00+00:002023-07-07T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/objektdaten-anreichern-und-nutzen/<p>Vortrag im Rahmen des Workshops <a href="https://nfdi4culture.de/de/veranstaltungen/default-1775f04b09.html">"Nachgängige Qualitätsverbesserungen: Daten analysieren, bereinigen und anreichern"</a> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230525190131/https://nfdi4culture.de/events/default-1775f04b09.html">Archiv</a>) von NFDI4Culture.</p>
Content is King! Erzähl- und Gamificationformate zur Kulturvermittlung mit AR - Impulse mit Interaktion2023-05-03T00:00:00+00:002023-05-03T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/content-is-king/<p>Podiumsdiskussion und Vorträge mit Stephanie Böcker (Varusschlacht im Osnabrücker Land – Museum und Park Kalkriese), Nadine Schrecken (Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf), Joshua Enslin (Freies Deutsches Hochstift) und Silke Krohn (Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz) auf der Abschlusskonferenz des museum4punkt0-Verbundes.</p>
Schlagwörter in der GND und in den Museen: Realitäten benennen, Vorteile erkennen, Fortschritte erreichen2023-03-06T00:00:00+00:002023-03-06T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/gnd-forum-museen/<p>Ein gemeinsamer Vortrag mit <a href="https://www.dnb.de/DE/Professionell/ProjekteKooperationen/Projektarchiv/2018/Novemberrevolution/_content/kontakt_yjahns.html">Yvonne Jahns</a> von der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek für das GND-Forum Museen und Sammlungen (Online). [<a href="https://youtu.be/oepPMyHqJik">Aufnahme auf YouTube</a>]</p>
Bernhardt, Johannes, Joshua Enslin, Silke Krohn, Norman Mähler, Freya Schlingmann & Jorge Scholz. 2023. "Mit Haltung und Strategie zu langfristigem Nutzen" in museum4punkt0 | workbook Impulse & Tools für die digitale Kulturvermittlung. Johann Herzberg (Ed.). 164-171.2023-01-01T00:00:00+00:002023-01-01T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/publications/bernhardt-et-al2023/Enslin, Joshua Ramon. 2023. "'Eine virtuelle Zeitreise' – Eine niedrigschwellige Anwendung zur Erstellung einfacher Augmented-Reality-Rundgänge". _museum4punkt0: Ergebnisse_. <https://www.museum4punkt0.de/ergebnis/eine-virtuelle-zeitreise-eine-niedrigschwellige-anwendung-zur-erstellung-einfacher-augmented-reality-rundgaenge/> ([Archiv-Version](https://web.archive.org/web/20230804135231/https://www.museum4punkt0.de/ergebnis/eine-virtuelle-zeitreise-eine-niedrigschwellige-anwendung-zur-erstellung-einfacher-augmented-reality-rundgaenge/)).2023-01-01T00:00:00+00:002023-01-01T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/publications/enslin2023-virtuelle-zeitreise/<h2 id="abstract">Abstract</h2>
<p>Die vom Freien Deutschen Hochstift / Frankfurter Goethe-Museum erarbeitete Augmented-Reality-Anwendung, eine „virtuelle Zeitreise in E.T.A. Hoffmanns Frankfurt“, ermöglicht es Benutzenden, sich bei einem Rundgang durch die Frankfurter Altstadt an historisch – und besonders für E.T.A. Hoffmanns „Meister Floh“ – signifikante Orte leiten zu lassen. Dort angekommen, erscheinen historische Abbildungen, vor allem Kupferstiche, auf dem Mobilgerät der Anwendenden. Begleitende Texte ordnen Orte und Abbildungen ein, verbinden die literaturgeschichtlichen und historischen Hintergründe, die abgebildeten Objekte und den heutigen Stadtraum.</p>
IIIF at museum-digital / IIIF bei museum-digital2022-11-24T00:00:00+00:002022-11-24T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/iiif-at-museum-digital/<p>Presentation held remotely for the IIIF panel at the MUTEC trade fair 2022. Here, I discussed the implementation and usage of the IIIF standard at museum-digital.</p>
Verbesserungsvorschläge in museum-digital: Zwischen Plausi und KI gibt es noch etwas2022-10-12T00:00:00+00:002022-10-12T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/verbesserungsvorschlaege-in-museum-digital/<p>Vortrag auf der Herbsttagung der Fachgruppe Dokumentation des Deutschen Museumsbunds 2022 (Online).</p>
Podiumsdiskussion Nachhaltigkeit und Digitalisierung2022-05-13T00:00:00+00:002022-05-13T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/nachhaltigkeit/<p>Podiumsdiskussion auf dem 17. Internationales Bodensee-Symposium von ICOM Österreich, ICOM Deutschland und ICOM Schweiz. Organisiert von den ICOM Deutschland Young Professionals. Diskussionsteilnehmer: Johannes Bernhardt, Franziska Mucha, Joshua Enslin.</p>
Nachhaltiges digitales Sammlungsmanagement: Zwischen konkreten Projektanforderungen und langfristiger Nutzbarkeit2022-04-07T00:00:00+00:002022-04-07T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/nachhaltiges-digitales-sammlungsmanagement/<p>Vortrag / Workshop auf der Bundesvoluntariatstagung 2022 in Frankfurt.</p>
museum-digital2022-03-14T00:00:00+00:002022-03-14T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/museum-digital/<p>A presentation for the series "Lundis numériques" of the INHA (Institut national d’histoire de l’art, Paris). A recording of the talk can be found on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI42qm8oXoo">YouTube</a>. This was a joint presentation with Stefan Rohde-Enslin.</p>
Das Digitale entdecken - eine alte philologische Institution ins Netz gezwungen2020-10-06T00:00:00+00:002020-10-06T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/das-digitale-entdecken/<p>Vortrag auf der Herbsttagung der Fachgruppe Dokumentation des Deutschen Museumsbunds 2020 (Online).</p>
Die weite Welt ... Im Netz2019-11-16T00:00:00+00:002019-11-16T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/die-weite-welt/<p>Gemeinsame Präsentation mit Arne Lindemann in Cottbus.</p>
(A presentation on the "Themator" tool at museum-digital; untitled)2019-11-07T00:00:00+00:002019-11-07T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/themator/<p>Presentation on the <a href="https://en.about.museum-digital.org/software/themator/">"themator"</a>. Held at the MúzeumDigitár Workshop 2019 in Budapest.</p>
Q77231 ist P27 in Q64? - Was heißt das und woher weiß ich das?2019-10-23T00:00:00+00:002019-10-23T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/statements/<p>Vortrag auf der Herbsttagung der Fachgruppe Dokumentation des Deutschen Museumsbunds 2019 in Berlin.</p>
museum-digital übersetzen2019-04-01T00:00:00+00:002019-04-01T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/53/<p>In nächster Zeit wird die Ausgabe von museum-digital vorraussichtlich in
einige zusätzliche Sprachen übersetzt. Aus diesem Anlass möchte ich hier
den Prozess des Übersetzens von museum-digital vorstellen.</p>
<p>Die Übersetzungen müssen derzeit an mehreren Stellen geschehen. Für alle
Textstücke, die im serverseitig ablaufenden Code verwendet werden, haben
wir ein eigenes Übersetzungstool. Zusätzlich gibt es (weniger)
Übersetzungsvariablen, die in JavaScript-Dateien verwendet werden, die
im Browser des Seitenbenutzers ausgeführt werden. Diese müssen noch
direkt im JSON-Format bearbeitet werden.</p>
<h2 id="das-ubersetzungstool">Das Übersetzungstool</h2>
<p>Zum Beginn des Übersetzens erhält jeder Übersetzer einen Account in
unserem Übersetzungstool. Mit diesem Account sind dem Nutzer zwei
Sprachen zugeordnet: Einerseits die Ausgangssprache, aus der heraus
übersetzt wird, und andererseits die Zielsprache, in die Übersetzt wird.</p>
<p><img src="/posts/md-uebersetzungstool/Screenshot-Translations-Table-1024x470.png" alt="Tabelle, in der die Übersetzungen bei museum-digital stattfinden." /></p>
<p>Nach dem Einloggen erreicht man zuerst eine Übersicht der übersetzbaren
Dateien, in Kacheln gruppiert nach ihrem Anwendungsfeld ("Backend",
"Frontend"). Jede Kachel enthält eine Liste von Dateinamen. Durch
einen Klick auf einen dieser erhält man die Möglichkeit, die jeweilige
Datei in einer Tabelle zu bearbeiten. Die Dateien sind dabei grob ihrem
Anwendungszweck nach benannt: home.json im Bereich "Frontend" enthält
Variablen, die auf der Startseite der Ausgabe von museum-digital
verwendet werden.</p>
<p>Die Tabellen in denen nun eine Datei übersetzt wird sind immer gleich
aufgebaut. In der linken Spalte steht der Name der jeweiligen
Übersetzungsvariable. In der Mittigen steht der Inhalt der Variable in
der Ausgangssprache. Rechts befindet sich ein Textfeld, in das die
Übersetzung eingetragen werden kann. Direkt unter der Tabelle befindet
sich ein "Save"-Button, mit dem die Übersetzungen dann auch final
eingetragen sind.</p>
<h3 id="meine-ubersetzungen-sind-nicht-gleich-sichtbar">Meine Übersetzungen sind nicht gleich sichtbar?</h3>
<p><img src="/posts/md-uebersetzungstool/Screenshot-Translations-Approve-1024x461.png" alt="Screenshot des "Freischalt-Bereichs" für Administratoren im Übersetzungstool von museum-digital. Im unteren Bereich findet sich der Überblick über den Status der Übersetzungen, erstellt mithilfe von git." /></p>
<p>Übersetzungen, die so gemacht wurden, sind nicht sofort sichtbar. Weil
die Übersetzungsdateien auch HTML-Markup enthalten können, das falsch
geschrieben die Darstellung der Seite stören könnte, haben wir eine
Überprüfungsphase zwischengeschaltet.</p>
<p>Sind einige Dateien übersetzt, gibt der oder die Übersetzende einem
Administrator bescheid. Dieser kann die neuen Übersetzungen dann in
einem gesonderten Administrationsbereich freischalten. Technisch gesehen
bedeutet das, dass die .json-Dateien in .php-Dateien überführt werden,
die dann direkt durch das Programm aufgeführt werden können. Um einen
Überblick über die Änderungen zu erhalten, werden diese dem
Administrator im "Freischalt-Bereich" angezeigt.</p>
<h2 id="weitere-ubersetzungen">Weitere Übersetzungen</h2>
<p>Nach der Übersetzung mit unserem Übersetzungstool verbleiben einige
Textstücke, die in browser-seitig ausgeführtem Code verwendet werden. In
diesem verwenden wir eine andere Struktur für das Laden der
Übersetzungen: Statt immer nur die Sprache zu laden, die gerade benötigt
wird, werden immer alle verfügbaren Sprachvarianten geladen. Statt in
eigenen Dateien befinden sich die Übersetzungen in demselben Script, wie
der Code, der sie verwendet. Deshalb können diese Textstücke bisher noch
nicht mit dem Übersetzungstool übersetzt werden. Stattdessen müssen
diese direkt im Code übersetzt werden.</p>
<p>Damit dies geschehen kann, sendet ein Administrator den Übersetzenden
die jeweiligen Code-Schnipsel per Mail zu, in die die Übersetzung
eingetragen werden muss. Nachdem diese zurückgeschickt und in den Code
eingefügt wurden, ist die Übersetzung beendet.</p>
<p>Dieser Post ist archiviert <a href="https://blog.museum-digital.org/de/2019/03/02/museum-digital-uebersetzen/" rel="canonical">aus dem
Projektblog</a>.</p>
md:cms - Erste Schritte2018-07-01T00:00:00+00:002018-07-01T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/52/<p>Bei museum-digital haben wir viel Kraft und Zeit in die API gesteckt -
aber auch nach mehr als einem Jahr fehlen Beispiele von Programmen, die
die API benutzen. Das mag daran liegen, dass die API lange Zeit nicht
vollständig öffentlich dokumentiert war, oder daran, dass sich die Uhren
im Museumsbereich generell etwas langsamer drehen.</p>
<p>Andererseits gibt es unter den Museen bei museum-digital (und anderswo)
immernoch relativ viele, die keine eigene Website haben. Damit fällt
zumindest für diese Institutionen der offensichtlichste Anwendungszweck
schon von vorne weg aus.</p>
<p>Auf Basis der API könnten Museen Voransichten ihrer Objekte auf ihrer
Webseite einbinden - sei es thematisch zu einem Beitrag passend oder als
"Objekt des Monats" o.ä. auf der Startseite. Sie könnten sich einen
Veranstaltungs- oder Ausstellungskalender anzeigen lassen, mit den
Ausstellungen und Veranstaltungen die bei museum-digital eingetragen
sind. Oder sie könnten eine Suche nach Objekten aus ihren Sammlungen auf
ihrer eigenen Webseite bereitstellen.</p>
<p>Um ein Beispiel für eine Anwendung der API zu liefern und gleichzeitig
vielleicht (d.h. hoffentlich) den kleinen Museen, die noch keine eigene
Webseite haben, zu helfen habe ich mich im Laufe des Monats daran
gesetzt ein kleines Content Management System zu bauen, das Museen
ermöglichen soll, möglichst einfach eine simple Webseite zu bauen, in
die nach Bedarf und auf eine einfach Benutzbare Art und Weise Inhalte
aus museum-digital einfließen gelassen werden können.</p>
<p>Bisher ist der Code nur für die bei museum-digital teilnehmenden Museen
zugänglich oder auf Anfrage zu erhalten, aber es ist geplant das CMS
mittelfristig Open Source zu stellen. Bis es soweit ist, hoffe ich eine
Hand voll Museen finden zu können, die das CMS ausprobieren und Feedback
liefern können.</p>
<h2 id="ziele">Ziele</h2>
<p>Um die beiden Hauptziele bei der Erstellung des CMS, eine einfache
Benutzbarkeit und eine ausreichende Integration mit der API von
museum-digital, zu erfüllen, muss das System einige Bedingungen
erfüllen.</p>
<ul>
<li>Einfache Installierbarkeit
<ul>
<li>Installation per Kopieren von Dateien oder automatisierbar</li>
<li>Wenige Abhängigkeiten (e.g. ohne, dass ein gesondertes
Datenbanksystem benötigt wird)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Flexbilität
<ul>
<li>Das System muss mit verschiedenen Instanzen von museum-digital
umgehen können</li>
<li>Themes: Das Design sollte einfach anpassbar und austauschbar
sein</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Einfache Bearbeitung
<ul>
<li>WYSIWYG-Editor</li>
<li>Einfache Integration mit museum-digital</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="installation">Installation</h2>
<p>Bei Seitenaufrufen werden wichtige Ordner und Dateien, soweit möglich,
angelegt, wenn Sie noch nicht installieren. Auch <code>data</code> ist ein solcher
Ordner: er existiert nicht, wird aber ggfs. beim ersten Seitenaufruf
automatisch angelegt.</p>
<p>Um das CMS auf einem Server zu installieren, muss man die zip-Datei mit
dem Code entpacken und die Inhalte auf den Server, auf dem es später
laufen soll, heraufladen. Um in den Bearbeitungsbereich zu gelangen muss
nun noch die Datei <code>users.json.sample</code> aus dem Unterordner <code>appFiles</code> in
einen neuen Unterordner <code>data</code> kopiert werden und in <code>users.json</code>
umbenannt werden. Damit ist der Standardbenutzer installiert.</p>
<p>Die Systemanforderungen sind relativ gering. Das CMS ist in PHP 7
geschrieben, dass auf den meisten Servern eh schon installiert ist. Weil
einige Features von PHP 7 verwendet werden, die in PHP 5.X noch nicht
verfügbar sind, sollte aber darauf geachtet werden, dass für den
gegebenen Webspace / vHost etc. tatsächlich PHP 7 aktiviert ist.</p>
<p>Ansonsten wird ein SSL-Zertifikat benötigt, damit die Kommunikation mit
dem Server besonders im Eingabebereich verschlüsselt ablaufen kann
(einfach ausgedrückt: die Seite muss unter einer mit URL <code>https://</code>
abrufbar sein). Ist keine verschlüsselte Verbindung möglich, lässt das
System keine Benutzer in den Eingabebereich.</p>
<p>Um Seiten zu bearbeiten empfielt es sich auch, einen halbwegs aktuellen
Browser zu benutzen.</p>
<h2 id="seiten-bearbeiten">Seiten bearbeiten</h2>
<p><img src="media/posts/51/mdcms-eingabebereich-start.png" alt="Die Startseite des Eingabebereichs" /></p>
<p>Nach dem Einloggen im Eingabe-Bereich erscheint ein
Willkommensbildschirm, mit einem kurzen Willkommenstext. Dieser
Willkommenstext kann von Benutzern mit Adminrechten bearbeitet werden
und bietet etwa die Möglichkeit, Regeln für das Schreiben von Beiträgen
an einer für Bearbeitende oft gesehenen Stelle zu vermerken.</p>
<p>Links findet sich die Navigation mit Links zu den Bearbeitungsseiten für
Seiten und fest stehende Seitenelemente. Klickt man auf "Seiten"
erscheint eine Übersicht aller verfügbaren Seiten; mit einem Klick auf
das "+" daneben werden neue Seiten angelegt.</p>
<h3 id="einzelne-seiten">Einzelne Seiten</h3>
<p>Für einzelne Beiträge oder können jeweils ein Titel, der Seiteninhalt,
die Position in der Seitenhierarchie / Navigation und der Status als
Entwurf oder öffentlicher Artikel angegeben werden. Die Bearbeitung von
Seiteninhalten erfolgt mithilfe des WYSIWYG-Editors TinyMCE. So können
Inhalte formatiert und z.B. Bilder auch ohne HTML-Kenntnisse eingefügt
werden.</p>
<p>Des weiteren können verschiedene Typen von Inhalten aus museum-digital
über Platzhalter in den Text eingefügt werden. Um die Platzhalter zu
generieren, findet sich am unteren Ende der rechten Seitenspalte ein
Generator: Erst wird der Typ der Einbettung ausgewählt, dann zusätzliche
URL-Parameter für die Auswahl eingegeben, dann kann mit einem Klick auf
"Generieren" der Platzhalter generiert und in den Text kopiert werden.</p>
<p>Ein Beispiel: Um das Objekt <a href="https://st.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=objekt&oges=46083">Holzstelzsandalen, Syrien,
Türkei</a> als
Vorschau-Kachel einzubetten, müsste man zuerst den Einbettungstyp
"Einzelobjekt (Kachel)" auswählen. Danach muss man auf die URL der
Objektseite bei museum-digital achten:
<code>https://st.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=objekt&oges=46083</code>. Nach
"index.php" folgen die URL-Parameter. <code>t=objekt</code> bedeutet, dass es
sich hierbei um eine Objektseite handelt - das ist durch den
Einbettungstyp schon implizit bekannt und deshalb weniger interessant.
<code>oges=4608</code> ist an dieser Stelle der entscheidende Parameter: Er besagt,
dass das Objekt mit der internen Nummer 4608 gemeint ist. Entsprechend
kann <code>oges=4608</code> nun in den Schlitz für zusätzliche Parameter eingefügt
werden. Mit einem Klick auf "Generieren" wird der Platzhalter
(<code>[singleObjectTile]{oges=46083}</code>) generiert. Dieser kann durch kopieren
frei im Text platziert werden.</p>
<p><img src="media/posts/51/mdcms-start-objectTile.png" alt="Seite mit einer Objektkachel (mit Standard-Seitenlayout)" /></p>
<h3 id="feste-seitenelemente">Feste Seitenelemente</h3>
<p>Auf eine ähnliche Art und Weise können auch feste Seitenelemente
bearbeitet werden: Banner, Seitenspalte und Fußzeile. Ebenso wie bei den
Hauptseiteninhalten kommt hier TinyMCE zum Einsatz, um die jeweiligen
Elemente zu bearbeiten.</p>
<p>Es fehlen jedoch die Schalter für die Hierarchie und den
Veröffentlichungsstatus. Um ein Seitenelement nicht anzuzeigen, kann das
entsprechende Eingabefeld einfach leer gelassen werden.</p>
<h2 id="integration-mit-museum-digital">Integration mit museum-digital</h2>
<p>Die Integration mit museum-digital beschränkt sich nicht auf die
genannten Einbettungen in normale Seiten. Zusätzlich zu diesen gibt es
für die verschiedenen Arten von Einträgen bei museum-digital jeweils
Spiegelseiten, mit den Detailinformationen aus museum-digital aber
abgespeckter Funktionalität (es fehlen etwa die Social Media-Buttons und
die Zitierfunktion). Wird das CMS von nur einer Institution benutzt,
kann dies in den Seiteneinstellungen vermerkt werden, damit nicht auch
die Inhalte anderer Institutionen verfügbar gemacht werden.</p>
<p>Die Suchfunktion des CMS bietet außerdem neben einer Volltextsuche in
den Seiten selbst eine Suche in den Objekten des Museums (oder der
Museen, auch mehrere sind möglich). Dies ist möglich durch ein Abfragen
der Such-API von museum-digital.</p>
<p>Um die vielen Inhalte, die von museum-digital hinzugeladen werden, nicht
bei jedem Aufruf der Seite neu abrufen zu müssen, besteht die
Möglichkeit diese zwischenzuspeichern. Um den Server von museum-digital
nicht übermäßig zu belasten und gleichzeitig die Ladezeit der eigenen
Seite wesentlich zu verringern, lohnt es sich dieses Feature in den
Seiteneinstellungen zu aktivieren.</p>
<h2 id="hilfetexte">Hilfetexte</h2>
<p>Um dem Ziel einer möglichst einfachen und klaren Benutzbarkeit weiter
näher zu kommen, gibt es hinter jedem Eingabefeld mit Ausnahme von
Seitentiteln und Hauptinhalten ein Feld mit Hilfeinformationen. Dieses
ist durch ein grau bzw. blau hinterlegtes Fragezeichen erkennbar. Beim
überfahren mit der Maus wird der Hilfetext sichtbar.</p>
<p>Ebenso gibt auf jeder Seite des Eingabebereichs Schalter für Hilfetexte,
die die ganze Seite betreffen. Diese finden sich immer oben ganz rechts
auf der Seite.</p>
<h2 id="sicherheit">Sicherheit</h2>
<p>Gerade im technischen Bereich haben Museen oft nur wenige oder keine
eigenen Kräfte, die sich z.B. um das Aufsetzen einer Webseite kümmern
können. Umso mehr sollte ein CMS für Museumswebseiten
Sicherheitsfeatures von Haus aus anbieten - und by default aktiviert
haben. Gleichzeitig sollten diese möglichst wenig beim Bearbeiten der
Seite ins Gewicht fallen.</p>
<p>Derzeit sorgen vor allem zwei Maßnahmen für eine erhöhte Sicherheit:
Einerseits der Zwang zu HTTPS, das mittlerweile eigentlich ein Muss für
Webseitenbetreiber ist, und andererseits die Implementation von <em>Content
Security Policies</em>.</p>
<p>CSPs sind eine Maßnahme gegen Cross-Site-Scripting-Angriffe, also das
Ausführen von externem Code auf der eigenen Seite, mit dem Daten von der
eigenen Seite (z.B. Passwörter) an den Angreifer übertragen werden
können. CSPs schützen dagegen, indem verschiedene Datenquellen und Typen
von Datenquellen gezielt freigeschaltet werden müssen. Die
Webseitenadministratoren können so etwa dem Browser des Benutzers
mitteilen, dass Videos nur von der eigenen Seite oder
<code>https://youtube.com</code> geladen werden können sollen, Bilder aber nur von
der eigenen Seite.</p>
<p>Mehr Informationen dazu finden sich in den Hilfetexten hinter den
entsprechenden Eingabefeldern in den Seiteneinstellungen. Um zu den
Seiteneinstellungen zu gelangen, muss man als Administrator eingeloggt
sein.</p>
<p>Weil CSPs bisher nur von relativ wenigen Seitenadministratoren
implementiert werden, unterstützt das CMS sie von Haus aus. Falls der
Administrator sie aber schon auf Server-Ebene umgesetzt hat, ist das dem
Setzen durch das CMS vorzuziehen, deshalb ist dieses Feature
abschaltbar.</p>
<h2 id="ein-erster-schritt">Ein erster Schritt</h2>
<p>Die Grundfunktionen zum Erstellen einer Museumsseite sind mit dem CMS
auf seinem jetzigen Stand weitgehend abgedeckt. Dies gilt besonders für
Museen, die museum-digital mit allen seinen Publikationsfunktionen
benutzen und z.B. auch Ausstellungen und Veranstaltungen dort eintragen.
Gleichzeitig fallen mir selbst schon bei kurzem Nachdenken einige
Features ein, die wahrscheinlich relativ bald benötigt werden könnten.
Dazu zählen etwa die Möglichkeit Seiten auch auf gleicher Ebene zu
sortieren (also ihre Reihenfolge festzulegen) oder eine Blogfunktion.</p>
<p>Das Bestehende ist aber meiner Einschätzung nach schon ein erster
stabiler Schritt. Ich würde mich über Tester, Anwender und Feedback
freuen.</p>
2018-06-19: Bio for Uncommon Culture2018-06-19T00:00:00+00:002018-06-19T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/bio/uncommon-culture/<h2 id="short-bio">Short Bio</h2>
<p><em>Joshua Ramon Enslin</em> is a student of Southeast Asian Studies currently at Goethe University Frankfurt. His main research interests concern contemporary labor migration, digitization, and the history of ideas in Indonesia and the Philippines. He has previously worked in translating from Indonesian to German and software development. Through the initiative <em>museum-digital</em>, he is actively working on the digitization of cultural heritage in — thus far — mostly German and Hungarian museums.</p>
<h2 id="kontext">Kontext</h2>
<p>Submitted to the journal <a href="https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/UC/">Uncommon Culture</a> in the context of an article publication (<a href="https://www.jrenslin.de/publications/enslin2018-grasping-historical-peoples-relationships/"><strong>Grasping Historical People's Relationships</strong></a>).</p>
Enslin, Joshua Ramon. 2018. “Grasping Historical People's Relationships: Let The Objects Speak”. Uncommon Culture 7 (1/2): 118-125. <http://uncommonculture.org/ojs/index.php/UC/article/view/9241>.2018-06-19T00:00:00+00:002018-06-19T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/publications/enslin2018-grasping-historical-peoples-relationships/A List of Projects Bringing Digitized Objects Online2018-05-04T00:00:00+00:002018-05-04T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/51/<p>I've been missing a list of projects aimed at digitizing museum objects
and publishing them online for quite some time. This blog post is an
attempt to start such a list, even if it's just those projects coming
to (my) mind this instant. It would however be great to use this list as
a start for a more complete one.</p>
<p>If anybody knows of other projects, let me know.</p>
<h2 id="portals">Portals</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.museen-sh.de/Objektsuche">Museen Nord: Museen in Schleswig Holstein & Hamburg</a></li>
<li><a href="https://digitaltmuseum.no/">DigitaltMuseum</a></li>
<li><a href="https://museum-digital.de">Museum-Digital</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="museum-or-organization-specific">Museum (or Organization)-Specific</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/">Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum</a></li>
<li><a href="https://digital.deutsches-museum.de/">Deutsches Museum</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/fr/collections/">McCord Museum</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio">Rijksmuseum</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus">SMB-Digital: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin</a></li>
<li><a href="https://skd-online-collection.skd.museum">Online Collection der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/art">Tate</a></li>
<li><a href="https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/">Te Papa: Museum of New Zealand</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections">Victoria and Albert Museum</a></li>
</ul>
Enslin, Joshua Ramon. 2018. “Traffic Woes, Metro Manila, And Collaborative Problem-Solving: A Case Study Of Computer-Mediated, Collaboratively Built Information Infrastructure In The Field Of Transportation In The Philippines”. *Ikat: The Indonesian Journal Of Southeast Asian Studies* 2 (1): 145-163. [doi:10.22146/ikat.v1i2.32357](https://doi.org/10.22146/ikat.v1i2.32357).2018-01-01T00:00:00+00:002018-01-01T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/publications/enslin2018-traffic-woes-metro-manila/<h2 id="abstract">Abstract</h2>
<p>The chaotic traffic situation in Metro Manila has been characterized as a major roadblock to the country’s economic development and has turned into an important discussion point in political debates. In this paper three traffic related web services, aimed at helping their users gain an insight into the traffic situation of Metro Manila and beyond are analyzed in regards to their use of cooperation using Benkler’s concept of Collaborative Peer Production. The three web services differ starkly from each other in their concept – PH-Commute.com is a blog, Taxikick.com is a service for short messages pertaining to misbehaviors of taxi drivers, Sakay.ph is a navigation service. As I conclude, all three however share in common that they are indeed highly dependent on cooperation on different layers. Determined by the underlying concept of each of the websites, they incorporate inputs from their users, but they might also let their users help them in developing their software by publishing their source code, and they rely on community-created, open-source software infrastructure to be able to run their own.</p>
museum-digital und die Tastatur2017-11-27T00:00:00+00:002017-11-27T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/50/<p>Eine kurze, aber erfreuliche Nachricht: Wir haben begonnen, an der
Navigierbarkeit von museum-digital rein mit der Tastatur zu arbeiten.
Auch wenn dies eher ein kleines Liebhaberprojekt sein mag, dürfte es
gerade für die, die häufig mit museum-digital arbeiten eine willkommene
Erleichterung sein.</p>
<h2 id="tastenkombinationen">Tastenkombinationen</h2>
<p>Drückt man <kbd>F1</kbd> während man auf einer der Instanzen von
museum-digital surft, erscheint folgende Übersicht:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><kbd>Left</kbd> / <kbd>Right</kbd>
: Previous / next image (only on image pages)</p>
<p><kbd>CTRL+Left</kbd> / <kbd>CTRL+Right</kbd>
: Previous / Next page (available on all paginated or ordered pages)</p>
<p><kbd>CTRL+I</kbd>
: Open image viewer (on object page)</p>
<p><kbd>CTRL+Y</kbd>
: Focus search for objects</p>
<p><kbd>CTRL+E</kbd> / <kbd>CTRL+R</kbd>
: Toggle overlay for searching for museums / collections</p>
<p><kbd>CTRL+0</kbd>
: Return to home page</p>
<p><kbd>CTRL+1</kbd> - <kbd>CTRL+9</kbd>
: Open the first, second ... entry in list (museum overview,
collection overview)</p>
<p><kbd>F1</kbd>
: Show this help overlay</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Der Hilfetext ist bisher in Englisch und wird in nächster Zeit
wahrscheinlich noch nicht übersetzt werden, aber die kurzen
Erläuterungen sollten trotzdem verständlich sein.</p>
<p>Mit den Cursortasten kann zwischen Bildansichten navigiert werden. Mit
Cursortasten und gedrückter Steuerungstaste navigiert man generell zur
nächten oder vorherigen Seite bei geordneten Seiten. Dazu gehören
Suchergebnisse, aber auch die Museums- und Sammlungsübersichten. Auf
Such- und Übersichtsseiten kann des weiteren mit der Steuerungstaste und
den Zahlen 1-9 zum entsprechenden Eintrag der Liste navigiert werden.</p>
<p>Die andere Kategorie der bisher eingebauten Tastenkombinationen stellen
solche dar, mit denen man einen schnellen Zugriff auf Suchfunktionen
hat. Mit <kbd>STRG+Y</kbd> wird der Suchschlitz für Objekte, oben auf der
Seite, fokussiert. Mit <kbd>STRG+E</kbd> und <kbd>STRG+R</kbd> haben Benutzer
einen Schnellzugriff auf die Suche nach Museen bzw. Sammlungen.</p>
<h2 id="warum-die-steuerungstaste">Warum die Steuerungstaste</h2>
<p>Wichtig beim Setzen der Tastenbelegungen war uns, dass möglichst wenige
der Tasten unerwartet gedrückt werden und das unbedarfte Benutzer nicht
überrascht werden. Deshalb sind außer für den speziellen Fall von
Abbildungsseiten - dort sollte eine Navigierbarkeit per Cursortasten
intuitiv verstehbar sein - und F1, das so oder so nicht häufig aus
Versehen gedrückt wird, alle Tastaturbelegungen mit der Steuerungstaste
verbunden.</p>
<p>Zusätzlich waren wir bemüht, im Browser gesetzte Tastenkombinationen
nicht zu überschreiben. Daher kommt die etwas unintuitive Belegung von
<kbd>STRG+Y</kbd> mit dem Fokussieren der Suche.</p>
<h2 id="ein-erster-schritt">Ein erster Schritt</h2>
<p>Das alles kann nur als erster Schritt bezeichnet werden. Aber nun, da
der Code für spezifische Tastenbelegungen einmal da ist, ist es relativ
leicht, neue hinzuzufügen. Also: Falls es Vorschläge für weitere,
sinnvolle Ergänzungen gibt, sind Mails immer willkommen!</p>
<p>Das gilt bedingt auch für die Eingabeseite von museum-digital. Hier ist
bisher nur das Navigieren zwischen den Bearbeitungsseiten für Objekte
per <kbd>STRG+Links</kbd> und <kbd>STRG+Rechts</kbd> möglich. Mehr folgt bei
Bedarf.</p>
Museum-Digital: Remote Blossoms of a Flower2017-11-14T00:00:00+00:002017-11-14T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/museum-digital-remote-blossoms-of-a-flower/<p>Presentation on the public API of museum-digital and the 'themator'. Held at the MúzeumDigitár Workshop 2017 in Budapest.</p>
My Current Setup for University-Related Matters2017-11-04T00:00:00+00:002017-11-04T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/49/<p>On Tuesday and Wednesday next week, we'll have a library tour for new
master's students of Southeast Asian Studies at Goethe University
(starting at 2 p.m. at the info box in the central university library in
Bockenheim). After the library tour, which Holger Warnk, our secretary
and librarian offered to hold, I'll give a short training or seminar on
how to use the library website to access online journals and databases
and a short introduction reference management software. I wrote about
both briefly in German a long time ago (<a href="https://www.jrenslin.de/post/7/">accessing databases</a>,
<a href="https://www.jrenslin.de/post/6/">JabRef</a>).</p>
<p>On the latter part, I'll give an introduction to JabRef and Zotero and
how they can be integrated with a word processor. It's what makes sense
to show people, but it's not what I realistically use when I have the
choice. I'll instead take the chance to sum up what I do use when I
have the chance here - for references and writing, but also other things
like presentations.</p>
<p>Quite much of the software is self-written, but almost all is available
in open-source as well. So I hope that a more in-depth description can
help.</p>
<h2 id="jabref">JabRef</h2>
<p>Somehow involved in almost anything that follows are BibTeX databases
(or is the term "list" more appropriate?). BibTeX is a beautifully
simple plaintext format that can theoretically also be just edited by
hand, but JabRef offers a great and comfortable to use way of editing
BibTeX files. It's quite well-documented and easy to use, so I think
further elaborating on it is rather unnecessary.</p>
<h2 id="writing-org-mode-s-latex-export-and-helm-bibtex">Writing: Org-mode's LaTeX Export and Helm-BibTeX</h2>
<p>Note: I am using spacemacs. My .spacemacs file can be found
<a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/dotfiles/blob/master/seoul/.spacemacs">here</a>.</p>
<p>For notes and papers I use <a href="http://orgmode.org">org-mode</a> in emacs
whenever possible. Files are stored in a plain text file, which I
generally prefer over any alternative way of data storage. Thus, it's
easy to e.g. search through a whole range of documents or process the
documents with outside scripts. Also, it's easy to read the documents
even with a more simple text editor - definitely an improvement when
compared to having to, e.g., unpack and search through .docx documents
when there is no word processor around. On the long run, this means that
the documents also will surely be usable for a long time.</p>
<p>On the other hand it's made to give the user a good overview over the
document, and, since it's integrated into emacs, it can be combined
with a huge number of emacs minor modes. Finally, it offers a range of
different export functions including exports to LaTeX.</p>
<p>Coming to speak of minor modes, the two most important ones I use for
taking notes / are yasnippet and helm-bibtex.</p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/joaotavora/yasnippet">Yasnippet</a> is a minor mode for
entering commonly used snippets from a given folder into the document.
I'm primarily using it for setting <a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/dotfiles/blob/master/general/emacs/snippets/org-mode/header">export settings and lines for
metadata</a>
and <a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/dotfiles/blob/master/general/emacs/snippets/org-mode/bibliography">inserting the bibliography at the end of the file if
LaTeX</a>
is used.</p>
<pre style="background-color:#2b303b;color:#c0c5ce;"><code><span>#+TITLE:
</span><span>#+AUTHOR: Joshua Ramon Enslin
</span><span>#+EMAIL: joshua@jrenslin.de
</span><span>#+DATE: 2017-05-00
</span><span>#+LANGUAGE: en
</span><span>#+DESCRIPTION:
</span><span>#+KEYWORDS:
</span><span>#+SUBTITLE:
</span><span>#+ODT_STYLES_FILE: "~/Sync/Programming/dotfiles/general/emacs/orgmode/Goethe-Uni-Frankfurt.ott"
</span><span>#+ODT:
</span><span>#+BIBLIOGRAPHY: pdf plain
</span><span>#+LATEX_CLASS_OPTIONS: [a4paper, 12pt, linespread=5.5, colorlinks=true, citecolor=., linkcolor=black, urlcolor=black]
</span><span>#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{apacite}
</span><span>#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{parskip}
</span><span>#+LATEX_HEADER: \setlength{\parindent}{1cm}
</span><span>#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{setspace}
</span><span>#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{etoolbox}
</span><span>#+LATEX_HEADER: \AtBeginEnvironment{quote}{\singlespacing\small}
</span><span>#+LATEX: \onehalfspacing
</span><span>#+LATEX: \pagebreak`{.codeBlock}
</span></code></pre>
<p>In the first nine lines, basic metadata are set. The next two lines
concern exports to odt: the template to be used for exporting is defined
and a page break is inserted. By default, title, author and date
information are exported at the very start of the document, even before
the pagebreak. Thus, essentially a cover page is faked.</p>
<p>The following lines concern style and additional packages to use for
LaTeX (and thus PDF) exports. The styles and margins are set to roughly
meet the standards for term papers at our department, while the package
<code>apacite</code> is included to set references using the APA citation style.
Finally, a page break is also set for LaTeX exports, similar to ODT
export.</p>
<p>For referencing, I directly enter LaTeX citations into the document
through the minor-mode
<a href="https://github.com/tmalsburg/helm-bibtex">helm-bibtex</a>. helm-bibtex
reads BibTeX files and offers an interface to browse through and insert
entries. Here it comes in handy that JabRef directly stores data in
BibTeX files, too.</p>
<p>Note that there are some small problems remaining. By directly entering
LaTeX references, references cannot be set processed when exporting to
different formats. Second, generating references when exporting only
works with the BibTeX files being located in same folder as the document
that's being edited.</p>
<p>By the way, quite a few people have written about roughly similar
approaches to using org-mode together with different minor modes for
references for writing (academic) documents or at least drafts thereof
(<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/6cootc/emacs_org_for_outlining_essays_how_do_you_use_it/">1</a>,
<a href="https://github.com/vikasrawal/orgpaper/blob/master/orgpapers.org">2</a>,
<a href="http://viveks.info/org-mode-academic-writing-bibliographies-org-ref/">3</a>,
<a href="http://www.tonyballantyne.com/EmacsWritingTips.html">4</a>,
<a href="http://www.draketo.de/english/emacs/writing-papers-in-org-mode-acpd">5</a>).</p>
<p>Either way, one large problem remains. With the focus on MS Word and
perhaps increasingly Google Docs in the social sciences and humanities,
one has to export and convert documents quite often to be able to
communicate with people. For me, the improved writing experience
overweighs this disadvantage easily.</p>
<h2 id="keeping-track-of-readings-aklaman">Keeping Track of Readings: Aklaman</h2>
<p>Last year, I wrote a tool to keep track of my readings, note down
important parts of the texts, and collaboratively work on the literature
part of research projects with others: Aklaman (and also posted a blog
post about it in it's earliest phases, then still as the "books
tool"). Aklaman, too, reads BibTeX files and displays the entries as
web pages. Users can then mark it as read and enter notes, reviews and
reading process for the entry.</p>
<p>Additionally, there are project pages. On the project pages, any of the
texts that have been marked as read by the given user can be added to
the project. Subsequently, users can add noted down passages from the
texts to the project. Finally, files and blog posts can be added for the
project.</p>
<p>I published the code of an earlier version
<a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/aklaman">here</a>. Since then, most updates
have been aimed at improving performance, e.g. by replacing XML for JSON
as a storage format.</p>
<h2 id="citations-in-blog-posts">Citations in Blog Posts</h2>
<p>My homepage runs on self-written software. It's, in a way, my
playground for adding new features that seem useful here but could also
come in handy elsewhere. The three relevant ones here are the table of
contents for blog posts and the citation functionalities.</p>
<p>The table of contents is generated by splitting the text along the
different second level headlines, each of the split parts along the
third level headlines and so on. This might not be the smartest or most
concise way, but it's quite surely the most straight-forward and
stable.</p>
<p>More interesting are citations, for which there are two implementations
running in parallel. First, the bibliography visible at the bottom of
the page is generated on the server side through
<a href="https://github.com/seboettg/citeproc-php">citeproc-php</a>; second,
seeing the bibliographical data on hovering over a citation is
implemented on the client side. I use this split setup primarily because
I favor having readable HTML outputs, and those parts implemented on the
client side would not contribute to good HTML.</p>
<p>Both, the server-side functions and the client-side ones, are
run/embedded in case a BibTeX file for the post exists. This is handled
by the potential BibTeX file having the same ID as the post. E.g. there
is a bibliography generated for post 47 (<a href="post/47">Surabaya in the 19th Century
and on to Independence</a>) because there exists a file 47.bib
with all the displayed entries. To write those files, I copy-paste the
relevant bibliographical entries from my main bibliographical databases
to a blank one in JabRef.</p>
<p>Two last notes should be placed here: First, I'm abusing HTML's <code>tags for the client side scripting. Apparently, they are indented to mark up a work's title - instead I'm using them to mark up identifiers (e.g. Aguilar1999) as there seems to be no actual HTML specification for that and</code> tags are the most reasonable to use. Second, a word of
thanks is also due to the <a href="https://www.pubpub.org">PubPub</a> project, for
offering a great example of how academic writing on the web can look
like.</p>
<h2 id="course-website-and-presentations">Course Website and Presentations</h2>
<p>This semester, I volunteered to give a tutorial on <a href="https://qis.server.uni-frankfurt.de/qisserver/rds?state=verpublish&status=init&vmfile=no&publishid=238492&moduleCall=webInfo&publishConfFile=webInfo&publishSubDir=veranstaltung">Transnational
Migration in Southeast
Asia</a>.
For the course I set up a website to collect all the presentations,
references, and maybe some other relevant data. By now, I also started
to use a newly written JavaScript presentation tool.</p>
<p>The website runs on a small content management system I originally wrote
as a sort of personal proof of concept. Back then, I wanted to see how
far one gets by using only the folder structure and file names to
generate the folder structure. After adding the bibliography
functionalities from my website into the CMS, it's now rather usable
also for usecases like this.</p>
<p>By now, I've also written a small JavaScript tool for presentations for
the course. Aside from the common features of presentation, it also
includes a text version, which means that there is directly a transcript
available within the presentation (given that the presenter bothered to
write the text version, of course). The code is open-source and <a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/mehp">can be
found here</a>.</p>
<h2 id="keeping-things-organized">Keeping Things Organized</h2>
<p>At the very end of this overview, maybe two more small hints at small
things I use for keeping things organized and giving people the chance
to profit from that are useful to mention.</p>
<p>One is, that I am now (since this week) publishing a personal, probably
very incomplete calendar of the public events in Asian Studies at Goethe
University. This ranges from listing interesting presentations to e.g.
the current meetings to set up some form of informal colloquium for MA
students. Again, this is a very personal selection of events, so please
excuse me if I missed any event or chose not to include it. To generate
and publish the calendar, I'm merging the single .ics files
<a href="https://github.com/pimutils/khal">khal</a> (the calendar tool I use)
generates into a stream using
<a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/joinICS" title="joinICS">this</a> small tool and
upload them through lftp. The process is executed every some hours
through a cronjob.</p>
<p>Also, I wrote templates for some more administrative documents for
giving courses in LaTeX and <a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/university-documents">open-sourced
them</a>. Maybe they are
of help to somebody.</p>
Commons-Based Peer Production and the New Right2017-10-29T00:00:00+00:002017-10-29T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/peer-production-new-right/<p>I wrote up this thought for the now-defunct student newspaper Leiden
International Review back in 2017. As the LIR is now defunct, I'm
reposting it here, as I fear that the basic thesis of the text remains
relevant.</p>
<hr />
<p>This article is a thought experiment, based on an idea that has come to
haunt this author time and again since the election of current
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in May 2016.</p>
<p>Both public and academic opinion on the Internet has been loosely
cycling through phases of enthusiasm and phases of disappointment. The
1990s, soon after the beginning of the world-wide web (WWW), saw
enthusiasm about the democratization of the public sphere. This was
answered by a series of criticisms, most notably those regarding the
digital divide and the Babel objection - the notion that if everyone can
publish, there will be just too much content available to distinguish
important from unimportant and valid from invalid.</p>
<p>In the mid-2000s, another more nuanced but still relatively positive
wave appeared. Most notably, Yochai Benkler framed knowledge production
on the net using his concept of Commons-Based Peer Production
(hereinafter peer production) in his 2006 work <a href="http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks.pdf">The Wealth of
Networks</a>. While
knowledge production before the web was largely determined by long
drawn-up planning and facilitated in hierarchically organized companies
by a relatively small set of experts, it is increasingly the work of a
large number of volunteers to source together their skills to generate
knowledge equivalent or better than the experts could.</p>
<p>While existent before, peer production became a competitive model of
production through technologies like the WWW. It is marked primarily by
much more "fine-grained" (Benkler's term) processes. To give an
example: in the top-down company model, an expert would write an article
for an encyclopedia after being commissioned to by some organization; in
peer production someone writes a draft for a Wikipedia page, which is
then improved successively by a large number of contributors. Every
single step in this is much smaller and can be done by a more diverse
set of people without much individual planning. The characteristic,
smallest step - following the example of Wikipedia - would then be a
reader who finds a spelling mistake and spontaneously decides to correct
it.</p>
<p>Let's look at some of the reports on the methods of new right movements
all over the world: <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-donald-trump-won-the-2016-meme-wars-68580">political memes supporting
Trump</a>
and his agenda,
<a href="https://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/165458-social-media-limit-to-hatred">trolls</a>
"shouting" down Duterte's political competitors, and the overall
<a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/03/google-and-facebook-cant-just-make-fake-news-disappear/">debate</a>
<a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/11/the-forces-that-drove-this-elections-media-failure-are-likely-to-get-worse/">on</a>
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/opinion/mark-zuckerberg-is-in-denial.html">fake
news</a>.
What we see are extremely personalized tactics. Glorified are not issues
or ideologies, but people. As their counterparts, it is either a single
person (e.g. Hillary Clinton) that is targeted, or it is largely
anonymous groups of people (immigrants, drug users, etc.). It is
tempting to frame these movements and campaigns as hierarchical, but
this framing is almost certainly insufficient to describe the
phenomenon.</p>
<p>On a second glance, the movements do however show basic
characteristics of peer production. Producing a meme takes little time.
The same applies to writing a hateful comment or sharing a dubious
article. All of these actions can be done spontaneously and take little
effort. A single meme, without being shared, would mean little. Only by
being shared and remixed time and again does it become an important part
of political discourse on the web.</p>
<p>Considering the rise of the recent
new right wing movements as partially a result of peer production
carries important implications for analysis. Similar to how the Internet
blurred the line between amateur and professional (<a href="http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:625476/fulltext01.pdf">for example in the
case of manga
translation</a>),
the line between supporter and activist has blurred. Is a person an
activist for sharing an article on Facebook or posting a tweet? Is it a
matter of the quantity of political or otherwise engaged posts that make
an activist? There needs to be a debate over the terms we use for
analyzing today's political developments.</p>
<p>Second, viewing these
movements as a result of peer production offers a wide range of
experiences for comparison. Peer produced as their contents or code may
be, Wikipedia, the Linux Kernel, etc. are first of all projects. If we
came to see the public sphere as a project to be filled by peer produced
contents, one could draw from the experiences of these projects in
handling the downsides of open systems.</p>
<p>It may well be that the
prognoses about the democratization of cultural and knowledge production
on the web were spot-on. But the newly recovered forms of production may
not only have helped projects like Wikipedia or many free and open
source software projects, but they may have been the facilitator for the
rise of anti-democratic movements and parties in many countries.
Considering these movements as an Internet phenomenon, observed through
the lens of peer production, may be a fruitful addition to the
discourse.</p>
Learning Go2017-10-16T00:00:00+00:002017-10-16T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/48/<p>Over the last few weeks I have been looking into
<a href="https://golang.org/">Go</a> a.k.a. Golang. First off, it was a great
experience to start coding in the language.</p>
<p>I had previously looked into <a href="https://www.rust-lang.org/en-US/">Rust</a>. I
learned a lot about the underlying concepts when I eventually decided to
let it rest, and it was obvious to me that if one gets a program written
in Rust to work, it will likely run extremely well and safe. But getting
it to run was just too much of a frustration. Where it'd have me an
hour to get some trivial task done in PHP, it'd have taken me days to
do the same in Rust. No matter the difference in experience I had in
the two languages, the difference was just too much and the process too tedious.</p>
<p>Go was thus my second attempt at really learning a modern compiled
language with the aim of getting comfortable in it. Following its
reputation, it's indeed a compiled language that feels like a scripting
language. It's fast enough to learn the basics to not be frustrating at
all and one soon has learned enough to implement meaningful tasks.</p>
<p>As my favorite way for getting comfortable in a programming language is
implementing things that are actually useful at least to me, I went on
to do so quite soon.</p>
<h2 id="goclitr">goclitr</h2>
<p>My first larger project in Go was reimplementating pyclitr, a little
command line tool modelled after
<a href="https://taskwarrior.org/">taskwarrior</a>, which notes down the user who
is currently adding or modifying a task and works on a per-directory
basis (I have since put up <a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/pyclitr">pyclitr on
GitHub</a>, mainly for documentation
purposes). I wrote pyclitr over a sleepless night some time last year in
Python and was rather unhappy with the implementation, although I never
got around to improving it after. On the other hand, having a tool for
to-do lists on a per-directory basis comes in handy often, especially if
one is working with git.</p>
<p>Reimplementing pyclitr in Go offered a nice opportunity to write a prettier version, remove unnecessary parts and add functionalities that
had turned out to be needed. The two main changes and additions are</p>
<ul>
<li>To modify a task, one no longer needs to enter a uuid, but just
enters its current ID</li>
<li>On the first run of the program, a folder is created at
<code>~/.config/goclitr</code> containing a list of all directories in which
the user has created or modified tasks.</li>
</ul>
<p>Goclitr (now renamed also, as the py in pyclitr stands for Python) can
be found at <a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/goclitr">GitHub</a>.</p>
<h2 id="eaureumfv">eAureumFV</h2>
<p>eAureumFV (<a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/eAureumFV">on GitHub</a>) is my
second project and was my first attempt at writing web applications
(mainly) in Go. At home, I have a Raspberry Pi connected to my
loudspeakers that I mostly use for playing music with remote control.
After connecting a screen to it, I wanted to access other files from it,
too. As my hard drives are connected to another maschine, I needed a way
to stream them. The easiest way to implement that seemed to watch them
in a browser, streamed via HTTP. Of course, the same would have been
possible with simple ssh, but this offered a nice login-free solution.</p>
<p>eAureumFV offers an HTML interface to the contents of a given set of
folders, with in-browser previews where HTML5 supports the given file
format. A special type of preview are previews of CBZ files, which are
unpacked into memory and served from there. Each file page comes with
two modes: the default one showing the file name, preview, and very
basic information on the file, and a window-filling preview.</p>
<p>Maybe another special feature for a web-application is the
keyboard-driven workflow: I barely use the mouse when not using a
browser and did not want to have to reach to it when using a
navigation-intensive application like this. Hence, all contents can be
navigated to using keyboard shortcuts.</p>
<p>This makes the whole application rather heavy on (vanilla) JavaScript
already. An additional component implemented in JS is a regex-based
search function with autocomplete. At least for me it was astonishing to
see how fast this works with a little caching, despite being implemented
in JS.</p>
<p><img src="media/posts/48/eAureumFV_StartPage.png" alt="The start page offering links to all the directories listed for serving in the config file." /></p>
<p><img src="media/posts/48/eAureumFV_File.png" alt="A file/preview page displaying the PDF of a presentation." /></p>
Surabaya in the 19th Century and on to Independence2017-07-22T00:00:00+00:002017-07-22T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/47/<p>Last month I was tasked to hold a presentation on the history of 19<sup>th</sup>
century Surabaya; possibly to be extended into the 20<sup>th</sup> century, if
the available sources were too few to allow for a presentation of
roughly 30 minutes. As I was working on the presentation, I realized
that the turn of the century was not actually a good point to talk about
turns in the history of the city. Second, the available sources were not
at all too few - but they were too diverse and too different to allow
for a continuous narrative.</p>
<p>The reason this post came to be is the third: it's the first
presentation where I took notes in prose - not a list - before preparing
my slides. The notes highlight different issues and developments in and
around late colonial Surabaya and turned out to enough to maybe be
helpful to others interested in the city's history. On the other hand,
lacking a stringent narrative, they cannot be more than a maybe useful
resource.</p>
<p>There are three books, which I've not had the time to read for this.
Likely, they hold further information that can add to what I've noted
down here. They are:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://marjinkiri.com/product/merebut-ruang-kota-aksi-rakyat-miskin-kota-surabaya-1900-1960an/">Basundoro, P. (2013). Merebut Ruang Kota: Aksi Rakyat Miskin Kota
Surabaya, 1900-1960an. Tangerang: Marjin
Kiri.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/The-Komedie-Stamboel-:-popular-theater-in-colonial-Indonesia-1891-1903/oclc/228167571">Cohen, M. I. (2006). The Komedie Stamboel: Popular Theater in
Colonial Indonesia, 1891-1903. Ohio University
Press.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL3947971M/Surabaya_city_of_work">Dick, H. (2002). Surabaya; City of Work: A Socioeconomic History,
1900-2000. Ohio University
Press.</a></li>
</ul>
<p>On a sidenote, the presentation took place in Judith Bosnak's
<em>Classical Javanese</em> course, which was most interesting and insightful.
I am grateful for having had the opportunity to attend it.</p>
<hr />
<h2 id="an-afterword-for-an-introduction">An Afterword for an Introduction</h2>
<p>I began working on this presentation with the premise of discussing the
history of Surabaya in the 19<sup>th</sup> century in relation to the beginnings
of Indonesian nationalism. A second part was to a take on comparing
Surabaya to Batavia.</p>
<p>Hayden White notes that the task of the historian is necessarily that of
creating a narrative (White 1990). I came to realize that establishing a
continuing narrative on Surabaya over this relatively long time span is
impossible with the sources at hand (say, with a relative lack of
primary sources and time).</p>
<p>The overall thrust of relevant research changes over time. Relevant
available studies discussing the time of the Cultivation System are
often general studies of Java at the time and concentrate on rural
issues. As Surabaya was a major trading port at the time already,
agrarian issues in East Java obviously influenced its developments. Data
from these sources could be supplemented by travelers' and traders'
reports from the time. At the time, fortifications in Surabaya were
build, it was increasingly connected to the rest of Java and exports
grew substantially. Maps show that sizable Chinese and Arab settlements
were already established at this time, opening the city to the different
streams of globalization discussed by Taylor and Ricklefs (Taylor 2012,
Ricklefs 2007).</p>
<p>For the years after 1890, a number of studies directly relating to
Surabaya are available. A common narrative can be found: new
technologies, practices, and ideas enter Surabaya at a fast pace and
lead to major reconfigurations in the city's society. Railways, tram, a
new harbor, and even an airfield were introduced between 1890 and 1920,
connecting Surabaya better with the other major cities and its
hinterland. Technical innovations like the telegraph and later the
telephone linked Surabaya with Europe; those like the magic lantern, the
phonograph, and the movie projector changed the entertainment landscape
of the city and brought images and soundbites from Europe and even
Africa right into the city.</p>
<p>Inspired largely by a British-Indian innovation, the <em>parsi theater</em>,
the Komedie Stamboel developed in Surabaya. And Arab periodicals
published in Surabaya were read in the Arab peninsula. Modern ideas
about the idea of education lead to the establishment of schools, which
subsequently altered power dynamics among the communities and
substantially contributed to the nationalist movement(s).</p>
<p>Some of the sources on this period provide background information on the
years preceding it, so that at least in terms of time a rather complete
image can be provided here following 1830. The aspects discussed for the
different times differ largely however.</p>
<h2 id="geography-and-early-history">Geography and Early History</h2>
<p>Surabaya is located on the north eastern coast of Java. Right north of
it, there is the island of Madura. Built around the Kalimas River, it
has access to the Brantas River (the Kalimas is branching of from the
Brantas in the Brantas' delta).</p>
<p>Thus, the area is rather flat and was originally relatively swampy. Over
the years, the swamps and marshes were recovered to land D'Almeida
1864.</p>
<p>The original harbors were the harbors of Kalimas and Jembatan Merah. The
port of Kalimas is a sea port located at the eastern side of the outlet
of the Kalimas River, while the port of Jembatan Merah is located closer
to the city center and functioned mainly as a river port.
(<a href="http://www.eastjava.com/tourism/surabaya/tanjung-perak.html">eastjava.com</a>)</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Like the Opposite coast it is indented with inlets and bays, and its
harbours are considered to be the most protected in Java. (D'Almeida
1864, 93)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Rimmer and Dick note that the city had access to the only natural sea
port of the Javanese north coast (Rimmer and Dick 2009) with the harbor
of Kalimas.</p>
<h2 id="timeline">Timeline</h2>
<p>1625
: Surabaya conquered by Mataram</p>
<p>1743
: The VOC takes over control over Surabaya and soon after establishes
a Dutch settlement</p>
<p>1835
: Building of Dutch military installations</p>
<p>1875
: Planning of the port of Tanjung Perak by Ir. W. de Jonght</p>
<p>1910
: Finished construction of the port of Tanjung Perak (following plans
of Ir. W.B. Van Goor)</p>
<p>1928
: Establishing of the Indonesian Study Club</p>
<p>1942
: Japanese Occupation</p>
<p>1945
: Battle of Surabaya and Indonesian Proclamation of Independence</p>
<h2 id="reading-the-maps">Reading the Maps</h2>
<h3 id="1825">1825</h3>
<p>The 1920 map notes this to be infantry barracks.</p>
<p>On this map, one can see the city center. To the west of the Kalimas
River, there is the Dutch quarter, presumably with administrative
buildings and a large central building. Located to the east of the
river, there is the Chinese quarter. In the middle we can see the
Jembatan Merah or a predecessor crossing the Kalimas River.</p>
<p>Around the town rice fields and kampongs are visible. At the very top,
the port of Kalimas can be found already.</p>
<p>Notable are the also the streets around the city. For example, the
street going south (Today Jl. Bubutan) from the city parallel to the
Kalimas, which then splits into two - one going south-south-west (Today
Jl. Blauran, then Jl. Kedung Doro), one roughly following along the
Kalimas towards the south-south-west (Today roughly Jl. Tunjungan, then
Jl. Basuki Rahmat). From east to west, there is the Heeren Straat, later
Grissersche Weg (Today Jl. Rajawili to the west of the Kalimas, Jl.
Kembang Jepun to the east of it). These streets persist until today.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/1f91a169799e990600.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/47/Peta-Soerabaja-1825.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/5e9c89208395d13b00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/e399e9371e13c47a00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/9576a7330124d67200.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="3295"
width="1816" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Surabaya in 1825. Map provided by the Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Kota Surabaya (BAPPEKO Surabaya).</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="1866">1866</h3>
<p>On this map, the city walls (built in the meantime) are very visible.
Additional to the Dutch and Chinese quarters, Malay quarters were added
north of the Chinese quarters and Arab quarters yet north of these. The
Malay quarters were thus located right northeast of Jembatan Merah, say,
workers had short ways to walk to the harbor. The Arab quarters were
further away from the harbor than any other ethnicity's, while being
right south of a newly established <em>Officiers-Kampement</em> and an also
newly added citadel. The two streets closest to the Kalimas River could
already be found on the previous maps, making it unclear in how far the
composition of the quarters was new and planned or naturally developed.
Surely however, the quarters were much extended - similar to the rest of
the walled city, which grew considerably overall. Notably, the
non-European quarters connected the Kalimas with the Kali Pegirian.</p>
<p>Buildings outside walled city also grew in numbers, especially where
Kalimas and Kali Pegirian meet in the south.</p>
<p>The port of Kalimas is not visible on this map.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/a507c4c10875f29000.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/47/Peta-Soerabaja-1866.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/49b80bb6ecfd242c00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/4f3ec5e1b463e33700.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/1c68f6e94694edb000.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="3073"
width="2321" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Surabaya in 1866. Map provided by the Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Kota Surabaya (BAPPEKO Surabaya).</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="1879">1879</h3>
<p>The European quarters within the walled city seem to have shrunk
slightly between 1866 and 1872. Some buildings in the northwest of
cannot be found in this map anymore. In the northeast of the walled
city, a growth of the Malay or Arab quarters can be seen along the Kali
Pegirian. Building within the walled city seems to have remained
centrally planned, judging from the straight streets.</p>
<p>The district in the south, reaching from the branching of Kalimas and
Kali Pegirian almost up to the walled city, saw an immense growth.</p>
<p>The port was upgraded to have a more regular entry, new piers and more
houses (likely for storing and administration). Some new settlements can
also be found along the Kalimas, between the sea port and the walled
city. These buildings are (both judging from the 1879 and the 1900 map)
dispersed along the river and can thus likely be identified as dock
workers' houses.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/ae14618afd0229dc00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/47/Peta-Soerabaja-1879.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/13e032d3dd930e7b00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/fb3eefa305e6a5b200.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/92da799b3bdc84c700.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1510"
width="678" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Surabaya in 1879. Map provided by the Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Kota Surabaya (BAPPEKO Surabaya).</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="1897-1900">1897 & 1900</h3>
<p>In this map, an extension of all the previous trends can be seen. The
less planned settlements outside the city center are yet more populated
and larger. Along the main east-west road, and towards the east of the
previous settlements going south along the Kalimas, new buildings and
districts had been built. New was especially the large extension of the
city beyond the Kali Pegirian and a whole range of new facilities built
at what was the city's southern frontier in 1897, Simpang Road. From
1897 to 1900, the area around these facilities were added.</p>
<p>The city walls seem to have been greatly reduced between 1872 and 1900.
While a large unsettled space remained between the walled city and the
settlements beyond it, this space was increasingly used for houses.
Along the border of the city center, railways were added. From what is
now the Stasiun Surabaya Kota, railways went to the sea port in the
north, to the west, parallel to the coastline, and - to the east of the
Kalimas and the Kali Pegirian - south to Sidoarjo. The Soerabaja N.I.S.
Station (Stasiun Surabaya Pasarturi) is also already visible on the map
from 1900, although it was not yet opened.</p>
<p>Only minor adjustments to the harbor are visible. The stretch furthest
to the right has been extended and a house there has been built.
Unfortunately, the corresponding description is not legible (in the 1920
map, the building is noted to be a hospital).</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/5969749ade9edbf900.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/47/Peta_soerabaja_1897.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/822f5adba88bcc4c00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/26ea0f03e7e3f0bf00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/2ec333ff1e7cc83a00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1364"
width="895" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Surabaya in 1897. From Guide to the Dutch East Indies by Dr. J.F. van Bemmelen and G.B. Hoover, Luzac & Co, London 1897; <a href='https://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/indonesia.html'>Source</a>.</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/08f989f197801ac100.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/47/Peta-Soerabaja-1900.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/55bcee9dcf01e17500.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/b6e49bb9cdb330a400.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/889a2f5a9199b1fa00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="3093"
width="1818" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Surabaya in 1900. Map provided by the Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Kota Surabaya (BAPPEKO Surabaya).</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/d9bf4e37b9e5867c00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/47/Peta-Soerabaja_1914.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/bfac177869d84f5100.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/71616a46caf92d8a00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/83883a63e8ed77a200.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="2265"
width="928" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Map of Surabaya published in 1914. From 'Indien: Handbuch Für Reisende' published by Verlag von Karl Baedeker, Leipzig, 1914. I do not describe this map in the analysis of maps, as I have not found a way to date it. It does not yet feature the port of Tanjung Perak, but includes the fully settled Simpang district with a hospital. Since the district of Simpang is not shown as nearly as far grown in the map of 1900, while the port of Tanjung Perak was opened in 1910, it may be dated to the years between 1905 and 1910. This can however only be a guess. <a href='https://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/indonesia.html'>Source</a>.</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="1920">1920</h3>
<p>This map shows further extensions of the city. Most notably, streets
were straightened and regularized and the former walled city had now
merged with the areas south of it, which had greatly grown. Official
buildings and other major sites were now distributed almost evenly over
the different parts of the city. Along Simpang Road (Today, Jl. Pemuda
and Jl. Gubernur Suryo), something akin to a second center had been
built in a previously almost undeveloped area developed south of the
branching of Kali Pegirian from the Kalimas. In this second center, the
Oranje Hotel, the Hotel Sarkies, the Post & Telegraph Office and the
Lunatic and Military hospitals could be found. To the north of the City
proper, a manufactory is marked, hinting at the extension of the
manufacturing sector.</p>
<p>Again, new and less planned areas had been settled further south the
Kalimas, repeating the previous pattern.</p>
<p>The railway tracks were further extended from 1900 until 1920,
especially those towards the newly build harbor Tanjung Perak, which was
completely equipped with an own railway station (Oedjoeng Station). The
new harbor featured a large, square basin and was altogether much larger
than the previous main sea port Kalimas. To its east, it was directly
connected to the Kalimas River, while the opening towards the sea can be
found to the west of the harbor.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/81e3805e4ac21e9b00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/47/Peta-Soerabaja-1920.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/38803b194f53eee300.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/3884a3cdb37ec76600.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/162474ef7d35601000.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1773"
width="578" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Surabaya in 1920. From 'An Official Guide to Eastern Asia Vol. V, East Indies', Department of Railways, Tokyo, Japan, 1920 (<a href='http://www.niehorster.org/000_admin/006_maps.html'>Source</a>).</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="1935">1935</h3>
<p>On this map, the river Kalimas is named Kali Soerabaja before splitting
into Kalimas and Kali Pegirian.</p>
<p>The 1935 map again shows the previously describes patterns in terms of
the city's extensions. East of the Kalimas, new districts Ngemplak and
St. Goeteng have been added. To the south, a new, large district the
size of Simpang has been added, Koepang.</p>
<p>The railways have been further extended. Secondary lines have been put
around the city center and to the harbor, and the harbor basin is now
encircled by railways.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/d75ba0b8ba2d18f200.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/47/Peta-Soerabaja-1935.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/bb460a938d07b3e600.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/54ca8cc152f436eb00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/1583ee6e38d3dcf000.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1260"
width="589" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Surabaya in 1935. Map provided by the Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Kota Surabaya (BAPPEKO Surabaya).</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 id="demography">Demography</h2>
<figure>
<table><thead><tr><th>City</th><th>1890</th><th>~1900</th><th>1920</th><th>1930</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td>Batavia</td><td>104.590</td><td>116.000</td><td>253.818</td><td>435.184</td></tr>
<tr><td>Surabaya</td><td>117.986</td><td>147.000</td><td>192.190</td><td>341.675</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<figcaption>
Population of Surabaya over time
<p>Sources: 1890, 1920, 1930: Roosmalen 2008, 35, citing Boomgaard, Peter,
A.J. Gooszen, 1991, Changing Economy in Indonesia. A Selection of
Statistical Source Material from the Early 19<sup>th</sup> Century up to 1940.
Population Trends 1795-1942, Amsterdam, 220-221. ~1900: Zehden 1906, 372.</p>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For comparison, the overall population number Java might be interesting.</p>
<figure>
<table><thead><tr><th>Jahr</th><th>Europäer</th><th>Chinesen</th><th>Araber (u. andere Asiaten)</th><th>Eingeborene (Freie)</th><th>Eingeborene (Leibeigene)</th><th>Zusammen</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td>1780</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>2,029.915</td></tr>
<tr><td>1795</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>3,559.611</td></tr>
<tr><td>1808</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>3,730.000</td></tr>
<tr><td>1815</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>4,615.270</td></tr>
<tr><td>1826</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>5,403.786</td></tr>
<tr><td>1836</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>7,861.551</td></tr>
<tr><td>1845</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>9,530.781</td></tr>
<tr><td>1849</td><td>16.409</td><td>119.481</td><td>27.687</td><td>9,420.553</td><td></td><td>9,584.130</td></tr>
<tr><td>1853</td><td>17.417</td><td>130.940</td><td>27.554</td><td>10,104.484</td><td>9.650</td><td>10,290.045</td></tr>
<tr><td>1854</td><td>18.471</td><td>129.262</td><td>29.209</td><td>10,395.510</td><td>9.438</td><td>10,581.890</td></tr>
<tr><td>1855</td><td>18.858</td><td>133.655</td><td>26.099</td><td>10,728.833</td><td>8.713</td><td>10,916.158</td></tr>
<tr><td>1856</td><td>19.431</td><td>135.649</td><td>24.903</td><td>11,105.279</td><td>5.188</td><td>11,290.450</td></tr>
<tr><td>1857</td><td>20.331</td><td>138.356</td><td>24.615</td><td>11,405.596</td><td>5.260</td><td>11,594.158</td></tr>
<tr><td>1859</td><td>20.862</td><td>142.582</td><td>27.335</td><td>11,747.565</td><td>5.000</td><td>11,943.344</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<figcaption>
Overall Population of the Dutch East Indies. Data retrieved from Scherzer 1865, 4.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 id="the-colonial-administration">The Colonial Administration</h2>
<p>Surabaya was seat to a resident and the center of the Dutch
administration of East Java. Some villagers aiming for posts within
their local administration went to live in Surabaya to influence higher
level administrators there to support their position. (Fernando 1995)</p>
<p>Because of its benefits as a trade center, competition with Batavia
existed early on. Governor-General Daendels is reported to have tried to
move the colonial capital to Surabaya during his reign, although this
plan met with opposition and was eventually abandoned (D'Urville 1837,
136).</p>
<p>Centrally governed administrative powers dwindled however over from the
1820s on. Knight describes how economic power started to move from
centrally instituted firms to privately owned ones starting during the
time of the <em>cultuurstelsel</em> (Knight 2014a). Similarly, large parts of
land in the cities was owned privately and thus removed from immediate
government control (Roosmalen 2014).</p>
<p>Urban planning, among other mostly locally relevant issues, remained to
be decided in Batavia - by the central colonial government - until 1903.
Only after the Decentralization Act of that year were "local councils,
independent entities with their own administrative and financial
responsibilities" (Roosmalen 2014, 88) created. These local councils
were in turn not allowed to carry out their projects (ranging from
street restructuring to water and sewerage) work on private land
(including <em>desa</em> lands) until a further regulation from 1918.
Altogether, urban planning in the Dutch East Indies developed from
creating racially divided quarters to more integrated concepts. The
concept of a racially divided town also distinguished kampongs (be they
adjacent to the colonial city or not) from the European-planned city
itself, although the distinction did not necessarily work within the
city itself either (Roosmalen 2014, Colombijn and Coté 2014).</p>
<p>The local councils (later renamed to <em>municipal councils</em>) slowly
extended their powers through a common organization, the
<em>Decentralization Congress</em>, with meetings held in Bandung, Batavia,
Malang, Semarang, and Surabaya (Roosmalen 2014, 93).</p>
<h2 id="religion">Religion</h2>
<p>1870, there were reportedly 10820 <em>santri</em> in Surabaya, relatively much
less than, say, in Semarang, where there were 17877 according to the
same count (Fernando 1999). The areas south of it were nevertheless
highly attractive for <em>santri</em>, and in Surabaya, too, many <em>pesantrén</em>
were to be found. (Fernando 1999, Fernando 1995)</p>
<p>In line with the attractivity for <em>santri</em> overall, but also following
general, colony-wide trends, the number of <em>hajis</em> rose rapidly 3110 in
1874. (Waal 1876, 246)</p>
<p>As the city was split into racially identified quarters in the 19<sup>th</sup>
century, important ceremonial places like graveyards were located
accordingly (Husain 2014, 327).</p>
<p>The city is remarkable also as a center of the Arab community. Although
the Arab community remained relatively small (Bloembergen (2007, 125)
notes roughly 2,600 Arab inhabitants in Surabaya between 1900-1920),
Surabaya was one of the few places in which Arabs - mostly from
Hadramawt in what is now Yemen - settled down. An Arab newspaper was
established in 1917, an Arab school in the previous years (Mobini-Kesheh
1996).</p>
<h2 id="going-out-and-having-fun-arts-and-entertainment-in-surabaya">Going Out and Having Fun: Arts and Entertainment in Surabaya</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>Archibald probably chose Surabaya for his first phonograph
demonstration in the Indies because it was the largest and most
prominent city of the colony at the time and because urban
entertainment was increasingly evident there. (Suryadi 2006, 277)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A thorough discussion of theater and arts in Surabaya in the period
before the last decade of the 19<sup>th</sup> century has so far been not
available to me. A short summary of Cohen's discussion (Cohen 2001,
325-327) of it may suffice: The different ethnic and racial groups
organized mainly race-specific performances (wayang kulit, wayang krucil
and tandakan performances in the case of Javanese; Chinese organized
both Chinese opera performances and wayang topeng and wayang kulit
ones). Different from the other major cities, European festivities were
also joined in by other groups.</p>
<p>In the last decade of the 19<sup>th</sup> century, Surabaya was the place were
the <em>komedie stamboel</em> developed (Originating as the name of a single
group of performers, the term was later used as a general genre name).
Komedie Stamboel has garnered a sizable amount of attention, being
hailed as a landmark development, if not the beginning of modern,
commercial theater in Java. Among other things, racial considerations
served its fame: inspired largely by a British-Indian form of theater,
the <em>parsi theater</em>, Indo-European and European actors played localized
stories from different regions (the standard repertoire being the
stories of the 1001 Nights, but classical European stories were also
adapted and played). Held in Malay, the performances originally
attracted mainly Chinese audiences, but the audience soon became much
more diverse. Especially important for this presentation are two aspects
of the Komedie Stamboel: Cohen notes that the Komedie Stamboel,
especially in its use of female Indo-European and European actresses,
served to reformulate racial hierarchies in colonial society into
gendered hierarchies, in which male Chinese and 'native' viewers were
positioned above the European actresses. Second, he notes that similar
developments were prevented in Batavia by the much more restrictive
administration there. (Cohen 2001)</p>
<p>Forms of arts and entertainment based on the introduction of new
technology followed soon after. Mostly originating in Europe, Surabaya
was a prime location for their introduction, as detailed in the
beginning quote of this section. (Suryadi 2006)</p>
<p>Surya Suryadi (2006, fn. 82) mentions both European and Chinese
performers, who seem to have been rather well connected along
professional lines.</p>
<p>Starting sometime around the 1870s, early phonographs were exhibited in
Dutch East Indies by traveling performers, who also exhibited other
technical innovations like the magic lantern (and who, given the city's
importance by that time, often also visited Surabaya). By 1892, the
first exhibitions featuring the Edison phonograph, by performers doing
international tours, took place - the local performers soon after got
their own machines and started doing local tours with them. Again, the
first recordings to be played were European upper-class music and a
recording of the British Prime Minister of the time, William E.
Gladstone, but as the machine could both record and play, recordings of
local soundscapes were soon created. (Suryadi 2006)</p>
<p>Following an exhibition, of moving pictures in 1897, the city developed
into a central place for cinemas - according to Dafna Ruppin well
comparable to the major <em>Western</em> cities and with only a slight delay.
As moving pictures technologies developed in Europe, most films shown
happened to be European, but from the beginning local recordings were
also shown. Also, from the beginning moving pictures were made available
across class lines. Taking place in established theaters, the first
shows adjusted prices to the regular audiences, so that even poorer
people had early access. Soon after, moving pictures exhibitions moved
into designated venues (first tents, later houses), which were used by
the different groups collectively. Accordingly, new forms of racial and
class differentiation were developed (interestingly, Ruppin notes,
seating 'natives' behind the screen bears parallels to wayang kulit;
Ruppin 2014).</p>
<p>These developments paralleled an increasing differentiation in terms of
the venues people visited. Europeans increasingly frequented class-based
clubs (Ruppin 2014).</p>
<h2 id="military-and-police">Military and Police</h2>
<p>Different sources report on military expeditions from Surabaya.
Similarly, Surabaya was used as a safe place in case of uprisings.</p>
<p>1904
: "European women and children sent to Surabaya by train"
(Fernando 1995) to evade peasant uprising in Mojokerto.</p>
<p>1907
: Defeat of a purported peasant uprising in Kediri with support by the
Dutch military arriving from Surabaya (Fernando 1999)</p>
<p>The military was composed of both Asian and European soldiers, whereas
the police was almost entirely Javanese (D'Almeida1864, Bloembergen
2007). The above-mentioned riots, together with an increasing blurring
of the racial segregation in the city (more and more people considered
'European' were living in the kampongs, while rich Asians increasingly
lived in the European quarters) and the arrival more and more Europeans
inexperienced with Java, including many women, led to an increased
feeling of insecurity among the European population and eventually
resulted in the planning and implementation of police reform for the
major cities (in the beginning Batavia, Semarang, and Surabaya) in
1911-1914, although such a reform had been discussed since at least the
1870s. Surabaya was to be used as a primary testing ground for the
modernized police (The narrative of a 'civilized' and 'modern'
police force figured prominently in the debate surrounding the reform).</p>
<p>Whereas policing was previously organized in a race-segregated manner
and oftentimes extremely violent, the new police force was to serve the
whole city across race lines and was organized following the example of
contemporary European police (for a rather extensive discussion of the
pre-reform police organization, see Bloembergen, 2007, 127-129). Racial
biases were however apparent in the staff of the new police force: the
highest posts were filled by Europeans, while the vast majority of the
police force was Javanese (Bloembergen 2007).</p>
<p>Alternative, competing, and privately organized police forces existed
until the end of the colonial era however. Bloembergen notes that the
Sarekat Islam set up its own kampong police in the early 1910s, which
was often more trusted by the local inhabitants than the colonial
police. Similarly, the military helped out and competed with the police
at times (Bloembergen 2007).</p>
<h3 id="military-facilities">Military Facilities</h3>
<p>Fortifications in the city were built in the 1830s using forced labor.
The previous settlement was destroyed for the building of the military
installations (Chandra and Vogelsang 1999, Ruppin 2014, 889). Industry
for the production of military goods - e.g. cannon bullets - grew soon
after.</p>
<p>Interesting to note is the building of an economy around the military
facilities, somewhat resembling similar developments in the 20<sup>th</sup>
century in other parts of Southeast Asia:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Outside the gates were a number of Javanese women, waiting to charm
the poor soldier with their wiles and graces, and rob him of his
wretched pittance. The women of doubtful character seen within and
without the Dutch forts are a disgrace to the otherwise well-regulated
system of Dutch military Government. (D'Almeida 1864, 101)</p>
</blockquote>
<h2 id="economy-and-infrastructure">Economy and Infrastructure</h2>
<h3 id="harbor-city">Harbor City</h3>
<p>Surabaya is regularly cited as the largest and most active port city of
the Dutch East Indies in the 19<sup>th</sup> century.</p>
<p>Up until its end, the VOC's ships were obligued to stop over in
Batavia, which gave the port a competitive edge in the 17<sup>th</sup> and 18<sup>th</sup>
centuries (Bruijn 1980). These restrictions to Dutch trade seem to not
have persisted under direct Dutch rule of Java. Surabaya on the other
hand featured a natural sea port, that was safer to use than Batavia's
port, which "was an offshore anchorage exposed to the west monsoons
[and] had no navigable waterways to the interior, and only a narrow
coastal hinterland" (Rimmer and Dick 2009), while Surabaya's port
Kalimas directly linked trade with the relatively larger hinterland via
the river of the same name (Different travel and trade reports from the
time confirm this. See: Scherzer, 1965, 2).<br />
By the early 20<sup>th</sup> century, direct trade had been established between
Surabaya and European harbors (Zehden 1906).</p>
<p>While Surabaya was thus better equipped, it could stay on par or even
ahead of Batavia during the 19<sup>th</sup> century, while Batavia remained the
administrative center of the colony. With the establishment of the port
of Tanjung Priok in Batavia, Surabaya however lost its relative
advantage in terms of port accessibility and safety. The establishment
of better railway links to the uplands around Batavia also gave it
better access to its hinterland (Rimmer and Dick 2009, 98).</p>
<p>After the VOC's decline, administration was however slightly
decentralized. Foreign trade had to go via any of the ports of Batavia,
Palembang, or Surabaya to receive an official stamp of approval by the
colonial customs office (Allgemeine preussische Staats-Zeitung 1842,
239).</p>
<p>By 1864 a dock existed for ships to be repaired in Surabaya (D'Almeida
1864), rather than in Singapore. Zehden, at the beginning of the early
20<sup>th</sup> century, points out that the establishment of the docks in
Surabaya was notable for of the Dutch East Indies, and that Surabaya
"had the best roadstead in Java" ("Surabaya 147.000 Einw., hat die
beste Reede in Java". P. 372; my translation; Zehden 1906, 23, 372).</p>
<p>Trade was further strengthened by the establishment of a Chamber of
Commerce in Surabaya in 1864 (Chambers of Commerce were created at the
same time in Batavia, Semarang, Makassar, and Padang). The Chamber of
Commerce was set up by the colonial administration and restricted to
have only seven appointed members (Knight 2014a, 322).</p>
<h3 id="agriculture-and-industry">Agriculture and Industry</h3>
<h4 id="export-oriented-agriculture">Export-Oriented Agriculture</h4>
<p>In the early 19<sup>th</sup> century, the area around Surabaya was already
focused on export-oriented agriculture. D'Urville reports seeing many
coffee plantations in the region, while rice fields were to be found
more on Madura (D'Urville 1837, 140).</p>
<p>Rice was also exported via Surabaya, although the harvesting of rice for
export further declined over the course of the 19<sup>th</sup> century. In the
<em>Allgemeine preußische Staats-Zeitung</em> of 1842, it is reported how the
first Opium War came to the detriment of Surabaya as a port city, as
rice exports to China declined because of it (Allgemeine preussische
Staats-Zeitung 1842, 373). Other target markets for East Javanese rice
were primarily located in other Asian regions, including the Middle East
(Knight 2014a, 320).</p>
<p>Different from West Java, coffee played a relatively minor role as an
export crop in Surabaya residency. Sugar became relatively dominant in
the 1840s: The "Kultuurverslag" of 1850 is cited for reporting 24
percent of the population being engaged in sugar cultivation on 4% of
the available land (Fasseur 1992, 87, also 34).</p>
<p>Within the residency of Surabaya, peanut became an import secondary crop
after 1890. It rose from 29 percent to 56 percent of the harvested
secondary crops between 1890 and 1895 (Fernando 1995.</p>
<h4 id="rice-prices">Rice Prices</h4>
<p>In the 1850s, units for agricultural projects differed per major port
city. Thus, at least rice was considerably cheaper in Surabaya than in
Semarang or Batavia:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Für Reiss, Getreide und Salz gilt der Koyang = 27 Piculs, = 3662,04
engl. Pfd. = 1661,06 Kilogrammen, = 2966,12 Wiener Pfund. In Samarang
ist 1 Koyang = 28, in Surabaya = 30 Piculs. Scherzer 1865, 51 (Van
Zanden (2004, 1032) gives the same numbers, without however referring
to a primary source.)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Even for a larger <em>koyang</em>, the prices as listed in colonial reports
were comparatively lower in the years between 1840-1846, although the
regional prices fluctuated strongly. Price fluctuations were
considerable both over the years and within the year, as prices surged
before a new harvest period (Zanden 2004). Fasseur cites <em>Baud to the
King</em>, V 18 Febrary 1847, no. 9, Kol. 1765 as follows for average rice
prices per <em>koyang</em> in guilders:</p>
<figure>
<table><thead><tr><th>Year</th><th>Batavia</th><th>Semarang</th><th>Surabaya</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td>1831</td><td>114</td><td>69</td><td>85</td></tr>
<tr><td>1832</td><td>141</td><td>73</td><td>107</td></tr>
<tr><td>1833</td><td>125</td><td>114</td><td>134</td></tr>
<tr><td>1834</td><td>145</td><td>125</td><td>149</td></tr>
<tr><td>1835</td><td>140</td><td>119</td><td>127</td></tr>
<tr><td>1836</td><td>123</td><td>111</td><td>139</td></tr>
<tr><td>1837</td><td>100</td><td>105</td><td>122</td></tr>
<tr><td>1838</td><td>110</td><td>94</td><td>105</td></tr>
<tr><td>1839</td><td>144</td><td>121</td><td>132</td></tr>
<tr><td>1840</td><td>131</td><td>122</td><td>122</td></tr>
<tr><td>1841</td><td>129</td><td>129</td><td>107</td></tr>
<tr><td>1842</td><td>143</td><td>130</td><td>119</td></tr>
<tr><td>1843</td><td>132</td><td>101</td><td>105</td></tr>
<tr><td>1844</td><td>142</td><td>141</td><td>129</td></tr>
<tr><td>1845</td><td>162</td><td>208</td><td>186</td></tr>
<tr><td>1846</td><td>155</td><td>148</td><td>134</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<figcaption>
Koyang per guilders in Batavia, Semarang, and Surabaya between 1831 and
1846\
In the *Nota over den Invloed van de Particuliere Suikerrietcultuur* (p.
86), it is stated that roughly 62 percent of the *sawah* in the
residency were used for secondary crops by 1896 (Fernando 1995).
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h4 id="the-manufacturing-sector">The Manufacturing Sector</h4>
<p>A small manufacturing industry developed in Surabaya in the end of the
19<sup>th</sup> century (see above). More manufacturing was however concentrated
in Batavia (Rimmer and Dick 2009, 98).</p>
<h3 id="communication-infrastructure">Communication Infrastructure</h3>
<p>With the introduction of modern telecommunications technology to the
colony, Surabaya was one of the first cities to have access to these.
The telegraph was introduced in the 1860s and reached Java long before
it was connected through cables: steam ships carried messages from Sri
Langka (later Singapore) to Batavia. Batavia was connected by cable in
1870 (Knight 2014a, 319). The source does not state when Surabaya was
connected, but it appears unlikely that a similar development would not
have taken place.</p>
<p>The telephone reached Surabaya in 1884; telephone lines to Batavia were
established in 1897. By 1906 at the latest, Semarang could be reached
using the phone, too (Ruppin 2014, Zehden 1906, 372).</p>
<h3 id="transportation-infrastructure-beyond-the-harbor">Transportation Infrastructure Beyond the Harbor</h3>
<p>Surabaya was one of the main stops along Daendels' <em>De Grote Postweg</em>
and thus connected with a relatively easily passable road to Batavia and
Surakarta. Other major road-building projects to connect the cities
followed until about the 1890s, whereas later developments projects
focused on the upgrading of roads to contemporary standards (Khusyairi
and Colombijn 2014, 254).</p>
<p>Railways were used in Surabaya starting in 1878, with a line connecting
Surabaya with Pasuruan and soon after Malang. In the 1890s, lines
connecting it with Bandung, Yogyakarta and Batavia were opened.
Remarkably, there were two competing companies offering railway services
in Surabaya: The <em>Staatsspoorwegen</em> and the <em>Nederlands-Indische
Spoorwegmaatschappij</em> (NIS). Their two main stations, Kota and Pasar
Turi respectively, were not directly linked, so that passengers had to
use <em>dokar</em> and taxis to travel between them.Trams followed from around
1890 on, with an increasing number of tram lines being added over the
years until the end of the colonial era by the 1920s, these trams
dominated public transport in the city: 11.400.000 passengers used the
electric tram in the year 1927, 5.200.000 the steam tram.</p>
<p>Railways on the other hand also changed the transportation of freight.
Soon after their introduction, they had largely replaced river traffic
for the transportation of export goods and other bulkier items.
Transport of smaller items followed when railways companies lowered
prices. (Dick 2000)</p>
<p>Howard Dick names 700 tonnes of daily river transport of sugar cane into
Surabaya as compared to seasonal daily averages of about 6,000 tonnes in
the case of transport by railways for the year 1903.</p>
<p>Airplanes also started to become available in the early 20<sup>th</sup> century.
The first flight from Surabaya took place in 1911, and by 1929 regular
flights took place from Surabaya to Batavia, Bandung, and Semarang. The
location of the airfield was often regularly. (Khusyairi and Colombijn
2014, 261)</p>
<p>Alternative means of public transport took place using carts and
carriages and omnibuses (Dick 2000, Khusyairi and Colombijn 2014).</p>
<p>From 1890 onward, cars (and consequently also taxis) started to become
an increasingly common means of transportation. "By 1911 about 500 cars
had been registered, by 1920 this number had risen to 2,000 and in 1939
there were 6,657 cars, including 466 taxis. Another source records that
there were over 3,400 registered cars in 1927" (Khusyairi and Colombijn
2014, 255, citing Howard Dick's <em>City of Labour</em> and the Official
Statistics of 1928).</p>
<p>The bicycle was a yet more common means of personal transportation.
Available to a wider range of people because of cheap Japanese-produced
bikes, there were about 36,000 bicycles in Surabaya by the end of the
colonial era. Especially during the depression following the 1928
financial crisis, their popularity surged (Khusyairi and Colombijn
2014).</p>
<p>Racial and class divisions between the districts were also reflected in
the access to different means of transportation. As Khusyairi and
Colombijn posit, the NIS railway lines and older steam trams connected
Surabaya's hinterland and the kampongs in the city's west with the
port, while a more modern electric tram connected the rich inner city
districts in the first half of the 20<sup>th</sup> century (Khusyairi and
Colombijn 2014). Obviously, direct personal access to private means of
transportation, e.g. the car, was also dependent on class (and thus in
many cases race). The same authors consequently posit that the
confrontation with more and more different also lead to an everyday
confrontation with class and racial discrimination and fostered
anti-colonial resistance.</p>
<h2 id="financial-services-and-business">Financial Services and Business</h2>
<p>In 1828, the <em>Javasche Bank</em> was founded (Scherzer 1865, 51), which
operated a branch in Surabaya from 1829 on. After this, a number of
other large Dutch-owned banks opened. Access to these banks was
restricted to "the most wealthy and creditworthy merchants" (Zanden
2004, 1046), both of European descent and others. Whereas it was mainly
Chinese merchants who used the low interest rates of these banks to lend
on the money to peasants (at higher interest rates), both Chinese and
Europeans used them to build private enterprises engaging in trade
primarily with other areas in Asia up to the 1880s (Knight 2014a, Zanden
2004).</p>
<p>Knight also notes that the different groups worked - at least at times -
closely together: "The big Surabaya merchant and 'entrepreneur'
[...] J.E. Banck, for example, could hardly have made his way in the
world to the extent that he did [...] without the backing of leading
Chinese Indonesian capitalists active in East Java" (Knight 2014a,
317).</p>
<h2 id="surabaya-as-a-place-for-the-nationalist-movement">Surabaya as a Place for the Nationalist Movement</h2>
<p>Surabaya was home to one central group of the nationalist movement from
the 1910s onward, the other most major cities being Bandung - then base
of Sukarno - and Batavia -led mainly by Sartono (Ingleson 2008).</p>
<p>The first public meeting of the Sarekat Islam was held in Surabaya in
1913 (Bloembergen 2007).</p>
<p>In 1928, the Indonesian Study Club was founded. It acted as a forum for
meetings between different East Java-based nationalist leaders. Members
of the Indonesian Study Club founded a number of labor unions based on
the idea that to be effective, they needed to offer mutual aid programs
(e.g. legal help or financial help in the case of unemployment or
death). In line with this, even a bank - named "Indonesian National
Bank" - was founded. Notably, the Surabaya-based nationalists argued
for relatively low-key strategies to avoid repression. Labor unions
were, e.g. to not be linked with political parties (Ingleson2008).</p>
<h2 id="appendix">Appendix</h2>
<h3 id="notes-on-sources">Notes on Sources</h3>
<p>Useful sources for illustrations were:</p>
<ul>
<li>The Surabaya
Memory
page of the digitized collections of the Petra Christian University</li>
<li>Maps from the <a href="https://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/indonesia.html">Perry-Castañeda Library Map
Collection</a> of the
Libraries of The University of Texas, Austin</li>
<li>Maps and travelogues are also numerous on the site of the <a href="http://seasiavisions.library.cornell.edu/">Southeast
Asian Visions</a> project
(Cornell U.)</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="additional-tables">Additional Tables</h3>
<figure>
<table><thead><tr><th>Kind of vehicle</th><th>Number of vehicles</th><th>Number of vehicles per 1,000 persons</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td>Private cars</td><td>3,435</td><td>13.6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Buses</td><td>102</td><td>0.4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Trucks</td><td>387</td><td>1.5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Motorcycles</td><td>610</td><td>2.4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Bicycles</td><td>22,360</td><td>88.4</td></tr>
<tr><td><em>Kosong</em></td><td>165</td><td>0.7</td></tr>
<tr><td><em>Dokar</em> & <em>Keretek</em></td><td>1,952</td><td>7.7</td></tr>
<tr><td>Pushcarts</td><td>610</td><td>2.4</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<figcaption>
Number of registered vehicles in Surabaya in 1927\
Source: Khusyairi and Colombijn 2014, using the 1928 Official Statistics (SBS)
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><ins class="update" datetime="2017-11-17T01:58:21">The presentation is now uploaded, too. It can be found <a href="/presentations/2017_Colonial-Surabaya.pdf">here</a>.</ins></p>
<h2 id="references">References</h2>
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<li id="Bruijn1980"><div class="csl-bib-body"><div style=" text-indent: -25px; padding-left: 25px;"><div class="csl-entry">Bruijn, Jaap R. 1980. “Between Batavia And The Cape: Shipping Patterns Of The Dutch East India Company”. <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal Of Southeast Asian Studies</span> 11 (2): 251-265.</div></div></div></li>
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<li id="Fernando1995"><div class="csl-bib-body"><div style=" text-indent: -25px; padding-left: 25px;"><div class="csl-entry">Fernando, M. R. 1995. “The Trumpet Shall Sound For Rich Peasants: Kasan Mukmin's Uprising In Gedangan, East Java, 1904”. <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal Of Southeast Asian Studies</span> 26 (2): 242-262.</div></div></div></li>
<li id="Fernando1999"><div class="csl-bib-body"><div style=" text-indent: -25px; padding-left: 25px;"><div class="csl-entry">Fernando, Radin. 1999. “In The Eyes Of The Beholder: Discourses Of A Peasant Riot In Java”. <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal Of Southeast Asian Studies</span> 30 (2): 263-285.</div></div></div></li>
<li id="Husain2014"><div class="csl-bib-body"><div style=" text-indent: -25px; padding-left: 25px;"><div class="csl-entry">Husain, Sarkawi B. 2014. “Chinese Cemeteries As A Symbol Of Sacred Space: Control, Conflict, And Negotiation In Surabaya”. Edited by Freek Colombijn and Joost Coté.</div></div></div></li>
<li id="Ingleson2008"><div class="csl-bib-body"><div style=" text-indent: -25px; padding-left: 25px;"><div class="csl-entry">Ingleson, John. 2008. “Sutomo, The Indonesian Study Club And Organised Labour In Late Colonial Surabaya”. <span style="font-style: italic;">Journal Of Southeast Asian Studies</span> 39 (1): 31-57.</div></div></div></li>
<li id="Khusyairi2014"><div class="csl-bib-body"><div style=" text-indent: -25px; padding-left: 25px;"><div class="csl-entry">Khusyairi, Johny A., and Freek Colombijn. 2014. “Moving At A Different Velocity: The Modernization Of Transportation And Social Differentiation In Surabaya In The 1920S”. Edited by Freek Colombijn and Joost Coté.</div></div></div></li>
<li id="Knight2014a"><div class="csl-bib-body"><div style=" text-indent: -25px; padding-left: 25px;"><div class="csl-entry">Knight, Roger. 2014. “Rescued From The Myths Of Time: Toward A Reappraisal Of European Mercantile Houses In Mid-Nineteenth Century Java,C. 1830-1870”. <span style="font-style: italic;">Bijdragen Tot De Taal-, Land- En Volkenkunde</span> 170 (2/3): 313-341.</div></div></div></li>
<li id="Mobini-Kesheh1996"><div class="csl-bib-body"><div style=" text-indent: -25px; padding-left: 25px;"><div class="csl-entry">Mobini-Kesheh, Natalie. 1996. “The Arab Periodicals Of The Netherlands East Indies, 1914-1942”. <span style="font-style: italic;">Bijdragen Tot De Taal-, Land- En Volkenkunde</span> 152 (2): 236-256.</div></div></div></li>
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<li id="Rimmer2009"><div class="csl-bib-body"><div style=" text-indent: -25px; padding-left: 25px;"><div class="csl-entry">Rimmer, Peter J., and Howard Dick. 2009. <span style="font-style: italic;">The City In Southeast Asia: Patterns, Processes And Policy</span>. Singapore: NUS Press.</div></div></div></li>
<li id="Roosmalen2008"><div class="csl-bib-body"><div style=" text-indent: -25px; padding-left: 25px;"><div class="csl-entry">Roosmalen, P.K.M. van. 2008. “Ontwerpen Aan De Stad: Stedenbouw In Nederlands-Indië En Indonesië (1905-1950)”. https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/object/uuid:40d1eef6-56fb-49a2-b5ad-4afbbef8a121?collection=research.</div></div></div></li>
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<li id="Taylor2012"><div class="csl-bib-body"><div style=" text-indent: -25px; padding-left: 25px;"><div class="csl-entry">Taylor, Jean Gelman. 2012. “Colonialism: Agent Of Modern Globalization”.</div></div></div></li>
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</ul>
Surabaya: From 1830 into the 20th Century2017-07-19T00:00:00+00:002017-07-19T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/surabaya/<p>Presentation on the history of 19<sup>th</sup> century Surabaya. Prepared for the course <em>Classical Javanese II</em> at Goethe University Frankfurt. My notes for this presentation can be found <a href="https://www.jrenslin.de/post/47/">on the blog</a>.</p>
[i3-gaps]Summer Rice2017-05-28T00:00:00+00:002017-05-28T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/46/<p>For a long time now I've wanted to do a
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/">/r/unixporn</a>-style post. Here it
is.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You know those awesome crunchy, sharp rices, with incredible tasty
sauces, so tasty you can feel the intensity of their greatness in your
soul? Well, although I do like rice, I'm not talking about actual
rice. I'm here to lead you to the sacred palace of unix ricing, the
supreme art of transforming your trivial computer system into a
powerful, useful, and beautiful place. -- <a href="https://github.com/thelostt/ricing">"Ricing yer
system"</a> by thelostt (the *more
powerful* part doesn't necessarily hold true though)</p>
</blockquote>
<h2 id="pretty-pictures">Pretty Pictures</h2>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/8e10ba5d90f7f66600.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/46/summer-clean.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/882e5194e9ba586600.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/a14c0376942fe53500.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/433d1c41b4a0d4be00.jpg" alt="Clean"
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1080"
width="1920" -->
</picture>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/a6642e798799802400.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/46/summer-newsbeuter-khal.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/2feeae72c0fc8f4d00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/939f943b02a0768500.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/8dd292eac910e3bc00.jpg" alt="Newsbeuter and khal"
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1080"
width="1920" -->
</picture>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/d2b07db551c408fb00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/46/summer-ncmpcpp-neofetch.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/aea4dd19b1a91cc700.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/789d51c25b344cce00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/e85a3adddce7f75800.jpg" alt="ncmpcpp with neofetch in a floating window"
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1080"
width="1920" -->
</picture>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/d2b07db551c408fb00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/46/summer-ncmpcpp-neofetch.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/aea4dd19b1a91cc700.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/789d51c25b344cce00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/e85a3adddce7f75800.jpg" alt="Firefox startpage (background image: '波照間島 2014 #15', CC-BY-NC-ND @ kobaken++; Previously at ~~https://www.flickr.com/photos/kobaken/23026509494/in/photostream/~~])"
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1080"
width="1920" -->
</picture>
<h2 id="list">List</h2>
<p>Window manager
: i3-gaps</p>
<p>Terminal
: Termite / Gnome Terminal</p>
<p>Terminal Font
: Meslo LG</p>
<p>GTK theme
: Arc</p>
<p>Status bar
: i3blocks-gaps</p>
<p>Browser
: Firefox (with Stylish and a slightly modified version of <a href="https://userstyles.org/styles/102262/twily-s-powerline-firefox-css">twily's
theme</a>)</p>
<p>Music
: mpd / ncmpcpp</p>
<p>RSS reader
: Newsbeuter</p>
<p>Mail
: Mutt</p>
<p>Contacts / Calendar
: khard / khal</p>
<p>Managing dotfiles
: Stow</p>
<p>dmenu replacement
: rofi</p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/summer-rice">The public dotfiles can be found
here.</a></p>
<h2 id="i3-gaps">i3-gaps</h2>
<p>I use <a href="https://github.com/Airblader/i3">i3-gaps</a> for a window manager by
now. It's a fork of i3wm, an easy to configure tiling window manager
with more features - among others, gaps between windows. While obviously
wasting space with gaps, I've noticed that they help me focus more on
the actual windows' contents. That holds true for a 13'' laptop
screen as much as for my 23'' screen at home.</p>
<h2 id="terminal">Terminal</h2>
<p>For a terminal emulator I use
<a href="https://www.compuphase.com/software_termite.htm">termite</a> for its
plain-text config file. Previously I used
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME_Terminal">gnome-terminal</a>, but the
hassle of setting it up made me move away. Termite unfortunately has
problems with terminal-based programs over ssh on some distros: Most of
the servers I work on are running Ubuntu, where e.g. <code>nano</code> won't open.
Hence, gnome-terminal remains installed for now.</p>
<p>The color scheme is essentially <a href="http://ethanschoonover.com/solarized">solarized
light</a> with the background changed
to <code>rgba(245, 245, 245, 1)</code> (something along the lines of <code>#eee</code>). The
terminal font is <a href="https://github.com/andreberg/Meslo-Font">Meslo LG</a>.</p>
<h2 id="conky">Conky</h2>
<p>In the background, I'm running six single instances of
<a href="https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky">conky</a> to have relevant
information on my desktop. All are set to reload only relatively rarely
and aside from one they use build-in functions of conky to keep the
waste of resources minimal. Of course, there still is; someone once
commented that waste starts when you can see more than one clock on a
screenshot - I'm certainly guilty of that.</p>
<p>The sixth conky instance is showing album cover and name and the name of
the currently playing artist. I'm using <a href="https://www.musicpd.org/">mpd</a>
for the music, so retriving the currently-playing information is easy.
Album art is then fetched from last.fm (that and the likely availability
of better scripts to the same ends are the reasons why I don't share
the script here).</p>
<p>For my alternative theme I have two more conky instances fetching TODOs
and upcoming calendar events and checking for the availability of
websites I am working on. The relevant config for that can be found in
the dotfiles (<code>conky/.config/conky/load-rarely/conky-tasks-khal.conf</code>).</p>
<h2 id="khard-and-khal">khard and khal</h2>
<p>For managing contact and calendars I'm using khard and khal
respectively. Both are tools written in Python, so they are best to get
via <code>pip</code> (khal is by now also available via <code>apt-get</code> on Debian
Stretch, but that version is heavily outdated). Both are rather easy to
configure and use open formats for data storage (vCard and iCal
respectively). Synchronizing then works via
<a href="https://github.com/pimutils/vdirsyncer"><code>vdirsyncer</code></a>.</p>
<h2 id="stow-and-managing-dotfiles">Stow and Managing Dotfiles</h2>
<p>I'm by now using <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/stow/">GNU Stow</a> for
managing dotfiles. They are stored somewhere in my folder for
coding-related matters, say, the <code>-t</code> flag needs to be set. As I've
come to realize, absolute filepaths are necessary there. Given that, I
also include a little theme switcher in my uploaded dotfiles. The theme
switcher re-stows the relevant config files, replaces the background
image (set via <a href="https://feh.finalrewind.org/">feh</a>) and kills all conky
instances to then start the ones I need for the theme to be used.</p>
Museum-Digital im neuen Gewand2017-05-27T00:00:00+00:002017-05-27T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/45/<p>Seit <time datetime="2017-04-03 20:00">April</time> hat Museum-Digital ein neues Design. Einerseits sieht es
jetzt - nach dem designtechnisch wahrscheinlich größten Sprung seiner
Geschichte - wesentlich moderner aus, andererseits bot sich so die
Gelegenheit für eine Verschlankung des Codes bei Erweiterung der
Funktionalitäten. Über einen Monat nach der Veröffentlichung des Updates
ist dieser Post vor allem zur Dokumentation gedacht.</p>
<h2 id="uberarbeitetes-design">Überarbeitetes Design</h2>
<p>Das Design der öffentlichen Seite(n) von Museum-Digital wurde
grundlegend überdacht und überarbeitet. Während zuvor schon das
<a href="https://themator.museum-digital.de/">Themenmodul</a> von
Museum-Digital <a href="https://www.jrenslin.de/post/30/">ein neues Design bekommen</a>
hatte und auch die neue
<a href="https://term.museum-digital.de/">Vokabular-Seite</a> ein relativ
aktuelles Design hat (<a href="/post/40">siehe auch</a>), sind so
nun die restlichen öffentlichen Teile von Museum-Digital nachgezogen.
Das Update betrifft also neben den tatsächlichen Projektseiten (zum
Beispiel <a href="https://st.museum-digital.de/">Museum-Digital
Sachsen-Anhalt</a> oder <a href="https://hu.museum-digital.org/">Museum-Digital
Ungarn</a>) auch die Startseite.</p>
<h3 id="generelle-uberlegungen">Generelle Überlegungen</h3>
<p>Das ursprüngliche Design von Museum-Digital hatte zwei wichtige
Charakteristiken: Einerseits war die Schrift sehr klein, andererseits
war das Design mehrspaltig (meist zweispaltig, manchmal sogar
dreispaltig). Das war vor fast zehn Jahren. Trotz Überarbeitungen blieb
das grundlegende Konzept bis zum jetzigen Update aber so bestehen,
während sich das Internet um es herum änderte.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/b7a5126c09b66a5600.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/21/MDID_Home.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/bd304fb30a54948200.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/c00cca6a402ef19900.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/5a53a8ebf7ef08e600.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="672"
width="1099" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Das letzte Design von Museum-Digital</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Warum? Kleine Schrift und Mehrspaltigkeit heißt, zumindest einfach
gedacht, dass Benutzer nicht scrollen müssen und alle Informationen
sofort zur Verfügung haben. Der fehlenden Änderung lag also eine Angst
davor, dem Benutzer zum Scrollen zu zwingen, zugrunde. Dazu kommt die
das Bewusstsein, dass Informationen, die nur durch Scrollen erreichbar
sind, häufig schlicht übersehen werden. Falls Scrollen nötig ist, muss
also klar sichtbar sein, das dem so ist.</p>
<p>Mit den Jahren änderte sich aber, was Nutzer gewöhnt sind.
Stream-designs wurden beliebter und beliebter, Mehrspaltigkeit seltener
und seltener. Immer mehr Benutzer surfen über Mobilgeräte. Schrift wurde
größer, während mehr und mehr Bilder (und Videos) benutzt werden.
Gleichzeitig steht den Benutzern immer mehr Bandbreite zur Verfügung,
selbst wenn besonders Deutschland langsam im Ausbau von Kapazitäten ist.</p>
<p>Museum-Digital entwickelte sich langsam mit. Das oben gezeigte Bild
zeigt das letzte Design, mit schon wesentlich größerer Schrift als zuvor
und mit <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsive_Webdesign">Responsive
Design</a>. Im
Vergleich zu den meisten aktuellen Webseiten war die Schrift aber
weiterhin sehr klein, die Bilder umso mehr. Mit dem Neudesign steigt
Museum-Digital also auf größere Schrift, größere Bilder und ein fast
durchgehend einspaltiges Design um. Inspirativ waren dabei durchaus
andere, ähnliche Projekte, wie die Sammlungsseite vom <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171224083831/https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2017/05/26/bats-in-the-dining-room/">Cooper Hewitt
Smithonian Design
Museum</a>
und <a href="https://digitaltmuseum.no/">DigitaltMuseum</a>.</p>
<h3 id="die-startseite">Die Startseite</h3>
<p>Im Rahmen der überarbeiteten Designs wurde die <a href="https://museum-digital.de/">Startseite von
Museum-Digital</a> grundlegend überarbeitet.
Wie zuvor schon auf der ungarischen Startseite,
<a href="http://www.muzeumdigitar.hu/">MúzeumDigitár</a>, startet die Seite mit
Kacheln mit neuen Objekten (dies sind immer die aktuell neuesten).
Darunter kommt die - nun auch noch einmal überarbeitete und
aktualisierte - Projektbeschreibung mit Zahlen zu digitalisierten
Objekten, teilnehmenden Museen und ihren Sammlungen. Die zuvor
eingefügten Links mit generellen Informationen zur Digitalisierung von
Museumsobjekten etc. wurden entfernt. Die noch relevanten Inhalte werden
bald in einer eigenen Unterseite, dem Handbuch, verfügbar sein.</p>
<p>Auf die Beschreibung folgen eine Liste mit den verschiedenen deutschen
und internationalen Instanzen von Museum-Digital. Früher waren hier
<strong>direkt</strong> Zahlen zu Objekten, Museen und Sammlungen zu sehen. Diese
sind weiterhin Verfügbar, aber erst mit einem Überfahren des
entsprechenden Bereichs sichtbar. Auf ähnliche Weise wurde auch auf den wichtigeren Projektseiten vermieden, dass Seiten überladen wirken (oder
zumindest ein dahingehender Versuch unternommen).</p>
<p>Darauf folgen Kacheln mit den anderen öffentlichen Unterseiten von
Museum-Digital, dem Themenmodul und Vokabularen, und schließlich Links
zu Social Media-Accounts, Statistik, etc. Hier ist auch ein
Sprachschalter zu finden: Die Startseite ist seit dem jetzigen Update in
Deutsch und Englisch verfügbar, weitere Sprachen folgen bei Gelegenheit.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/370159de3f975da100.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/45/md-startseite-neu.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/7b93240cd697c8a600.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/1e5c9c5c8871669d00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/9f0596596ee5f23500.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="962"
width="1859" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Die überarbeitete Startseite von Museum-Digital</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="projektseiten">Projektseiten</h3>
<p>Die Änderungen in den einzelnen Instanzen von Museum-Digital sind
sicherlich der wesentlich wichtigere Teil der Neuerungen. Auch und
gerade hier wurden das Design vereinfacht und die Schrift- und Bildgröße
erhöht.</p>
<p>Generelle Änderungen betreffen zuallererst die Seitenspalte, deren
Inhalte jetzt durch ein Überfahren des Suchschlitzes verfügbar sind.
Dort, wo sie besonders wichtig sind, werden sie zusätzlich unter dem
Hauptteil der Seite gespiegelt (etwa Suchoptionen bei einzelnen
Objektseiten). Auch die alte Haupt-Navigation ist umgezogen. Statt wie
bisher oben breit über der Seite zu stehen, ist sie jetzt über eine
Mausbewegung über das übliche Menüsymbol (drei Striche übereinander, ☰)
verfügbar.</p>
<p>Im Bezug auf den Hauptteil der Seiten gibt es zwei verschiedene
Kategorien:</p>
<ul>
<li>Seiten, die ein einzelnes Ding (Objekt, Museum, Sammlung, etc.)
darstellen</li>
<li>Seiten, die als Überblick dienen (Suche, Startseite der Instanz,
Museumsübersicht)</li>
</ul>
<p>Beide haben einen in dunkelgrau hinterlegten Bereich, in dem
entsprechende Bilder (Startseite, Übersichtsseiten, Objektseite) oder
wichtige Informationen, etwa Informationen zum Suchbegriff beim Suchen,
zu finden sind. Bei Einzelseiten ist dieser Abschnitt von Links bis
Rechts durchgehend, bei Übersichtsseiten ist er auf die Breite des
Restes der Seite beschränkt, behält also den üblichen Rand.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/b48ff3e8c604662900.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/45/md-dark-bar.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/e5bcae9b1fd985a800.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/2a9b74b8caab83e200.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/b6f5330edb16fe8200.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="987"
width="1881" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Im dunkel hinterlegten Balken finden sich Informationen zum Suchbegriff und Optionen zur Navigation von Suchbegriffen</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Abseits von den weiteren, schon genannten Änderungen (größerer und
anderer Schrift, größere Bilder), gab es durch das Neudesign auch
Gelegenheit zur Entwicklung von neuen Funktionen.</p>
<h2 id="neue-funktionen">Neue Funktionen</h2>
<p>Die meisten neuen Funktionen sind kleine aber wichtige Verbesserungen
über das bisher Vorhandene. Auf Objektseiten sind nun
Social-Media-Buttons zu finden
(<a href="https://github.com/heiseonline/shariff">Shariff</a> kommt hier zum
Einsatz um trotz Social-Media-Buttons die Benutzer keinem Tracking von
Seiten der Anbieter auszusetzen). Auch gibt es jetzt zumindest einfache
Suchen nach Museen und Sammlungen.</p>
<p>Funktionen wie eine Thesaurus-basierte Navigation von Suchbegriffen waren
zuvor auf die deutschlandweite Version von Museum-Digital beschränkt.
Seit diesem Update haben alle öffentlichen Seiten von Museum-Digital
eine vereinheitlichte, gemeinsame Codebasis, womit diese Funktionen für
alle Instanzen zur Verfügung stehen. Gegebenfalls sind sie noch nicht
aktiviert (die genannte Navigation durch Suchbegriffe macht bei
kleineren Instanzen etwa wenig Sinn und ist dort dementsprechend
deaktiviert). Viele der entsprechenden Funktionen wurden hierfür von
Grund auf neu programiert.</p>
But We're Professionals2017-05-20T00:00:00+00:002017-05-20T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/but-we-are-professionals/<p>In this presentation, I discussed in how far Filipino teachers in Urban Indonesia can be compared to Filipino migrant groups.
Held at the Second Student Southeast Asian Conference in Frankfurt.</p>
"But We're Professionals"2017-04-24T00:00:00+00:002015-07-07T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/44/<p>"Their diplomas must be forked. Recto university, you know." That's
what a Filipino friend, educated and working as a teacher, responded
when we discussed Parreñas' (2001) finding that most of her informants
held advanced degrees despite working as household workers. Similar
findings have been made with Filipino household workers the world over.
In a quite similar fashion, Filipino health care workers have long been
subjected to working less qualified jobs than what they were trained
for. Experienced nurses moved to the USA to be employed as trainees
(while doing the work of a trained nurse, Choy 2003). Doctors are
reportedly retraining to be able to find employment abroad, as nurses.</p>
<p>The explanation for this is simple: to go abroad one needs some starting
capital; having that starting capital means the prospective migrant
likely has a middle class background; a middle class background
correlates positively with university education.^1^ Wages in the
Philippines are low, and all the more so for highly gendered professions
like nursing and teaching. Economic incentives exist for skilled
migrants to take unskilled jobs abroad.</p>
<p>This leads to statements like "Filipino [overseas] migration is
skilled migration" from scholars. Filipino professional migrants
themselves however question such a categorization, as showcased in the
initial quote, and it is indeed highly problematic if one attempts to
approach a categoric understanding of Filipino overseas migration or
labor migration in general. More specific categorizations and
definitions are necessary.</p>
<h2 id="on-skilled-migration">On "skilled migration"</h2>
<p>When discussing "skilled migration", there are two distinct ideas
conjured in our heads. First, one may imagine migrants who go abroad to
take up skilled labor there. The categorization of such migration as
"skilled" is likely uncontroversial. Second, there is migration of
skilled workers who go abroad to pursue "unskilled" labor. This latter
variant of labor migration is harder to categorize.</p>
<p>Parreñas (2001) introduces the concept of "contradictory class
mobility": By moving abroad, the migrants (in this case household
workers) experience downward class mobility in their host country - they
have less money compared to other residents of the host country and work
less prestigious and skill-demanding jobs - while at the same time
experiencing upward class mobility in their home country as they earn
higher wages in absolute terms and as compared to other workers in their
home country. This concept is extremely helpful in explaining why my
friend quoted in the beginning of this text did not consider this form
of migration to be "skilled" and, to solve the contradiction now made
apparent, resorted to diminishing the household workers.</p>
<p>The educational attainments and background of migrants are important to
understand for understanding migrants' lives, their decision to migrate
and their own perception of their life abroad. We cannot however fall
into the trap of trying to understand or categorize migrants solely on
that. "Filipino migration is skilled migration", if specified to exclude
internal migration and importantly migration to Sabah, may hold true
even despite the general formulation if one takes the perspectives of
migrants' backgrounds. The migrants however, and there the subtext of
the initial quote holds true, are not migrating to work skilled jobs.</p>
<p>Keeping both things in mind is important. To stick with examples from
Parreñas' <em>Servants of Globalization</em> (2001): many of her informants
complained about deskilling (the loss of skills previously attained by
working in unrelated fields). Without skills there is no loss thereof.
Without prestige being attached to those skills, complaints about the
experience of such deskilling is less likely. Thus the background
matters much. However, contradictory class mobility is not necessarily
experienced by Filipino migrants. Others, such as my initially quoted
friend, migrate and take skilled jobs in their host countries.</p>
<p>I am emphasizing the concept of contradictory class mobility here to
showcase that there are different meters that need to be considered when
discussing skilled migration. Other forms of skilled migration add to
that, e.g. migrants first pursuing work outside their original field of
training to later get back to their line of work after they have
attained an appropriate residency status (Siar 2011).</p>
<h2 id="arranged-labor-migration">"Arranged labor migration"</h2>
<p>A somewhat related issue that is often overseen is what I will call
"arranged labor migration" (as opposed to "unarranged labor
migration") for the purposes of this essay. A first question to discuss
in this regard is whether a migrants' move abroad is orchestrated
through a recruitment agency on the one hand or if the migrant's move
abroad is coordinated directly with the future employer or through
informal channels (for example migrants from the same community, Aguilar
2009). This distinction carries important implications for migrants'
freedom and relation to the state and is in turn often correlated with
the above question of skilled migration or unskilled migration.</p>
<p>Recruitment agency serve migrants in easing the preparation and process
of migration while importantly streamlining overall migration in a given
profession and making it to some extent observable and controlable to
the state (of the home country). Commonly, the recruitment agency
determines the future employer and keeps track of the migration. High
fees often bind the labor migrant to the recruitment agency for long
after the initial move abroad.</p>
<p>Such arranged migration - at least in the Philippine case - appears to
be linked to the migrants future class status (in the host country) and
the perceived need for profession to be regulated and a professions'
popularity among migrants. Commonplace examples for recruitment
center-based migration from the Philippines include the work of
seafarers, where the Philippine state has a stake in regulation (and
remittance extraction), many household workers especially those going to
the Middle East and Singapore - examples for both foreign countries and
the Philippine state having an interest in regulation - to nurses.</p>
<p>Skilled migration in the sense of the migration of people aiming for
skilled jobs and especially migration to less popular destinations on
the other hand takes place in a self-organized or employer-organized
fashion more often. Commercial services might be used for specific
aspects (e.g. the acquisition of working visas), but it appears to be
much less often the case for such migrants to employ agencies for the
full process.</p>
<p>This rough description is of course just a first approximation. Of
course, nurses and seafarers, too, are workers working skilled jobs in
the destination country (or the ship), too. The reasons for the
regulation of their migration through recruitment agency-based processes
surely are different or at least differently weighed from the presence
of recruitment agencies in the recruitment of household workers.</p>
<p>There are more extreme forms of "arranged labor migration", too,
obviously: e.g. trainings in the homeland to prepare prospective
migrants for work abroad (especially with Filipino migration to Japan
there are examples of this for different professions; Ohno 2012,
Parreñas 2011), which not only prepare the migrants but also make
migrants share common experiences in migration from the start and lead
to the formation of migrant communities before the prospective migrant
goes abroad in the first place.</p>
<p>I'm strongly interested in understanding the reasons and effects of the
presence of recruitment agencies better, and especially so in a
systematic fashion. I hope to one day have the opportunity to look into
the different causes and effects further and would be appreciative of
tips.</p>
<h2 id="footnotes">Footnotes</h2>
<ol>
<li>This is not my explanation. I'd guess it comes from Parreñas 2005.</li>
</ol>
<h2 id="references">References</h2>
<ul>
<li>Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar. 2001. <em>Servants Of Globalization: Women, Migration And Domestic Work</em>. Stanford University Press/Ateneo de Manila University Press.</li>
<li>Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar. 2011. <em>Illicit Flirtations: Labor, Migration, And Sex Trafficking in Tokyo</em>. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.</li>
<li>Choy, Catherine Ceniza. 2003. <em>Empire Of Care: Nursing And Migration In Filipino American History</em>. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press & Duke University.</li>
<li>Aguilar, Filomeno V., John Estanley Z. Penalosa, Tania Belen T. Liwanag, Resto S. Cruz, and Jimmy M. Melendrez. 2009. <em>Maalwang Buhay: Family, Overseas Migration, And Cultures Of Relatedness in Barangay Paraiso</em>. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press.</li>
<li>Ohno, Shun. 2012. “Southeast Asian Nurses And Caregiving Workers Transcending The National Boundaries: An Overview Of Indonesian And Filipino Workers In Japan And Abroad”. <em>Southeast Asian Studies</em> 49 (4): 541-569. <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2433/158298">http://hdl.handle.net/2433/158298</a>.</li>
<li>Siar, Sheila V. 2011. “Skilled Migration, Knowledge Transfer And Development: The Case Of The Highly Skilled Filipino Migrants In New Zealand And Australia”. <em>Journal Of Current Southeast Asian Affairs</em> 30 (3): 61-94. <a href="http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jsaa/article/view/475/473">http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jsaa/article/view/475/473</a>.</li>
</ul>
Islam Bergerak: An Exploration2017-02-07T00:00:00+00:002017-02-07T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/43/<p>This is the text version of my presentation "Islam Bergerak: An
Exploration",
held on the 17th of January, 2017, in the course "Media in Southeast
Asia: Engaged and Engaging". In the presentation, I outlined my
approach in trying to find an apt categorization and description for the
website <a href="http://islambergerak.com/">Islam Bergerak</a>. It just dealt with
the website Islam Bergerak just as much as it did with methodological
considerations pertaining to analyzing and especially categorizing media
on the Internet.</p>
<p>To approach a website, the first step is surely to look at its name:
Islam Bergerak means <em>Islam in Motion</em>, while bergerak (in motion)
carries a connotation of activism. A general impression about the topics
(interpretations of Islam or Islamic perspectives on given issues)
discussed on the website and the political leanings of the authors can
already been made from this. Upon opening the website, one first sees
the website's header and logo, which combines the Islamic cresent moon
with the raised fist often used to symbolize the workers' movement. The
header is colored in bright red, which might either be interpreted as
another hint at the workers' movement or as a sign of relatedness to
Indonesian nationalism since it, combined with the white background of
the page's contents, forms the red-white color combination of the
Indonesian flag (<a href="https://www.jrenslin.de/post/43/#fig1">Fig. 1</a>).</p>
<div id="fig1">
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/035e9c2f4732ef6d00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/43-islam-bergerak/IB-Main-Page-Screenshot.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/1865e8d578451f7c00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/843d24cdde542cec00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/0ac6022ed317c21700.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1192"
width="1896" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Fig. 1: Islam Bergerak's home page</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p>Islam Bergerak's website runs on Wordpress, which was originally
developed for blogging, but is by now used by a large number of websites
unrelated to blogging. While the contents are clearly text-based, a
categorization as a blog is problematic (see below).</p>
<p>A second step might then be to search for an "About" page, which
however does not exist in the case of Islam Bergerak. Aside from their
main website, a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/islambergerak/about/">Facebook
page</a> has been created
for Islam Bergerak on which the following, rather vague,
self-description can be found: "Media pembangunan gerakan sosial Islam
yang membebaskan" (Media of awakening of/for a social movement for a
liberating Islam).</p>
<p>Given that information <em>about</em> the page can thus be described as rare
and that coming to a categorization and description is more relevant to
this presentation than an in-depth qualitative analysis, a quantitative
analysis of the website's contents was conducted. To start with, a
Python script was written to scrap the page for every single article's
link and download the article in full text. The downloaded web pages
were then parsed to JSON format, to remove unnecessary code and store
the relevant data in an easily maschine readable
format.^[1] Using the data thus
retrieved, basic statistical analysis was conducted.</p>
<p>Since February 2014, when the first available article was posted, until
mid-January 2017, 147 articles have been posted. Out of these, 37 were
marked as having been published in 2014, 64 in 2015, and 47 in 2016
(<a href="https://www.jrenslin.de/post/43/#fig2">Fig. 2</a>), which means that there is a
relatively steady number of publications per year. Compared to (online)
newspapers, this number is certainly low, so that a categorization as
that can be ruled out. Furthermore, articles on Islam Bergerak only
rarely discuss news - and if they do, they usually employ current events
for introducing larger theoretical debates.</p>
<div id="fig2">
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/dc14903f071a72c200.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/43-islam-bergerak/IB-fig2.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/55ca6d229efb513100.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/08c806c08c6b28cf00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/618f4e1f6ca4b6bc00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="579"
width="1815" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Fig. 2: Articles per year</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p>Sorting the articles by month (regardless of the year) reveals that
there are lows in the rate of articles published in the months between
June and September and in January, in each of less than 10 articles have
been published. While the low in January might partly be explained by
the earliest article on the website having been published in February
2014 (say, that the sample only includes the January twice while all
other months are included in the sample thrice), the low between June
and September is harder to explain. It might be linked to Ramadan and
the surrounding festivities, but this could only be confirmed for sure
using further qualitative analyses and interviews with the team of the
site (<a href="https://www.jrenslin.de/post/43/#fig3">Fig. 3</a>).</p>
<div id="fig3">
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/bcb07cda0bf0657600.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/43-islam-bergerak/IB-fig3.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/470689e55c17505200.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/2d6e1657d6a1f0dd00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/f85a74b9efbf932e00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="549"
width="1773" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Fig. 3: Articles by month</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p>Much speaks for categorizing Islam Bergerak as an online magazine.
First, while there are some regular authors with up to 12 articles
published under their name, 27 articles have been published using an
editorial team account and only 9 out of 66 identified authors have
published more than two aricles.</p>
<p>Additionally, the articles' length supports such categorization. The
average word count of articles published on the website is 2029 (<a href="https://www.jrenslin.de/post/43/#fig4">Fig.
4</a>). A comparative analysis of the
<a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online-articles">online articles section of Dissent
magazine</a>, a
left-leaning intellectual magazine published in the US since the 1950s,
reveals that this is indeed comparable to the websites of established
magazines: the average word count at Dissent magazine's <em>online
articles</em> section is 1769.81 at 855 articles (<a href="https://www.jrenslin.de/post/43/#fig5">Fig.
5</a>).</p>
<div id="fig4">
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/a7bd1b615ed4b3cf00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/43-islam-bergerak/IB-fig4.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/0430ce04ccfa24f200.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/d1c3a18a7334d50700.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/a4afe805463aca9c00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="561"
width="1773" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Fig. 4: Articles on Islam Bergerak by length (rounded to steps of 500)</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<div id="fig5">
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/77d907bd8502743300.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/43-islam-bergerak/IB-fig5.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/20c53039908c85d900.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/478b9fadf3b9f4ab00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/384b6a65750db2ac00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="582"
width="1794" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Fig. 5: Articles from the <em>online articles</em> section of Dissent magazine by length (rounded to steps of 500)</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p>To get a more general impression of the contents, a word cloud was
finally generated using the program
<a href="http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.49907">word_cloud</a> (<a href="https://www.jrenslin.de/post/43/#fig6">Fig.
6</a>). Again, the topics of Islam and
social justice feature most prominently. Special keywords are those
related to the Soekarno era (which often relate to articles on the
events of 1965/66) and NU, Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Muslim
organization of Indonesia and world wide.</p>
<div id="fig6">
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/b4559442f0ddc3eb00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/43-islam-bergerak/IB-wordcloud.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/bdd568bcc04d129b00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/661be1d19d8263eb00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/2ffe4e73db41192e00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1600"
width="2400" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Fig. 6: Word cloud generated from the articles on Islam Bergerak</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h2 id="footnotes">Footnotes</h2>
<ol>
<li>[The scripts used for this can be found on
<a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/scrapper-islam-bergerak">GitHub</a>.]</li>
</ol>
Looking into Automatized Transkription and Transliteration for Aksara Jawa2017-02-04T00:00:00+00:002017-02-04T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/42/<p>Over the last two days I have been looking into possibilities for using
OCR on texts written using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javanese_script">Aksara
Jawa</a> and subsequently
transliterating them in an automated fashion. As I will not have time to
work on this further in the next few days and am far from finished, I
will note down preliminary results here.</p>
<h2 id="ocr">OCR</h2>
<p>I am certainly not the first to look into the problem. There have
increasingly been efforts to digitize old Javanese manuscripts and
papers have been published on different aspects necessary for using OCR
on the manuscripts and then transliterating them (See Widiarti et al.
2013; Widiarti et al. 2014). Unfortunately, I have however not been able
to find the corresponding software.</p>
<p>During the course "Chinese Media Language", I had already used
<a href="http://vietocr.sourceforge.net/">VietOCR</a> (then still on Windows) to
digitize the worksheets. VietOCR is based on
<a href="https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tesseract">tesseract</a>, and I thus
looked into using this for transcribing Javanese script. Indeed, there
is already a trained data set for using OCR on Javanese texts - but this
is unfortunately limited to Javanese texts using latin script. On the
other hand, support for Indic and Arab scripts has increased much with
more recent versions and tesseract can be trained for new languages,
which means that using tesseract might be a good idea.</p>
<p>If tesseract is to be trained for Aksara Java, there are some
requirements. First, there need to be fonts available for Aksara Jawa.
Second, a text for training needs to be generated using all available
characters in a more or less realistic way (for this, the <a href="https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/langdata/tree/master/jav">data used by
tesseract's Javanese (with latin script)
OCR</a> might be
useful later).</p>
<h3 id="playing-around-with-tesseract">Playing Around With tesseract</h3>
<p>As I was testing tesseract for the command line, I wrote a little script
to capture an area of my screen and then use OCR on the captured image.
As a little gimmick, I then run the transcribed text through Google
Translator. For getting better results, the captured image is grayscaled
and scaled up to 300% of its original size (say, I borrowed some methods
from <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ocrdesktop">OCRdesktop</a>). The
script can be found
<a href="./ocrscreen.sh">here</a>.</p>
<p><img src="/media/posts/42/ocr-screen-nihongo.png" alt="An area with text is selected in the left window. OCRed text and suggested translation are returned in window to the right." /></p>
<h2 id="fonts">Fonts</h2>
<p>To display Aksara Jawa, an appropriate font needs to be installed. Since
it has only been added to unicode in 2009, there are two approaches to
translating Aksara Jawa letters into a computer font:</p>
<ul>
<li>Older fonts replaced existing letters with a Javanese character.
Since Aksara Jawa works very differently from latin script, this is
a bit of an awkward way, but was the best possible at a time when
Aksara Jawa had not yet been added to unicode.</li>
<li>Some newer fonts make use of the inclusion of Aksara Jawa in
unicode. This gives much more accurate results (from the
programmer's view) and is thus preferable.</li>
</ul>
<p>I could find two fonts that fit into the latter group: <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/jawaunicode/main-page">Tuladha
Jejeg</a> and <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/hanacarakan/font">Carakan
Unicode</a> (according to
Utami (2012) there is another one named adjikasa, which I have been
unable to find. The link does not lead to the font anymore).</p>
<p>For testing the fonts, I wrote a little script to return all characters
with a set unicode range. For Aksara Jawa that's the range between
U+A980 and U+A9DF
(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javanese_%28Unicode_block%29">Wikipedia</a>).</p>
<pre data-lang="Python" style="background-color:#2b303b;color:#c0c5ce;" class="language-Python "><code class="language-Python" data-lang="Python"><span>output = ''
</span><span style="color:#b48ead;">for </span><span>i </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">in </span><span style="color:#96b5b4;">range</span><span>(</span><span style="color:#d08770;">128</span><span>,</span><span style="color:#d08770;">230</span><span>):
</span><span> j = </span><span style="color:#96b5b4;">hex</span><span>(i)
</span><span> k = </span><span style="color:#bf616a;">str</span><span>(j).</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">replace</span><span>("</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">0x</span><span>", "")
</span><span> code = '</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">A9</span><span>' + k
</span><span> output = output + (</span><span style="color:#96b5b4;">unichr</span><span>(</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">int</span><span>(code, </span><span style="color:#d08770;">16</span><span>))) + ' '</span><span style="color:#96b5b4;">print </span><span>(output)`
</span></code></pre>
<p>Unicode uses hexadecimal values to number characters (padded to five
digits). Since Aksara Jawa occupies a range starting with A9 this part
could remain a fixed value, while the ensuing number was changed in a
loop.</p>
<p>Tuladha Jejeg has 99.44% coverage on the output, Carakan Unicode has a
100% coverage.</p>
<h2 id="transliteration">Transliteration</h2>
<p>There have already been some attempts to write transliteration programs
for Jawanese to Latin transliteration and vice versa, mostly notable of
which are <del>JawaTeX</del> and <a href="https://bennylin.github.io/transliterasijawa/">Benny Lin's
effort</a>. JawaTeX
transliterates based on LaTEX and
originally returned PDF files (it has later been expanded to also output
HTML files (Utami 2012)). It is relatively well documented and able to
transliterate from latin script to Aksara Jawa, but I have neither been
able to test it myself (this would require logging in on the project's
website), nor have I been able to find any code.</p>
<p>Benny Lin's Javanese transliteration program is written in Javascript
and did not initially work in my browser (maybe my settings are too
strict). The code is however available on GitHub and licensed under
Creative Commons, and <a href="https://github.com/bennylin/transliterasijawa/">contains a nice list with corresponding
characters and rules for
transliterating</a>.
I thus ported the transliteration script to Python. The ported script is
<a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/transliteration-javanese">available at
GitHub</a>.</p>
<p>The script works rather well, but does not add spaces between words and
misses some characters. It is, I think, good for a start nevertheless.
Division by characters might later on be added, e.g. based on the
wordlist to be found in tesseract's language data (linked above).</p>
<pre data-lang="bash" style="background-color:#2b303b;color:#c0c5ce;" class="language-bash "><code class="language-bash" data-lang="bash"><span style="color:#bf616a;">$</span><span> python3 transliterate-jav.py ꦲꦏ꧀ꦱꦫꦗꦮ ꦕꦫꦏꦤ꧀ ꦲꦤꦕꦫꦏaksarajawa carakan anacaraka`
</span></code></pre>
<p>The String "ꦲꦏ꧀ꦱꦫꦗꦮ" (Aksara Jawa) is given as a single argument and
thus not divided into different words. "ꦲꦤꦕꦫꦏ" (Hanacaraka) is
transliterated without the initial h.</p>
<h2 id="references">References</h2>
<ul>
<li>Utami, Ema. 2012. “Writing Javanese Script In Html Using Unicode True Type Font And Jawatex”. International Journal Of Computer Applications 42 (12): 16--20. doi:10.5120/5743-7941.</li>
<li>Widiarti, Anastasia, Agus Harjoko, Marsono, and Sri Hartati. 2013. “Line Segmentation Of Javanese Image Of Manuscripts In Javanese Scripts”. International Journal Of Engineering Innovation and Research 2 (3): 239-244. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265167159_Line_Segmentation_of_Javanese_Image_of_Manuscripts_in_Javanese_Scripts">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265167159_Line_Segmentation_of_Javanese_Image_of_Manuscripts_in_Javanese_Scripts</a>.</li>
<li>Widiarti, Anastasia Rita, Agus Harjoko, Marsono ~, and Sri Hartati. 2014. “Preprocessing Model Of Manuscripts In Javanese Characters”. Journal Of Signal And Information Processing 05 (04): 112-122. doi:10.4236/jsip.2014.54014.</li>
</ul>
"Home and Away" and Asian Studies2017-01-29T00:00:00+00:002017-01-29T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/41/<p>Last <time datetime="2017-01-27 09:00:00">Friday</time>, the Department of Korean Studies at Frankfurt University
hosted an international workshop on migration. Even though I was rather
busy and could only stay for the two panels - say, I missed the keynote
and a final talk on the documentary movie Heart of Snow, Heart of Blood
(2014) - I'll give a quick summary and remarks on at least the parts I could
attend here.</p>
<p>All in all, there were six talks in English in the panels:</p>
<p><a href="http://gnu.academia.edu/HeikeHermanns">Heike Hermanns</a> (Gyeongsang National University): <em>Guest Workers and Economic Migrants - Migrant Worker Policies in Germany</em>
: Heike Hermanns discussed immigration and asylum in Germany and
linked those to the situation in South Korea. Especially the latter
was highly interesting: there were hints at the sharing of
experiences between the German and the South Korean state, and a
short discussion of how refugees life in South Korea.</p>
<p>Jong Chol An (Junior Professor, University of Tübingen): <em>From Equal to Unequal Ethnic - Based Citizenship: The Politics of the Korean Overseas Act in Early 2000s</em>
: Jun. Prof Jong Chol An gave a quick overview of the adjustments
South Korea's immigration law has seen in regard to Ethnic Koreans
abroad. A special focus was laid on the situation of Korean Chinese
in the north of China.<br />
Coming from Philippine studies, an interesting aspect linked to this
would be whether there is a reconfiguration of the concept of Nation
from a geographically bound one to one bound by ethnicity as it is
increasingly visible in the Philippine case (see e.g. Aguilar 2014).
Unfortunately, there was not enough time to explore this thought
further.</p>
<p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180615082503/https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/59548628/Mijeong-Jo">Mi-Jeong Jo</a> (Research Fellow, Goethe - University) & Yonson Ahn (Professor): <em>Migrant Network and Ethnic Community in 'Homeland' : The Case of Koryo-Saram in Gwangju, South Korea</em>
: Mi-Jeong Jo outlined the formation of a new ethnicity-based
community in South Korea.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koryo-saram">Koryo-Saram</a>, Ethnic
Koreans from the countries of the former Soviet Union, are coming to
Korea as labor migrants. Despite being Ethnic Koreans, many do not
speak the Korean language and if they do, they are still markedly
different due to accent and culture. Consequently, support networks
and a community-specific industry develop - e.g. a center for newly
arrived Koryo-Saram or restaurants offering Koryo-Saram cuisine.</p>
<p>Hyun Ok Lee (Assistant Professor, Yonsei University): <em>Employment Brokerage of Marriage Migrants and Changing Labor Market in South Korea</em>
: A great talk on care work and labour migration of Korean Chinese.
Korean Chinese women migrate to South Korea to work in the care
sector.<br />
Again, coming from Philippine Studies, I tend to compare. Some
characteristics seem to generalizable: Korean Chinese caretakers
oppose increased state regulation of the care sector, while
extremely high levels of regulation hinder the movement of Filipina
caretakers to Japan (see e.g. the numbers in Ohno 2012. Ohno points
out that there is an increase in care-related labour migration, but
the numbers are still relatively low, and only few stay for longer
because of problems with the accreditation and examination system).
Say, even supposedly beneficial regulation easily leads to problems
for care-related labour migrants and reduces their willingness to
migrate.<br />
Interesting in terms of the discrepancy from what a student of
Philippine Studies would usually read is the missing development of
a care chain. Looking at migration from developing countries to the
<em>First World</em>, labour migrants in the care sector often need to
employ caretakers on their own to take care of their family in the
homecountry (Nakano Glenn 1992, Parreñas 2000). These may themselves
be internal migrants (Aguilar et al. 2008). Given that the average
income in Korea relatively closer to that in China (compared e.g. to
Italy and the Philippines), a care chain does not seem to develop in
this particular case. Instead, care-related labour migration from
China to South Korea is declining.</p>
<p>Jerôme de Wit (Junior Professor, University of Tübingen): <em>The City of Yanji as a Liminal Space to Imagine Korean Unification: Focusing on Yi Munyŏl's 'An appointment with his brother'</em>
: Jerôme de Wit outlined the portrayal of the relations between North
Koreans and South Koreans in Yanji in Yi Munyŏl's novel <em>An
appointment with his brother</em>. Korean Chinese are portrayed as a
sort of mediator between the two groups, while the author plays with
negative stereotypes about them.</p>
<p>Ruixin Wei (Research Fellow , Goethe Univeresity) & Yonson Ahn (Professor): <em>Cultural Capital, Education and Social Mobility: A Case Study of Korean Chinese Children in Transnational Families</em>
: Ruixin Wei discussed the largely positive effects of growing up in a
Korean Chinese transnational family. Children often grow up with
their grandparents, who teach them Korean alongside Chinese. Thanks
to affirmative action policies for ethnic minorities in China, they
have a relatively good chance to attend good universities. If they
aim to Korea however, they in a roughly equal position with other
Chinese students - say, they need to apply for international student
visa and negative stereotypes about Korean Chinese persist.<br />
A further discussion of affection in Korean Chinese transnational
families would surely have been useful, but given the little time
left for this talk, this seems to not have been possible.</p>
<p>It was a good workshop with nice talks, and definitely worth attending
for a student of Southeast Asian Studies. I previously took a step back
from migration studies because it's hard to find peers working on the
same issues here. Focusing on aspects of globalization in the widest
sense seemed easier and is more relatable for others. But coming back to
migration studies for some time felt great.</p>
<p>On a more intellectual level, the workshop, despite focusing very much
on the Korean diaspora, also showed how strong interrelationships
between different countries in Asia are once again. In Southeast Asian
studies we have a bit of an identity problem. Culturally, Southeast Asia
is bad category to use. Historically, there are parallels, but many of
those are shared with previously colonized countries all over the world.
Trade goods from all over Southeast Asia are traded via Singapore and,
well, Hongkong. Politically, we now have ASEAN, but its influence is
limited. The political systems of the countries differ completely
however.</p>
<p>If we are to make sense of just Southeast Asia, taking East Asia into
account and just making it Asian Studies is not such a bad idea.
Filipino <em>teleseryes</em> make their way around Southeast Asia, but so did
Manga/Anime and Japanese <em>Doramas</em> (Iwabuchi 2003) and K-Pop (Heryanto
2014). Considerable investments flow from Japan and China to Southeast
Asia. South Korean companies increasingly build factories in Southeast
Asia and bring Korean managers and engineers there (think of Samsung
producing in Vietnam). Migration flows connect South Korea, Japan,
Hongkong and Singapore to the Philippnes and Indonesia. And the list
goes on.</p>
<p>Historically, these linkages existed as well. Affiliation with China
worked as an important tool to gain prestige as a state in Southeast
Asia (think of the rise of Malacca or Sulu's relations with China).
Chinese migrants worked all over their Southeast Asia and sizable
numbers of Ethnic Chinese can be found in most Southeast Asian States
until. Large Ethnic Korean minorities can be found both in China and
Japan. On a sad note, Japan conquered most of East and Southeast Asia
during the Second World War. Without this, however, the history of
Southeast Asia's anti-colonial movements would have been very much
different (think of Soekarno's collaboration with the Japanese, but
also of the line linking Ricarte with Recto and consequently the student
movement and the Communist Party in the Philippines (Joaquin 2005, Ileto
2007)).</p>
<p>In university, we often discuss the move from specialized fields (e.g.
Southeast Asian Studies) to general Asian Studies in terms of financial
constraints. And that sure is an important aspect of it. But there are
also beneficial aspects of general Asian Studies, such as the
exploration of such linkages.</p>
<p>Hopefully, the next such workshop will include inter-asian migration
beyond the Korean diaspora. Or maybe we can use migration (and/or
pop-culture) as topics, to bridge the divide and organize something
together as Asian Studies.</p>
<h2 id="references">References</h2>
<ul>
<li>Aguilar, Filomeno V. 2014. <em>Migration Revolution: Philippine Nationhood And Class Relations in a Globalized Age</em>. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press.</li>
<li>Ohno, Shun. 2012. “Southeast Asian Nurses And Caregiving Workers Transcending The National Boundaries: An Overview Of Indonesian And Filipino Workers In Japan And Abroad”. <em>Southeast Asian Studies</em> 49 (4): 541-569. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/158298.</li>
<li>Aguilar, Filomeno V., John Estanley Z. Penalosa, Tania Belen T. Liwanag, Resto S. Cruz, and Jimmy M. Melendrez. 2009. <em>Maalwang Buhay: Family, Overseas Migration, And Cultures Of Relatedness in Barangay Paraiso</em>. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press.</li>
<li>Glenn, Evelyn Nakano. 1992. “From Servitude To Service Work: Historical Continuities In The Racial Division Of Paid Reproductive Labor”. <em>Signs</em> 18 (1): 1-43. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3174725.</li>
<li>Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar. 2000. “Migrant Filipina Domestic Workers And The International Division Of Reproductive Labor”. <em>Gender & Society</em> 14 (4): 560-580. http://www.jstor.org/stable/190302.</li>
<li>Iwabuchi, Koichi. 2003. <em>Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture And Japanese Transnationalism</em>. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.</li>
<li>Heryanto, Ariel. 2014. Identity And Pleasure : The Politics Of Indonesian Screen Culture. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press.</li>
<li>Joaquin, Nick. 2005. <em>A Question Of Heroes</em>. Mandaluyong City: Anvil.</li>
<li>Ileto, Reynaldo C. 2007. “World War Ii: Transient And Enduring Legacies For The Philippines”. Edited by David Koh Wee Hock.</li>
</ul>
Improved Statistics and Presentations on my Homepage2017-01-17T00:00:00+00:002017-01-17T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/39/<p>This blog post will be yet another update on the software behind my
homepage, where there have been two new improvements I have yet to write
about. First there are presentations, which are much better embedded
into the homepage now; second, I worked on on my homepage's statistics
section.</p>
<h2 id="presentations">Presentations</h2>
<p>Previously, my homepage featured a presentation section, that was
essentially a collection of PDF files. These PDF files were indexed in
an XML file.</p>
<p>Unhappy with PDF files, I turned to using
<a href="http://lab.hakim.se/reveal-js/#/">reveal.js</a> for my presentations, so
that I'd have my presentations in HTML that, if everything else fails,
is still readable in text. So far this worked greatly.</p>
<p>Writing my presentations in HTML also offers the advantage that metadata
can be easily written into the file and processed by my website just as
easily. I had already worked on metatag-based previews and only had to
adjust the code slightly to extract metadata from my recent
presentations, which I can subsequently use for listing the presentation
on my website.</p>
<p>All presentations are stored in one common directory. To list them, I
thus only need to scan the directory and extract the respective
presentation's metadata from the HTML files.</p>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/f1ab0963a210be3a00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/39/Screenshot-presentations-overview.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/d22636224c99049e00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/4336e3e29b0ea6e300.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/38b5c035ac84ff3700.jpg" alt="My first two presentations using reveal.js listed on the respective overview page"
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="795"
width="1212" -->
</picture>
<p>I added a little twist in pre-processing the presentations before
displaying them to embed references. A presentation can have an equally
named Bibtex-file, from which references are extracted
and formatted in a similar fashion to what I use for <a href="note/188">blog posts
containing references</a>. They are inserted into the
presentation by replacing a placeholder (<code>!sources!</code>).</p>
<h2 id="some-improvements-on-statistics">Some Improvements on Statistics</h2>
<p>Almost since I started to be more serious about writing my homepage, I
have been doing statistics based on what I post. First, I was interested
in experimenting with visualization of statistical data. Second, the raw
data was out there in the open anyway and I just had to tap into it.</p>
<p>When <a href="post/29">I rewrote my homepage to get rid of XML</a>, I at first
neglected the statistics section, as it is only visible for logged in
users anyway. I have now fixed it to use the current data storage format
and include additional information like the language of posts.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/12c4d34828d9ca3900.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/39/Screenshot-Stats-Language.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/51ec2b5ed80ffc4200.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/55af57f8104ad02600.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/9345b3bd5731e60600.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="714"
width="1586" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Types of post sorted by the language used therein, visualized using a bar chart</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The visualization is purely done using HTML and CSS. Given this
technical background, bar charts were by far the easiest form of
visualization to realize. Consequently, all my visualizations were using
them for most of the time.</p>
<p>Watching <a href="https://media.ccc.de/v/33c3-7912-spiegelmining_reverse_engineering_von_spiegel-online">this nice talk from the
33C3</a>
gave me the idea to try out heatmaps as another form of visualization
that could be done using HTML and CSS only. Well, after some playing
around, I think the results look rather good:</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/0d5009686656105700.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/39/Screenshot-Statistics-Heatmap-Post-Time.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/d71acfcef52507fe00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/c1b5b44c7c53bac100.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/86e6d146be4188b600.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="921"
width="1579" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>A heatmap of at which time during the week I entered which kind of post. The X-axis displays the time of the day in hourly steps, the Y-axis displays the weekday</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Important in doing the heatmap was to use logarithm functions to flatten
the statistics. Initially, I simply computed percentages out of the
numbers of posts at a given time. This however either led to times were
there was only a single post of a given type to be almost unnoticeable
or to those times when I posted many things of the same type to overstep
their boundaries. By flattening the numbers, differences in size are
still distinguishable while even smaller numbers remains clearly
visible.</p>
md:term2017-01-17T00:00:00+00:002017-01-17T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/40/<p>Seit letzter Woche ist die neue API für die kontrollierten Vokabulare
bei <a href="https://museum-digital.de">Museum-Digital</a> online:
<a href="https://www.museum-digital.de/term/">md:term</a>. Zusätzlich zur
eigentlichen Schnittstelle bietet md:term einen Vokabularbrowser, mit
dem Benutzer (ob Programmierer oder nicht) durch die Vokabulare
navigieren können.</p>
<h2 id="kontrollierte-vokabulare-bei-museum-digital">Kontrollierte Vokabulare bei Museum-Digital</h2>
<p>Kontrollierte Vokabulare kommen bei Museum-Digital sowohl bei der Suche
als auch bei der Bereitstellung von Kontextdaten zu Museumsobjekten zur
Anwendung. Wer z.B. in der deutschlandweiten version von Museum-Digital
nach Helm sucht, wird in der Seitenspalte links eine Liste mit
unterbegriffen und verwandten Begriffen von "Helm" finden, die aus den
internen kontrollierten Vokabularen gespeist wird. Ist nun ein Objekt
ausgewählt, finden sich hinter den Namen von verknüpften Personen und
Orten Schalter mit dem Buchstaben "i". Klickt der Benutzer auf einen
dieser Schalter, werden (so vorhanden) Daten aus den kontrollierten
Vokabularen von Museum-Digital angezeigt - Beschreibungen, alternative
Namen, Links zu z.B. Wikipedia - oder anhand dieser Daten aus anderen
Quellen hinzugeladen - z.B. Karten im Fall eines verknüpften Ortes, auf
denen der Ort mithilfe von bei Museum-Digital gespeicherter Koordinaten
lokalisiert wird.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/b9b838cf07b617d700.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/40-md-term/screenshot-md-nat-helm.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/36495f3e25cb374300.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/44c478431120c6d100.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/8fd9674480d476fb00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="937"
width="1890" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Eine Suche nach dem Begriff 'Helm'. Links sind Angaben zum Begriff zu finden.</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/61e0a621f4736dd300.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/40-md-term/md-nat-friedrich-IV.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/ef0153243296805f00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/f6f228645b583b3500.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/5f004648eb6f7f8800.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="936"
width="1890" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Informationen zu Friedrich IV. von Braunschweig-Lüneburg (1574-1648) werden, so angefordert, zur Objektseite 'Medaille von Johann Blum auf Herzog Friedrich von Braunschweig-Lüneburg und die Verhandlungen zum Westfälischen Frieden, 1646' hinzugeladen.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Kontrollierte Vokabulare sind also ein wichtiges, wenn auch relativ
leicht zu übersehendes Element von Museum-Digital. Entsprechend wird
viel Arbeit in die Moderation der Vokabulare gesteckt.</p>
<p>Während jeder Eingebende neue Begriffe hinzufügen kann, werden diese von
einer ausgewählten Gruppe von Leuten moderiert, angereichert oder ggfs.
mit existierenden Begriffseinträgen zusammengeführt.</p>
<p>Mittlerweile sind alleine in den deutschsprachigen kontrollierten
Vokabularen - unterteilt in Personen, Orte, Zeiten und Schlagworte -
über 55000 moderierte Begriffe vorhanden, die sicherlich nicht nur für
die Verwendung bei Museum-Digital nützlich sein können. Das Schreiben
einer öffentlichen und generell nutzbaren Schnittstelle ist eine
logische Konsequenz hiervon.</p>
<h2 id="md-term">md:term</h2>
<p>Daten aus den kontrollierten Vokabularen sind bei md:term in bisher drei
Formaten abrufbar: Einer im Webbrowser betrachtbaren und navigierbaren
HTML-Version, in JSON und SKOS, die als leicht maschinenlesbare Formate
die Benutzung durch externe Programierer erleichtern.</p>
<p>Ein wichtiger Teil von md:term ist hierbei die Umbenennung von
Variablen. Während museum-digital ursprünglich in Deutschland entstanden
ist und in der Datenbank entsprechend deutsche Namen verwendet werden,
wird es mittlerweile beispielsweise auch in Ungarn eingesetzt. Damit die
Benutzung der kontrollierten Vokabulare auch durch nicht
deutschsprachige Programmierer möglich ist, werden die Variablennamen
mit englischen Entsprechungen überschrieben.</p>
<p>Ebenfalls auf internationale Benutzbarkeit ausgerichtet, bietet die
HTML-Version deutsche und englische Übersetzungen von feststehenden
(also nicht nur zu einem einzelnen Datensatz gehörenden) Texten, z.B.
Überschriften und der Navigation. Dies kann in Zukunft leicht um
zusätzliche Sprachen erweitert werden.</p>
<h3 id="daten-von-md-term-abfragen">Daten von md:term abfragen</h3>
<p>Zur Abfrage von md:term in JSON und SKOS muss die ID eines Eintrags in
der entsprechenden Datenbank bekannt sein. Ist dies der Fall, wird eine
Abfrage in der URL nach dem Format
https://term.museum-digital.de/<em>Name der Vokabularversion (z.B.
"md-de")</em>/<em>Typ des Eintrages</em>/<em>ID</em>/<em>format</em>
durchgeführt. Zum Beispiel:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre data-lang="json" style="background-color:#2b303b;color:#c0c5ce;" class="language-json "><code class="language-json" data-lang="json"><span>$ curl https:</span><span style="color:#65737e;">//www.museum-digital.de/term/de/place/13384/json
</span><span>{
</span><span> "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">id</span><span>": "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">13384</span><span>",
</span><span> "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">name</span><span>": "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">Abtstra</span><span style="color:#96b5b4;">\u00df</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">e (Brandenburg an der Havel)</span><span>",
</span><span> "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">class</span><span>": "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">Stra</span><span style="color:#96b5b4;">\u00df</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">e</span><span>",
</span><span> "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">tgn</span><span>": "",
</span><span> "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">geonames</span><span>": "",
</span><span> "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">latitude</span><span>": "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">52.406989561274</span><span>",
</span><span> "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">longitude</span><span>": "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">12.564392566637</span><span>",
</span><span> "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">zoom</span><span>": "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">16</span><span>",
</span><span> "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">note</span><span>": "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">Stra</span><span style="color:#96b5b4;">\u00df</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">e in Brandenburg an der Havel</span><span>",
</span><span> "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">synonyms</span><span>": [],
</span><span> "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">references</span><span>": [],
</span><span> "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">broader</span><span>": {"": [{"</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">name</span><span>": "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">Brandenburg an der Havel</span><span>","</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">broader_id</span><span>": "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">246</span><span>"}]},
</span><span> "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">narrower</span><span>": []
</span><span>}`
</span></code></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>Aus den Abfrageergebnissen kann man IDs für weitere Abfragen finden, der
Ort im Beispiel, die Abtstraße (Brandenburg an der Havel) mit der ID
<code>13384</code> ist Brandenburg an der Havel mit der ID <code>246</code> untergeordnet.</p>
<p>Eine Suchfunktion ist bisher nur in der HTML-Ausgabe vorhanden. Gibt es
ein im Namen perfekt übereinstimmendes Suchergebnis oder nur ein
einziges bei einer loseren Entsprechung, wird direkt auf den
entsprechenden Eintrag umgeleitet. Gibt es zwei oder mehr, so werden dem
Benutzer die möglichen Suchergebnisse mit Titel und, so vorhanden,
Beschreibung aufgelistet.</p>
<p>Ist man so zum gewünschten Eintrag gelangt, ist über der Ausspielung der
Daten ein Feld mit der Abfrage-URL und - direkt darunter - Links zum
Eintrag in alternativen Formaten zu finden.</p>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/f1c49d090c40260400.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/40-md-term/md-term-abtstr.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/ad786e4ba6a0fa1100.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/8c45d44550af660500.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/a911900204f75e4c00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="914"
width="1899" -->
</picture>
Productivity and Meaningful Work2016-12-16T00:00:00+00:002016-12-16T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/37/<p>This is probably the second iteration of what seems to become a series
of posts on why I am <em>not</em> a workaholic. I work most of the day on
something, trying to always be productive, but that is only possible
when doing meaningful work.</p>
<h2 id="meaningful-work">Meaningful Work</h2>
<p>What do I mean when I say meaningful work? The definition will differ
from person to person, and the reasons to not find something meaningful
will, too. It is completely dependent on the context.</p>
<p>I personally am interested in many things. Indeed, the default is
interest and I need a good reason to not believe in something being
meaningless. Interest does not get means that I will work on it
immediately though, I also need a trigger to get active in many cases.
Also, whether I deem work meaningful or not is highly dependent on its
form, not necessarily the content.</p>
<p>The main reasons to get me to see work as more meaningful are:</p>
<ul>
<li>I like the process of doing something</li>
<li>There are visible results or knowledge, that there will be feedback
in some form</li>
<li>I can help somebody with it</li>
<li>There is something new to be learned or I am doing something that
might come in handy later on</li>
</ul>
<p>Note that this is pretty much a list of intrinsic motivations. The more
of these are around, the more likely I am to be motivated to do
something.</p>
<p>Extrinsic motivations like money can be a trigger, but if there is no
underlying intrinsic motivation, I end up either trying to find an
intrinsic motivation, I do something else for the time being or I do
things I consider bad.</p>
<h2 id="negative-motivations">Negative Motivations</h2>
<p>Above I described positive motivations. And I try to work almost
exclusively based on these. But there are negative ones: deadlines,
potential punishments, bad experiences.</p>
<p>If there is a potential punishment awaiting, it is very hard for me to
make up an intrinsic motivation without finding ways to circumvent the
initial task. Most likely, my mood will be bad for a week and I will end
up doing as I am told with adding lengthy descriptions of why the task
or anything related to it are bad.</p>
<p>Note that ranting here has a double function. First, it serves as a
source of motivation: if I did not do the work, how could I rant about
it. Second, it is an attempt to let people know that the work they
assigned me is meaningless. And/or that the way they did so was bad, at
least if I am the target group. </p>
<p>It is different with negative experiences that come before I actually
get to work. Indeed, these do motivate me. I have a trigger, and if I
directly react to the negative experience, I will most likely have some
form of feedback, too.</p>
<p>Take for example someone saying something I deem wrong. I write up a
text countering their argument and send it to the person. Likely, there
will be some reaction. Since it also means that I will get to sort my
knowledge, writing up my ideas will have a lasting positive effect. With
my blog I can publish them, so I have a way to keep it and maybe use it
later on, too. I can thus reformulate the negative motivation into a
positive one.</p>
<h2 id="freedom">Freedom</h2>
<p>Freedom is also a major factor in regards to how much I can be motivated
to do something. As I wrote above, I need to reformulate negative
motivations into positive ones if I am to get motivated. If there is
freedom, this act of reformulating is much easier.</p>
<p>Take for example two ways of how lecturers try to make sure people read
the required readings. First, there is a rather general "take notes",
second, there is a very limited "write summaries". Taking notes may mean
that the student can choose to actually write a summary, a commentary,
literally write notes at given parts of the text or write down
interesting parts of the text. Since there is a rather free choice,
students can choose whichever way suits them best. I write down parts of
the text I deem interesting because this is the fastest way to get
recyclable results: with Aklaman I can just get a summary of what I
thought was interesting and can link the text parts with writing
projects I am working on. I thus can thus reformulate the task to one
that suits my real life workflow and is meaningful to me.</p>
<p>Writing summaries is the opposite. I don't read summaries. Rather than
doing so, I'd just read the article or book chapter (again, if I've
read it before as in this example). I also know that noone else besides
maybe the lecturer will read the summary. Say, noone including myself
will ever have a use for what I wrote there. I also do not learn
anything by writing a summary. The only possible motivation would be the
possible punishment for not writing, say, my work will likely end up in
a way that's unsatisfying for me.</p>
<p>For me personally that means that I need to formulate my aims in a
rather open way. If I want to work on a project but don't feel like
working on a particular part of it, I need to be able to just take on
another. If it's about leadership, then it means that formulating tasks
openly is better than setting narrowly defined ones.</p>
<h2 id="taking-meaning-off-one-s-work">Taking Meaning Off One's Work</h2>
<p>Of course, there are tasks that lose meaning over time. And here, other
people can have quite some influence. My prime example for this is what
happened when I worked on my bachelor thesis. Well, apparently I wrote
two.</p>
<p>We didn't have any limitation set on the length of a potential bachelor
thesis in our curriculum (the supervisor could just decide to not accept
it if it was overly lengthy). Also, we were free to decide whether we
wanted to write our thesis in English or German.</p>
<p>Since nobody I know reads Bachelor theses - aside from supervisors -,
the only way to reformulate the thesis project to be meaningful (in
terms of intrinsic rewards) was to write it with publishing in mind.
That means it had to be grounded in interesting data (I chose to do
field work for half a year), it had to be written in English, and it had
to be much longer than the usual 40 pages.</p>
<p>When I worked on it, I also went to the Philippines and had countless
very interesting talks about the topic of my thesis project. Upon
returning to Germany, though, I lost many of the contacts and had
practically no exchange about the topic. One of my Professors says
"loneliness is one of an academics greatest enemies." That was the case
with me: I gradually lost motivation. When I was finally told to cut it
short and put it into the format of a normal bachelor thesis (say,
fourty pages, no field work, repetition of what has already been
written), say, to make it unpublishable, I refused and chose to write
another thesis instead. I then worked on a bit on what had been my first
project, brought it into a more publishable format, and am trying to get
it published now. I only managed to get it to feel meaningful by
removing the work from its original context, but I am glad that I did.</p>
<p>My second thesis project was essentially taking the easy route. For my
first project, I had worked through most of what has been published on
Filipino Overseas Migration in the last 25 years anyway, so I decided to
recapitulate what I had read there. I took ten texts outlining very
different aspects of Filipino Overseas Migration and summed them up.
Finally I concluded that research on Filipino Overseas Migration has
become diverse, that there are now canonical works in the research about
Filipino Overseas Migration and that something along the lines of
Filipino Diaspora Studies has developed into a distinct and independent
field of inquiry.</p>
<p>While I am rather happy with the thesis in hindsight, I began working on
it with the prospect of writing a mediocre thesis. That I am happy about
the result is rather due to a stroke of luck than my actual motivation
to work on it. Well, add to that that I wrote much of the thesis while
suffering from a quite serious pneumonia, say, that it did actually turn
out to be challenging in unexpected ways.</p>
<h2 id="what-to-do-with-meaningless-work">What to Do With Meaningless Work?</h2>
<p>If there is no freedom to reformulate my task to actually become
meaningful to me and if no stroke of luck (I suppose we can name the
pneumonia I talked about in the previous section that, even if it meant
that I couldn't breathe and emptied my bank account for medicine) comes
around, what do I do about meaningless work? Well, first we are in the
lucky situation of having a world of individuals: meaningless work might
be fun for others. So maybe I can delegate it or get others to teach me
more about its background.</p>
<p>For example: doing money-related paperwork is tedious. Working through
formulars, looking at why certain information might be of interest to
the one making the formular, and checking up on the legal background is
fun. Since that turns filling out a simple formular into a rather
complex task, doing it together with someone who's working in that
field makes it much easier and more fun.</p>
<p>Second, there is productivity to be embraced in evading tedious and
meaningless tasks. <a href="http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/productivity">Aaron Swartz
wrote</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Having a lot of different projects gives you work for different
qualities of time. Plus, you'll have other things to work on if you
get stuck or bored (and that can give your mind time to unstick
yourself).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is another reason for why I work on rather a diverse set of
problems. I can always run off to another one without having to sink too
deep into procrastination. I am writing this blog post because I don't
feel like transfering quotes from scanned (image) PDFs to Aklaman. After
finishing the post, I'll probably have more motivation to actually work
on that.</p>
<p>Breaking up the problem, as described in the blog post referenced above
does help with larger problems. If it is really small anyway and can't
be made fun through looking at it from another angle, adding a
challenge. Aaron Swartz describes how he made a joke of his assignments,
and that's probably the best way to handle this worst of all cases. It
adds a motivation, and a positive one at that.</p>
<h2 id="work-life-balance">Work Life Balance</h2>
<p>I have a major problem with concepts like the <em>work life balance</em>,
because it implies that work is, well, not part of life. Say, work needs
to be tedious and uninteresting to be work. And life needs to be fun and
good etc.</p>
<p>If work is really meaningful to me, I do it. And that's my life. Or I
do something else that's meaningful. And then that will be life. Being
productive by default (in some way) works like that. Of course, phases
of unproductivity are necessary either way, but with doing the right
work and having the right framing helps to minimize that.</p>
<p>Another restriction sure is necessary: I speak from a position of huge
priviledge. Male, white, middle class. Student. Say, while I have no
money for luxury, I can choose my work (or chose to not work). In a
world in the narrative of work as "that thing you do for money and
which can't be fun" is still prevailing, this means that I'm one of a
lucky few. Let's hope that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_unemployment">job losses due to
automization</a>
can finally lead to a decoupling of the notion of work from its current
implications - and probably from the concept of employment, too.</p>
Image Posts and "Currently Listening" Notes2016-12-16T00:00:00+00:002016-12-16T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/38/<p>Over the last two weeks I've added two new types of posts to my
website: image posts and "currently listening" notes. In this post
I'll document how they work.</p>
<h2 id="currently-listening">Currently Listening</h2>
<p>Currently listening notes are stored as simple notes with added
information on the song. For this to be read properly, I set the
"kind" attribute to "music". My first currently listening note
looks, in raw format, like this:</p>
<pre style="background-color:#2b303b;color:#c0c5ce;"><code><span>creator = joshua
</span><span>kind = music
</span><span>songtitle = Book Covers (feat. Nick Hakim)
</span><span>album = The Good Fight
</span><span>artist = Oddisee
</span><span>lang = en
</span><span>pubDate = Sat, 10 Dec 2016 23:46:02 +0100
</span><span>guid = 212
</span><span>twittlink = 807718041865908224
</span><span>-------------------- --------------------
</span></code></pre>
<p>Test. And well, great song and album, too.</p>
<p>The raw data should be self-descriptive (twittlink means the ID of the
syndicated version of my post on Twitter).</p>
<p>Currently listening notes cannot be added using the standard backend of
my homepage, because I see little sense in copy-pasting song information
into a form if there are ways to automate the process. Instead,
currently listening notes can only be done (regularly) using the command
line. Posting is done using POST headers, so other ways are easily
imaginable.</p>
<p>The route I currently chose was the command line, because I song
information is on my machine anyway. I use
<a href="https://www.musicpd.org/">MPD</a> for listening to music, so song
information is easily retrievable. The Python script I use to post to my
website gets all values I need to send for posting a note and adds song
information retrieved using MPC if the variable kind equals "music". It
then sends the data using POST headers.</p>
<pre data-lang="python" style="background-color:#2b303b;color:#c0c5ce;" class="language-python "><code class="language-python" data-lang="python"><span>> </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">if </span><span>(kind == "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">music</span><span>"):
</span><span> values['</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">itemsongtitle</span><span>'] = subprocess.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">Popen</span><span>("</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">mpc --format [%title%] | head -n 1</span><span>", </span><span style="color:#bf616a;">shell</span><span>=</span><span style="color:#d08770;">True</span><span>, </span><span style="color:#bf616a;">stdout</span><span>=subprocess.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">PIPE</span><span>).stdout.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">read</span><span>().</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">decode</span><span>().</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">replace</span><span>("</span><span style="color:#96b5b4;">\n</span><span>", "")
</span><span> values['</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">itemalbum</span><span>'] = subprocess.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">Popen</span><span>("</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">mpc --format [</span><span style="color:#d08770;">%a</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">lbum%] | head -n 1</span><span>", </span><span style="color:#bf616a;">shell</span><span>=</span><span style="color:#d08770;">True</span><span>, </span><span style="color:#bf616a;">stdout</span><span>=subprocess.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">PIPE</span><span>).stdout.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">read</span><span>().</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">decode</span><span>().</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">replace</span><span>("</span><span style="color:#96b5b4;">\n</span><span>", "")
</span><span> values['</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">itemartist</span><span>'] = subprocess.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">Popen</span><span>("</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">mpc --format [</span><span style="color:#d08770;">%a</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">rtist%] | head -n 1</span><span>", </span><span style="color:#bf616a;">shell</span><span>=</span><span style="color:#d08770;">True</span><span>, </span><span style="color:#bf616a;">stdout</span><span>=subprocess.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">PIPE</span><span>).stdout.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">read</span><span>().</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">decode</span><span>().</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">replace</span><span>("</span><span style="color:#96b5b4;">\n</span><span>", "")
</span></code></pre>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/1cd795daab5eb0ab00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/38/screenshot-currently-listening-notes.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/e67226a87e65efa600.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/b06498700f31941900.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/f2b3d32b4802e28e00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="732"
width="1341" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>My first currently listening note</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 id="image-posts">Image Posts</h2>
<p>As opposed to currently listening notes, images are an own, independent
type of posts on one level with notes, blog posts, etc. Image posts are
made from the site's backend, where users can enter an image title, a
description, categories, the image's source and an album to sort the
picture into. The source is simply a URL, since I wanted to keep data
storage for image files outside of the actual system; both to not need
to reintroduce an upload function and since I myself like to keep images
stored in a folder that is not directly integrated into the website but
stands independent.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/48620282f9b166ae00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/38/screenshot-adding_editing-image-entries.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/bc5cbe515a59c17600.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/a13a2b7bece51c0200.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/27e10d551900436a00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="736"
width="1288" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Adding and editing image entries</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Images are then made available on the website in the <del>image
section</del>, sorted by album. To
compute the albums, the script returning the overview reads all image
entries and creates an array with all albums and the respective image
information. Upon a click on one of the albums, all images in that album
are listed. Thumbnails of the images are created automatically using
<a href="https://www.imagemagick.org/">Imagemagick</a>, if they don't yet exist.</p>
<p>A click on the single image opens the image page, e.g.
<del>here</del>. Since images are usually better
displayed on a dark background, I am loading an additional CSS file,
with a darker variation of my homepage's design. Exif data is extracted
right from the image using
<a href="http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/%7Ephil/exiftool/">exiftool</a>.</p>
A Content Management System for Conference Websites and an International Workshop2016-11-22T00:00:00+00:002016-11-22T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/35/<p>In the aftermath of the last two weeks' conferences I had the chance to
help out with doing a website for an international workshop at the
University of Hamburg. Since the usual solution (as always Wordpress) is
too much of a general purpose tool to be really effective and since I
had much of the necessary code lying around already anyway, I decided to
write a little content management system for conference websites. Most
of this post will be a description of this tool and the functions I'd
want to add in the future.</p>
<p>As it turns out, the workshop whose website I was to help out in
creating looks extremely interesting. It's titled "Performing
Traditions, Travelling Narratives, Living the Diaspora" and is to
discuss oral history and migration with a focus on Southeast Asia and
Africa. While most presentations seem to be relatively general
descriptions of their topics, there are also highly specialized
presentations, something I regard as generally applaudable. Especially
the talk on <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180824060728/http://oralityworkshop.com/paper.php?q=prof._dr._henning_schreiber_ncac_????">"The NCAC National Digital Archive of The Gambia: Bringing
Oral Traditions to the Digital
Age"</a>
by <a href="https://www.aai.uni-hamburg.de/afrika/personen/schreiber.html">Prof. Henning
Schreiber</a>
looks highly interesting and relevant to my own research interests.</p>
<p>Given that the workshop will take place in Hamburg, I myself will not be
able to attend. But given the interesting topics, advertising it a bit
seems like a bit idea. <a href="http://oralityworkshop.com/">More information on the workshop can be found on
its website</a>.</p>
<h2 id="demands-what-functions-should-a-conference-s-website-have">Demands: What Functions Should a Conference's Website have?</h2>
<p>What are the basic functions of a website for an academic conference?
Surely, the first will be to advertise and somewhat aid the organization
of the event. Second, it offers a way to have a lasting digital
representation of the conference even after it is over, with a
documentation of the talks, keynote addresses, etc.</p>
<p>The former, advertisising and aiding in organization is relatively easy
to conceptualize. There should be some tool to manage registrations
and - if submissions of papers are possible - the submission and review
process of papers. As for advertising, it needs to be possible to do an
attractive design for the website and ideally the mark up should be as
semantic as possible to make it easier to index. Most of the advertising
takes place elsewhere (word of mouth, Twitter, Facebook) though, so this
is less of a concern in the short run.</p>
<p>Providing a lasting and good digital representation of what happened at
the conference is harder. One could obviously just put the abstracts on
the website and leave it at that. To get a lasting benefit however, it
would be far better to also provide export options for the
bibliographical data of the papers presented at the conference.
Conveniences like preprepared suggestions for citing papers and the
availability of the papers in full text add to this. Similarly, an
exportable and subscribable timetable would be very beneficial (this
also bridges into the advertising part).</p>
<p>Once these functions are implemented, they can also be recycled for
optional parts of the website. A page introducing the speakers is surely
not required (maybe aside from keynote speakers), but surely beneficial
for potential users. If one has already implemented citation suggestions
and export options for bibliographical data of papers presented, the
code can be reused for sample bibliographies of the speakers.</p>
<h2 id="available-solutions">Available Solutions</h2>
<p>As for my personal likings, there are some additional considerations:
tools I am to use should store their data in flat files. They should
return well written HTML. They should be written for a specific purpose
and do it well (hence my dislike of Wordpress). And they should be free
and open source software or written by myself.</p>
<p>If we had used one of the available solutions from the net, it would
have needed to fulfill these basic requirements while still offering the
functions described in the previous section. Admittedly, I did not
search for long, as I'd rather spend my time on coding than searching
and not finding anything. Out of the available solutions, <a href="https://pkp.sfu.ca/ocs/">Open
Conference Systems</a> looks rather promising but
also does not fulfill the flat file requirement. If there is a solution
that fits my requirements, someone please let me know.</p>
<h2 id="implementation">Implementation</h2>
<p>Another important requirement was usability for those entering data:
given that the tool is made primarily for social scientists and people
from the humanities, it had to be really simple to use. Plain HTML or
parts of pages are stored in plain HTML files and can be edited using
<a href="https://www.tinymce.com/">TinyMCE</a>.</p>
<p>Completely own pages that do not fit into the original structure of the
website can be added and are stored in a single JSON file encompassing
metadata and the pages' content in plain HTML - this is not an optimal
solution, but was the easiest and fastest to implement way and is still
relatively effective. User information, "basic data" (e.g., entrance
fees and language of the conference), and information on registered
participants are also stored using JSON.</p>
<p>Bibliographical data is uploaded in BibTeX. While this might make
editing the page harder, it is reasonable to assume that quite many in
the academe already use bibliographical databases - and if they don't,
this might serve as a motivation to get accustomed to bibliography
management software. The BibTeX files are then parsed to present
information on the papers and generate automated citation suggestions
(thanks to the <a href="http://citationstyles.org/">Citation Styles project</a> and
Ron Jerome for providing a <a href="https://github.com/seboettg/citeproc-php">library that generates the
citations</a>).</p>
<p>Bibliographical data and images are sorted simply using the folder
structure. E.g., a file <code>0.bib</code> in the respective folder will provide a
sample bibliography for the keynote speaker with the ID <code>0</code>. <code>0.jpg</code>
would then be the speaker's picture. While this method leads to
contributors being limited to one picture and one BibTeX file with a
sample bibliography per speaker, it's the most effective way I know. It
also means that the data needs to be hosted on the same server as the
scripts - which increases speed and lowers the risk of tracking. To not
force users to learn about the right naming of files, renaming and
uploading to the right place is done automatically on the server if
users use the respective file upload function.</p>
<p>Finally, there is also a settings section for entering technical data on
the conference. Part of this is used for returning appropriate metadata.
Options to turn on or off certain functions of the website can also be
found here.</p>
<p><img src="media/posts/Screenshot-Conference-Management-Backend.png" alt="The site's restricted area" /></p>
<p>Out of the data thus input, the frontend page is generated. Functions
for contacting the organizers and registring are available if the
organizers wish so (and turn on the respective function in the
settings).</p>
<h2 id="what-is-to-be-done-a-small-to-do-list">What Is to be Done: A Small To-Do List</h2>
<p>The described CMS is a work of essentially three days, which means that
there are still quite some functions that I'd wish to add over time.
They were not necessary to implement yet given the circumstances of the
workshop, but will be if I decide to use the CMS for other conferences.
Here is a preliminary list of these.</p>
<ul>
<li>A paper submission and review system</li>
<li>Event information is currently still saved in plain HTML. In the
future, this should change.</li>
<li>Exportable and subscribable event information</li>
</ul>
<p>Given these, the project might also go more into the direction of a
conference management system by providing additional tools for the
organizers (currently, only autogenerated name cards and participant
lists are available to this end).</p>
Studentische Südostasienkonferenz 2016 in Hamburg2016-11-21T00:00:00+00:002016-11-21T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/34/<p>Vor zwei Wochen, vom viertem bis zum sechsten November 2016, fand in
Hamburg die "erste"<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161202234440/http://www.southeastasiaconference.com/">Studentische
Südostasienkonferenz</a> statt.
Das grobe Ziel war es, eine Platform für Austausch zwischen Studierenden
der Südostasienstudien von Universitäten zu bauen und die Vernetzung
zwischen diesen zu stärken.</p>
<p>Auch von der Goethe Universität Frankfurt reiste eine Gruppe Studenten
zur Konferenz. Es folgt ein kurzer Bericht.</p>
<h2 id="organisation-und-veranstaltungsstruktur">Organisation und Veranstaltungsstruktur</h2>
<p><em>Siehe auch</em>: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161202234440/http://www.southeastasiaconference.com/programmverlauf">Die Programmübersicht auf der Webseite der
Konferenz</a></p>
<p>Die Konferenz war auf drei Tage angelegt, von denen jeweils einer für
Anreise, Vorträge und eine Vereinsgründung reserviert war.</p>
<p>Die Vorträge am Samstag waren in insgesamt zwölf Panels grob thematisch
eingeordnet, von denen jeweils drei parallel stattfanden. So konnten
insgesamt 27 Vorträge an einem Tag gehalten werden. Andererseits kam es
manchmal zu Unruhe, wenn Leute aus einem Panel ins andere wechselten und
am Ende des Tages waren viele am Ende ihrer Kräfte. Für eventuelle
Nachfolgekonferenzen könnte also auch die Idee, einige Vorträge schon am
Freitag stattfinden zu lassen, hilfreich sein. Auf jeden Fall verdient
das Organisationsteam ein großes Lob dafür, dass sie es geschafft haben
so viele Vorträge in der Konferenz zuzulassen.</p>
<p>Zwischen den Panels gab es Pausen von jeweils mindestens einer halben
Stunde. Beim Rauchen gab es Diskussionen, ob das zu lang sei. Das Ziel
der Konferenz war aber, wie schon gesagt, neben dem rein
wissenschaftlichen Austausch auch die Vernetzung der Studierenden war -
und weil diese v.a. in den Pausen stattfindet spricht viel für diese
Länge.</p>
<p>Schlussendlich gab es neben den Panels auch zwei Keynote-Präsentationen.
Spannenderweise kamen beide Keynote Speaker nicht von den Universitäten,
die Südostasienstudien als eigenständige Studiengang anbieten: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151107210841/http://www.ipv.uni-rostock.de/lehrstuehle-und-personal/internationale-politik/prof-dr-joern-dosch/">Jörn
Dosch</a>
lehrt Internationale Politik an der Universität Rostok, <a href="http://www.sdi-muenchen.de/%7Eastoffers">Andreas
Stoffers</a> ist Professor für
Internationales Management an der Hochschule für Angewandte Sprachen SDI
München.</p>
<h2 id="vortrage">Vorträge</h2>
<h3 id="keynotes">Keynotes</h3>
<p><strong>Prof. Dr. Jörn Dosch: The Hegemon Knocking at the Door: Is China Dominating Southeast Asia</strong>
: In seiner Keynote-Präsentation diskutierte Jörn Dosch die wachsende
wirtschaftliche Macht und Verknüpfung Chinas in Südostasien als auch
kurz den Streit ums Südchinesische Meer. Die Präsentation war hoch
interessant, auch wenn sie nicht umbedingt zum Ziel der Konferenz
passte.</p>
<p><strong>Prof. Dr. Andreas Stoffers: Thaiistik, Vietnamistik, Southeast Asian Studies... - necessary for the German economy in ASEAN?</strong>
: In dieser Keynote-Präsentation besprch Andreas Stoffers die Rolle
von Länderspezialisten bei der Expansion von deutschen Unternehmen
in Märkte, in denen diese bisher nicht vertreten sind. Dabei gab er
immer wieder Beispiele aus seiner vorhergehenden Tätigkeit bei der
Deutschen Bank. Diese Präsentation war dem Thema der Konferenz
insofern sehr nah, als das sie thematisch eng mit den Studierenden
und dem Studium der Südostasienstudien verknüpft war: Was sind die
Möglichkeiten, die Studierende nach ihrem Studium erwarten.<br />
Andererseits war der Vortrag zwangsläufig sehr wirtschaftsnah.
Beispielsweise stellte es Stoffers als Problem dar, dass
Südostasienwissenschaftler die üblichen Buzzwords nicht kennen.
Also, das Problem von Südostasienwissenschaftlern ist ungefähr das
sie wissen wovon sie reden (oder nicht reden). Die Präsentation
hatte also einige problematische Stellen - auch wenn diese aus der
Sicht eines Management-Professoren wahrscheinlich nicht
problematisch waren.</p>
<h3 id="studentische-vortrage">Studentische Vorträge</h3>
<p>Wie schon beschrieben waren die studentischen Vorträge in parallel
laufenden Panels organisiert. So konnte ich nur ein Drittel der Vorträge
sehen. Viele davon waren aber sehr gut.</p>
<p>Dank der offenen Formulierung des Call for Papers konnten viele
ungewöhnlichere Themen besprochen werden. Besonders faszinierend war
meiner Meinung nach Iris Queks Vortrag zu "Contemporary Piano Music in
Southeast Asia" - ein Thema das auf einer thematisch begrenzteren
Konferenz wahrscheinlich nicht angenommen worden wäre.</p>
<p>Besucht habe ich die folgenden Vorträge, von denen ich bis auf den
Letzten Mitschriften gemacht habe (beim letzten Vortrag, nach zehn
Stunden Konferenz, hat meine Konzentration einfach nicht mehr gereicht).
Auf Nachfrage teile ich meine Mitschriften gerne. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161202234440/http://www.southeastasiaconference.com/abstracts">Abstracts zu den
Vorträgen sind auf der Konferenzseite zu
finden</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li>"Globalization and Colonial Memory: Indonesian ravel Literature on
Europe since the Reform Era" (Ramayda Akmal, Universität Hamburg)</li>
<li>"Imagining Vietnam in overseas Vietnamese-German Literature" (Tran
Tinh Vy, Universität Hamburg)</li>
<li>"Alternative-fiction: The New Face of Malaysian Literature" (Faraha
Hamidi, Johann Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main)</li>
<li>"From Globalization to Vietnamization -- A retrospect of Vietnamese
popular music since the 1990s" (Quang-Hieu Phan, Universität
Hamburg)</li>
<li>"Contemporary Piano Music of Southeast Asia: The 2000s" (Iris
Samantha Quek, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg)</li>
<li>"Gender Roles and Feminine Sexuality in the Thai Teen Drama Hormones
the Series" (Rosalia Engchuan, Humboldt Universität Berlin)</li>
<li>"Kartini in Indonesia's memory with a special focus on contemporary
women's view of Kartini" (Lukita Astri Susanto, Universität Hamburg)</li>
<li>"Social media personalities and Islamic masculine identity in
Malaysia, Indon. and Singapore" (Mohamed Haikel Fansuri Bin Mohamed
Latiff, Universität Bielefeld)</li>
<li>"The Narratives of Queen Chamathewi and the Local Identity of
Lamphun: Impacts on Collective Memory" (Pantipa Cheunchat,
Universität Hamburg)</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="studentischer-verein-der-sudostasienstudien">Studentischer Verein der Südostasienstudien</h2>
<p>Der Konferenzsonntag war für eine Vereinsgründung reserviert. Die
dahinterliegende Idee war ursprünglich eine Institutionalisierung der
Konferenz als Mittel zur Vernetzung der Studenten der
Südostasienstudien. Im Laufe der Diskussion zur Vereinsgründung
entschieden wir uns für ein leicht anderes Konzept: Ein Verein zur
generellen Verknüpfung und Vernetzung der Aktivitäten von Studierenden
der Südostasienstudien (oder verwandten Studiengängen). Dafür wird eine
Konferenz allerdings als wichtig angesehen. Das Potential von
Konferenzen zur Vernetzung hatte ja nicht zuletzt die Konferenz auf der
wir uns gerade befanden gezeigt.</p>
<p>Es ist nun angedacht jedes Jahr eine Nachfolgekonferenz abzuhalten.
Diese soll jedes Jahr an einer anderen Universität stattfinden - einer
der Universitäten, die Südostasienstudien als eigenständigen und
halbwegs sicher weiter existierenden Studiengang anbieten. D.h. Berlin,
Hamburg, Passau, Bonn oder Frankfurt (z.B. auch Köln hat ein Institut
für Südostasienstudien, das aber mittlerweile leider relativ klein und
von der Schließung bedroht ist).</p>
<p>Auf ein gutes Gelingen!</p>
<h2 id="notizen">Notizen</h2>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>Wie <a href="https://www.aai.uni-hamburg.de/soa/personen/grabowsky.html">Prof. Grabowsky (Thaiistik, AAI
Hamburg)</a>
berichtigte, fand in den 90er Jahren schon einmal eine Reihe
studentischer Konferenzen zu den Südostasienstudien statt. Eine
Nachforschung zu diesen Konferenzen wäre sicherlich sehr
interessant.</p>
</div>
Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani2016-11-09T00:00:00+00:002016-11-09T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/33/<p>So it finally happened. Yesterday the Supreme Court of the Philippines
decided that the corpse of Ferdinand E. Marcos can be buried at the
Libingan ng mga Bayani. That's sad news. Incredibly sad news indeed.
But look at the other people there.</p>
<p>Even and especially from a Filipino nationalist perspective, Marcos'
coming burial raises the question in how far state's symbols can stand
for the people and the nation. Niels Mulder (2013) argues that state and
nation are quite removed from each other anyway, and my experiences with
Filipinos confirm this: the state is seen as corrupt and not
representing the people, and yet nationalism is strong.</p>
<p>The Philippine flag is a strong symbol - representing the state and also
the nation. Manny Pacquiao is a symbol. As a boxer he represents the
strength of the Filipino people. And he could get elected as congressman
and later senator because the expectations are so low, that it doesn't
matter if he's a bad politician who <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/140143-pacquiao-attendance-last-session-16th-congress">just rarely attended Congress when
he was a
congressman</a>.</p>
<p>The number of Overseas Filipinos has been increasing for the last twenty
years. By now, an <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161021093527/http://cfo.gov.ph/downloads/statistics/stock-estimates.html">estimated ten percent of the Philippines' citizens
are living
abroad</a>. As
more Filipinos decide to emigrate for good and eventually adopt a
different citizenship, a redefinition of the nation takes place (see
Campomanes 2003, Aguilar 2014). A Fil-Am may identify as Filipino, but
the state matters little for this. It's once again symbols like the
flag that are used as expressions of this identify.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup></p>
<p>Is the Libingan ng mga Bayani a symbol of the state? Or is it one of the
nation, the people? If it's the former, Marcos' burial there is sad
news, but not more. If it's the latter, that's very, very, very bad
news.</p>
<h2 id="bayani">Bayani</h2>
<p>The word "bayani" in Libingan ng mga Bayani is a curious one. When
translating to English, we usually find translations of bayani as
"hero". But it's has a more complicated meaning. An overview of some
dictionary definitions of Bayani can be found in <a href="http://opinion.inquirer.net/96994/bayani-a-richer-word-than-hero">this column by Ambeth
Ocampo</a>,
including a curious link between bayani and "bayan", roughly the
"people".</p>
<p>With the rise of Filipino overseas migration, the term "Bagong Bayani"
has been introduced to frame OFWs as the "new heroes" (even if it has
further implications, see Fajardo 2011). Bagong Bayani implies that
there are many bayani. Everyone working for the common good, maybe with
"extraordinary courage and ability" can be a bayani, and given the
numbers of Overseas Filipinos, there are well more than a million
bayani.</p>
<h2 id="sino-ang-mga-bayani">Sino ang mga Bayani</h2>
<p>The Libingan ng mga Bayani started as a burial ground for Filipino
fighters in World War II. Of course, these need to be seen critically,
too. Military personel were buried there, members of the Hukbalahap were
made to dig their own mass graves (Kerkvliet 1977). But there's a
reasonable link to <em>bayaniness</em> here.</p>
<p>It then developed into a general burial ground for extraordinary people,
including deceased presidents. And who came before Marcos? Elpidio R.
Quirino is buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. And looking back at his
presidency, it's easy to see that he was certainly not one to work for
the common good of the Filipino people (Kerkvliet 1977, Constantino and
Constantino 1982).</p>
<p>If <em>all</em> who are bayani were to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani,
it would have long overflown with dead bodies. It hasn't however.
Instead, many who are certainly not bayani are buried there. That's
also why <a href="http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/11/09/1642061/google-maps-marcos-ruling-libingan-ng-bayani-magnanakaw">renaming the
cemetery</a>
to "Libingan ng mga Bayani at Isang Magnanakaw" doesn't suffice. Marcos
was the worst president of the Philippines, no doubt. But whitewashing
injustices before his rule doesn't help either.</p>
<p>The Libingan ng mga Bayani is a symbol of the state, and the state chose
to honor Ferdinand E. Marcos, a mass murderer, imposer, thief and
what-have-you with a burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. But that's
the state.</p>
<h2 id="i-d-still-worry">I'd Still Worry</h2>
<p>Do the Filipino people honor Marcos with a burial at the Libingan ng mga
Bayani? They don't. Do they honor Marcos by praising him on Facebook?
They do.</p>
<p>There are many points to worry about in this affair, and the symbol of
the burial is a smaller one. Public opinion is the real worry. Educating
people about the crimes of the Marcos era requires much time and
dedication, but it's the what's needed.</p>
<p>Our department at university is giving away old books which are removed
from the library for free sometimes. Some months ago, a bunch of books
by the Task Force Detainees were removed from the library. That's
more sad news, but I am glad that I only saw that happen in Germany, not
yet in the Philippines.</p>
<h2 id="notes">Notes</h2>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>The state reacts to these changes. For example, by allowing
people of Filipino descent to move back to the Philippines. Hence, a
readjustment can be seen here, too.</p>
</div>
<h2 id="references">References</h2>
<ul>
<li>Aguilar, Filomeno V. 2014. <em>Migration Revolution: Philippine Nationhood And Class Relations in a Globalized Age</em>. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press.</li>
<li>Campomanes, Oscar V. 2003. “The Vernacular/Local, The Nation, And The Global in Filipino Studies”. <em>Kritika Kultura</em> 3: 5-16. http://kritikakultura.ateneo.net/images/pdf/kk3/vernacular.pdf.</li>
<li>Constantino, Renato, and Letizia R. Constantino. 1982. <em>The Philippines: The Continuing Past</em>. Quezon City: The Foundation for Nationalist Studies.</li>
<li>Fajardo, Kale Bantigue. 2011. <em>Filipino Crosscurrents: Oceanographies of Seafaring, Masculinities, And Globalization</em>. University of Minnesota Press/University of the Philippines Press.</li>
<li>Kerkvliet, Benedict J. 1977. <em>The Huk Rebellion: A Study Of Peasant Revolt in the Philippines</em>. Berkeley/Quezon City: University of California Press/New Day Press.</li>
<li>Mulder, Niels. 2013. “Filipino Identity: The Haunting Question”. <em>Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs</em> 32 (1): 55-80. http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jsaa/article/view/640/638.</li>
</ul>
Defining Alternative Media2016-11-03T00:00:00+00:002016-11-03T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/32/<p>In tuesday's session of the course "Media in Southeast Asia" - which
in this semester focuses mostly on "alternative" media - we did the
most sensible thing to do when starting a course on alternative media:
we attempted to define alternative media. I'll write down the most
important discussion points from today's discussion, adding some
additional thoughts of mine.</p>
<p>Usually, when we refer to alternative media in Southeast Asian Studies,
we don't have any real definition. But it's an important term: reading
up on media and censorship in Malaysia is practically impossible without
stumbling upon the term. In this context it's usually used to describe
anything affiliated to the opposition, ranging from small-scale websites
(only in recent years) to large newspapers. On the other hand, it does
not usually seem to apply to news outlets affiliated with government
parties even though they may publish controversial articles (See Brown
2005). On the other hand, alternative media may be used for more
generally in the sense of a medium that's not under corporate control
(Beers (2005) offers such a definition in regards to the linked term of
"independent journalism").</p>
<p>From these examples alone it is visible how important a definition
should be. To simplify matters, this post will work with a very narrow
definition of media in the sense of news and opinion media, i.e.
newspapers, blogs, radio, and television.</p>
<h2 id="alternative-media-as-not-mainstream">Alternative Media as "Not Mainstream"</h2>
<p>Clearly, alternative media is a term to be understood in its relation to
some kind of other, usually to "mainstream media". "Mainstream media",
however, is just as hard to define. In the short introduction, I already
provided two possible meanings of mainstream: politically mainstream in
the sense of aligned with the ruling party and mainstream in the sense
of being embedded in a <em>normal</em> or <em>traditional</em> (both highly congested
terms, too) economic setting. Additional meters of mainstream came up
during the discussion:</p>
<ol>
<li>Mainstream in the sense of following the most common narrative in
dealing with their contents</li>
<li>Mainstream in the sense of dealing with common topics</li>
<li>Mainstream in the sense of sense of using common publishing formats</li>
<li>Mainstream in the sense of sense gathering information from
"traditional" sources</li>
</ol>
<p>This list could probably be expanded. Its length at this point however
already suggests that deciding whether or not a medium is mainstream or
alternative (anything not mainstream) needs a longer consideration.
Aside from very few media outlets per country, everything would be
alternative. If one needs to use the term, it might thus be advisable to
see different media as somewhere in between the two extremes. The more
points of the list above are fulfilled, the more mainstream it is. The
less, the more alternative it is.</p>
<p>Especially in the political sense of mainstream/alternative, it is still
important to keep in mind that the term is extremely fuzzy. In terms of
contents, it says barely anything.
<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/">Breitbart</a> and <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/">Democracy
Now!</a> are both alternative media in many
regards. Discussing the contents thus needs further limitations of the
term.</p>
<p>The idea of the political spectrum of left, centrist, right moved to
media is a curious one. Continuing this string of thought, there would
be left-wing alternative media, centrist mainstream media, and
right-wing alternative media. Now, looking at political rethorics, there
is often something out of the currently used spectrum. See Mao Zedong's
usage of the terms right-wing for petty burgeoise in the Communist Party
of China and left-wing for "adventurists". The Guomindang doesn't fit
into this spectrum. The same applies with late 1920s writings about the
rising NSDAP - not leftist, not centrist, not right-wing, but outside
the political spectrum. If it is possible to be outside the political
spectrum, it might be possible to be outside the acknowledged spectrum
of media, too. This is just some thought of mine though, I still need to
consider it more to find out if it really makes sense.</p>
<h2 id="the-problems-of-perspective-and-time">The Problems of Perspective and Time</h2>
<p>"Mainstream" and "alternative" are terms only usable within a given
context. One participant of the discussion - stemming from Texas -
mentioned how e.g. <a href="http://www.npr.org/">NPR</a> would not be seen as
alternative there. It is outside the spectrum. I responded taking the
position of a hypothetical passionate Trump supporter: Everything aside
from Breitbart (and whatever other media they have) would be mainstream
as the mainstream would be leftist.</p>
<p>To generalize, these examples show that when media are perceived by
people from different background and from different communities, they
also carry different meanings even just on a brand level.</p>
<p>To further complicate matters, time passes and the situation changes.
Can a medium that was controversial and "alternative" at one point in
time become mainstream later on, e.g. after a change in government? I
would clearly argue that this is possible, but the discussion showed
that this view was not as uncontroversial as I would have thought.</p>
<h2 id="a-fuzzy-term">A Fuzzy Term</h2>
<p>To reiterate the main point of this short post: "mainstream media" and
"alternative media" are highly problematic and fuzzy terms. The
discussion ended as this post does, with the question if there is a
better alternative or if it is exactly this fuzziness that makes the
term a good one. Probably this again depends on the context. In writing
a paper, a more closely defined and narrow term may be better. But for
deciding on a course topic, it may be the term's fuzziness that gives
students a chance to explore the topic beyond the curriculum without
straying too far off topic.</p>
<p>I'm confident that the course will stay interesting.</p>
<h2 id="references">References</h2>
<ul>
<li>Beers, David. 2006. “The Public Sphere And Online, Independent Journalism”. <em>Canadian Journal Of Education / Revue Canadienne De L'éducation</em> 29 (1): 109-130. doi:10.2307/20054149.</li>
<li>Brown, Graham. 2005. “The Rough And Rosy Road: Sites Of Contestation In Malaysia's Shackled Media Industry”. <em>Pacific Affairs</em> 78 (1): 39-56. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40023440.</li>
</ul>
Strato, Domainumleitungen, Plesk und das leidvolle Einrichten von Virtuellen Hosts2016-10-29T00:00:00+00:002016-10-29T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/31/<p>Meine Seite läuft seit heute endlich mit eigenem virtuellen Host. Das
gibt mir unter anderem eigene Log-Dateien und eine stärkere Abtrennung
meiner Daten von den anderen auf dem Server befindlichen (ich habe
darauf zwar Zugriff, aber will soweit wie möglich davon entfernt sein
solange ich nicht gezielt daran arbeite). Also: Eine sehr erfreuliche
Meldung. Weniger erfreulich war allerdings der weg dorthin. Weil ich im
Netz keine Lösung auf das konkrete Problem finden konnte, notiere ich
hier mal meinen Lösungsweg.</p>
<h2 id="bedingungen">Bedingungen</h2>
<p>Der Server, auf dem meine Homepage gehostet wird steht bei Strato. Auch
meine Domain läuft über Strato, allerdings in einem anderen Paket. Auf
dem Server bin ich über Kontakte, das heißt ich bin bei Änderungen an
den Config-Dateien sehr vorsichtig.</p>
<p>Um das ganze weiter zu verkomplizieren läuft auf dem Server Plesk, das
zwar eine schöne Oberfläche zum Servermanagement bietet, aber (deshalb)
auch in den Konfigurationsdateien herumpfuscht. Entsprechend musste
einen Weg finden, bei dem meine Änderungen zumindest nicht direkt wieder
von Plesk überschrieben werden.</p>
<p>Wichtig ist noch, dass auf dem Server sowohl nginx als auch Apache
laufen: nginx wird als erstes aufgerufen und liefert statische Inhalte
aus, also z.B. Bilder. Im Falle von dynamischen Inhalten - also z.B.
PHP/Python-Dateien - leitet es zum Apache um, der diese dann ausliefert.</p>
<h2 id="problem">Problem</h2>
<p>Mein Ziel war die Einrichtung eines eigenen VHosts für meine Webseite,
während sich mehrere VHosts die IP teilen. Meine Webseite muss über eine
Umleitung zum Server führen. Normal würde man hierfür einfach ein neues
"Abonnement" in Plesk einrichten und bei der Domainumleitung die
Option für "maskierte" Umleitung wählen.</p>
<p>Eine solche Option gibt es bei Strato allerdings nicht. Strato lässt nur
die folgenden Umleitungsoptionen zu (siehe auch <a href="https://www.strato.de/faq/article/382/Einrichten-einer-Domainumleitung.html">Stratos eigene
Informationen
dazu</a>):</p>
<p>http
: Eine einfache Umleitung, die dem Client sagt, dass er zum Ziel gehen
soll. Der Client ruft dann einfach die Zielseite gesondert auf.
D.h., dass in der URL-Leiste der tatsächliche Ort der Seite
angezeigt wird und dass der Server nicht weiß, welche Domain
eigentlich angesteuert wurde.</p>
<p>Frameset
: Über einen <code>frame</code> werden die Inhalte eingebunden. D.h., die Domain
führt nicht wirklich zum Server. Über die HTTP-Header wird
mitgegeben, dass die Seite von außen eingebunden wurde. D.h., sollte
man damit arbeiten, dass alle Einstellungen, die man macht auch
zutreffen, wenn Daten vom Server von einer anderen Seite eingebunden
werden.</p>
<p>Proxy
: Über einen Proxyserver leitet wird die Domain zum Zielserver
umgeleitet. In den HTTP-Headern wird vermerkt, dass der
Umleitungshost (aber nicht der richtige) die gewünschte Domain ist.</p>
<p>Shared Gallery
: Eine Spezial-Kategorie für Stratos "HiDrive Share Gallery".
Eindeutig keine Option für mein Ziel, also habe ich da nicht
weitergelesen.</p>
<p>Damit nginx und Apache <em>erkennen</em> können, dass ein bestimmter VHost
abgerufen werden soll, muss die damit verbundene Domain in den
HTTP-Headern als <strong>"Host"</strong> markiert sein. Das passiert bei keiner der
gebotenen Umleitungsoptionen.</p>
<p>Von all diesen Optionen ist die "Proxy"-Option die einzige, die halbwegs
meinem Ziel entspricht. Immerhin bleibt die Domain in der URL stehen.
Theoretisch ließe sich der HTTP-X-Forwarded-Host auch vor dem
verarbeiten zum HTTP-Host umschreiben, allerdings soweit ich
herausfinden konnte nur über Zusatzmodule (die ich nicht installieren
will, solange ich keinen eigenen Server benutze).</p>
<h2 id="losung">Lösung</h2>
<p>Beim dritten durchlesen der
<a href="https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/vhosts/examples.html">Apache-Informationen</a>
kam mir endlich die richtige Idee: VHosts sollen eigentlich rein über
die HTTP-Header unterschieden werden können - aber können auch über
verschiedene Ports ausgeliefert werden. Meine Seite wird jetzt also auf
Port <code>8008</code> (einem alternativen Port für HTTP) ausgeliefert, während
beim aufrufen von Port <code>80</code> auf dem gleichen Server die Default-Seite
ausgeliefert wird.</p>
<p>Damit das passiert muss nginx so eingestellt werden, dass es auch auf
diesen Port reagiert und dann die richtigen Dateien ausliefert. Weil
nginx erst zu Apache weiterleiten muss, kann man dem Apache danach
einfach veränderte HTTP-Header mitgeben.</p>
<p>Plesk legt beim Anlegen eines neuen "Abonnements" zusätzlich zu den
Verzeichnissen für die auszuliefernden Dateien ein Verzeichnis
<code>/var/www/vhosts/system/</code> an, in dem unter anderem Konfigurationsdateien
für den einzelnen VHost zu finden sind. Plesk scheint diese bei
Server-Neustarts nicht zurückzusetzen.</p>
<p>Entscheidend ist <code>/var/www/vhosts/system/domainname/conf/nginx.conf</code>.
Weil meine Seite bisher kein HTTPS unterstützt, ist für mich nur der
zweite Teil der Datei interessant. Hier muss "<code>listen :80;</code>" zum
gewünschten Port umgeändert werden, also in meinem Fall
"<code>listen :8008;</code>". Weiter unten muss dann beim Aufrufen von Apache statt
"<code>proxy_set_header Host $host;</code>" der Name der Domain direkt in die Datei
geschrieben werden, also in meinem Fall
"<code>proxy_set_header Host "jrenslin.de";</code>".</p>
<p>Das ist sicherlich nicht die schönste Lösung, eher ein etwas
eigenwilliger Hack. Aber immerhin, es funktioniert unter den gegebenen
Bedingungen.</p>
<h2 id="update-2016-10-30">Update 2016-10-30</h2>
<p>Einen Tag später hat sich herausgestellt, dass Plesk die Änderungen doch
überschreibt. Man kann zusätzliche Anweisungen an Plesk in
<code>/var/www/vhosts/system/domainname/conf/vhosts_nginx.conf</code> definieren.
Die von mir beschriebenen Anweisungen beißen sich allerdings mit den
Standardangaben.</p>
<p>Es bieten sich also zwei weitere Vorgehensweisen an: Entweder man ändert
die Defaulteinstellungen, mit denen die Konfigurationsdateien
überschrieben werden (was dann auch die anderen Seiten auf dem Server
beträfe, also keine Option ist) oder man sperrt die Datei gegenüber
jedenüber Bearbeitungen aller Art mit
<code>chattr +i /var/www/vhosts/system/domainname/conf/nginx.conf</code>. Das kann
bei zukünftigen Updates zu Problemen führen, aber sollte zumindest
erstmal helfen.</p>
Überarbeitetes Themenmodul bei Museum-Digital2016-10-18T00:00:00+00:002016-10-18T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/30/<p><a href="https://museum-digital.de">museum-digital</a> als Projekt legt für
gewöhnlich einen starken Fokus auf einzelne Museumsobjekte. Im Gegensatz
dazu bietet das <a href="https://museum-digital.de/themator">Themenmodul von
museum-digital</a> die Möglichkeit
digitaler Ausstellungen oder, in der allgemeinstmöglichen Beschreibung,
digitaler Geschichtenerzählung mit hierarchisierbarer, fest stehender
Gliederung. Der letzte Satz ist lang und kompliziert, weil sich das
Themenmodul in seiner Zielsetzung zwischen drei Eckpunkten bewegt und
innerhalb des so abgesteckten Bereiches nicht schnell beschreibbar ist.</p>
<p>Einerseits ist da das Besprechen von Themen, andererseits das Ausstellen
im Internet. Schließlich wird auch der Fokus auf Objekte nicht außer
Acht gelassen. Für jede einzelne dieser Aufgaben gibt es Vorbilder, die
ihre Arbeit zum Teil sehr gut machen. Die Kombination ist jedoch bisher
nicht wirklich zufriedenstellend gelungen.</p>
<h2 id="andere-projekte-ahnliche-ziele">Andere Projekte, ähnliche Ziele</h2>
<p>Während die Eingebenden weiter fleißig Ausstellungen eingaben, hatte die
technische Seite des Themenmoduls bis vor knapp einem Monat lange keine
größeren Veränderungen gesehen. Design und Code waren sichtbar in die
Jahre gekommen. Einerseits bedeutete das, dass wir viele grundlegenden
Dinge (z.B. Datenbankabfragen) aktualisieren mussten, andererseits gab
es uns auch die Chance, ein neues Design und zumindest teilweise neues
Konzept zu entwickeln und Entscheidungen bzgl. der Kopplung von
Museum-Digital und dem Themenmodul zu treffen.</p>
<p>Als erster Arbeitsschritt sammelten wir deshalb Wünsche nach neuen
Funktionen oder nötigen Überarbeitungen und schauten uns Projekte mit
zumindest verwandten Zielen an. Für digitale Ausstellungen ist hier vor
allem <a href="https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/?hl=de">Google Arts and
Culture</a> zu
nennen, die, zusammen mit großen Museen, Bibliotheken, etc., visuell
sehr ansprechende digitale Ausstellungen bieten. Gleichzeitig sind hier
Objekte der betreffenden Institutionen zu finden, die jedoch von den
Ausstellungen getrennt dargestellt werden. Auch verhindert die
ansprechende Darstellung zum Teil eine effektive, tiefgehende
Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema, etwa wenn der Text soweit gekürzt
wird, bis er auf eine "Folie" passt.</p>
<p>Eine zweite Inspiration waren Webseiten mit vergleichbarer digitaler
Geschichtenerzählung, etwa
<a href="http://www.nzhistory.net.nz">nzhistory.net.nz</a> oder die "Core Story"
auf <a href="https://densho.org">Densho.org</a>. Beide bieten eine klar gegliederte
Geschichte, die mit großer Schrift und eingebetteten Bildern trotz
langer Texte lesbar und verständlich bleibt. Im Idealfall sollte das
Themenmodul Museum-Digitals ähnlich lesbar bleiben, auch wenn
vergleichbar lange Texte eingegeben würden. Andererseits bietet die
Zielsetzung des Themenmoduls von Museum-Digital zusätzliche
Möglichkeiten, wie eine Verknüpfung von Objekten unterhalb des Textes
oder eine Einbettung von Objektinformationen innerhalb des Textkörpers
wie bei Bildern oder Videos auf den beiden Seiten.</p>
<h2 id="ziele">Ziele</h2>
<p>Anhand der so gesammelten Wünsche, Ziele und Inspiration ergab sich die
folgende Aufgabenliste:</p>
<ul>
<li>Aktualisierung des Codes</li>
<li>Anpassung des Designs der Eingabeseite an das derzeitige Design der
Eingabeseite des "normalen" Museum-Digital</li>
<li>Einbindung von <a href="https://www.tinymce.com/">TinyMCE</a> auf der
Eingabeseite, um Eingebenden ohne HTML-Kenntnisse die Möglichkeit zu
geben, Bilder und Videos einzubinden und Formatierungen vorzunehmen</li>
<li>Responsive Design</li>
<li>Ansprechendes und anpassbares Design für die Ausgabeseite - im
Idealfall auch direkt durch die Museen anpassbar</li>
<li>Alternative, Slideshow-artige Ansicht für Ausstellungen</li>
<li>Einführung eines "weiterlesen"-Schalters, der direkt zum nächsten
Unterthema überleitet</li>
</ul>
<p>Während die Aktualisierung des Codes und die reine Anpassung des Designs
der Eingabeseite an die von Museum-Digital selbsterklärend sind, lohnt
sich eine Besprechung des neuen öffentlich einsehbaren Designs - bzw.
dessen Anpassbarkeit und Austauschbarkeit - und der Position, die das
Themenmodul seit der Überarbeitung innerhalb der Webseite von
Museum-Digital und den einzelnen Themen gegenüber hat.</p>
<h2 id="neues-flexibles-design">Neues, flexibles Design</h2>
<p>Die Überarbeitung des Designs des Themenmoduls begann mit der üblichen
Trennung von Design und Inhalten: Das Design wird in eine eigene Datei
ausgelagert und bestimmt so das aussehen, der im HTML als, z.B., Titel
oder Absatzinhalt markierten Textstellen, statt dass das Design direkt
in einem Zug mit dem HTML angegeben würde. Diese Trennung von Design und
Inhalt macht das zentrale verändern von Designregeln wesentlich
einfacher, und ermöglicht auch relativ einfach das gesamte Design
auszutauschen. So können ohne weitere Probleme alternative Designs
hinzugeladen werden, wenn eine Seite z.B. in einem bestimmten Kontext
gezeigt wird.</p>
<p>Diese Methode wurde zu einem gewissen grad auch schon zuvor im
Themenmodul Museum-Digitals verwendet. Nach der Überarbeitung kann noch
ein gutes Stück mehr über die extern hinzugeladenen Designs gesteuert
werden und komplett andere Designs sind möglich. Leicht verschiedene,
kontextabhängige Designs sind weiterhin zu finden, wenn man Themenseiten
von den verschiedenen Ausspielungen Museum-Digitals aus besucht. Besucht
man eine Themenseite oder digitale Ausstellung von der <a href="https://museum-digital.de/nat/?t=themen">bundesweiten
Seite</a> aus, so wird sich deren
Design nach dem der bundesweiten Seite von Museum-Digital richten und
die Navigation von dort hinzugeladen. Öffnet man die Themenseite
hingegen von <a href="https://museum-digital.de/san/?t=themen">Museum-Digital
Sachsen-Anhalt</a> aus, so wird
dort die Navigation von Museum-Digital Sachsen-Anhalt und das
entsprechende Design zu finden sein. Genauso können beliebige weitere
Designs hinzugefügt werden.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/2aa48127d1c0e46700.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/30/MD-Themen_AntonGraff-San.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/605b535b02b1015900.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/fdd544c96f7044fe00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/c2372f6cd57fd58000.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="942"
width="1875" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Die Ausstellung 'Anton Graff - Meisterporträts in Original, Kopie, Druck' im Kontext von Museum-Digital Sachsen-Anhalt</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Neu ist die Entwicklung <a href="https://museum-digital.de/themator/?ver=standalone">eines versionsunabhängigen
Designs</a>, das
verwendet wird, wenn man die Themenseite direkt und/oder ohne
Informationen zum Kontext aufruft. Da wir hier nicht allzu sehr an das
übliche Designmuster von Museum-Digital gebunden waren, konnten wir
stärker dem Ziel von einem einfach lesbaren und übersichtlichen, aber
ansprechenden Design nachgehen. Das Ergebnis kann sich, denke ich, sehen
lassen. In der Zukunft werden Museen auch die Möglichkeit haben, Designs
auf Basis dieses Designs zu erstellen und einzubinden.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/9c413470a864f7db00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/30/MD-Themen_AntonGraff-Standalone.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/70da33b3c52fd3ae00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/0cf4697a61f5fc9f00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/761ac6f02a5826cf00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="942"
width="1848" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Die selbe Ausstellung mit kontextunabhängigen Design</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 id="entkopplung-von-museum-digital-und-dem-themenmodul">Entkopplung von Museum-Digital und dem Themenmodul</h2>
<p>Eben wie jetzt ein eigenständiges Design für das Themenmodul existiert,
wurde das Themenmodul insgesamt stärker zu einer eigenständigen Einheit
geformt und von Museum-Digital eher entkoppelt. Das Themenmodul hat
jetzt eine eigene Start- und Übersichtsseite, die auch von der
Startseite von Museum-Digital und ggfs. den einzelnen Themenseiten aus
verlinkt ist. Diese ist dem eigenständigen Design der Themenseiten
entsprechend gestaltet.</p>
<p>Auch die Seiten zu verknüpften Objekten wurden stärker ins Themenmodul
integriert. Zuvor wurden diese, so nicht eine alternative
Objektbeschreibung eingegeben worden war, einfach in der entsprechenden
Version von Museum-Digital aufgerufen. Jetzt werden sie auch in diesen
Fällen als Teil des Themenmoduls aufgerufen, d.h. sie behalten ein
einheitliches Design mit dem Thema, mit dem sie verknüpft wurden.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/dc4f539e6ff3b16c00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/30/MD-Themen_Objektansicht.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/ad5817d79fbaf6fe00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/2f5f9c29d8cef58500.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/782401deb93964c000.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1200"
width="3840" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Ansicht von Objekten, die aus Museum-Digital eingebunden wurden</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 id="noch-nicht-am-ende-aber-auf-dem-richtigen-weg">Noch nicht am Ende, aber auf dem richtigen Weg</h2>
<p>Der jetzige Stand des Themenmoduls ist sicherlich nicht der Weisheit
letzter Schluss. Manche Features - besonders eine Oberfläche, um
Nicht-Techniker selbst Designs erstellen zu lassen - fehlen noch. Manche
Inhalte, wie etwa zu kleine Bilder, könnten den heutigen Gegebenheiten
besser angepasst sein. Weitere Designs könnten entwickelt und den
Eingebenden zur Auswahl gestellt werden.</p>
<p>Alles in allem ist der Fortschritt über das Themenmodul vor der
Überarbeitung aber eindeutig merkbar. Gemessen am Ziel, ein Tool für
eine gute Präsentation von Geschichten und Ausstellungen - mit
Objektverknüpfung - im Internet zu bauen, sind wir schon weit gekommen.</p>
Changes on My Homepage2016-10-11T00:00:00+00:002016-10-11T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/29/<p>After a journey to Indonesia and a coding project (more on that in some days), I finally had some time to work on the technical side of my website again. There are major changes in the underlying data structure and also in the scope of what I program the underlying system for.</p>
<h2 id="removing-features">Removing Features</h2>
<p>I previously conceptionalized the system my website runs on to be a full fledged CMS, including a newsletter feature, backup features etc. I had disabled most of them though: some were written, because I am running <a href="http://ppanji.org">Ppanji.org</a> on the same code basis. There, we have disabled notes, but we have enabled videos as an own category of posts. A newsletter would have a credible use case given ppanji.org's aims, while it certainly has none with my personal website.</p>
<p>On the other hand, additional features make the code slower and potentially more resource-intensive. And since I am not using my own server, I am always weary of wasting processing power and bandwidth. I have thus removed any features I am not currently using or planning to use in the near future.</p>
<h2 id="moving-away-from-xml">Moving Away From XML</h2>
<p>I originally intended my website to be basically an RSS reader, with RSS feeds used for data storage. This would - had it worked out - taken away any hassle with writing an API. It did not however. Given the length of blog posts and especially additional data like links to syndicated versions of notes on Twitter, the RSS feeds were removed more and more from actual RSS and developed into just another kind of more or less random XML. I thus lost the potential advantages of using RSS.</p>
<p>The downside of using RSS - from the start and pretty much always - is that it's <em>bloated</em>: There's just too much markup for too little content. Say, its was again making the website slower and more resource-hungry than it needed to be. Given my aim of saving things in feeds, I also made the mistake of saving all posts of any kind (blog posts, notes, bookmarks, etc.) in a single file per kind of post. Again, resource hungry and ineffective.</p>
<p>Finally, I was using SimpleXML in PHP for handling the XML files. Given my purposes, this was again overdoing it.</p>
<p>To sum up, using XML was a bad idea, and it was just a matter of time when I'd move away from it. I now finally had a good chance.</p>
<h3 id="storing-data-in-different-formats-for-different-things">Storing Data in Different Formats for Different Things</h3>
<p>XML gave me the advantage of using one format for all kinds of post I make. Theoretically, I could have just replicated the same with a more efficient format. I chose not to.</p>
<p>Today, the website is based on different formats depending on what is to be saved: blog posts, notes, and bookmarks are stored in an adjusted form of CSV (I am told LaTeX is using a similar method for separating metadata from contents); calendar entries are stored in an .ics stream; BibTeX is used for publications. Finally, settings are stored using JSON.</p>
<p>ICal for calendars and BibTeX for publications are no-brainers: both are open standards used for storage by the programs I use to manage my calendar and my bibliographical database respectively for storage anyway. Moving over to JSON instead of XML was a harder choice. It's less bloated, but that's it. Since the files are loaded everytime somebody opens the page, this little improvement is worth a change though. Finally, moving to one CSV-like file per entry instead of one large XML file for all of a kind gives me both the chance to read only single entries and the chance to read only specific data (e.g. not needing to read a blog post's content when I only need metadata).</p>
<h2 id="new-design-and-a-new-feature">New Design and a New Feature</h2>
<p>I finally moved to a yet more reduced design for my website. I had grown to see the old design as rather complex, while my initial aim in doing it was to make a minimalistic one. The one my website uses now is done from scratch: the CSS file is now 197 lines long instead of about roughly 600.</p>
<p>All in all, the redo was a major push to slimming down the code base and reducing what I have to what I need.</p>
<p>But I couldn't hold back to introduce a new feature: extended categories. The Website tag page and others see how my thoughts on a topic developed.</p>
To Have a Backend or Not2016-09-03T00:00:00+00:002016-09-03T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/28/<p>I just read <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230531093730/https://saschalobo.com/2011/10/16/die-abschaffung-der-ruckseite-des-blogs/">this blog
post</a>
by Sascha Lobo. Admittedly, it's from 2011, but it reminds me of a
question I asked myself again and again when writing websites. That is,
the technical sides thereof, not the contents. The question is how to
enable users to enter information.</p>
<h2 id="backends">Backends</h2>
<p>The traditional way to do so is to have a <em>backend</em> to your website.
Say, you have a dedicated space, where you can change settings, enter
information and edit the website as much as the programmer allowed you
to do.</p>
<p>There is one major downside to having a backend: it's a dedicated
space, separate from the <em>frontend</em>, where the information is later
presented. If you are, to give an example, just browsing your
site/service, and you want to enter information, you need to open a
different URL. That is one extra step, and any additional step is a
major roadblock.</p>
<p>The upside of having a backend on the other hand is that there is space
for more functions. Drafting or editing without a backend is surely
possible, but whatever alternative interface you have might get cramped
easily and thus get hard to use. With a dedicated space for adding or
editing your posts, you have the space to add radio buttons, additional
input fields or whatever at more convenient places without the page
getting overly cramped.</p>
<p>The preliminary answer to when writing a dedicated backend for
adding/editing information on your site is appropriate may thus be: if
you have many options, use a backend. If the user should only quickly
write things and then post them, the posting interface can be placed
elsewhere.</p>
<h2 id="alternatives">Alternatives</h2>
<p>There are several alternatives to having a dedicated web-based backend
for editing your website. The first is to move the whole thing offline.
A popular example for that may be static page generators - even if they
remove publishing so much from the place of publication that this
solution, too, might make the user post less.</p>
<p>A second alternative is to embed the posting interface right into the
frontend for logged in users with the respective rights. This is what
Facebook did. It's what Twitter did. It's what Sascha Lobo did, too.
Unfortunately, it also means that the user will be much restricted in
their options. Ease of use beats flexibility (That the most popular
sites for posting content on the WWW, e.g. Facebook and Twitter, use
this approach should be proof enough of its effectivity).</p>
<p>A third alternative would be offline clients that connect to your
website/service and already know your credentials, so that the
additional step of logging in is removed. The miriad of Twitter clients
is just one example of this. Again, any additional step to posting is a
roadblock that should be overcome if ever possible.</p>
<h2 id="what-i-want">What I Want</h2>
<p>I am an avid defender of giving users options, and doing so as straight
forward as possible as long as it does not drive them away. E.g., while
I syndicate my notes to Twitter, I have an option in the backend of my
website to not do so for specific posts. Similarly, there is an option
to turn notes into likes. Two additional options make the interface more
complicated than, say, that of Twitter. For new users who might want to
use the CMS I wrote to run this site on, this might be irritating (more
on that later).</p>
<p>Restricting the user is bad. On the other hand, giving them too many
options turns users down. Clearly, there is a difference in interest
here. My idealistic hopes clash with users' wish for convenience.</p>
<h2 id="analyze-what-you-are-working-on">Analyze What You Are Working on</h2>
<p>Indeed, sometimes making things as simple as possible while giving up on
the idealistic wish to enable the user to decide as much as they might
ever want is necessary. Whether it is is decided by what one is working
on.</p>
<p>As I see it currently, there are three major factors at play here:</p>
<ol>
<li>Target audience/potential users</li>
<li>Use case</li>
<li>Additional factors contributing to the likelihood of use</li>
</ol>
<p>While these aspects apply to essentially everything, they also apply to
how complex you can make your site, I think.</p>
<p>If your target audience is more specifically interested into a certain
cause and shares a common interest in being able to have a certain
option, then adding that option will be less of a roadblock. On the
other hand, adding options that your possible users are unlikely to
understand will, if anything, be irritating. While this problem might be
avoided a bit by placing the option in question in a less prominent
place (if one were to introduce a backend), this will only lead to
quantitative changes. Additional options still mean a potential
roadblock.</p>
<p>The use case is kind of similar to the target audience. <em>What are your
potential users going to use your site/service for?</em> If it's Twitter,
the main interest of users will likely be to send out their message as
quickly as possible. Any additional option that the user needed to
consider would be too much. On the other hand, if you have a complex
system like museum-digital for indexing and presenting information on
museum objects, having a large number of options will be necessary.</p>
<p>"Additional factors contributing to the likelihood of use" refers to
about anything else. If you have the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect">network
effect</a> on your side, you
might be more liberal in choosing to add additional options.</p>
<h2 id="what-does-that-mean-to-me">What Does That Mean to Me?</h2>
<p>In this last part, I will outline my experiences with the three main web
programming projects I am involved with in my free time (sometimes paid,
too). The first two are strictly hobby projects: <strong>JACMS</strong>, the content
management system this website runs on, also powers ppanji.org. I was
thus able to get feedback on it and the approach to editing data I used
in it. JACMS has a backend, but recently I wrote additional clients for
posting at least notes.</p>
<p>Second, there is <strong>Aklaman</strong>. Aklaman is a tool that takes existing
bibliographical databases from multiple users, merges them to let the
users profit from each other's work, and let's them note down
additional data like quotes for each work in the combined database. More
and more, the "projects" feature of Aklaman also became important. Using
this, users can associate texts to a topic/project, associate citations
from these to the project, create a project blog, and link content from
around the web to the project. Aklaman mostly uses the "just wrote on
the web" approach. Backend and frontend are not distinguished.</p>
<p>Finally, I have found myself spending about a month per year on
improving the code of museum-digital. As noted above, museums can index
and present information about their museum objects using museum-digital.
As there are many, many aspects of these that can and should be
described, say, as there is a need for a multitude of input options,
museum-digital relies solely its rather complex backend for adding and
editing information.</p>
<h3 id="jacms">JACMS</h3>
<p>One of my main reasons for programming JACMS was my unhappiness with the
restrictedness of the usual alternatives like
<a href="https://wordpress.com/">Wordpress</a>. Back then, I was strongly inspired
by the <a href="https://indieweb.org">Indieweb</a> crowd with their differentiation
of different kinds of posts - articles (full blog posts), notes,
bookmarks, events, etc. I implemented most of those and added my own,
publications and presentations.</p>
<p>This multitude of different kinds of posts of course made the whole
project more complex. Adding additional, then again mostly
Indieweb-inspired, options like syndication added to this complexity.
Writing a backend was thus not only the first thing to come to mind out
of being used to them, but also the logical thing to do.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I was thinking about how I could get at least myself
to use it more. For those kinds of posts that are less heavy on options,
I thus also implemented the "just write on the web" approach. I need
to admit that I was a bit lazy in doing so: I just embedded the page for
adding notes (and bookmarks, and so on) from the backend in an <code>iframe</code>
for logged in users. That I never took care of designing this embedded
version speaks for itself. I don't use this function.</p>
<p>Seeing how I only rarely posted notes from the backend and as good as
never used the option to post from the website's frontend, I decided to
write clients for posting directly from my PC without logging in
(better, the credentials are in a separate file and automatically send
with the content). This approach was successful in getting me to post
much more.</p>
<p>My client offers two ways of being used. First, users can open the GUI
version, that also offers additional functionality like automatically
logging in to multiple sites. Again, I don't use this, as opening the
program is one step too many.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I use the same code to post directly from the
terminal. Since I have a terminal open most of the time anyway, I can
thus avoid any additional steps. And indeed, I do post more now. Thanks
to an alias, I post notes by simply writing
<code>post-note "Whatever I want to post"</code>. This however only works by
settings defaults and taking away the options I'd have given myself by
posting using any of the alternatives.</p>
<p>On the other hand, more complex kinds of entries, like blog posts or
events, are something I still enter from the standard web-based backend.
I want to have full control of the different options and writing a blog
post is more than a little work anyway. If I already put up so much
effort to get it written, adding logging in and opening a web page for
posting are not too much additional effort to ask for.</p>
<h3 id="aklaman">Aklaman</h3>
<p>Aklaman requires all users who want to enter information to be logged
in, simply for attribution of their additions. It was thus logical for
me to combine posting and reading. If a user wants to add information,
they simply click a button and forms for posting appear where the
content to be posted will appear later. Alternatively, if something is
to be edited, the content gets placed into a form for changing it at the
same place where it had been presented read-only before.</p>
<p>Only some information demand specific pages dedicated for editing them.
These are first of all page settings - e.g. when users want to use a
custom page design - and user information - so that the user can be more
easily approached by potential other users. Also, there is a dedicated
page for "tools", on which users can upload their bibliographical
databases.</p>
<p>I previously convinced the lecturer of a course at my university to use
Aklaman for gathering information from the course at a central place.
Her original alternative was <a href="https://www.zotero.org/">Zotero</a>, on which
she would have wanted all the reviews etc. to be uploaded as annotations
to the bibliographical entries in a shared list.</p>
<p>While Zotero is a great program, Aklaman seemed much more apt for doing
what she wanted to be done. It has a function specifically programmed
for the same thing she wanted to be accomplished, while Zotero would
have to be used beyond its original purpose.</p>
<p>In the end, the response to Aklaman was existent but low. About half the
students ended up using it, while others were complaining about there
being too many options. My lecturer subsequently decided to try out
Zotero instead. I was the only one to at least transfer the information
I had collected on Aklaman to the Zotero list.</p>
<p>This is where the third aspect I mentioned above comes in: other pull
factors. If you have a group of unmotivated users that do not want to
explore your program (be it Aklaman or Zotero), they will not do so. And
if they are forced to look at it, they'll do so as swiftly as they can.</p>
<p>By the way, in this case even extensive documentation and howtos didn't
help. Zotero has those anyway. For Aklaman, I have my (outdated)
<a href="tools/books.php">documentation page</a> and I also <a href="tools/howto/#aklaman">wrote very
picture-heavy howtos</a>. As a bit of promotion,
please excuse me linking the <a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/aklaman">code of
Aklaman</a>, which is open-source.</p>
<h3 id="museum-digital">museum-digital</h3>
<p>museum-digital is a project of a growing number of museums to present
their objects online (later, indexing object information was added as a
purpose). Thus, there is already a given user base (the museums) that
have an interest in the success of the project and will stay with it.
The use case demands a lot of information being put in for each object.
While a number of checks have been added to drive users to deliver
high-quality object information, driving them to do so at all is a
relatively minor question in comparison to my experiences with giving
Aklaman to a university course.</p>
<p>The high number of different kinds of information to be added, demands a
backend. While backend design eventually became a backend, there are few
complaints.</p>
<p>museum-digital is thus a good example for when it is appropriate to have
a complex (and in this case really much so) backend:</p>
<ul>
<li>when users have a high interest in having so many options,</li>
<li>when they are a rather homogenous group that understand the meaning
of most input fields/options because of their knowledge of the
field,</li>
<li>when the data to be entered is complex and different kinds of
information need to be differentiated from each other clearly.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="to-sum-up">To Sum Up</h2>
<p>To sum up, it's all dependent on the context once again. Depending on
what kind of website/service it is, having a backend or not might be
advisable. Implementing different options to post is a nice way to try
out which one works best. If one does not have the time or ressources to
do so, it's most important to look at what the aim of the users are and
to choose the most appropriate option based on that. Simplicity is not
always the answer, but if users (and in most cases, that's mostly the
one programming things themselves) can't be made to use the
website/service due to other factors, then it might be preferable. If
there are however other pull factors and an aim that demands
differentiated and complex information to be put in, keeping the
complexity (and thus adding a web-based backend as the input method of
choice) might be preferable.</p>
Attempting to synchronize my address book without Google2016-09-02T00:00:00+00:002016-09-02T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/27/<p>This post is a quick follow-up on my previous post about <a href="/post/26">decentralized
synchronization</a>. Back then, I had more or less solved
the replacement of all basic functions one might need on a smartphone
while avoiding centralized services like Google. On some aspects I had
to take a step back - e.g., I cannot enter events on my mobile devices
anymore, I just edit my calendar on my Debian machines and display it on
the web and on my mobile devices after.</p>
<p>The one thing I had not really fixed at all was contacts or address
books. I had already created an online address book using the exported
vCards of my old centrally synchronized address book (which I
subsequently emptied). As I was writing about it, I got more motivated
to find a solution that also works while I am offline.</p>
<p>So I did some research. Among the standalone address book programs that
I could find in the Debian repository,
<a href="http://abook.sourceforge.net">abook</a> looked by far the best.
Unfortunately, the documentation does not seem to state how exactly the
contacts are stored. Since I only have extremely slow Internet access
here, I thus refrained from trying it out. Instead I decided to write my
own address book tool. Again, this doubled as a training session in
programming in <a href="https://www.rust-lang.org/">Rust</a>.</p>
<h2 id="my-little-address-book-tool">My little address book tool</h2>
<p>As I am kind of a flat file fetishist when it comes to programs I use
myself, the most important aspect about my contact manager/address book
tool is that it stores contacts directly as vCards in a dedicated
folder. I don't open source the tool yet, as I hard-coded the folder
into the program. In my case, it's <code>~/.contacts</code>.</p>
<p>It then saves each contacts as an own vCard, that are parsed, searched,
displayed, and edited to my wishes. A short overview of the available
functions can be found when passing the help argument (in this case, not
typing any argument apparently):</p>
<table><thead><tr><th>Command</th><th>Additional arguments</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td>listall</td><td> </td><td>Lists all available contacts</td></tr>
<tr><td>show</td><td>name</td><td>Displays contact with the specified name</td></tr>
<tr><td>search</td><td>search term</td><td>Searches your contacts by name only</td></tr>
<tr><td>fsearch</td><td>search term</td><td>Searches through all your contact information.</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td></td><td>This will search the full contact.</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td></td><td>You may e.g. be searching for a place's name.</td></tr>
<tr><td>add</td><td>name</td><td>Adds a contact by the specified name</td></tr>
<tr><td>insert</td><td>name key value</td><td>Adds a value at key for contact specified in name</td></tr>
<tr><td>rmline</td><td>name key</td><td>Removes all values specified for this key</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td></td><td>from the specified contact. E.g., it will</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td></td><td>remove all phone numbers from a contact.</td></tr>
<tr><td>open</td><td>name</td><td>Opens the contact in your preferred application</td></tr>
<tr><td>rm</td><td>name</td><td>Deletes the specified contact</td></tr>
<tr><td>availablekeys</td><td> </td><td>Lists all available keys that can be</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td></td><td>specified in a contact to keep it compliant</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td></td><td>with the vCard specifications.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<p>Unfortunately, some functions are not yet included. The program does,
for instance, not yet decode specially encoded vCards. This might be the
cause of the problem I ran into while synchronizing.</p>
<h2 id="synchronization">Synchronization</h2>
<p>Once one has full control of one's contact data, stored using an open
standard, synchronizing them should, theoretically at least, an easy
task. Indeed, synchronization to the server works incredibly easy, using
the same method I use to keep my calendar up to date on the server. As
I, again, have no shell access to the server, I synchronize using lftp,
updating any changed files while keeping the unchanged ones as they are.
For this I wrote a little shell script, that I run on a cron job.</p>
<p>Synchronization with Android however still fails without a CardDav
server. On F-Droid, there is an application <a href="https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=am.ed.importcontacts">Import
Contacts</a>.
It fortunately has a batch-import function for full folders of vCards,
just as the one I am using to store my contact information. It thus
looked almost like what I'd wanted (even if it again does not
synchronize back, it would have been sufficient). However, it did not
parse my vCards properly. <code>ORG</code> values were interpreted as contacts,
while the name tag of a vCard (<code>N</code>) was considered a separate contact
unrelated to the additional information in the vCard. My Android contact
list now does include all my contacts' names. I do, however, not have
the phone numbers etc. linked to these in it.</p>
<p>There is still a long way to go, I guess...</p>
Synchronizing Things in a Decentralized Manner, Still Enjoying Life2016-08-06T00:00:00+00:002016-08-06T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/26/<p>About a year ago, I started using <a href="https://syncthing.net/">Syncthing</a> to
replace Dropbox. I did so for the usual reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li>I had started to care more and more about privacy</li>
<li>The prospect of some external service deleting my files is horrible
to say the least</li>
<li>At the time, the Dropbox App on Android would not download one's
files. Workarounds like Dropsync were slow.</li>
<li>It's proprietary software.</li>
<li>I was just moving from Windows to Debian, and getting Dropbox to run
would require work anyway. So getting something else to run was not
much of an additional inconvenience.</li>
</ul>
<p>Now, the first two points can be summed up to a distrust of centralized
systems. Especially if they are not in my hands, but decentralized
systems are preferred even if I could control the centralized one.</p>
<p>Switching from Dropbox to Syncthing meant that the synchronization of
files was taken care of, but what about the other things one uses every
day? Address books, calendar information, to-do lists, et cetera. These
are usually also synchronized, say, using one's Google Account.
Additional things add to this, such as taking and synchronizing notes.</p>
<p>I must add, that I have a strong preference for programs storing their
data in flat files, and that I have also slowly developed a preference
for terminal-based programs. Also, I am only borrowing my web space - I
don't have a server that I could install anything on.</p>
<p>I'll use the rest of this post to outline the problems I have
encountered in moving to new applications more compliant with my
described wishes. Maybe it's useful for some - in the worst case it is
some more links to the sites of nice projects.</p>
<h2 id="bibliography">Bibliography</h2>
<p><strong>Status: Solved</strong></p>
<p>Probably the single issue I care most about is having access to my
bibliographical database. I was using <a href="https://www.jabref.org/">JabRef</a>
already before moving to Linux, and it saves it's database in BibTeX
files. These are essentially text files with a special formatting, say,
easy to synchronize.</p>
<p>On Android, I was using <del>Refmaster</del>
to connect to Dropbox and navigate my bibliographical database from
their.</p>
<p>This setup has not changed much: using Syncthing, I managed to take
Dropbox out of the equation and can now directly open the files locally
on my phone. That's all.</p>
<h2 id="taking-notes">Taking Notes</h2>
<p><strong>Status: Solved</strong></p>
<p>Earlier, I was using Microsoft's Onenote for note-taking and the
synchronization of my notes. As there is no client for it on Linux, I
ran into a problem pretty quickly - and at first reacted by not writing
longer notes anymore. For shorter things, I subsisted on sending myself
Emails.</p>
<p>A solution for this is however not that hard to find. I am now writing
my notes in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown">Markdown</a>, saved in
flat files and thus easily synchronized. On my Debian machines, I am
using gedit to read/write them, on Android an app called <del>Writeily
Pro</del> [Update 2023: Writeily is not actively developed anymore, but was forked
into the <a href="https://github.com/gsantner/markor">Markor</a> project].</p>
<h2 id="to-do-lists">To-Do Lists</h2>
<p><strong>Status: Solved</strong></p>
<p>As for tasks/to-do lists, I was previously using Outlook's to-do list
management. To replace this, I am now using
<a href="https://taskwarrior.org">Taskwarrior</a>. The respective app can be found
on <a href="https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=kvj.taskw">F-Droid</a>.</p>
<p>Taskwarrior is saving to-do list entries in plain text, so Syncthing is
sufficient for synchronization once again. It also comes along with an
own synchronization server, but I have not yet tried that out.</p>
<h2 id="address-book">Address Book</h2>
<p><strong>Status: Solved, kind of</strong></p>
<p>For my address book, I previously used the usual Android way. Just
linking everything to one's Gmail account. Oh, horror! This is not just
my personal data, but it's personal data of others. Which is to say, I
am even more concerned about data protection in regard to these than
about all the other data mentioned above and below. On the other hand, I
just rarely open my address book anyway. Where necessary, the respective
chat apps have some contacts - and for everything else, I could
theoretically just <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grep">grep</a> through
vcards.</p>
<p>To have mobile access to my address book, I keep the data on a server
and use a self-written web frontend to viewing vcards. It's not the
best way, but definitely more responsible than Gmail.</p>
<h2 id="calendar">Calendar</h2>
<p><strong>Status: Work in progress</strong></p>
<p>For keeping a calendar, I was previously also using services linked to
my mail accounts. Unfortunately, it turns out that calendars on Android
are very hard to use otherwise. Getting synchronized calendars is thus
the only major problematic point in my endeavours described here.</p>
<p>I am now using <a href="https://github.com/pimutils/khal">khal</a> for managing my
calendar on my Debian machines. Khal is a Python-based command line
calendar, that stores events .ics files. Now, there seem to be two
different concepts of how to work with .ics. First, one might store all
events in a file each; second, one might create one large file
representing a whole calendar. Khal uses the former, calendars published
on the web the latter.</p>
<p>Android on the other hand natively demands a CalDav server to
synchronize events with. As I want to avoid centralized services not in
my control and do not have access to a server I could install anything
on, this is clearly not an option. Also, calendars to be displayed in
the calendar app are stored in a root-only directory, that I cannot
directly synchronize with as I could with everything else.</p>
<p>I thus had to search for a workaround. On searching through F-Droid, I
found some interesting apps: first, there is the <a href="https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.sufficientlysecure.localcalendar">Offline
Calendar</a>
app (which is accompanied by an additional
<a href="https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.sufficientlysecure.ical">import/export</a>
app), then there is
<a href="https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=at.bitfire.icsdroid">ICSdroid</a>.</p>
<p>Both solve the problem of creating calendars without a CalDav server to
synchronize with. The Offline Calendar app simply creates, well, an
offline calendar, whereas ICSdroid allows the user to add new calendars
based on subscriptions of calendars published as .ics streams either on
the web or locally.</p>
<p>Since the import/export app does not work automatically, using it would
have been a major hassle. I decided against it.</p>
<p>Instead I decided to go the ICSdroid route, even if it means that I can
only edit my calendar on my Debian machines. To create entries on my
phone, I need to create it in a local calendar and then import it into
my general one. Not a pretty way, but it works.</p>
<p>Now, I still had the problem of unifying single .ics files into a stream
per calendar. For this, I wrote a little program to do so. I have
uploaded the
<del>code</del>
here (I admit, the code may not be the prettiest, but writing it also
served as a way play around with
<a href="https://www.rust-lang.org/en-US/">Rust</a> a bit).</p>
<p>Running this program will unify the .ics files into one stream. From
there on, I can synchronize them with my phone and subscribe locally. I
additionally upload the calendars to the server, to also be able to
access them directly from the web or to synchronize from there. For
this, I have written a PHP web frontend, whose code can be found
<del>here</del>
and on <a href="https://github.com/jrenslin/calendar-viewer">GitHub</a>.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/58a5c14ac9253e8900.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/26/calendar-viewer-web-screenshot.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/36f583a6c42349de00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/a4d7a54fc7fca6c600.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/013f39c637e2347f00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="707"
width="1590" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Screenshot of the web calendar viewer</figcaption>
</figure>
References as Metadata, and More2016-07-21T00:00:00+00:002016-07-21T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/23/<p>In my <a href="/post/22">previous post on the presentation of scientific knowledge in
non-traditional media</a> I both called for a discussion
about the issue and provided some early thoughts on how such a
discussion should develop. I also argued for some key points, which are
entirely essential to me - first of all, referencing.</p>
<p>Since then, there have been some developments that I want to outline in
this blog post. While the development of a tool (so far only a proof of
concept unfortunately) that embeds references in files using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Metadata_Platform">XMP
metadata</a> is
certainly the most important, let's start more with some related events
that have taken place since.</p>
<h2 id="approaching-people">Approaching People</h2>
<p>I started my previous post writing about how people told me that they or
others were interested in the topic. Obviously, this is one of my
personal motivations for considering to even just try to work something
out - there is a pool of potentially interested people out there. On the
other hand, getting people working in the social sciences and humanities
or related fields to present their work in a more approachable way
without losing their strengths is just incredibly important, period.
Having a pool of potentially interested people does unfortunately not
mean that people will heed to one's call - even if it is just a call
for discussions. Some PR work needs to be done. Since I am preparing for
writing my BA thesis (say, I could not travel much), and I just went on
a trip to Indonesia this week (say, I won't be able to get any talking
in Germany done in the near future either), the first target group had
to be students in Frankfurt. I thus concentrated on presenting my ideas
at university.</p>
<p>In doing so, I wrote up a <a href="more/Draft-Syllabus-Auttut-media-2016-17.htm">draft
"syllabus"</a> for an
autonomous tutorial-cum-discussion group, which would essentially put
into practice what I proposed in my previous blog post. It is aimed to
incorporate both theoretical and practical elements: we would first
analyze the different media available to us and then discuss, how we
might put what we learned into practice. I also held a short
presentation on the issue, outlining the need for us as people in some
way affiliated to academia to consider "new' media. The presentation
can be found
<a href="cont/viewfiles.php?q=./university/SS_2016/Presentation_2016-07-13.pdf">here</a>.</p>
<p>The next step will certainly need to be to approach more people - those
already thinking about the same questions at university (which are in
other faculties mostly) and those outside of university.</p>
<h2 id="in-search-of-a-framing">In Search of a Framing</h2>
<p>In my previous blog post on the issue, I avoided giving serious reasons
for why people should consider using anything but their usual media in
presenting their work. A pool of people interested in that, sure, it is
a motivation. Me seeing the topic's relevance, sure, it's one, too
(for me). But these are no reasons yet. To engage people I am searching
for a proper framing of the issue.</p>
<p>So far, I think there three ways in which the general issue of
"non-standard media' in the presentation of knowledge can be
presented, if the main aim is to engage the audience:</p>
<p>The neutral framing: "Let's go with the times"
: The "Let's go with the times" argument combines both positive and
negative aspects. On the one hand, it presents a certain urgency to
the issue. If we do not... and there goes the negative framing. On
the other hand, positive aspects ("New opportunities") can be
considered using this argument, too.
This framing requires enough time to actually have a proper exchange
with whoever one is to convince. While generally preferable, it
might not always be the right strategy to use this narrative. If
sufficient time is not available, it might only be really useful
with those, who encounter both positive and negative effects of
non-standard media in respect to their work in daily practice.</p>
<p>The positive framing: "New opportunities"
: The positive framing basically says "look at what cool stuff we can
now do, too". While surely true, it requires those one talks to to
be relative idealistic about what they do and to have some margin of
failure. If people do not care about their work, presenting nice new
models and tools will not matter to them either.</p>
<p>The negative framing: "If we expand our scope in terms of presentation, we'll have a problem"
: This is an alarmist framing, and certainly the worst choice. But it
might help with people, who are happy with their current situation
but don't want to lose it.</p>
<h2 id="the-technical-side-embedding-references-into-files-xmp-metadata">The Technical Side: Embedding References into Files' XMP Metadata</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most important development on my side since my initial post
on the issue, I wrote a small tool that writes and reads references from
and to the XMP metadata of a file. One of my earliest ideas was to
create a framework to have references available with media files in a
machine-readable way. Even in my previous post, I already hailed the
concept of shownotes for podcast episodes. This is essentially what I
was looking for.</p>
<p>I argued however, that notes and references should be easily copy-able
and thus embedded into the file. As reading the file takes longer and
might thus not be preferred over a sidecar file, in which the metadata
is stored, but which makes full copying harder, it might be smartest to
just keep both: metadata embedded into files <em>and</em> metadata written into
a sidecar file.</p>
<p>Since I want my solution to work for as many file formats as possible, I
looked at XMP. XMP uses Dublin Core to describe files, which means that
references are apparently already implemented in XMP - just that nobody
seems to use it.</p>
<p>I thus started writing a tool to edit XMP metadata in files to include
references using the dc:source tag (I am still undecided, if dc:relation
is not more fit). The result is a an editor written in Python (using a
Qt4 GUI), and a more limited version written in PHP. Both can be found
<del>here</del>.</p>
<p>Both still have major problems. The Python version relies on
<a href="https://libopenraw.freedesktop.org/wiki/Exempi/">exempi</a>, which is
unfortunately not available on Windows. Also, writing to files only
works if there is sufficient space for metadata in the file already
(this seems to result from writing plain text into a binary file). I
thus need to use JabRef to write random XMP metadata into PDF files,
which I want to edit, before I can start editing them for now. Similar
problems are likely to occur in the case of audio or video files, even
if I have not tried that out yet.</p>
<p>Despite these problems, it's good news that the implementation was
actually very easy and that the building blocks are already there. An
example of a PDF file with references embedded into the metadata to be
read out for the user later can be found
<del>here</del>.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/a7c41d7ec173efd900.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/23/Screenshot_XMP_Metadata_Editor_GUI.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/97b1fb9ad461970800.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/be4dad88e190a24d00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/934809f820ad700d00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1042"
width="1919" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>A screenshot of the Python-based editor in action</figcaption>
</figure>
On Simplicity2016-07-21T00:00:00+00:002016-07-21T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/24/<p>This blog post is a reflection on what is probably the most important
lesson I've learned since I started programing: to always prefer
simplicity over complexity. First, a word of warning: what I am saying
here is anything but new. And yet many people don't seem to get it. I
did not until not too long ago. And in a way I still don't heed to it
properly.</p>
<p>Since I am mostly doing web development these days (at least for larger
projects), I will outline my most crucial experience with simplicity in
that. I use PHP, so many would probably argue that bloat is embedded in
anything I do, but oh well.</p>
<h2 id="string-operations-vs-simplexml">String Operations vs SimpleXML</h2>
<p>My largest project in scope is Aklaman, a tool that extracts
bibliographic data exported from bibliography managers like JabRef or
Zotero, meshes multiple databases together to support groups working
collaboratively in one environment and seeing what the other is doing,
and then adding non-bibliographic data on the entries. E.g., I can note
down my reading progress or important citations from a book (say, it
started with the idea to create a low level, non-corporate version of
Goodreads that supports all different kinds of text, not only books) and
create projects, in which I can link multiple books or articles.</p>
<p>The data I add on top of the bibliographic entries is a relatively
little problem. The bibliographic databases can however get quite large.
I originally started with XML files extracted from JabRef (using MODS),
which I read using PHP's
<a href="https://secure.php.net/manual/en/book.simplexml.php">SimpleXML</a>. I have
to add, that my main bibliography database is currently at about 4000
entries, equaling about seven megabyte of an exported XML file.
SimpleXML is also a tool coming with quite many functions, OOP support
et cetera, say, it's not the fastest solution either. In the end,
Aklaman took about 0.7 seconds to load on the server, disregarding any
delays in the case of weak connectivity.</p>
<p>I decided I had to put a halt to it. But how? Well, the first and most
obvious thing to do was to get rid of XML. While MODS is a nice and
rather readable standard for bibliographic data, a much slimmer one
exists that works just as well, BibTeX. The equivalent to my seven
megabyte XML file was a four megabyte BibTeX file. There are also BibTeX
libraries for PHP (e.g. <a href="https://people.mmci.uni-saarland.de/%7Ejilles/prj/phpBibLib/">this
one</a>), but I
decided not to use it. I had learned by then, that I didn't need all
the functionalities provided. And if I don't need it - and speed is
crucial - I should not have it. So I just wrote a function reading
BibTeX data into a PHP array. That's 33 lines of code, including empty
ones added for readability. This already reduced loading times to about
a fourth.</p>
<p>Adding complexity in implementation, but reducing the number of
calculations, I then introduced checks on the data. For example, Aklaman
now reads from which database an entry stems from directly from a GET
variable. I can thus determine, if I only need to read one database or
all. Also, if I know how many entries I want to load, it's just logical
to break the loop reading entries after having loaded all I need. With
restrictions like these, I reduced loading times to about a tenth
(depending on the page even much less in some cases).</p>
<h2 id="recooking-old-news">Recooking Old News...</h2>
<p>...is essentially what I am doing here. Back sometime between 1989 and
1991, Richard Gabriel called a somewhat exaggerated version of this
approach the philosophy of <a href="https://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html">"worse is
better"</a>, even if he
later wrote an article in critique of the
<a href="http://dreamsongs.com/Files/worse-is-worse.pdf">former</a> (See also:
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worse_is_better">WP</a>). So, let's be
content with the even older <em>"concrete analysis of concrete
conditions" and appropriate actions</em> - without adding unnecessary
things.</p>
<p>Looking at much of what I see around though, I repeat myself here, it
seems to have become unfashionable. Hardware has gotten better over the
years, and resource scarcity seems to not be an issue anymore most of
the time. If I was not such an impatient person with my PC (and if I
didn't care about scalability), I would have probably not cared much
either when Aklaman was starting to go slow.</p>
<p>But how fast is a website to load in the a Third World Country if it
needs to load five JavaScript libraries before getting anywhere?
Certainly too long. Will a modern version of Windows - or even a Linux
using Gnome - run on my old laptop, which has "only" one GB RAM? It
won't.</p>
<p>In return, will a website that needs to load five JavaScript libraries
before getting anywhere start really quickly with my comparatively good
connection at home? Well, not as quick as a HTML + CSS solution, that
only gets half done but loads much, much faster. Will my new laptop with
four GB RAM run satisfyingly quick with Windows? No.</p>
<p>Simplicity plays a crucial role if there is resource scarcity. The
benefits of simplicity however remain even if the scarcity is removed.
Programs run quickly. And eventually, one gets used to programs running
quickly and gets annoyed at unnecessary delays caused by bloated
designs. Fortunately, simplicity also does not need to mean a worse
product - e.g. less features or a worse UI. The strengths of HTML5 +
CSS3 are a case in point. What more could one need in web development
(on the client side)? Sometimes increased interactivity is indeed
necessary, but good old vanilla javascript suffices for that.</p>
<p>What simplicity does mean however, is a more thorough understanding of
how things work - or how one can get things to work in some way, at the
very least - and slightly more work, because one needs to reimplememt
many things that are already there, or, in the less rosy case, copypaste
things from stackoverflow rather than downloading a library containing
the wanted feature plus five other ones one doesn't need.</p>
<p>I think the message of <em>concrete analysis of concrete conditions and
appropriate actions</em> remains important in many areas, not just
programming. In programming, it has the longest and most successful
history, that's why it's a nice example. And one gets to directly feel
the benefits from it. In other areas, feedback loops are slower. But
they are comparable.</p>
<p>I have yet to learn much to get my programs to be more simple. And I
have to reimplememt much, too. The blog I publish this on is using XML
for storage. JSON would be a nicer way. CSV or, with a different folder
structure, markdown probably the best. But I've learned my lesson for
future projects, and I hope to adhere to it as best as I can.</p>
<p>P.S.: There are many benefits I have not written about here. Resilience,
for example. Well, just remember
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/23/npm_left_pad_chaos/">this</a>.</p>
New(?) Media and the Presentation of Knowledge2016-06-09T00:00:00+00:002016-06-09T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/22/<p>Some weeks ago, I learned that small, regional museums in Germany are
beginning to search for new ways to present themselves and their objects
online, e.g. by using videos or by using audio recordings of one form or
another. Last week, I was approached by a fellow student from the
Department of Southeast Asian Studies, who told me about audio-visual
essays and the potential she saw in them. Surely, questions about the
media of choice to present (scientific) knowledge in the digital age are
beginning to be asked by the relevant players. And it truly is a most
important discussion.</p>
<p>In this post I will start gathering my ideas of what characteristics
media of whatever form and format should have, to be fit for presenting
scientific or structured knowledge on the web. I then proceed to use an
example to showcase my current thinking on how a proper medium could be
selected.</p>
<p>This post is based on experiences and discussions I"ve had about the
presentation of different kinds of sources online (from comics to
academic writing to sculptures). While I am thus confident to have some
level of insight into a rather wide array of affected fields, my
insights might not be too deep into each of the fields and certainly
lack in their empirical basis. They should thus be taken as suggestions
at the beginning of a debate rather than any conclusive arguments.</p>
<p>I start my text with a general listing and categorization of the media
formats available: text, audio, video, etc. These very general
categories of media themselves have sub-categories. An audio recording
might for example be made of a presentation, where there may be only one
speaker and an unclear number of listeners, or of a conversation between
a number of equal participants. These sub-categories, too, need to be
mapped.</p>
<p>In the next part of this text, I will then discuss what I believe to be
the requirement for media that are fit for discourse using structured or
scientific knowledge. A most obvious example of this are surely
references, which cannot be missing. Other important features must
nevertheless be included to advance from industrial age (and earlier)
notions of what the presentation of structured knowledge is supposed to
look like.</p>
<p>In the third part I use the example of a medal in a museum to work
through the different media and look at which of them might be most fit
to discuss different aspects of the object and what we might know about
it.</p>
<h2 id="what-instances-of-media-are-available-for-research">What instances of media are available for research?</h2>
<h3 id="text">Text</h3>
<p>The common medium researchers have used for presenting their findings
has for centuries been text. The text forms most commonly used were
either books or articles, mostly distinguished by their length and the
broadness of the discussion they focus on. Especially in scientific
texts, references through footnotes and a bibliography have increasingly
become a central feature.</p>
<p>On the other hand, more openly narrative forms of texts have also become
available for scientific discourse over time: philosophers may use short
stories (or other fictional forms of text) to illustrate their thinking,
ethnographers and social scientists might present life stories of the
informants.</p>
<p>Finally, blog entries or other text-based web pages have become
available as a text-based medium with distinct features. Most
prominently, hyperlinks offer a new, more direct, and also more readable
way of referencing other works. Other media, like images or videos are
increasingly easy to embed into these pages.</p>
<h3 id="audio">Audio</h3>
<p>Tools for high quality recording of sounds and speech have become
increasingly available to an ever growing number of persons. While they
have so far only rarely been used to publish the findings of scientific
research, they have long been used to collect and store data from
primary sources, e.g. interviewees for social science research or
conversations in a discussion group. This form of audio recording
centered largely on speech, recordings of music or natural sounds have
however been very present for about a century, too.</p>
<p>One of the main reasons audio documents have so far been problematic for
scientific use are surely references. While one may read out loud the
bibliographic data of a book one refers to, this is often just too
lengthy to be practical and it is very hard to process without having a
transcript, which in turn would again mean much work.</p>
<p>A new and growing, not explicitly scientific, approach to audio
recordings might help to overcome the lack of references. Coming from
the podcasting scene, <em>shownotes</em> (e.g. references presented together
with the actual podcast on the podcast"s website) might be a way to
overcome the reference problem of audio recordings.</p>
<p>Audio recordings have a variety of sub-categories, namely presentations,
where one speaker explains a certain topic (possibly aided by the
addition of sound effects), interviews, in which participants have
clear-cut roles and a predetermined hierarchy, and simple conversations,
in which the hierarchies are much flatter and participants just share
their thoughts. Other, more artistic forms obviously also exist. Music,
for example, might be used to spread knowledge of certain topics, but is
commonly hard to fit into the framework of <em>structured</em> knowledge or, if
so, often becomes artistically problematic.</p>
<h3 id="video">Video</h3>
<p>Much of what has been said above about audio recordings also holds true
for video recordings. They have been used for the documentation of
primary sources; they have increasingly, but often in problematic ways,
been used for secondary sources; and they traditionally had a problem
with references, which might be solved using shownotes.</p>
<p>Videos are also a meta-medium, which might be used as an expansion of
all the forms of expression outlined in the case of audio documents.
Still images might also be put into order and presented as a video. Even
text is sometimes presented in videos.</p>
<p>While some of these forms of videos have only had limited success (e.g.
purely text-based videos), others are have become common, e.g.
documentary films and recorded presentations in front of an audience
(e.g. from a conference).</p>
<h3 id="still-images">Still images</h3>
<p>Still images are another medium used for the presentation of structured
knowledge. They may be produced even more easily than audio or video
recordings, using technology that is available to the majority of humans
by now. Sub-categories of still images or making use of these are image
series (e.g. in photography), single images, and <em>infographics</em>.</p>
<p>Extensive metadata frameworks have been developed to document where, by
whom, and with which technology photos have been recorded; photos often
have these metadata embedded automatically by digital cameras and
smartphones. An advantage of these metadata is that they are embedded
into the file, and thus easily copied with the file. These metadata
might also be used for other forms of (single) image files.
Unfortunately, there seems to be no standard tag for references yet.</p>
<h3 id="data">Data</h3>
<p>Raw data are also becoming increasingly important as a published medium
of scientific inquiry. As they are hard to present without selecting
only a subset and adding descriptions, they are so far mostly only
published to accompany more traditionally published expressions of
scientific work, which usually means text.</p>
<h2 id="what-constitutes-a-medium-that-is-apt-for-structured-knowledge">What Constitutes a Medium That is Apt for Structured Knowledge?</h2>
<p>After this rather superficial overview of the available media and uses
thereof, I will outline what I deem to be necessary characteristics of a
medium that is fit to be used for the presentation of structured
knowledge in the 21^st^ century.</p>
<p>I strongly disagree with the notion, that the presentation of structured
knowledge should be kept apart from any other presentation of knowledge.
E.g. documentary films have commonly only presented primary sources in
the form of "talking heads", without making reference to secondary
sources used in the creation of the documentary. On the other hand,
academic writing has developed its own jargon(s), which are not readily
accessible to everybody. Especially with the possibility to embed
references directly into a file's metadata (which was not possible in
the same, covert but easily processable, way before) distinctions
between "public" and "scientific" have little legitimacy. A medium
for the presentation of knowledge should thus be universally usable, and
permit publishing in the same way for different audiences - at best
different audiences at the same time.</p>
<p>Second, one of the main advantages of digital data is its easy
reproducibility: perfect copies of a file can be created with a simple
copy-paste command. So far, this is mainly the case for the actual work
itself, e.g. a journal article or video file. This "main" file is
often readily accessible, say, available for download.</p>
<p>Relevant metadata on the other hand is often stored apart from the
"main" file, e.g. when scientific publishers list references on the
page for a given article on their website, but do not make them
downloadable in any way but a copy-paste of the text. To stay with this
example: references presented in this way are comparatively harder to
download for the majority of people, are not presented in a standardized
way, since they might use different citation styles, and are harder to
copy. If a person was thus to share the article by copy-pasting the
respective file, the extracted references would usually be lost. This
essentially means that references directly embedded into the same file
as the "main" work are to be preferred over storing them elsewhere.
Ideally, they should also be embedded in a standardized way, which makes
them easily processable (and thus also makes the development of
different tools for presenting all or different aspects of the work
easier - say, makes it more publicly accessible).</p>
<p>Third, hyperlinks have been a major improvement over traditional
references. Instead of just giving hints about where a
user/reader/listener could find the source like traditional references,
hyperlinks lead directly to the source. Obviously, this demands that
each source has an identifier (like a URL), which is not the case. Some
efforts like the introduction of DOIs have been made to give identifiers
to sources, which previously had none or which might have changing ones,
but these efforts have not progressed too far yet, are limited in scope,
and might (as is the case with DOIs) be driven by commercial interests
and thus be limited in time, too.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup></p>
<p>Finally, another aspect is the possibility to remix contents, to take
parts of an existing work and re-publish them in an edited form (maybe
with additions from other sources). This may also concern the
possibility to quote something, e.g. in the case of documentary films,
which embed parts of other films. For this to be possible, a given
medium needs to be available in a format that is sufficiently open to
editing - and things should be licensed using a sufficiently open
license.</p>
<p>To sum up, a medium used for the presentation of structured knowledge
should be accessible and attractive to as many people as possible, and
it should feature traditional means of structuring knowledge like
references without the need to embed them in a way that makes it less
attractive to users. This means that it should be possible to embed
references into the file, in a way that is easily machine-readable -
e.g. in a similar fashion to how locations and dates are embedded into
photos already. Ideally, but optionally, the work should then be
published in an open way, using open licenses and file formats. Finally,
the creation of a work using the given medium needs to be possible in a
cheap but high-quality manner.</p>
<h2 id="suggestions">Suggestions</h2>
<p>Finding an appropriate medium for the presentation of knowledge
obviously depends very much on the given context. The actor who wants to
present something, the target audience, the available means, and the
topic to be presented change from situation to situation and determine
what media will be most apt in the end.</p>
<p>The possibility to embed references into a file"s metadata is available
to almost all file formats. Unfortunately, it seems to be a largely
overlooked possibility to embed references directly into them (Dublin
Core has been used as a specification for XMP metadata anyway, and
Dublin Core features references). Open formats are available for all
major media. Similarly, a variety of (to different degrees) open
licenses, e.g. the Creative Commons license family, are available to
choose from.</p>
<p>Hence, the basic building blocks for the presentation of structured
knowledge are readily available for all digital media. The choice for or
against one can thus be made entirely based on what is to be presented.
A few things might be missing, specifications for how exactly references
are to be made and tools to display those properly, but especially the
latter could be implemented easily.</p>
<h3 id="example-banner-der-arbeit">Example: "Banner der Arbeit"</h3>
<p>As has been said above, though, the question of how appropriate a given
medium may be for the presentation of knowledge can only really be
answered in a given context. I will thus proceed with a discussion of
the different media and their sub-categories in light of their potential
use to present information on the <a href="https://www.museum-digital.de/nat/index.php?t=objekt&oges=68378">"Banner der
Arbeit"</a>
medal at <a href="https://www.museum-digital.de/nat/index.php?t=institution&instnr=47">Museum Weißenfels - Schloss
Neu-Augustusburg</a>.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.museum-digital.de/data/san/images/201410/11141409240.jpg" alt=""Banner der Arbeit" from Museum Weißenfels as presented at museum-digital.de" /></p>
<p>Me being able to link to the objekt"s page on museum-digital.de means
that two media (and expressions thereof) are already used: A text-based
web-page displays general information on the object, photos of the
object are used for illustration. The text-based information is limited
to some very basic data, categorization, and some references.</p>
<p>Especially in the case of museum objects, there is often the problem,
that they hold two meanings: the object is the object itself, but it is
also a representation of all objects of its kind. This already becomes
visible when one reads the object description. The first sentences
outline the history of all "Banner der Arbeit" medals (having been
originally created in 1954, while the kind presented here was introduced
in 1974), but the last sentence refers either to the image of the object
or to the concrete object itself.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Der Orden liegt ist in einem roten aufklappbaren Etui, welches mit
rotem Samt ausgelegt ist. (The medal lies in a red folding case, which
has been lined with red velvet)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This may have been the original case, but surely not all "Banner der
Arbeit" medals are still with their cases - and much less will all of
the remaining medals lie in the respective case.</p>
<p>The distinction between the concrete object and its role as a
representative for all objects of its kind is important when considering
different media representations of it. Some media might be unfit to for
one role, but very fit for another.</p>
<h4 id="audio-1">Audio</h4>
<p>In how far can audio aid the presentation of the "Banner der Arbeit"
medal? An intuitive but problematic idea would be to publish a short
audio file in which someone reads out the inscription. A second thought
leads us to ignore this idea, since the inscription a) has only three
words and b) is text-based and might as well be presented in a
text-based form, which requires less work, skills, time, and possibly
money.</p>
<p>A second idea might be to do interviews with previous holders of the
honor, for which the medal was given. Since the medal is still
relatively new, informants should be rather easy to find. This use of
media would surely be insightful and it would capture the informants"
stories much better than a transcript of what they say could (since the
transcript would be missing dialects, changes in voice, etc.).</p>
<p>While information gained from those interviews would deal with the
general object category ""Banner der Arbeit" medal"", an interview
with the donor of the concrete object could give valuable information on
the history of the object itself (e.g.: was it an inheritance? If so,
when was it inherited and from whom?). This information could then be
summed up in <em>text</em> or <em>data</em> by using it for categorization (as can be
found on the bottom of the web-page of the object).</p>
<p>A conversation about medals of this kind could also be recorded with
experts on the topic. Since people seem to be more willing to listen to
long conversations than to read long texts on the web, and since the
creation of chapters within audio files is no larger problem anymore
these days, context information (e.g. on the reasons for which medals
were handed out in the GDR in general) might be brought in here.</p>
<p>Less realistic are audio documentaries, which might either outline the
history of the object itself or the process of research on it. While the
former would require more information than is likely to be present, it
can be ruled out quite easily. The latter would require much research
being done on the concrete medal and is also rather unrealistic, given
the lack of funds most museums and researchers face. Even if substantial
research had been done on this concrete object, this would be most
exceptional.</p>
<h4 id="video-1">Video</h4>
<p>Video has the same (and more) possibilities as audio recordings have. In
case sufficient funds and manpower exist in an institution, interviews
as suggested for the use of audio might thus be recorded as videos, too.
On the other hand, funds and manpower are still a much larger problem
with videos than they are with audio recordings. Given these
restrictions, it likely makes more sense to do audio recordings of the
informants where this is sufficient.</p>
<p>Formats that can profit much from the use of video are for example
documentary films. In case they are to be really focused on the object
itself, these are however surely too expensive to create with sufficient
quality (even just from a technical standpoint, regardless of whether
enough information is available to film a documentary on the object).</p>
<p>Another format that could profit much from video is the recording of
visitors" interaction with the object, which is often non-verbal. While
rather removed from the object itself, such recordings could offer
interesting information on how visitors react to objects from the GDR as
compared to objects from Western Germany, the area in medieval times, or
other time periods and places. Recordings like these should also be
rather easy to make, even if visitors would need to be informed about it
beforehand.</p>
<p>Altogether, video might be a problematic choice in presenting
information on single objects because of the still rather high costs of
producing sufficiently high-quality video documents. If one were to do
an exhibition however, promotional videos - maybe using a bit of the
object information - might be easier and more usefully done.</p>
<h4 id="images">Images</h4>
<p>Images are already used in the presentation of the medal: Two still
images of the medal from different perspectives. This gives the user a
sufficient idea of what the object looks like and I don"t think that
there is much more to say about still images.</p>
<p>Infographics might be a slightly different case: using these, the same
information currently displayed as text on the object"s web-page could
be illustrated. As this does not offer any new information, it might be
a rather negligible option unless automated creation of infographics
based on the available information is added as a feature to the
platform.</p>
<h2 id="to-sum-up-once-again">To Sum Up Once Again</h2>
<p>To sum up once again, I argue that references should be a necessary
requirement for as good as all officially published works by now. These
references should be made available in a machine-readable way and within
the same file as the work for which they stand. Doing so would make
"common" works feature the advantages of scientific publishing while
not being as hard to consume as scientific publishing is right now.
Scientific publishing on the other hand would benefit by being more
accessible to a larger audience without becoming less scientific.
Directly embedding references this way would also make the work more
easily shareable; which is to say, one would not give up on one of the
main advantages of digital publishing.</p>
<p>After this basic matter, the selection of media for the presentation of
knowledge is very much dependent on the context. Creator or creating
institution, aims, different aspects of what is to be presented, and
target audience all could completely change one"s choice.</p>
<p>Finally, I need to repeat that this is just to be taken as a starting
point. Many important aspects, e.g. feedback from users/audience,
remixes, and the generally faster and faster changes in knowledge have
only been hinted at. Discussions of these sure need to follow, from a
practicioner"s perspective, from the user"s perspective, from a
technical perspective and at the intersection of all these.</p>
<hr />
<h2 id="footnotes">Footnotes</h2>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>Each DOI costs
a publisher, and there have been cases where a supposedly eternal DOI
has turned out to be invalid, too. To be fair, the case I am referring
to was a journal article, and it may thus be, that the publisher simply
printed a wrong DOI.</p>
</div>
Update Software Versi Indonesia Museum-Digital2016-03-09T00:00:00+00:002016-03-09T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/21/<p>Mula bulan ini (Maret 2016), software
<a href="https://www.museum-digital.org">museum-digital</a> (versi Indonesia bisa
diakses <a href="https://id.museum-digital.org" title="Versi Indonesia museum-digital">di
sini</a>)
di-update, maka ada sejumlah berita dan perbaikan. Para perbaikan itu
mengenai bidang yang berbeda-beda, misalnya desain yang lebih cantik dan
fleksibel, fungsi database yang baru dan juga fungsi multilingual.</p>
<p>Tetapi akan teks ini tidak mulai dengan deskripsi fungsi yang baru. Yang
pertama, ada introduksi umum kepada software dan proyek museum-digital
dalam rangka antara-negara. Hanya setelah itu saya akan memperlihatkan
sejumlah perbaruan yang terpenting.</p>
<h2 id="apa-museum-digital">Apa museum-digital?</h2>
<p>Museum-digital berarti dua: proyek museum-digital dan software yang
dibangunkan dalam rangka proyek itu. Proyek museum-digital berasal dari
negara Jerman. Pada bulan Januari tahun 2009, sekelompok pakar museum
bertemu-temu untuk mendiskusi digitalisasi dalam rangka para museum
kecil. Salah satu hasil diskusi mereka adalah rencana untuk membuat
software bertujuan merepresentasi benda di world-wide web.</p>
<p>Merepresentasinya berarti mereka mau mempertunjukkan gambaran dan
informasi dasar tentang benda, koleksi, dan museum sendiri. Tiga aspek
itu merupakan dasar ide museum-digital. Tetapi oleh juga ada perbatasan:
merepresentasi tidak berarti inventarisasi. Informasi yang dimasukkan ke
dalam database museum-digital pernah informasi yang akan diperlihatkan
secara publik. (Sejak saat itu, para fungsi inventarisasi juga
ditambahkan.)</p>
<p>Oleh karena museum-digital adalah proyek museum kecil, ada fokus kepada
museum. Setiap museum penghadir berhak lengkap datanya. Museum-museum
juga bisa menghubungi situs webnya dengan museum-digital, maka
benda-benda bisa dilihat di situs web.</p>
<p>Di sisi lain, ada proyek portal yang besar di Jerman dan Eropa, yaitu
<a href="https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/">Deutsche Digitale
Bibliothek</a> di Jerman dan
<a href="https://europeana.eu/portal/">Europeana</a> untuk informasi benda museum
dll. dari semua negeri anggota EU. Oleh karena para portal itu
menggunakan proyek seperti museum-digital sebagai "aggregator", maka
museum-digital juga diprogram untuk menggunakan standar terbuka seperti
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIDO">LIDO</a> jadi bisa berkomunikasi
dengan portal besar itu.</p>
<p>Sekarang ini, proyek museum-digital Jerman sudah memperlihatkan lebih
dari 67000 benda di Internet. Juga ada proyek-proyek seperti proyek
museum-digital di negara lain: Ada proyek museum-digital di Hongaria
(<a href="http://www.muzeumdigitar.hu/">Múzeum Digitár</a> dan <a href="https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasil">proyek
museum-digital di Brasil</a>.</p>
<p>Pada tahun 2013 dan 2014, software museum-digital diterjemahan ke dalam
bahasa Inggris dan Bahasa Indonesia. Sejak itu, sejumlah benda
dimasukkan ke dalam database museum-digital Indonesia. Salah satu fungsi
multi-bahasa juga ditambahkan kepada software museum-digital. Sayangnya,
sebelum update bulan ini, fungsi-fungsi yang baru belum digunakan oleh
versi Indonesia museum-digital. Para seksi berikutnya akan
memperlihatkan sejumlah perbaruan penting update ini.</p>
<h2 id="dasar-kode-bersama">Dasar Kode Bersama</h2>
<p>Pada masa lalu, setiap versi museum-digital berkode unik. Artinya,
proses update sangat melelahkan dan oleh karena begitu, maka para versi
yang tidak aktif (seperti versi Indonesia) tidak diupdate secara baik.
Kerja bulan Februari tim pembangunan software museum-digital memjadikan
dasar kode kebanyakan museum-digital kode yang sama.</p>
<p>Dengan itu, proses update sangat dipermudahkan. Sekarang ini ada fungsi
update, jadi biasanya satu klik sudah cukup untuk membuat update. Karena
lebih muda, maka para versi yang lebih kecil atau tidak aktif masih akan
diupdate. Versi Indonesia museum-digital tidak hanya akan
berfungsi-fungsi terkini pada saat ini, tetapi akan pada masa depan
juga.</p>
<h2 id="responsive-design"><em>Responsive Design</em></h2>
<p>Di seluruh dunia ada perkembangan teknologi komunikasi mobil. Semakin
orang menggunakan HP, dan semakin banyak HP berkapasitas Internet, yaitu
dinamakan smartphone. Teknologi smartphone itu terutama penting di
negara berkembang seperti Indonesia. Oleh karena begitu, <em>responsive
design</em> sangat penting kalau mau menunjukkan benda kepada pengguna
Indonesia. <em>Responsive design</em> berarti situs web berupa yang sesuai
dengan alat akses. Kalau pengguna mengakses salah satu situs web melalui
HP, tidak mau memindah ke kiri-kanan. Kalau aksesnya terjadi melalui
Komputer berlayar yang besar, bisa menunjukkan lebih banyak informasi
pada saat yang sama.</p>
<p>Update bulan maret ini menjadikan versi Indonesia museum-digital ada
<em>responsive design</em>. Sama sekali, juga menjadikan desainnya lebih
cantik.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/b7a5126c09b66a5600.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/21/MDID_Home.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/bd304fb30a54948200.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/c00cca6a402ef19900.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/5a53a8ebf7ef08e600.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="672"
width="1099" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Halaman beranda kalau diakses dengan layaran ukuran biasa</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/de4b2241d1d74d4000.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/21/MDID-Cellphone.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/d6b06abe97d2984600.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/9092d88958a0ddc600.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/4391c707cf78ef4d00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1007"
width="579" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Halaman beranda kalau diakses dengan layaran yang kecil (seperti HP)</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 id="fungsi-multi-bahasa">Fungsi Multi-Bahasa</h2>
<p>Salah satu alasan yang terpenting untuk mempublikasi informasi benda di
Internet adalah kemungkinan untuk banyak orang melihat informasi museum
dan bendanya. Tujuannya adalah dua. Jelasnya, mau benda itu dilihat.
Tetapi akan juga ingin lebih banyak orang mengunjungi museum. Saat
museum-digital diperlihatkan di Indonesia pada pertama kali, salah satu
aspek yang dilihat sebagai aspek yang terpenting adalah fungsi
multi-bahasa. Dengan fungsi ini, orang Indonesia dan orang pariwisata
dari mana-mana bisa mengakses informasi dan pengetahuan tentang benda
dan museum. Dengan update terkini, fungsi multibahasa itu diaktifkan di
versi Indonesia museum-digital.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/abd3b7498fcc5b8e00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/21/MDID_Multibahasa.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/fd2806e384235dec00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/40d3fcb359c3ee0200.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/eabe33b11b48ee6400.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1019"
width="1905" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>Di sisi kanan navigasi ada bidang seleksi bahasa umum. Dengan itu bisa memilih bahasa untuk semua bagian situs web. Kalau salah satu masukan
tidak ada terjemahan bahasa pilihan itu, bahasa biasa versinya (Bhs. Indonesia dalam versi Indonesia museum-digital akan ditunjukkan). Di bawah judul benda, bahasa masukan bisa dipilih oleh pengguna.</figcaption>
</figure>
To Stir or To Dissect?2016-02-19T00:00:00+00:002016-02-19T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/20/<p>On this blog, I usually write either about <a href="/post/17">IT-related
things</a> or about the <a href="/post/19">academic</a>
<a href="/post/3">parts</a> <a href="/post/6">of student life</a>. This blog post
will surely be the most basic one yet. Nevertheless, I deem it necessary
to write it, as a reminder to the topic of this blog post, the - or at
least my - general approach to solving problems, is often necessary. Too
often do debates get out of hands because two discussants concentrate on
different levels of a problem without keeping in mind how these levels
relate to each other. Too often are there simple misunderstandings
because people communicate on different levels.</p>
<p>I argue, that any larger problem, any larger question can be dissected,
broken up into different levels or layers, which can then again be
broken up into different single aspects. Only through a clear-cut
differentiation of each of these can a proper solution or answer be
found. On the other hand, there are links of mutual influence between
the different aspects and layers that sometimes make it hard to follow
through consistently with differentiating the layers. Instead of mixing
up the layers as a result of this highly complex interlinkage, though,
we should analyze the links and relations between different
layers/aspects as a later step and still keep the clear-cup
differentiation.</p>
<p>This, I argue, is the reason for the development and documentation of
set approaches in the production of knowledge. A given approach offers a
way to map a problem, say, to break it up into different layers and
different aspects within layers. Additionally, it may point to key
aspects which deserve special attention among the myriad of aspects that
can be potentially identified as part of a problem.</p>
<p><img src="/posts/20/layersofproblem.svg" alt="Breaking down a problem" /></p>
<p><br />
Indeed, I believe that this basic assumption is a major part of the
foundation of modern science. Without being literate enough in the
general history of modern science to substantiate this claim, I can
offer a number of examples from different disciplines in which
categorization is used to get a hold of a problem. I will do so in the
first part of this text.</p>
<p>Also, I believe that this meta-approach - breaking up problems,
analyzing the parts, looking at the whole problem again and analyzing it
using the previously gained insights - is applicable to most if not all
problems of everyday life. This will be dealt with in the second part of
this text: I outline the three layers of problem solving to be found
when editing a website, which uses my CMS.</p>
<h2 id="different-fields-same-structure-of-inquiry">Different Fields, Same Structure of Inquiry</h2>
<p>This section outlines two different approaches from very different
fields of science to show that across the field there is a common
structure to how problems are analyzed. This common structure is the
dissection and breaking down of problems into different layers and
subsequently different aspects of each layer as described above.</p>
<ol>
<li>In her <em>Servants of Globalization: Women, Migration and Domestic
Work</em>, Parreñas (2001) discusses the life of (Filipina) labor
migrants using a framework breaking up the levels or layers
influencing a labor migrant as follows: First, there is the
<em>structural level</em>, describing large scale, systemic aspects like
global capitalism. Second, there is the <em>intermediate level</em>,
describing e.g. policy. Finally, the <em>subject layer</em> describes the
immediate surroundings of a person within the group of people that
is to be analyzed.</li>
<li>Benkler (2006) uses another threefold set of layers to describe the
conditions of the development of society towards a "networked
information economy". These layers are the physical (e.g. the
distribution and ownership of internet connections), the logical
(e.g. software), and the content (e.g. laws to restrict the
reproduction of cultural products) layer.</li>
<li>In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation_studies">translation
studies</a>, a
number of different layers of a text are identified. Among these are
the text itself, it's context, and the paratext (e.g. headlines).</li>
</ol>
<p>A large number of other scientific approaches, showing the same
structural characteristics of breaking down problems into smaller parts
which can first be analyzed in isolation, then in their relationships to
others, can be found. The point of this small list is not to highlight
the given approaches. It is to highlight the existence of categorization
as a common tool.</p>
<p>In the next section I show how categorization of a similar kind may be
useful in everyday situations using the example of editing the design of
a website based on JACMS.</p>
<h2 id="editing-a-website-based-on-jacms">Editing a Website Based on JACMS</h2>
<p>There are three levels of edits that can be made to a website running
JACMS. The first I will call the software level. Editing it means
directly editing the code of the software or, if possible, changing the
settings. Edits to it include, e.g. edits to the spelling of words in
the navigation (by changing the source code) or the disabling of certain
functions of the website (in the general settings).</p>
<p>Second, there is the design level and, third, the content level. The
differentiation of design and content is slightly more complicated.
Changes on the design layer affect the way all elements of a certain
group of elements look, e.g. all links or all headlines. Text content
itself on the other hand are clearly on the content level. The way a
post finally looks may be on either layer. On which it takes place
depends on the motivation behind the change to be made.</p>
<p>Say, one wants to change how [all links]{.underline} within [all
posts]{.underline} look. In this case, since the design change applies
to all links, or at least is about changing the default look of all
links, the design change is to be considered to be on the design level.</p>
<p>Contrastingly, design may be part of the content. If one, e.g., wants to
emphasize a given word by using italics, the change of design is
directly linked to an intended change in meaning. Thus, it is to be
considered a part of the content layer.</p>
<p>In a nutshell, one may ask oneself: "Does my edit change anything in the
meaning or do I just want to make the website look prettier?".</p>
<p>Once the level on which the intended change is to occur has been
identified, the appropriate measures can be taken. To change the design
overall (in case of a design level problem), users can access the CSS
file in the backend. Using another function, they can edit posts, and
thus the design of only single words (or any other kind of entities in
general) in case of content level problems. Finally, software level
changes will most likely not be done by the user editing the post. They
can only be done either by a person who has access to the source code or
administrator rights within JACMS.</p>
<h3 id="this-is-an-example">This <em>is</em> an example</h3>
<p></p>
<p>An example of the differences between content and design layer using a
headline. The full headline carries the default style, determined on the
design level. The "is" is additionally written in italics for emphasis -
which is a change on the content level.</p>
<h2 id="references">References</h2>
<ul>
<li>Benkler, Yochai. 2006. <em>The Wealth Of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets And Freedom</em>. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. <a href="http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks.pdf">http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks.pdf</a>.</li>
<li>Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar. 2001. <em>Servants Of Globalization: Women, Migration And Domestic Work</em>. Stanford University Press/Ateneo de Manila University Press.</li>
</ul>
Thoughts on Culture and the Area in the Age of Globalization: Will Southeast Asian Studies Keep their Legitimacy?2016-02-11T00:00:00+00:002016-02-11T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/19/<p>With globalization getting stronger and stronger, the area seems to be
becoming less and less relevant. Cultural practices cross borders and
boundaries faster and knowledge of them is less bound to a given place.
In Southeast Asian Studies we deal with potentially any given event or
fact in our area of interest. Our legitimation for doing so, though,
lies with the notion that the different culture determines practices in
Southeast Asia to be different from, say, in Europe.</p>
<p>Previously area studies have been under attack from universalists and
strong supporters of the disciplines. Universalists argued that given
equal economic conditions, practices would equal each other from area to
area. They thus basically ignored culture as an essential factor to be
taken into account in people's life. Given this lack in their critique,
it could be countered quite easily.</p>
<p>A second critique was based on the idea, that area studies scholars were
using disciplinary means, e.g. in research methods or theories they
applied. As scholars from the given discipline would always be more
knowledgeable about these means, area studies scholars would be left
with language skills as their only advantage. The consequence of this
idea would be a removal of scientific aims from the area studies and
their transformation to a kind of "translator education plus". Area
studies 'scholars' would then work in teams with people from the
disciplines only, in a role of rather passive support instead of
actively pursuing research on their own. (<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/000944550003600301">Kujiper
2000</a>)</p>
<p>This critique is harder to refute, but will probably remain a subject of
discussion and not more. Enough people seem to still see an essential
need for specialized research only on a given country or culturally
defined area.</p>
<p>Ever increasing globalization may plausibly be seen as a huge threat to
Southeast Asian Studies. After all, the demise of a distinct culture
bound to Southeast Asia would leave us, again, without a real
legitimation for our work.</p>
<p>In this text I reflect on the substance of the claim that globalization
made the area an increasinly irrelevant category for the creation of
culture. This reflection is a preliminary one. It is based on readings
on the nature of globalization, the effect of media on society and
transnationalism.</p>
<p>I begin my discussion with an analysis of globalization of markets and
the claim, that it was an essentially new development. In doing so I
focus on the structure of markets and information distribution in a
globalized world. I largely exclude the Internet in this first part of
the text, as it offers important, different implications to the future
of the area than the developments described in this part.</p>
<p>In the second section of the text I first offer a brief, incomplete
definition of culture. I then discuss the relevance of the area in the
past and present. Only in the third part of the text do I consider the
Internet, before finally coming to the conclusion that the area will
remain very relevant in the creation of culture. Some adjustments in the
concepts and legitimation of Southeast Asian Studies may be necessary,
but it is unlikely to lose its legitimacy.</p>
<h2 id="what-is-globalization-and-is-it-all-that-new">What is Globalization and Is It All That New?</h2>
<p>I will start this section by trying to give a most general definition of
globalization. Globalization describes the development of an ever more
globally integrated economy and life facilitated by the emergence of
more effective transportation and communication technology (and
"neoliberal" ideology and policy). Everyday examples are imported goods
in the supermarket and the possibility for everybody with access to the
Internet to connect with anybody else, provided the
partner-in-communication also has access to the Internet.</p>
<p>While the speed and scale of globalization in recent times is certainly
unprecedented, an increasing speed in transportation, faster methods of
communication and an integration of regional economies have been around
for a long time. On a basic level: horse-riding is faster than walking;
before the invention of script, communication had to done
person-to-person (maybe using other people as media), and trade routes
spanning at least from China to Ancient Rome have been hinted at
archaeological findings and written records. On a cultural level,
consider the spread of the different religions in earlier times as an
effect of an early sort of globalization. Globalization is not all that
new - and earlier area studies scholars had to deal it, too. Even if it
was probably never as strong and far-reaching with a less extreme form
of it.</p>
<p>The structure of the globalized world has been described as a network of
"global cities", regional centers, which are linked to a <em>hinterland</em>
made up of rural areas directly connected to the world market through
the "global city" and farther away, lower tier, cities. These lower tier
cities have their own <em>hinterland</em>, connected to the world market
through their regional center and then the "global city" Saskia Sassen,
Global Cities. In this network of regions, the urban centers draw in
professionals (and <em>reproductive laborers</em> serving these), like lawyers
and stock market brokers, who engage in the exchange of goods or help
facilitate it. Goods, information, and people - at least in theory -
freely flow between the "global cities". The <em>hinterland</em> on the other
hand primarily fulfills the function of a place of actual production of
goods.</p>
<p>This framework also extends to the basic structure of information:
knowledge and information is primarily centered on the urban centers of
the network and reaches the <em>hinterland</em> through them. This point will
become important in my later discussion on the creation of culture and
the effect of globalization on it.</p>
<p>Again, the extent to which this network exists is unprecedented, less
and less areas remain outside of it, and the geographical location of
the "global city" is increasingly irrelevant, but there are stark
similarities to previous structures. It is also important to note that
this system depends on the asymmetries and concentration in power
created through a market economy - and that it is focused on the free
flow of goods primarily. In the next subsection I discuss the active
freedom and reach of movement and communication of people in the global
economy.</p>
<h2 id="class-and-globalization">Class and Globalization</h2>
<p>An argument for the disruptive extent of today's developments is
certainly the accessibility of the 'means of globalization'
(transport, communication technology) to a considerably number of
people, comprising not only elites. A historical comparison is helpful
in understanding this.</p>
<p>Historical ruling classes have been described as essentially
transnational (or trans-state before the emergence of nation states,
trans-regional on a lower level), while common people had no or little
direct access to information from far away.</p>
<p>Take for example colonial elites and the common people in the
<em>hinterland</em>, mostly peasants, in colonial times and areas. Colonial
elites often had to travel to a few urban centers to get the necessary
education for fulfilling their role in the bureaucracy. In these urban
centers they had to communicate, often in some language that was not
their native tongue. They met with elite students from other parts of
the colony, which had different customs and practices. Through this,
they developed a new form of identity and culture distinct from that of
their region and their social class in their home region only. Towards
the end of the colonial age, more and more had the chance to receive
higher education in the country ruling them - where they were again
confronted with a very different culture and not rarely organized in
communities of upper-class countrymen, which nevertheless used the
language and vocabulary of the colonial rulers.</p>
<p>The commoners on the other hand had no or little access to knowledge
about what was happening in other areas of the colonial empire or the
country of the colonial rulers. Much less was a considerable number of
them able to travel to those areas. Their focus lay mostly with their
own village, area or region. Influences from the outside were not many,
often censored, and to be consumed in a rather passive manner. By this I
mean: people could actively take them up, reinterpret them, but they had
little chance to communicate their innovation to the outside and take an
active role in the supra-regional, colonial, or global discourse.
Nevertheless, their central point of identification (a term used bare a
better one; I mean a set area to which people feel themselves belonging
as well as in whose discourse they feel they are actively participating)
remained a regional one at most.</p>
<p>A somewhat different development did take place with the introduction of
large-scale, mass education. In different colonies, different areas,
this process took different forms. While the U.S.-Americans introduced
schools for the masses in the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies saw
that combined with large number of schools organized by different
political groups (most notably the Islamic organizations, the feminist
movement, and the communist movement). This difference led to different
foci in social science education - and different points of
identification. US-led, top-down education in the Philippines started
with US-American teachers, used US-American textbooks, brought the
English language to a large number of people. Thus, the point of
historical identification for many common Filipinos, and parts of the
elite, in the early 20th century moved from the regional and maybe the
national level to these and the US. Contrastingly, education for common
people in the Dutch East Indies was more diverse - and the political
streams' schools brought nationalist history to the people. This means
the point of identification, the imagined area of discourse was not <em>The
Netherlands and also these colonies</em>, but <em>The Dutch East Indies</em> as a
distinct category.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup></p>
<p>Nationalism carrying the notion of equality of <em>citizens</em> further
strengthened the actual or at least perceived belonging to a given,
trans-regional discourse. Similarly, the development of the telegraph,
then radio and television strengthened a national level discourse more
directly reaching the majority of people. On the other hand, this
discourse was largely to be consumed, not to be actively participated
in.</p>
<p>Again, at the time, education and the spread of modern media was not
spotless. Many areas in both colonies remained cut off from them and the
described developments apply more the closer one gets to developed
areas. Far off in the mountains it is unlikely to apply - in the
immediate <em>hinterland</em> of the colonial capitals it is much more likely
to. The described developments are nevertheless notable for reaching a
much larger group of people and, in the case of nationalism, instilling
in them the idea, that they, too, had a right to active participation in
a larger scale discourse.</p>
<p>Truly active participation in national level discourse was still very
limited though. It was only possible with either a certain level of
wealth or further education - as most often at least this was necessary
to become, say, a journalist - or organized, large scale efforts. Active
participation can thus be described as a class issue. Money, educational
attainments, et cetera determined an individual's role in the
discourse - to different degrees (re-)producer or consumer of opinion.<br />
On the other hand this model did not take all active participation from
the masses. Through large scale, organized efforts, such as strikes or
uprisings, they could make their voices heard. Banding together could
reduce their disadvantage vis-à-vis the elites. This is to be said to
not ignore their actual possibilities, but it is also to be noted that
it associated much higher risks and demands with active participation
for the less well-off. An educated, well-off person could just write an
opinion paper in the vocabulary of the national level discourse, while a
poor person had to risk their job and often their life and spend a large
amount of effort and time in organizing others, supportive of the same
position, to participate in it actively.</p>
<p>Today, international travel is increasingly cheap and accessible to a
growing number of people. Labor gets imported and exported on a global
scale. Nevertheless a large number of people, those too poor to afford
e.g. a plane ticket, remains excluded from actively participating in
these developments, e.g. by experiencing another culture by directly
visiting places around the globe.</p>
<p>Using the "global cities" framework, I have so far largely disregarded
the existence of the Internet in this text. The Internet offers
opportunities for a more decentralized communication - and thus builds a
more decentralized infrastructure for the creation of identity and
culture. In the next section I try to offer a short definition of
culture, and a discussion of the importance of the area to the creation
of culture. I then proceed with taking the Internet into account.</p>
<h2 id="culture">Culture</h2>
<p>In this section of the text I aim to give a brief and general definition
of culture. For the purposes of this text I will ignore meta-level
considerations. This means I will limit myself to discussing culture as
it potentially may be for an individual in a society[1], not as a
concept anthropologists and theoreticians have developed to describe the
practices of a society (see e.g. Kluckhohn 1959 as cited by Geertz
1973). I will provide a definition of culture pertaining to individuals
primarily.<br />
The societal level to culture is partly embedded in this definition of
an individual's culture, as society can most certainly be described as
a community made up of a number of individuals. More information on the
definition of society I adopt for the purposes of this text can be found
in footnote 1.</p>
<p>I base my definition of culture on the basis of the very rough
definition provided by Benkler [2006], which is in turn informed by
Jürgen Habermas' notion of culture. Benkler and Habermas define
culture, to sum up, as background information enabling an individual to
give meaning to different aspects of the world surrounding him or her.
This background information is in turn determined by a number of
factors.</p>
<p>A non-exclusive list of these factors may be the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>Customs and practices an individual is tought by relatives and peers</li>
<li>Customs and practices as transported through 'the media'</li>
<li>Economic factors constraining an individual's ability to engage in
certain acts, receive information, and spread information</li>
<li>Legal frameworks constraining an individual's ability to engage in
certain acts, receive information, and spread information</li>
<li>Customs and practices as adapted and developed on by an
individual's or a group's creativity and negotiated in whichever
discursive space(s) the actor, group or individual, has access to</li>
</ol>
<p>Through these and other factors, an individual is embedded within
society or societies. Navigating through these different constraints,
the individual then finds own ways to identify meaning in what exists
and happens around him or her, say, an own identity or own identities
and an own interpretation of something like an individual, personal
culture.</p>
<p>Additionally, it is to be noted that the given constraints affect
culture in different ways. Legal frameworks build somewhat of a
superimposed context in which all other areas are embedded to a certain
extent. Economic factors, on a more abstract level, similarly affect all
other spheres influencing the individual and the society or societies in
which it is embedded. Media, and individual or collective agency can in
turn affect the other spheres in some cases. All the given factors are
closely intertwined, but have different actors representing them and
different levels of access to an individual's formation of identity and
a personal interpretation of culture and.<br />
If one is to follow such a framework of understanding culture, it is
relatively simple to argue, that something like, e.g., an "Indonesian
culture" existed, without contradicting the existence of a distinct
"Javanese culture" and a distinct "Yogyakarta culture", etc.</p>
<p>To allow for the existence of these different yet linked cultures - and
thus the historical legitimacy of Southeast Asian Studies - while
accepting every individual's possibility to create his or her own
distinct culture and identity to some extend, I propose understanding
these cultures as collective similarities of a majority of those people
inhabiting the area. If all or almost all people in Yogyakarta, say, eat
with spoon and fork, then eating with spoon and fork will be part of
Yogyakarta culture. If the same applied to a large majority of
Indonesians, it would simultaneously be Indonesian culture.</p>
<p>As parents and peers teach newcomers to the community (e.g. children
born into it) their practices, concepts, and customs, the culture gets
reinforced. New practices on the other hand - able to either change only
the individual's practices or the overall culture in case they are very
successful and become common to the majority of the respective set of
people - can get introduced into the respective group of people by
direct contact with other peoples, e.g. travel of parts of the
collective to areas with different practices, by media consumption, e.g.
someone seeing different practices exhibited on a TV show, or be created
from within the community by human creativity.</p>
<p>Just knowing about the possibility of the new practices, concepts,
customs will not make people adopt them yet though. Just knowing about
the existence of a different culture does not yet dissolve or even
change a culture. Different reasons for adopting new practices,
concepts, or customs may then include the ineffective of old practice
etc. in a changing context, social prestige gained through the adoption
of the new practices and more.</p>
<p>This is where legal frameworks and a group's economic situation become
most important to consider: in the unlikely case spoons and forks were
forbidden from being used in an area, people there would need to adopt a
different practice on a large scale. Thus, cultural practices would be
very likely to change. Similarly, if the economic situation was to
worsen extremely and people would have to sell their spoons and forks,
they would need to adopt a different practice of eating.</p>
<p>These quite extreme examples displayed the role of legal frameworks and
economic situation in possible changes in culture. More often the
opposite is the case: legal frameworks and economic situation hindering
change in culture. An example in the case of legal frameworks would be
the position a society holds vis-à-vis homosexuality. Using the
Philippines as an example, homosexuality is accepted by probably a
majority of people. Nevertheless, homosexuals are not rarely mocked. One
reason cited is that it is not "normal". Not normal does not need to
mean that, to achieve full acceptance without mocking commentary, a
majority of the people would need to become homosexual. It does however
mean that homosexuals would not need to be seen as essentially different
anymore. Different, yes - but not essentially different to the extent of
it resulting in different rights etc. If gay marriage is not legalized,
and it is currently not in the Philippines, this means that the law
supports a view of people of different sexual orientation as essentially
different. Thus law reproduces given cultural restrictions and hinders
possibilities for a change.</p>
<p>Economic factors may similarly hinder a change in culture. For this the
previous example may suffice in reversed form. If a large majority of a
group was to eat with their hands while having been taught that this was
unhygienic, ineffective, or otherwise undesirable, they would still use
their hands. If the economic situation of these people were then to
change, giving them access to other means of food consumption, they
would most likely change their habits in one way or another (probably
choosing from one of the different modes of food consumption already
apparent to them from education, media consumption or direct exchange
with somebody, who follows different practices).</p>
<p>Now, if one adopts as open a definition of culture as this, why would
Philippine Studies be more relevant than, say, "Studies on Model
Railroad Enthusiasts"? Why does one category, the one linked to a
certain geographical location, get funding and recognition while the
other one, directly based on people's interest does much less?<br />
The answer lies in the mentioned restrictions and the structure of
economic markets and information in the world until quite recently
(which, as also noted above, is not too different from the notion of a
globalized world as determined by "global cities" and their
<em>hinterlands</em>). On the one hand, legal frameworks and to a rather large
extent economic conditions of the majority of people in an area where
and are determined by the area they live in.</p>
<p>Most notably, this concerns areas in terms of administrative units, not
necessarily geographical location. Hawai'i is far from the mainland
USA, but the GDP per capita of Hawai'i (USD 48,914 in 2014
(<a href="http://www.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?reqid=70&step=1&isuri=1&acrdn=2">BEA</a>))
is a bit above the USA-wide average (42,070 in 2011 (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170430185416/https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/gdp_state/2012/pdf/gsp0612.pdf">BEA
2012</a>)).
In contrast Hawai'i's GDP per capita is about 30 times higher than
that of Kiribati (1,509.5 from 2011 to 2015), which is much closer to
Hawai'i in terms of geographical distances. In the case of Southeast
Asia, take for example Singapore (56,284.6 from 2011 to 2015) and
Indonesia (3,491.9 from 2011 to 2015) or the Philippines (2,872.5 from
2011 to 2015)
(<a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD">Worldbank</a>).<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup>
A structure of markets and information following roughly the "global
cities" framework makes for the existence of inner-regional differences
which are apparently determined also by geography. Hence the differences
between most rural areas in the Philippines and Manila, between Manila
overall and Makati, and between all of those and Singapore.</p>
<p>This means legal and economic factors are heterogeneous within a
country, but more homogeneous than on all of planet Earth. Similarly,
they are heterogeneous within a city or village, but more homogeneous
than in the country overall. Thus incentives for people to adopt certain
practices, concepts, etc. are more homogeneous within a given area.</p>
<p>Family and peers, which have a chance to make a lasting influence on
one's customs, have been bound to be in direct contact and thus in the
same geographical area as the one to adopt a practice. This means that,
as long as the Internet is not considered, the probably most major part
making for the reinforcement of cultural practices, concepts, etc. is
deeply linked to one's area. In how far the Internet may or may not
change something in this matter will be discussed in the next section.<br />
Finally, media are to be considered as a factor giving people
inspiration to push for changes in their culture. Only considering
traditional media (e.g. newspapers, books, television, radio), these are
again strongly affected by area. There are local newspapers, and
national-level newspapers for people to read. If a store offers more
than these, e.g. newspapers from another country, these are almost
certainly outnumbered by the local or national-level ones. Also, the
existence of a large number of languages determines that much of the
<em>foreign</em> newspapers will not be understood by a given individual.</p>
<p>Thus there are or have been distinct discursive spheres from city to
city with some difference, from nation to nation with much more
difference. Regions and nations as a category determine the array of
options an individual knows of without having to (re-)invent them. More
or less consistent cultural spheres have been supported by the structure
of the media.</p>
<p>The Internet again offers a challenge to the existence of more or less
consistent discursive spheres. The next section will offer a discussion
of the extent to which it not only influences a common person's access
to 'the media' but also constitutes a challenge to the relevance of
the area in creating more or less consistent cultures.</p>
<h2 id="decentralized-globalization-of-information-and-the-creation-of-culture">Decentralized Globalization of Information and the Creation of Culture</h2>
<p>For most of this text I have adopted the "global cities" framework as a
basic theory of how a globalized world functions. I have consciously
excluded the internet as factor so far though<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#3">3</a></sup> As pointed out above,
transportation now and transportation and information before are
accessible to only a comparatively small group of the overall population
worldwide. Until a really cheap transportation technology that is
available to all or almost all people and transports one to other people
at as good as no time loss (twelve or more hours from Frankfurt to
Jakarta are still a considerable time, even if completely minor compared
to several month the same journey might have taken in the 19th century),
and as long as there are national borders, this will likely remain so.
These restrictions have given the area or different levels of area a
great significance for culture.</p>
<p>The Internet on the other hand has become cheap enough to be available
to an estimated 3.2 billion people (ITU 2015). It offers access to
information from all over the globe to its users, both by media outlets
and other individual users. Whereas some, and indeed more and more,
governments restrict access to information on the Internet, this is
commonly not excessive enough to shut out all information which comes
from outside of the country.</p>
<p>Thus the Internet might at first sight have the potential to create a
truly global discursive sphere and level off cultural differences
strongly, maybe to the point of irrelevance. Giving the matter longer
consideration, previous language barriers largely persist. Similarly
legal and economic constraints persist. Cultural practices learned by
imitation from those around an individual as a baby and toddler will
still be largely dependend on the location of the individual and who it
is they are surrounded with. The Internet does indeed change these
constraints partly. In the following I will discuss the influence of the
Internet on some of these constraints first before discussing social
organization, and thus the development of discursive spheres in which
culture can be easily exchanged.</p>
<p>Language barriers will certainly persist in the near future. Two
developments help leveling these off to some extent, but not to the
point of erasing the barriers altogether. First to mention and probably
quite unrelated to the Internet is the rise of the English language to
something resembling a global lingua franca for an increasingly large
part of those not completely disadvantaged.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#4">4</a></sup> Second and partially
related to this development is the motivation the Internet can give to
people for learning foreign languages. Research has been shown that
people from different language and cultural backgrounds who meet online
as part of "communities of interest" gain motivation to learn each
other's language from this [Thorne et al. 2009]. As English, as more
and more of a lingua franca, can enable people to meet in global
communities of interest and then gain that motivation, it may result in
much more people being not only bi-lingual (or tri-lingual in case their
regional language ), but much more multi-lingual. Thus they could
partake in or at least consume culture from another language area
directly via the Internet and then spread their thus gained knowledge in
translation to those in their area.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the argument has been put forward that in some cases
English does indeed serve rather as an enabler for an international or
global community of interest to build than communities of interest for
English language native speakers. In the case of <em>scanlation</em>, the
practice of scanning, image editing, translating, and then publishing
manga via the Internet, Fabbretti [2014] describes this role of the
English language - yet international - community. On the other hand,
there are mostly smaller communities translating into the different
other languages (c.f. Ratti [2013]). These 'national language level'
groups often do not use the original language version as a basis for
their translation, but retranslate from English.</p>
<p>This very limited example hints at a structure of how cultural products,
incorporating cultural practices, etc., can be carried over the language
barriers using different mediators. First, information is brought from
one source discursive sphere or culture to the international level. Then
it is brought to the different discursive spheres or cultures defined by
the different other language. Despite the potential for such forms of
mediated cultural exchange, they will not dissolve language barriers
either.<br />
To sum up, language barriers will most likely persist. Different effects
of the Internet do indeed lower them, but not to the point of erasure.</p>
<p>Second, there are family and peer networks from the same, which can
already be discussed at this place. Contrastingly, peer networks can
potentially be entirely or mostly virtual, a potential that will be
discussed later. Family networks are bound to a certain area by
preexisting cultural notions of "the family being together" as the ideal
form of family life. Globalization and a higher availability of
sufficiently efficient means of transportations constitute a challenge
to this ideal - a challenge again very apparent in the case of the
Philippines.</p>
<p>The Philippines are one of the main exporters of labor in the world.
Currently, about ten percent of the population are abroad (<a href="cfo.gov.ph/images/Statistics/STOCK_ESTIMATE/2013-Stock-Estimate.xlsx">Commission
on Overseas Filipinos
2013</a>).
This means that many, probably most Filipinos have some family member or
acquaintance who went abroad. On the other hand, the emphasis on family
remains strong among most Filipinos.</p>
<p>Important for the purposes of this section are the strategies migrant
workers adopt to communicate with children, who remain in the
Philippines. Unfortunately much of the most relevant literature is not
up to date with technological developments, as it was still written in
the age of GSM phones and SMS. <sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#5">5</a></sup> Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)
parents are described as making heavy use of phone calls, letters and
SMS to keep in touch with their children and be a part of their life.
Aguilar et al. [2009] describe the situation of a mother working
overseas demanding her family to keep the phone on, loudspeakers turned
on, while the children go on with their everyday duties at home.</p>
<p>Today, better Internet connections and software have expanded the
possibilities of parents working overseas much. A more recent report
from national geographic mentions an OFW mother making use of Facebook
for video chats [Gorney 2014]. Thus, children are enabled to
experience their kins' practices, concept, culture almost
directly.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#6">6</a></sup> Similarly, modern technology enables OFWs to keep in
touch with each other either directly or using their home community as a
central medium distributing information about other migrants from the
same community among OFWs as described by Aguilar et al. [2009]. Thus
it further enables transnational modes of being, say, reminds them of
their 'home culture' while they can still experience life in another
area and culture.</p>
<h3 id="social-organization-on-the-internet-and-the-media">Social Organization on the Internet and 'the Media'</h3>
<p>In this subsection I discuss the influence of the Internet on the ways
people can participate in the public discourse using the Internet. My
description of social organization on the Internet, outside of
one-to-one communication, is based on the concept of commons-based peer
production put forward by Yochai Benkler. I will herein limit myself to
summarizing the analysis of the matter put forward in Benkler [2006].</p>
<p>Benkler describes what he calls the "networked information economy" as
constituted of a much higher nodes of publication than before. Anybody
with access to the Internet can publish on it, the question is only if
anybody will read, watch, or otherwise consume what they publish.
Theoretically, every other user of the Internet would be enabled to
consume what the given user published, but as there is simply too large
a number of published opinions, no single user can read them all.<br />
As Benkler points out using primarily the example of the blogosphere, a
system has developed to handle this threat of an information overload by
making use of links. Users with similar interests and similar topics
read each others blogs, to stick with the example of the blogosphere. If
one user is particularly active and creates contents deemed noteworthy
by many other users of similar interests, his or her blog will be read
and subsequently referred to (by use of links) by more users than
average. Thus, a number of core blogs, or websites in more general
terms, develop.</p>
<p>Since the creator of this popular blog or website shares similar
interests with the website's users, he or her also consumes part of the
content published by the users of the blog. By linking or directly
publishing their contents on his or her website, the owner of a core
website can serve as a amplifier qua filter of relevant information.<br />
While linking primarily within a common interest group, users also link
to blogs and websites associated with a related interest. The example
Benkler [2006; 256-258] provides is that of left-winged and
right-winged blogs (presumably from the USA; based on a study by Adamic
and Glance), which link mostly within their respective sphere of
political leaning, but link to ten percent to blogs of the opposite
political leaning - with a rising percentage for more important blogs.</p>
<p>Thus again a pattern is created in which there is a hierarchy of
belonging and discursive spaces with a decreasing level of homogeniety
(from a bottom-up perspective). People of a distinct stream of leftist
political thought are more likely to discuss with each other and consume
and produce similar contents. Overall, users with a political leaning
towards the left will be more diverse, but still still more homogeneous
as a group than all people with a pronounced interest in politics. This
group again will most likely share more similarities among itself than
with a group of biochemistry enthusiasts.</p>
<p>This pattern closely resembles the organization of discursive spheres
and culture I outlined above. The main difference between the given
possibilities for the creation of public spheres is that in the one
discussed so far in this subsection, the area is replaced with a
community of interest. Another crucial one is certainly an individual's
possibility to be in a sizeable number of communities of interest, while
being only able to be in one area.</p>
<p>Will the community of interest then replace the area completely? In the
following and last section of this text I seek to give an answer to this
question based on the ideas outlined above.</p>
<h2 id="conclusion-the-relevance-of-the-area">Conclusion: The Relevance of the Area</h2>
<p>The Internet certainly leads to a wider spread of knowledge about
different customs, practices, concepts, say, cultures. By spreading this
knowledge, it gives people a wider array of options to choose from and
can certainly lead to a change in culture. On the other hand, it is
unlikely that the area will lose its relevance as a result of this.</p>
<h3 id="the-area-as-a-community-of-interest">The Area as a Community of Interest</h3>
<p>First, there are the above-mentioned factors of education by imitation
and language barriers which hinder this scenario from unfolding.
Education by imitation is likely to remain mostly linked with people,
say, kin and close acquaintances of these, who come from a relatively
homogenous cultural background, at one point determined by an area and
later at least linked to it. Thus a form of belonging to this area is
likely to develop.[7]</p>
<p>Similarly, language barriers function on the level function irrespective
of a person's location as long as there is the Internet. A person who
cannot speak Indonesian will be able to access Indonesian newspapers and
discussion forums. The same person will however have no access to the
information in these for a lack of language proficiency. In reverse,
this means that to participate in Indonesian level discourse, one does
not need to be in Indonesia anymore. Knowing the language suffices,
provided one has Internet access.</p>
<p>Thus I propose a partial redefinition of the area: in terms of culture
and discursive spheres, areas are turning into a community of interest.
This redefinition allows for the continued existence of the area as a
marker for discursive spheres and culture while being removed from its
previously geographical meaning. By removing geographical restrictions
it allows the children of migrant and migrants, who may have a different
passport, upbringing, and location, but still speak the necessary
language, take part in the given discursive sphere and identify as
belonging to a group to be counted as a relevant member. Within this
framework though, areas probably constitute the most important
unit.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#8">7</a></sup></p>
<p>Further Arguments for the Persistence of the Area as a Relevant Measure<br />
In the previous section I argued in favor of <em>partly</em> removing the
geographical meaning from 'area'. My call is only for a partial
removal, as two of the above-mentioned, major factors in cultural change
or the absence thereof remain largely bound by nation states and other
administrative bodies.</p>
<p>Legal frameworks and economic conditions remain largely determined by
government policies and administration. In the case of of policy this is
most obvious: national governments, as representatives of their nation
state, are, at least in theory, souvereign. Thus they are responsible
for deciding on and enforcing the majority of the legal framework(s)
surroundings the citizens of a given country.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#9">8</a></sup></p>
<p>The economic situation of the inhabitants of a given region is similarly
dependent on the area. On the one hand, governments determine education
policy (say, the creation of human capital). On the other hand, natural
resources have a geographically determined location. Governments of the
different administrative levels, but first of all national ones, further
determine citizens' economic conditions by the quality of their
economic policy and their decisions on the distribution of wealth.<br />
International bodies like the ICC in The Hague and international
treaties can limit these powers. Similarly, central collaborative groups
of nation states like ASEAN and the EU are conceptualized to do so to
create yet higher level bodies than nation states. These efforts have
had some success in moving power away from the nation state, but the
nation state remained sovereign in both cases (and in both cases there
would also be or is the problem of creating a common discursive sphere
without a common language in terms of the creation, reproduction and
adaption of culture towards a more homogenous one)</p>
<p>Thus the very existence and power of nation states (and other
administrative units) currently determines that people, who e.g. share a
common citizenship or place of residency will affected by rather similar
the same policies and laws and, in case of the majority of the people,
more or less similar economic conditions. These, again, determine that
the affected people will face rather similar incentives or restrictions
from adopting certain practices and concepts, say, changing culture.<br />
This further increases the likeliness of a persistent relevance of the
area in the creation of culture.</p>
<h3 id="final-remarks">Final Remarks</h3>
<p>In this text I argue that the area will remain relevant to the creation
of culture. That distinct cultural lines will still largely be
determined by the area, be it in the form of the area as a geographical
category or simply as a notion, which is more or less loosely associated
to the geographical category. Thus, I argue that Southeast Asian Studies
and other area studies are unlikely to lose their legitimacy in the near
future - at least at the hand of the effects of technological innovation
and globalization on culture.</p>
<p>In stark opposite, technological innovation and globalization offer new
areas of research to area studies scholars. The possibility for a person
to belong to a culture while being far away from the geographical
location associated with it and the realization thereof give us reasons
to research these individuals.<br />
On the other hands and despite the relatively conservative analysis I
have provided on the effect of technological innovation and
globalization on the area as a major constitutive space in the creation
of culture, the extreme changes brought by globalization and the
Internet in particular are not to be ignored. I have argued for the
persistence of the area as an important factor - this is not to mean
however, that the changes within the more or less consistent cultural
spheres determined by the areas will not be great. It is exactly these
changes, which offer exciting new fields of research to area studies
scholars.</p>
<p>What effect does overseas migration of more than ten million Filipinos
to an extremely wide array of places have on the consciousness of the
migrants and their kin? Which parts of their host culture do they adapt
and bring back to the Philippines, and which do they reject, or adopt
because they are forced to and then discard upon returning to the
Philippines? And why? How does policy react to this major issue? And how
do businesses and media react it?</p>
<p>In the case of the Internet, the array of new or newly relevant
questions may be even larger, considering that the Internet and the
different modes of communication that have been developed on it are
options users can choose from and adapt themselves. Why do people from
one area prefer certain modes of communication over others? In which
ways do people from this area adopt and adapt the newly available mode
of communication? Inhowfar do language barriers differentiate discursive
spheres in practice, and in how far can the restrictions set up by
language barriers be mitigated?</p>
<p>Many of these questions have been researched on. Theories have been
developed to answer some of these questions. Others remain largely
under-researched. Certain is however, that the ever growing body of
research in search of answers to these questions suggests, that the
answers remain far from being found.</p>
<h2 id="footnotes">Footnotes</h2>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>The term society is obviously a fuzzy term, too. It is dealt with
in later parts of this text. In short, I adopt a discussion of society
here as</p>
</div>
<ol>
<li>a community of shared practices and concepts</li>
<li>a community sharing a common discursive sphere</li>
</ol>
<p>This definition is questionable in itself, but it offers an important
perspective on societies: that a person can be in a number of different
societies at a time without having to be transnational. The concept of
society adopted here is closely linked with identity.</p>
<p>Intersectional theory describes a person's role in society and the
person's identity as a result of their position along different "axes
of power" (there are different terms for this, but I will stick with
this much used one). Using an example from the founding time of
intersectional theory, a black woman will not be posited in society only
by her being female or by her being black. She will be posited as a
black woman. She is thus located along two distinct "axes of power".
Each position is surrounded by different discoursive processes and
carries different meanings in society. For the given black woman as an
individual, it is however not just her position along these two "axes of
power" that is of importance. It is instead the mix of the two. Her
position in society cannot be understood on the basis of only one of the
two, but indeed only through their interplay.</p>
<p>Transnationalism theory in turn describes (modern) migrants as embedded
both in the culture and society of their host country and of their
country of origin [Schiller et al. 1995]. Hence, transnationalism
theory already displays the possibility of an individual belonging to
two or more societies. From a Southeast Asianists perspective, I argue
that the reduction of society to national levels is a stark
simplification - while still holding much truth.</p>
<p>This becomes strongly apparent in the case of the Philippines, where
there are rather openly distinct media spheres, on the discourse level,
while there is a rather uniform legal sphere, on the
practices-and-concepts level, throughout much of the country (excluding
large parts of Mindanao). Whereas most important national level
newspapers are English language ones (and apparently quite
Manila-centered), there are regional newspapers using the regional
languages. Educated people may read both, while those with a low level
of English language proficiency are more bound to regional newspapers if
any.</p>
<p>On the other hand, both groups are bound by more or less the same,
mostly national laws and regional culture. Thus they are engaged in two
intertwined yet distinct discursive spheres, arguably societies.</p>
<p>For a discussion on the interplay of transnationalism theory and
intersectional theory, see my unpublished "Filipinos in Urban
Indonesia" (available upon request).</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="2"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">2</sup>
<p>The Worldbank offers very different data from other sources. For
example, see the
<del>IMF</del>'s
data on Indonesia and the Philippines. Nevertheless, the data should be
sufficient for comparison purposes.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="3"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">3</sup>
<p>I have also excluded the advances already brought forward by
earlier cellphone-related technologies. As the effects of these will
likely be seen as comparatively minor to the ones of the Internet in
hindsight, I will restrict myself to mentioning them here.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="4"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">4</sup>
<p>The late Benedict Anderson made reference to English as a new
"sacred language", implying that it was a lingua franca for the
intelligentsia and the intelligentsia only. I am inclined to dispute
this implication, but indeed the better educated are the forerunners in
terms of English language proficiency - and the better educated are
commonly those from more well-off families. For the purposes of this
essay I will deal with English as a half-lingua franca, meaning that a
substantial enough number of people speak it as a second language to
enable communication between different groups while the number is still
too small to enable equal communication in of the majority of people.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="5"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">5</sup>
<p>Fajardo [2011] is an example for more recent literature
containing information on Filipino labor migrants' means of
communication with their children. Unfortunately it also does not yet
make strong reference to the Internet, as it deals primarily with
seafarers who at least at that time had no access to the Internet during
much of their journeys.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="6"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">6</sup>
<p>These children are commonly raised by a female relative, e.g. an
older sister or an aunt. Obviously this selection of caretakers
reinforces the self-perpetuation of culture. OFWs are on the other hand
reported to regularly bring goods and practices associated with their
host countries with them upon their returns (see e.g.: Aguilar [2014],
Aguilar et al. [2009]).</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="7"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">9</sup>
<p>"Determined by an area" is to say, that the area does not
necessarily need to be the one a person immediately grows up in (or
exclusively that). A rather intuitive example may be children of
migrants growing up abroad, going to school in regular schools with the
children of the majority population, but taught the ways of their
parents' 'home culture'. In this case, a belonging to both cultures
is likely to develop to a certain extent [de Dios 2014].</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="8"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">7</sup>
<p>This argument closely resembles Campomanes' most notable call to
change "Philippine Studies" into "Filipino Studies" in face of the
Filipino diaspora. [Campomanes 2003]</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="9"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">8</sup>
<p>In doing so, they clearly need to consider the influence of
different actors, mostly on the same, national level scale or above, but
the force actually executing a given action is commonly a national level
one. Three main forces to quite directly restrict a governments power
become apparent (besides the people). First there is the common problem
of military forces with vested interests, which is rather common in
Southeast Asia. In this case, at least the argument can be made, that
the force actually acting in a country and enforcing some sort of rule -
no matter in whose favor - is a national level one. Second there are
multinational corporations to consider, which can have a decisive
influence on the economic situation of the population or at least a set
of politicians acting in their interests. Third, interventions by other
countries or supra-national bodies are a considerable factor - think of
the role of the CIA in the Philippines of the 1950s [Constantino &
Constantino 1982].</p>
</div>
<h2 id="references">References</h2>
<ul>
<li>Aguilar, Filomeno V. 2014. <em>Migration Revolution: Philippine Nationhood And Class Relations in a Globalized Age</em>. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press.</li>
<li>Aguilar, Filomeno V., John Estanley Z. Penalosa, Tania Belen T. Liwanag, Resto S. Cruz, and Jimmy M. Melendrez. 2009. <em>Maalwang Buhay: Family, Overseas Migration, And Cultures Of Relatedness in Barangay Paraiso</em>. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press.</li>
<li>Anderson, Benedict. 2006. <em>Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism</em>. London [u.a.]: Verso.</li>
<li>Benkler, Yochai. 2006. <em>The Wealth Of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets And Freedom</em>. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. <a href="http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks.pdf">http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks.pdf</a>.</li>
<li>Campomanes, Oscar V. 2003. “The Vernacular/Local, The Nation, And The Global In Filipino Studies”. <em>Kritika Kultura</em> 3: 5-16. http://kritikakultura.ateneo.net/images/pdf/kk3/vernacular.pdf.</li>
<li>Constantino, Renato, and Letizia R. Constantino. 1982. <em>The Philippines: The Continuing Past</em>. Quezon City: The Foundation for Nationalist Studies.</li>
<li>Dios, Jenina J. de. 2014. <em>“Constructing Identities: Case Studies Of Japanese-Filipino Youth In Japan”</em>. Edited by Lydia N. Yu Jose and Johanna O. Zulueta.</li>
<li>Fabbretti, Matteo. 2014. “A Study Of Contemporary Manga Scanlation Into English”.</li>
<li>Fajardo, Kale Bantigue. 2011. <em>Filipino Crosscurrents: Oceanographies Of Seafaring, Masculinities, and Globalization</em>. University of Minnesota Press/University of the Philippines Press.</li>
<li>Commission on Filipinos Overseas. 2013. <em>Stock Estimate Of Overseas Filipinos</em>. cfo.gov.ph/images/Statistics/STOCK_ESTIMATE/2013-Stock-Estimate.xlsx.</li>
<li>Geertz, Clifford. 1973. <em>The Interpretation Of Cultures: Selected Essays By Clifford Geertz</em>. New York: Basic Books, Inc.</li>
<li>Gorney, Cynthia. 2014. “Far From Home”. <em>National Geographic</em>. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/guest-workers/gorney-text.</li>
<li>Kuijper, Hans. 2000. “Is Sinology A Science?”. <em>China Report</em> 36: 331-354. http://chr.sagepub.com/content/36/3/331.citation.</li>
<li>Ratti, Stéphanie. 2013. “Scanlators As Produsers- An Illegal, Non-Profit, Fan Prodused Alternative To Industrial Modes Of Manga Localization”. <a href="http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:625476/fulltext01.pdf">http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:625476/fulltext01.pdf</a>.</li>
<li>Schiller, Nina Glick, Linda Basch, and Cristina Szanton Blanc. 1995. “From Immigrant To Transmigrant: Theorizing Transnational Migration”. <em>Anthropological Quarterly</em> 68 (1): 48-63.</li>
<li>Thorne, Steven L., Rebecca W. Black, and Julie M. Sykes. 2009. “Second Language Use, Socialization, And Learning In Internet Interest Communities And Online Gaming”. <em>The Modern Language Journal</em> 93: 802-821.</li>
</ul>
Let’s Use the Advantage of the Masses!2016-01-20T00:00:00+00:002016-01-20T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/18/<p>Today I gave a presentation at the weekly colloquium of the Institute of
Southeast Asian Studies on the creation and use of (electronical)
bibliographical databases. The first part of the presentation was a
general introduction to the topic. I discussed why it might actually
make sense to create and use bibliographical databases and presented how
to enter entries into these using either
<a href="https://www.zotero.org/">Zotero</a> or <a href="https://www.jabref.org/">JabRef</a>. I
then proceeded by discussing the different standards for saving
bibliographical data and the use of the respective export functions. My
slides can be found
<a href="/presentations/Elektronisch_Bibliographieren.pdf">here</a>,
and interested readers - who are also able to read German - might want
to read <a href="/post/6">this topical blog article I wrote quite a while
ago</a>.</p>
<p>Building on the given information I proposed a new tool, which I have
been working on since the Christmas vacation, for use at the institute.
In this post I will first outline my motivations for creating and
spreading it and its functions to then note down a bit of the
discussion.</p>
<h2 id="motivation">Motivation</h2>
<p>During one class at the Institute students were told, I am paraphrasing,
that at Cornell there is much money and few students, and, in contrast,
that all Frankfurt had were "the masses". My natural reaction was
thinking: "But the masses hold the power". Just that, commonly, they are
too badly organized and not cooperating enough to use it. While this is
a very general idea on the role of "the masses" in politics and society,
it can be applied to inter-university comparisons just as well. If there
were a way to organize a large part of the student body and make them
cooperate more effectively, we could get much more done.</p>
<p>Unrelated, I created a tool to monitor my reading behavior and keep
track of notable quotations over the Christmas vacations. Once I had
implemented these basic functions, I quite quickly came back to thinking
about how to better facilitate intellectual exchange at the institute.</p>
<p>The reading tool seemed to be well-suited for this purpose, if the right
functions were added. Why? Southeast Asian Studies as a science, and all
the more as a course at university, is very focused on work on texts.
Generally, research findings - either found from work on texts or from
direct field work at the country - needs to be situated in the larger
picture, which is formed by monographies, articles and so on. Even with
topics intensive on field work, lecturers might start reading students"
papers "from behind", say, checking the bibliography"s length before
anything else. Thus our reading can be said to be the foundation, or at
least the lowest common denominator, of and in our studies of Southeast
Asia.</p>
<p>On a more practical level: given what texts someone reads, others might
be able to recognize interests and knowledge in a person. If there was a
system to let the others know about one"s reading, this would surely
enable people with shared interests or research topics to find each
other more easily. Bringing them together and having them know about the
shared interest would then most likely also lead to better cooperation
(e.g. one telling the other about good topical sources, which the other
person has yet to read).</p>
<p>Given these considerations it was pretty easy to figure out the
necessary adjustments to the tool to make it potentially usable on at
least an Institute-wide level.</p>
<h2 id="the-books-tool">The "Books" Tool</h2>
<p>In this subsection I present a small description of the tool. A longer
one can be found on <a href="tools/books.php">my documentation page for it</a>.</p>
<p>The Books tool was primarily written to monitor one"s own reading
behavior in terms of pages of a book read a day, note down notable
quotations and write reviews. For this, it reads bibliographical
databases exported into the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/">MODS</a>
specification of XML and displays bibliographical data from these.</p>
<p>After deciding to add functions for collaborative use to the Books tool,
the tool now reads all uploaded bibliographies, of all users, to create
one large database. This database can then be used by all users - and
exported for use in their preferred software (be it JabRef, Zotero,
Citavi, Endnote, or whatever). Thus no potential user is forced to give
up on their usual routine, while collaboration and collective, aggregate
input helps all users.</p>
<p>A second notable function is the "ranking" function. Using this, users
can find other users - ranked by how many texts they added to their
account on a given topic (say, which have been tagged as being topical).
Next to the ranked users those keywords will be shown, which most
strongly correlate in the users reading with the one entered as a search
term. For example, searching for the "Philippines", the tool will show
that most texts on the Philippines I read also dealt with labor
migration and gender. This tool is aimed at pushing better communication
and further collaboration outside of the context of the Books tool.</p>
<figure>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/18f00f591499987000.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/18/BooksTool-Ranking.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/6b4f3d737b1be12e00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/002d3bb965206f9900.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/f5b91fd4eb3a0cbe00.jpg" alt=""
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="508"
width="909" -->
</picture>
<figcaption>The still rather empty ranking page. Correlating tags are displayed next to the user's name and image</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I will keep it at this very brief and selective description, further
information can be found at the previously linked documentation page.
Also, readers might just want to check out the tool themselves (accounts
can be requested at the bottom - they will need to give me a good reason
formulated in more than 50 characters to have it enabled though). It can
be found <del>here</del>.</p>
<h2 id="today-s-discussion">Today's Discussion</h2>
<p>In this subsection I note down a summary of the questions and answers of
the discussion on the Books tool. The reception was generally positive,
and I was rather happy with how the presentation went. Read more below.</p>
<p><em>Can the tool be shared with users who do not know German?</em></p>
<p>Yes. Currently, the tool is available in three languages: English,
German, and Indonesian. This can be further extended by downloading
the <del>dictionary file</del> and adding the
translations in XML.</p>
<p><em>Can PDF files be uploaded or how can actual texts be shared? What about copyright?</em></p>
<p>PDF files cannot be uploaded, exactly because of copyright concerns.
User uploads are restricted to XML files. Users can nevertheless
just contact each other after having found out that someone else has
read a book. Contact information can be provided on a user"s
profile page. Also, I am thinking about adding the possibility for
users to enter information on whether they have access to a text,
e.g. by owning it, or not.</p>
<p><em>What happens if the student who does it graduates?</em></p>
<p>There are full export functions for user data and bibliographical
data, both personal as well as aggregate. The source code of the
tool is available upon request (I am just not yet putting it out as
open source because I am still slightly anxious about the login
script). Thus migrating it to a different server without losing any
data is very easy and possible at any time, also while I am still at
the Institute.</p>
<p><em>The tool cannot be found using Google. Is that on purpose?</em></p>
<p>The technical structure of the tool makes indexing by Google very
hard. Theoretically, almost all data is public, but a variable needs
to be added to the URL to get to the public version. Private is the
default.</p>
<p><em>How can pages created using the tool be shared with others?</em></p>
<p>Through a link to the page. Quite simply, add <code>&peek=xyz</code> where xyz is
your username to the URL.</p>
<p><em>What if someone adds wrong keywords?</em></p>
<p>Since the aggregate data of all the different users is used, this
possibility is quite irrelevant. If the majority enters accurate
information, a single "mis-tagger" will not matter much.</p>
<p><em>What are the advantages of Zotero and JabRef and the Books tool over simply using <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/">Worldcat</a>?</em></p>
<p>They simply serve different purposes. Zotero or JabRef are much more
open and you are free to enter your own data which may be more
accurate, comprehensive etc. than that of the librarians (and
apprentices) adding data to Worldcat. Similarly, you cannot enter
reading information to Worldcat. On the other hand, you also cannot
use Zotero or JabRef to find a book in all the different libraries
entering their data into Worldcat.</p>
<p>(The order of the questions is not accurate. I unfortunately noted down
the questions too late and had already forgotten the precise order. I
also took the liberty to add some additional information in the answer
section.)</p>
Customizing My Cinnamon Desktop2016-01-11T00:00:00+00:002016-01-11T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/17/<p>Back to something more technological after the last some posts on
university life and science. In this post I will outline how I
customized the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon_%28software%29" title="Cinnamon on Wikipedia">Cinnamon
UI</a>
on my laptop.</p>
<p>I just got to this over the Christmas holidays; before I was just too
busy - and mostly using my desktop PC, which still runs on Windows.
Fortunately, staying in Indonesia left me with a relative bad Internet
connection and enough free time to play around a bit with Cinnamon.</p>
<p>A bit on my motivation first: Earlier last year I had to switch to Linux
as the Windows 7 on my laptop broke and I was travelling without the CD.
So, to get my laptop back running I was basically forced to either spend
relatively much money for a student or switch to Linux.</p>
<p>At first I had some trouble finding the right distribution and UI.
Reports of Ubuntu's embedding of Amazon and the ensuing <a href="https://www.eff.org/de/deeplinks/2012/10/privacy-ubuntu-1210-amazon-ads-and-data-leaks">privacy
concerns</a>
made me skeptical about using it. Additionally, I really do not like
their Unity shell. KDE on Kubuntu looked much better, but Kubuntu kept
crashing relative often.</p>
<p>Thus I decided to use Debian. Since I had made previously had bad
experiences with KDE and the Gnome shell looked good but relatively hard
to use, I decided to go with Cinnamon for the UI. Given the default
settings, it was not too pretty but easy and intuitive enough to use to
make the laptop sufficiently workable. Playing around with themes
quickly eased this a bit. Still, missing beauty (along with some of my
usually used programs not being natively available on Linux - and not
running too well with <a href="https://www.winehq.org/">wine</a>) significantly
reduced the time I was working on my laptop.</p>
<p>Being abroad and left with only my laptop during the vacation I had to
tackle this.</p>
<h2 id="themes">Themes</h2>
<p>A first step into the customization is to download and install new
themes. The quickest way to do this is to open the start menu and search
for the "themes" tool. With this tool you can download themes using the
"Get more online" tab (there are more available than just those
presented for download here, but this is a good start). I decided to go
with the
<a href="http://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/themes/view/196">Numix-Cinnamon</a>
theme as this was the one closest to my ideal.</p>
<p>It is a beautiful theme in almost every regard, but ideally I wanted
something less dark. Thus my work on editing themes could be limited to
editing the colors of the Numix-Cinnamon theme.</p>
<p>To do so, I first had to find the theme files. A quick web research
resulted in two possible locations:
<em>/usr/share/cinnamon/theme/cinnamon.css</em> or <em>/home/$usr/.themes</em>. On my
machine, I assume Debian to be the reason, it turned out to be the
latter.</p>
<p>After identifying the theme files for the Numix-Cinnamon theme I wanted
to edit, I copied them to create a new theme.</p>
<p>For my purposes, further limited by my relatively little use of the
workspaces, two aspects were important: the CSS in <em>cinnamon.css</em> and
the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Vector_Graphics">svg</a> images
in the <em>/background-assets</em> and <em>/panel-assets</em>.</p>
<p>In cinnamon.css I first simply replaced the colors, e.g. making the font
color black instead of white by replacing all strings <code>color: white</code>
with <code>color: black</code> and the background colors white-ish grey instead of
dark grey (<code>background-color: #2d2d2d</code> with
<code>background-color: #fdfdfd</code>). The same also had to be done with the
respective rgba values. After this relatively much text will be very
hard to read - and the start menu"s background color will be white.</p>
<p>I further edited<code>.window-list-item-box</code>es to get to appropriate font
colors. Darker grey for open windows which are not currently hovered
over or active and blue for active ones. Some further edits run along
the same lines, especially changing the colors of the calendar applet,
which becomes quite unreadable after having previously replaced all font
colors.</p>
<p>Only one attribute had to be added: the font color of the search bar in
the start menu had become hard to read and I could not figure out why.
Adding the following code fixed the problem.
<code>#menu-search-entry { color: white;}</code></p>
<p>Left are changes to be made to the vector graphics in <em>/panel-assets</em>
and <em>/background-assets</em>. In the latter it was enough to replace the
inner gray in <em>/background-assets/tooltip.svg</em> with white grey. This
makes the full folder name appearing when a window is hovered over have
a white background. All other files in this folder did not have to be
edited.</p>
<p>In <em>/panel-assets</em> there were more changes to be made. The colors in all
files whose name starts with either "panel-bottom" or "panel-top" had to
be replaced with the appropriate, lighter ones. All changes to the svg
files were made using <a href="https://inkscape.org/">Inkscape</a>, but
theoretically a text editor would have been enough.</p>
<p>With these adjustments made, I have a lighter version of the theme. Even
with these relatively few changes it feels very nice to use.</p>
<p>In case anybody wants a lighter version of the theme, too (there have
been comments on the <a href="http://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/themes/view/196">cinnamon spice
website</a> to this
end), the changed theme is available as a fork of the <a href="https://github.com/notdodo/numix-cinnamon-transparent">original
Numix-Cinnamon theme</a>
on <a href="https://github.com/Joshua-Ramon-Enslin/numix-cinnamon">Github</a>.</p>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/4848a1c49e37dfbd00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/17/cinnamonthemeedit.png" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/e5abcff9c3a62af200.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/6e938f7f0d17fe5100.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/f8824f8a4270df4000.jpg" alt="The edited theme"
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="900"
width="1600" -->
</picture>
<h2 id="editing-the-start-menu">Editing the Start Menu</h2>
<p>The other part of the customizations I did was changing the icons in the
start menu: the menu icon itself and the icons for the different
categories of programs. First of, the new items obviously had to be
created or recycled from somewhere. I took icons I had made for the
backend of JACMS, the CMS this website is running on. The icons I used
can be downloaded
<del>here</del>.</p>
<p>To edit the start menu, right click on the start menu button and press
"configure". A menu will open, displaying two input fields and different
options to be checked. To change the label and icon of the button, the
input fields are changed to the appropriate values.</p>
<p>To then edit the category icons, click on the button "Open the menu
editor" at the very bottom of the window. Here the icons can be
replaced.</p>
Required reading or random browsing?2016-01-02T00:00:00+00:002016-01-02T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/16/<p>Over the last months we've had discussions about whether to create a
list of required readings with the most important works of Southeast
Asian studies (or what the faculty and students can agree upon to be
that) for students of SEAS at Goethe University Frankfurt or not. This
debate has so far been largely without any further consequences, also
because there are two contrary positions which do not seem to come to
agreeance in any form.</p>
<p>The group in favor of a "canonization" take their position primarily
from the observation that there are extreme differences in terms of
knowledge between the different students. Obviously, this is a result of
the comparatively large size of the student body and the differences
between students taking SEAS as their major and minor. Finally, it is
certainly also a result of the sheer size and diversity of Southeast
Asia and the possibility for a clear differentiation of interests along
national lines (more on this later). Proponents of one argue that a
canonization could at least help to bridge the gaps. Interesting, too,
is the fact that these proponents are mostly students with a focus on
Indonesia.</p>
<p>On the other hand there are two major counter-arguments: first, that it
would quite simply be impossible to create a really balanced list of
essential literature on Southeast Asia without it too long to be useful.</p>
<p>Second, there is a fear for an overdone streamlining. Southeast Asia is
diverse, and the student body along with its interest is as well.
Requiring people to read too deeply into the Philippines while their
real interest lies with Vietnam will most likely be counterproductive -
it frustrates them by not catering to their interests and takes their
time. Also, should the list be more concise at the cost of balance, it
may influence students' thoughts into one
methodological/ideological/etc. direction, thus taking their free choice
of means. If we value academic freedom, this is indeed a major point to
consider.</p>
<p>In the following I will first provide some general thoughts about
canonization and its implications, advantages and disadvantages to a
field of study. After these, I will give some more information on the
situation at the department of SEAS in Frankfurt, before finally giving
a suggestion for what to do to maybe please both sides of the debate.</p>
<h2 id="implications-of-canonization-of-a-field-of-study">Implications of Canonization of a Field of Study</h2>
<h3 id="canonization-as-a-yardstick">Canonization as a Yardstick</h3>
<p>To discuss canonization of a field of study, it is useful to look at the
way science evolves in general first. As a Southeast Asianist I may not
be properly qualified to give an account of this, by I will try my best
here.<br />
Important conditions for and of the early developments of "modern
science"<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> were, surely among others,</p>
<ol>
<li>The invention of the printing press,</li>
<li>The existence of a relatively small basis of reliable data,</li>
<li>The small number of people in the position to participate in
scientific endeavors.</li>
</ol>
<p>The printing press effectively enabled the creation and wide
dissemination of journals. Thus it created a comparatively sizable group
of people who could engage in scientific conversations and also helped
the information persist over longer periods of time. Thus the
technological basis for modern science as a self-reflexive process was
laid.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the overall small number of researchers/scientists
and the still small body of reliable data meant that there was not yet a
clear differentiation between as many different fields of study as there
are today. E.g., overall anthropology (and to a smaller extend other
fields of study) had to grow and diversify first and create large enough
a body of data and text to enable the creation of the different area
studies as derivatives of the different disciplines.</p>
<p>Arguing along the same lines and using the same parameters, canonization
can be seen as a milestone: it becomes necessary once a field of study
has become too large and diverse to be easily delved into by new
students to be. Thus it shows the maturity of a subject as a legitimate,
independent field of study.</p>
<p>Once a canon has been created, its immediate effect, that those
participating in the (scientific) debate in a given field have a common
ground to work on, has further effects. An example may be the
development of a specific jargon: participants in the debate adopt
specific words from texts within the canon, which would not usually be
used by other people in the same sense. One has to have read the
original work to fully understand those works using the terms it
established. Only thanks to the canon, again, can everybody (who has
worked though it) participate fully in the debate. Aside from thus
enabling a high-level intellectual discourse, jargon also leads to a
further differentiation of the given field of study from others - say,
people who have not worked through the canon are much less likely to be
able to engage in the debate. This again helps to create a distinct
identity of the field of study in opposition to other fields of study or
the general public.</p>
<p>Finally a specification of canon itself becomes necessary: of course,
speaking in the dimensions of whole sciences, the existence of any
spelled out and agreed upon canon is most unlikely. National level
bodies may create something close by giving out awards for "best
<insert field of study here> book of the year", but it is ultimately
a bottom up process, where departments at universities develop lists of
works regarded as essential.</p>
<p>Next, different schools of thought may develop (as a collective of
independent researchers and different university departments) which
share roughly the same canon. The given canon may then differ greatly
from those of other schools of thought within the same field of study.
This is to say that an enormous amount of different canons can exist on
different levels of academia. Nevertheless, I think a general
description of the process of canonization is worth being pursued. And
that many of the general observations made above and in the following
subsection can be transferred to the lower levels: down from a whole
field of study to a school of thought to a university department to
small buckets of people on the campus.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup></p>
<h3 id="advantages-and-disadvantages-of-canonization">Advantages and Disadvantages of Canonization</h3>
<p>Above I made two claims: first, that a field of study operating with a
more or less set canon is more effective. Second and closely related is
the claim that this leads to an exclusion of a large number of
potentially interested people.</p>
<p>The second argument is quite obviously not sufficient. Not only
outsiders are kept out of the discussion but also dissenting voices. Not
citing the canon or presenting views that are counter to or
incomprehensible with the tools given through the canon can be a serious
challenge.</p>
<p>Obviously, this creates a situation impeding academic freedom and,
echoing the argument presented in the first paragraphs of this text,
even the freedom of thought. Even from the most practical view this also
means that canonization limits effectiveness on the long run (even
though it gives a boost to effectiveness in short and medium terms).
There is a danger of a field of study becoming too conservative and
refuting correct, or more correct than the current mainstream,
ideas.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#3">3</a></sup></p>
<h2 id="the-situation-of-southeast-asian-studies-in-general-and-at-the-department">The Situation of Southeast Asian Studies in General and at the Department</h2>
<p>The situation of Southeast Asian Studies in general and the situation at
our department deserve special attention. First of all, there is the
question of Southeast Asian Studies as a field, the category of
"Southeast Asia" as anything more than a geographical one. This goes
back to its diversity and the novelty of the category (especially as a
distinct field of science).<br />
Previously, there were courses at German universities with names such as
"Austronesistik" (Austronesian Studies) and "Thaiistik" (Thai Studies),
which referred to relatively clear cut cultural, national or linguistic
units. Depending on whether the focus is to be laid on anthropology,
political science, economy, etc. different ones of these make sense
(e.g., Indonesian Studies makes little sense when talking about
prehistory but very much when talking about contemporary Indonesia).</p>
<p>Contrastingly, "Southeast Asian Studies" is based on a super-unit.
There are different reasons for moving on from the specific fields of
study to this super-unit. First, there is too little money, say, too
little interest among policy makers, to finance enough professorships
for all the different countries in Southeast Asia. Economically
speaking, this is a valid argument. Speaking in terms of progress in the
pursuit of knowledge, it is not. Second, there is the possibility for
comparative research, dealing with two or more of the given
cultural/linguistic/national units. This may be valid argument, but it
is questionable if one Southeast Asianist who also needs to learn about
Malaysia will be as able to do a comparative study of Indonesia and the
Philippines as a well as a Philippine/Filipino Studies scholar
cooperating with an Indonesian Studies scholar would. Third is the
existence of ASEAN, and other supra-national bodies - surely a valid
argument. Finally, there is the simple argument that future employers
will not know what "Austronesian" means, while Southeast Asia is a
comprehensible unit. Again, an economic argument (at least this time
also from the view of students and professors). A really valid reason
from a knowledge-seeking point of view is that Southeast Asian Studies,
if practiced true to its name, will create real universalists.</p>
<p>To sum up, the legitimation of Southeast Asian Studies is
questionable.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#4">4</a></sup> Trying to enforce a canon for a department of
Southeast Asian Studies is likely to raise the question of legitimacy.
Thus canonization, in more general cases or in more clearly definable
and legitimize-able fields of study working towards a distinct identity,
may in this case rather lead to a disintegration. Definitely, repeating
again an argument made above, it holds the potential of promoting one
sub-field (say, Indonesian Studies) over others. This would contradict
the very name of the course though. If Southeast Asian Studies is named
so - and not Indonesian Studies - it has the duty to also deal with the
other countries of Southeast Asia.</p>
<p>A quite similar case can be made about disciplinary information vs. the
interdisciplinary nature of Area Studies. If one favors a truly
interdisciplinary course, a fixed canon holds considerable dangers.</p>
<p>Special to our department of Southeast Asian Studies is that it got
ordered by the ministry of education of the State of Hesse, Germany, to
specifically focus on Indonesia and Malaysia<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#5">5</a></sup>. Students on the
other hand demand diversity: they want to be free to focus on, say,
Vietnam. Even internally the question of focus may be a challenge, as
the students best organized are surely those focusing on Indonesia. In
terms of numbers, I estimate, those with a focus in Indonesian Studies
are maybe not much more than those wanting to focus on Vietnam. Interest
in Thailand is also relatively wide spread and students can choose
between Vietnamese and Thai as second Southeast Asian languages to
learn.</p>
<p>The other seven to eight countries (quite often information on Malaysia
is, e.g., mixed in with course on Indonesian culture) are generally less
in focus. Interested students have taken the initiative in offering
tutorials, and many courses provide a general overview on the situation
in all the different Southeast Asian countries. This is nevertheless not
enough to truly balance the curriculum. While this situation is a result
of the Ministry's terms and constraints on our financial situation, it
must still be pointed out that any such discrimination is surely a
constraint on science and the general broadening of ordered knowledge.
Before the necessary balance is created, canonization may come at the
risk of perpetuating given imbalances and constraints also at the level
of the department.</p>
<p>On the other hand there remains legitimate concern about the difference
in levels among the student body. Questions like "Manina (sic!), kann
man das essen?" ("Manina (sic!, the person meant Manila), is that
edible?") are an extreme case, but showcase the need for teaching at
least very basic facts on each different country.</p>
<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
<p>As has been pointed out throughout this text, canonization holds one
major advantage, short and mid-term effectiveness, while it has a number
of considerable downsides. Given the problem - and more simply, that
people at the department see the need to tackle the problem - of the
huge discreprancies between levels of knowledge concerning the different
areas within Southeast Asian within the student body.</p>
<p>A first, simple and preliminary conclusion can be drawn: a fixed
canonization through a list of required reading is no option, but
something close should be pursued.</p>
<p>I propose a very toned-down version of the idea of canonization: a
simple document offering general tips for (new) students, which would
also feature recommended books, such as general histories of the
countries. Making the books just one matter among others, this would
leave less of the importance that would otherwise be assigned to the
matter. Also, making them pure recommendations offers the chance to
create a longer and more comprehensive list while having people actually
read, just as it takes away the gravest restrictions on freedom outlined
above.</p>
<p>Making it simply an offer instead of a requirement obviously reduces its
effectiveness and puts it at risk of falling fully into obscurity - but
it is to be hoped that linking the recommended reading with other useful
things will help popularize at least the consciousness of the existence
of such a list (should it ever come into being). And should the student
body choose to ignore it, there are little downsides to having such a
list anyway.</p>
<hr />
<h2 id="footnotes">Footnotes</h2>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>Here I adopt a definition of "modern science" as scientific
research making use of peer-review and the possibility for others to
reenact the experiment. The aim of this modern science is the creation
of <em>ordered</em> information.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="2"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">2</sup>
<p>It would be interesting to compare the development of canons in
science to the spread of English as a lingua franca of the academia and
their interrelation. Benedict Anderson calls this new importance of the
English language the becoming of a new "sacred language" in the last,
new chapters of his updated edition of Imagined Communities (Benedict
Anderson. 2006. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Rise
of Nationalism [3rd edition]. London: Verso). Especially considering
his earlier reflections on "sacred languages", I think this comparison
would be worthwhile.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="3"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">3</sup>
<p>I have yet to find the time to read Thomas Kuhn's The
Structure of Scientific
Revolutions.
I am nevertheless sure that it bears much insight in this regard.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="4"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">4</sup>
<p>There are also more general criticisms of area studies in
general, see for example <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hans_Kuijper/publications">Hans Kujiper's
criticism</a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="5"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">5</sup>
<p>I am not sure if the officially used term is both countries'
names or "Indonesia and the Malay World", which would include Brunei,
too.</p>
</div>
Transformations of Tagalog Identity: Preliminary Notes2015-11-23T00:00:00+00:002015-11-23T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/15/<h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2>
<p>The term "Tagalog" commonly raises associations with the language of
the same name. Internationally, the language has become so important and
well-known, that the term Tagalog has largely lost its association with
the original Tagalog people, the inhabitants of the regions around what
is today Metro Manila.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the Philippine state has since the 1970s basically
relabeled Tagalog to be the Filipino language. In the state"s
narrative, the language of Metro Manila, Tagalog with many loanwords,
then with further additions of loanwords was to become this "Filipino"
language (Gonzalez 1980). Since then, supporters of this narrative
portray the Tagalog language not completely as dead but as in a status
that can be described as frozen.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> Assuming that this redefinition had
been accepted by a majority of people, the Tagalog people would have
lost one of its essential identity markers.</p>
<p>Seen from either perspective, it would be likely to assume that the
Tagalog people have lost much of their Tagalog identity in favor of a
national, Filipino identity. This paper describes the preliminary
outcomes of a survey that was conducted with the aim of examining the
current identity of people in traditionally ethnic Tagalog areas.</p>
<h2 id="the-survey">The Survey<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup></h2>
<p>The original aims in creating the survey were threefold:</p>
<ol>
<li>Examining the definition of the terms Tagalog and Filipino as
understood by native speakers and the correlation of this definition
with the Philippine state"s</li>
<li>Examining the priorities with which people in traditional ethnic
Tagalog areas rank different identity markers (e.g. language
identity, national identity, regional identity)</li>
<li>Examining correlations between these data</li>
</ol>
<p>To answer these questions, Filipino classes in high schools were
identified as the best possible place for conducting the survey. As
determined by the Rizal Law of 1956, the novels Noli me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo, written by José Rizal, are to be read and studied in
high schools. Today, they are commonly read in the ninth and tenth grade
respectively. It may thus be assumed that the stories are roughly
familiar to every student in tenth grade, and as there are very old
translations of the texts to Tagalog available, the level of proficiency
students have in old Tagalog can relatively easily be examined.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#3">3</a></sup>
Consequently, the survey was to be handed out to students in the tenth
grade (fourth year of high school).</p>
<p>Choosing schools as the place of conducting the survey brought a number
of advantages, but also set limitations on the survey. Advantages
include the high availability of participants to fill out the survey and
the relatively consistent sample. On the other hand it restricted the
possible duration of answering the survey. To resume classes as quickly
as possible, it had to be assured that the survey was short and quickly
answerable. Questions thus had to be made as simple as possible.</p>
<p>After asking for basic personal information (grade in school, age,
gender), the first question aims to determine whether the respondents
have a non-Tagalog family background. In the next two questions,
students are asked which identity marker - language, region, ethnicity,
adjacent metropolitan area<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#4">4</a></sup> or other - they rank most important for
themselves and how they perceive the importance of the question of
identity overall. Questions four and five directly ask about the native
language of the participants and their definition of what the terms
Tagalog and Filipino mean.</p>
<p>Whereas all these questions were consciously formulated to be as
straightforward as possible, the following three questions deal with the
language use and perceived proficiency of participants less overtly. The
sixth question asks about the perceived frequency of the participant"s
use of loanwords, data which needs to be collected when discussing the
state"s narrative on the language. The seventh and eighth question use
an excerpt from Pascual H. Poblete"s translation of Noli me Tangere,
which was the first translation of the novel into Tagalog in 1909, and
accordingly uses a very old variant of the language with barely any
loanwords, to examine the participants" perceived skill in
understanding this old, now uncommon variant of Tagalog.</p>
<p>After the initial creation, the questions were translated into Tagalog
and the survey was finally conducted in July 2014 among tenth grade high
school students in Cavite.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#5">5</a></sup> 138 participants answered the survey.</p>
<h2 id="preliminary-results">Preliminary Results</h2>
<h3 id="data">Data</h3>
<p>Among the 138 participants of the survey, there was an even gender
distribution at 70 females (50.72 per cent) and 68 males (49.28 per
cent). The age range was much more diverse, given that all participants
were in the same grade of high school. The youngest single participant
was 13 years old while the oldest were 19. The average age was 15.46
years.</p>
<p>Out of these, a total of 70 participants (50.72 per cent) had at least
one parent from Cavite, reflecting that the survey was conducted in a
relocation area. The others had parents coming from all over Luzon and
the Visayas. In contrast, none had a mother language other than
Tagalog/Filipino.</p>
<p>In ranking their identity markers participants mostly ranked national
identity highest. 72 out of the 138 participants answered Filipino
(52.17 per cent). Second highest ranks regional identity with 40
identifying themselves primarily as Caviteño (28.99 per cent) and
another 10 (7.25 per cent) answering with other regions. Finally, 16
primarily identified themselves as Tagalog (11.59 per cent).</p>
<p>127 participants answered that they perceived thinking about identity as
important (92.03 per cent). The remaining 11 did not answer the question
(7.97 per cent).</p>
<p>Regarding the term they use for their native language, an overwhelming
majority answered that they called it Tagalog (101 participants, 73.19
per cent). Only 29 participants answered "Filipino" or "Pilipino"
(21.01 per cent). The remaining eight participants answered in a way
expressing that for them Tagalog and Filipino were one and the same
thing (5.80 per cent).</p>
<p>The next question, in which participants were asked to name the
differences between Tagalog and Filipino was formulated as an open
question. Consequently, the answers were grouped based on the statement
made by the participant for the analysis. A majority of 81 participants
(58.70 per cent) saw no difference at all. Only 26 (18.84 per cent)
students gave answers following parts of the official definition of the
Filipino language. Out of these, 16 students answered the question in
reference to the issue of loanwords (11.59 per cent), and 8 described
Tagalog as a regional language unrelated to Filipino as a national
language (5.80 per cent), while another two referred to the level of
speech, describing Tagalog as a polite form of Filipino (1.45 per cent).
A third major group were those 21 participants describing Tagalog as a
language while, according to them, Filipino referred to all the Filipino
people and not a language (15.22 per cent). The remaining 8 participants
answered in less informative ways such as choosing to not answer,
answering that Filipino was a school subject or simply answering with
yes (5.80 per cent).</p>
<p>Somewhat astonishing answers were given for the last three questions,
where the answers showed a much higher perceived proficiency in
"traditional" Tagalog than may be expected.</p>
<p>Answering how they assessed their use of loanwords, a majority of 89
participants (64.49 per cent) noted that they used these sometimes. 35
participants answered that they used them more frequently (25.36 per
cent), with 9 answering that they used loanwords "always" (6.52 per
cent) and 26 answering that they used them often (18.84 per cent). 13
per cent answered that they used them rarely (6.52 per cent).</p>
<p>Finally, in accessing the text sample from Pascual H. Poblete"s
translation of Noli me Tangere, astonishingly few participants noted
having difficulties. 10 participants wrote that the sample was clear and
easy to understand (7.25 per cent), while 88 participants noted having
had only few difficulties in reading it (63.77 per cent). On the other
hand, 34 described it as hard to understand (24.64 per cent) and another
5 as very hard (3.62 per cent).</p>
<h3 id="conclusions">Conclusions</h3>
<p>The most obvious result of the survey are surely, that it gives strong
evidence of the little importance of Tagalog, be it the language or the
ethnicity, as an identity marker (Question 2) and the low level of
recognition of the official definition of Filipino vis-à-vis Tagalog
enjoys among the Filipino people (Question 4, 5).</p>
<p>The answers to question 2 point to another remarkable result: the high
value attributed to regional identity, especially Caviteño identity even
among participants with parents from other places. Since the
participants came from a relocation area, the strong regional identity
usually attributed to Caviteños (Constantino 1981, 183-185) appears
unlikely to be a reason. A further analysis based on Carsten"s (1995)
observation, that there is a very fast process of adjusting one"s
regional identity by "strategically forgetting" about one"s family
background may offer a much more plausible explanation.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#6">6</a></sup></p>
<p>The descriptions of perceived differences between Tagalog and Filipino
give evidence of the low level of success the state has in making
students follow its definition. Many, if not most, Filipinos identify as
Filipino, but their definition of what identifying as such often remains
diffuse. As Mulder (2013) points out, there is a large difference
between identifying with the Philippines as a nation and identifying
with "Filipinoness" (58). Instead of identifying with Filipino or the
Philippines" history, there is a strong identification with Filipino
culture and unpoliticized symbols of it. This, according to Mulder, is a
result of the "hollow ring [nationalism in the Philippines has] to
it" (57) due to curricula not offering a coherent, causal history of
the country and focusing on insignia rather than content, and the
anti-social role model the political elites present.</p>
<p>Participants" frequent use of loanwords reflects both the development
the Tagalog/Filipino language has taken in the last decades as well as
the strong influence of nearby Metro Manila and, most likely, labor
migration on the region.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#7">7</a></sup> A notable correlation can be found between the
answers to question 4 and 6: 11 of the 29 participants who named their
native language Filipino or Pilipino answered, that they used loanwords
either "often" or "always" (37.93 per cent; 7.91 per cent of the
complete sample), whereas only 21 of the 101 participants to name their
native language Tagalog answered such (20.79 per cent; 15.22 per cent of
the complete sample). This may hint at a partial success of the state"s
narrative, since those who followed it in identifying their native
language accordingly also identified their use of loanwords as more
frequent and thus more consistent with the state"s definitions.</p>
<p>Finally, the test of student"s perceived proficiency in old Tagalog
offered astonishing results. On the one hand, the high number of
participants who answered that they had little to no problems hints at
further difficulties in drawing any line between old Tagalog and modern
Tagalog/Filipino in terms of speakers. Second, this data may be useful
in evaluating theses such as that of "hollow nationalism" (Mulder
2013) according to which Filipinos supposedly do not understand their
national symbols such as the presented text. Arguing along similar
lines, Joaquin asserts that Rizal"s novels were read as a duty, a
tribal duty" (1965, 39-40) and not appreciated, understood or
remembered. This assertion, too, may have strong regional differences in
its correctness.</p>
<h2 id="prospects-for-further-research">Prospects for Further Research</h2>
<p>To follow the original aim of the research, the survey will have to be
handed out at other schools in traditional Tagalog areas. Additionally
other areas should ideally also be included in the future to diversify
the sample and collect data regarding differences to other ethnic
groups.</p>
<p>This initial sample also shows possible adjustments to the survey.
Questions certainly missing with the given survey are those about the
concrete form of identification participants have with the Philippines
or being Filipino.</p>
<p>Finally, conducting the initial survey in a relocation area adds new,
not originally planned aspects to the study. It may be worthwhile to
change the focus of the study towards an analysis of identity formation
in relocation areas in the Philippines.</p>
<h2 id="footnotes">Footnotes</h2>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>Following this narrative, to give an example, the question marker ba
is not a Tagalog word anymore. Instead the outdated, now only
regionally used, and longer form baga is supposedly the real Tagalog
term and will remain so. Pers. com. with Virgilio S. Almario,
Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="2"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">2</sup>
<p>For raw data, please contact me through mail.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="3"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">3</sup>
<p>Given the state"s definition of Filipino and the distinctness of
Tagalog and also the popularity of "Taglish" (A mix of Tagalog and
English), it would be likely that students have massive problems
understanding these. Rizal originally published his novels in
Spanish.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="4"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">4</sup>
<p>This was included due to the geographical proximity of Metro Manila
and the strong influence the megacity holds in the area where the
survey was conducted.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="5"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">5</sup>
<p>The municipality where the survey was conducted is not given to
protect the privacy of the participants. Apparently, the school is
located in a relocation area (mostly populated during the Marcos
Era), which greatly influenced the results. See below.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="6"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">6</sup>
<p>Carsten decidedly restricts her conclusions to "the periphery of
the Southeast Asian State." In this case, the subjects of research
are geographically located almost at the heart of power and yet
evidence hints at a confirmation of her observation.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="7"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">7</sup>
<p>At the time approximately 10 per cent of the Philippines"
population are working abroad. As described by Aguilar et al. (2009)
and Lauser (2005), cultural exchange is largely facilitated through
the exchange of goods. It is most likely to assume, that common
words from areas to which migrants move are also taken over,
especially in light of chain migration of many migrants from the
same areas to the same host country.</p>
</div>
<h2 id="references">References:</h2>
<ul>
<li>Carsten, Janet. 1995. “The Politics Of Forgetting: Migration, Kinship And Memory On The Periphery Of The Southeast Asian State”. <em>The Journal Of The Royal Anthropological Institute</em> 1 (2): 317-335. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3034691.</li>
<li>Gonzalez, Andrew B. 1980. <em>Language And Nationalism: The Philippine Experience Thus Far</em>. Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press.</li>
<li>Joaquin, Nick. 1965. “The Novels Of Rizal: An Appreciation”. Edited by Committee on the Humanities.</li>
<li>Lauser, Andrea. 2005. “Transnationale Subjekte Zwischen Deutschland Und Philippinen. Ethnologische Perspektiven Am Beispiel Philippinischer Heiratsmigration”. <em>Zeitschrift Für Ethnologie</em> 130 (2): 273-292. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25842999.</li>
<li>Mulder, Niels. 2013. “Filipino Identity: The Haunting Question”. <em>Journal Of Current Southeast Asian Affairs</em> 32 (1): 55-80. http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jsaa/article/view/640/638.</li>
</ul>
The WWW Was Invented 20 years Ago2015-11-16T00:00:00+00:002015-11-16T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/14/<p>Today I was linked <a href="https://hypotheses.org/">hypotheses.org</a> with the
note, that it was "<em>a community where anybody (say, researchers and
students) can open up a blog and connect them, so that you have one
large academic community</em>." My initial reaction was '<em>wow, sounds like
they just re-invented the Internet</em>.' After a second look at some of
the blogs and their <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160123180945/http://hypotheses.org/about/hypotheses-org-en" title="About page of hypotheses.org">about
page</a>,
which states about the same I was told before, my reaction stays the
same.</p>
<p>It is sometimes important to note what the WWW was created for: academic
exchange. This can most notably be seen in the history and the basic
functions of HTML and the WWW, which is in the end based on it.</p>
<p>The WWW was invented in 1989 by <a href="https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/" title="Website of Tim BL">Tim
Berners-Lee</a>.
TimBL was then working as at <a href="http://home.cern/">CERN</a>, where the WWW
took it's first steps, too. This was a specifically academic setting,
where the Internet and later the WWW (mind, the WWW is only a part of
the Internet, yes) were used for academic exchange. Especially coming
from an academic context, semantic mark-up was and remains an important
aim of the WWW, even if this has become a rather overlooked aspect over
time. Semantic mark-up refers to tagging certain parts of a text as
fulfilling certain functions.</p>
<p>Examples in HTML are the h1-h6 tags for headlines, the p tag for
paragraphs, and the ul/ol tags for unordered and ordered lists
respectively. Also much abused tags were meant to have a semantic
meaning, the most common example being the table tag.</p>
<p>A special emphasis should be put on hyperlinks: hyperlinks are used to
refer to sources on which a text is based, to which the text is an
answer, or to other notable information. Replace "hyperlinks" with
"sources" or "footnotes" in an academic paper and you have little
difference in definition (sources are a bit less, footnotes a bit more,
but still the idea remains closely related).</p>
<p>Thus, academic (and other) exchange was meant to become self-describing
and maschine-readable, say searchable and automatically abstractable
(among others). Assigning certain designs to the code was AN aspect
among many others, even if it later became an increasingly important and
emphasized one.</p>
<p>Over time, the aim for this enhanced communication continued, as can be
seen in the development of many concepts for semantic mark-up inside
(e.g. <a href="http://microformats.org/">microformats</a>,
<a href="http://schema.org/">schema.org</a>,
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/rdfa-syntax/">RDFa</a>) or as alternatives of
human-readable websites (e.g. <a href="http://www.w3.org/RDF/">RDF</a>)</p>
<h2 id="the-web-develops">The Web Develops</h2>
<p>Out of this idea originally coming out of an decidedly academic context,
there developed a globally influencial network. It now connects billions
of people, mostly for non-academic contact and communication.</p>
<p>While it led to the creation of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access">open
access</a> as a major new
development in the academic world, first of all in natural
sciences<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#OBrown2013">1</a></sup>,
the most important and influencial developments happened outside of the
academic community and without academic aims.</p>
<p>In the 1990s and arguably the early 2000s, there was a major unleash of
creativity. People used their own hardware as webservers, played with
code, completely ignored the specifications and original purposes. Links
were set without any related content to link - just for fun -, table
tags were used not to describe <em>tables</em> in websites, but for designing.
Today we have lolcats. While these developments may seem like deviations
from a great goal and counter-productive, they are nevertheless a sign
of a democratization of the publishing landscape. Anybody could publish
to everybody and there were little restrictions set. (An interesting
talk on this matter is this: <a href="http://anildash.com/">Anil Dash</a> on "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KKMnoTTHJk">The
Web We Lost</a>").</p>
<p>At the same time, this had major implications for production: people
were now enabled much more than ever before to create and adapt things
together for little personal benefit besides the gratification of having
done something productive they like, having worked on a product they
like, and working in a group (A process Axel
Bruns
named '<a href="http://produsage.org/produsage">produsage</a>'. '<a href="http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/papers/jopp_235.pdf">Commons-Based
Peer
Production</a>',
a term coined by <a href="http://www.benkler.org/">Yochai Benkler</a>, Berkman
Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School, is a
most related concept). Given this motivation and the ensuing practice,
non-professionals became increasingly able to do things formerly or at
the same time done by professionals. The borders between professional
and amateur are increasingly diffuse and permeable. See the concept of
"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro%E2%80%93am">pro-am</a>".<br />
(See also this great <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu7ZpWecIS8">TED
Talk</a> with <a href="http://www.shirky.com/">Clay
Shirky</a> on what he calls <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_Surplus">Cognitive
Surplus</a> for both the
productive potential as well as the potentially weird and seemingly
unnecessary forms the creativity unleashed takes)</p>
<p>A second most important development was the move from a decentralized
web towards a central web revolving around some key services. Instead of
getting to websites via links from other websites, we <em>google</em> (or
search) on google.com. Instead of sending a mail, we send messages via
Facebook. Instead of using different, not overly centralized
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat">IRC</a> servers, we now
<em>whatsapp</em> each other.</p>
<p>While these platforms reduce the barriers stopping us from participating
in the web, e.g. by giving us a streamlined user interface, by making
posting on the web a seamless and easy experience, et cetera, they
restrict our ability to present our content in ways we want to present
them (e.g. by changing designs or adding not necessary but semantically
rich markup) and get to own the content. This change in ownership has
two implications: first, obviously, the owners of the platforms can do
pretty much anything with our data. Second and arguably even more
frightening, we create that content over years and we often do not have
a way to export our data. This means that a platform closing often also
means a massive lost of user generated data. (A movement to counter this
development is the <a href="http://indiewebcamp.com/">Indieweb</a>. This <a href="https://indiewebcamp.com/site-deaths">list of
'dead' social networks</a> is also
most instructive. A nice talk on social media and the Indieweb is
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNr0JNwsLy8" title="Tantek Çelik - The once and future IndieWeb">this</a>.
<a href="https://withknown.com/">Known</a> is a CMS designed along the <a href="http://indiewebcamp.com/principles">Indieweb
principles</a> and created for, among
others, educational purposes.)</p>
<p><strong>To sum up</strong>, a major advantage of the web was the democratization of
creative expression and production - while the later centralization of
the web is an important but unfortunate and disadvantageous development.</p>
<p>These general observations also apply for the aim of using the web for
academic purposes.</p>
<h2 id="hypotheses-org">Hypotheses.org</h2>
<p>Now, let's get back to hypotheses.org. Letting everybody create their
own blogs is something already formulated in the basic, original ideas
of the web. The process was later made much easier with the developments
of CMS like <a href="https://wordpress.com/">wordpress</a> (which is also used on
hypotheses.org). Connecting the different people involved is a process,
which was also similarly formulated before: links are just that - and
later developments such as contact and comment forms have since enhanced
the process<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#hypotheses">2</a></sup>. Thus far, hypotheses.org is thus re-inventing what
is already there.</p>
<p>HTML can be used on any webserver, by anybody. For people who have no
capacities or time to learn HTML, installing a CMS can be done on any
server with minimal to no required time and effort. Hypotheses.org
differs by centralizing everything on servers not owned by the creator
of the respective content and putting contents under subdomains. Whereas
wordpress, which the blogs at hypotheses.org are running on, allows
exporting user-generated data and I assume the terms of service for
setting up blogs there to be comparatively nice (I have still to check
this), this puts the produser at risk of the service suddenly shutting
down without prior notice and the data being lost with little chance of
getting it back. Given the idea of putting all of a researcher's field
notes there, this is a major downside to consider.</p>
<p>The other main feature of hypotheses.org's self-definition is that it
is specifically catering to researchers in the humanities and social
sciences. Whereas this is beneficial just for formulating the general
lack of the social sciences and humanities in opening up to the benefits
of the web, it bears the risk of excluding outsiders. Outsiders here
includes pro-ams and other potentially engagable people in their
respective fields, who have skills on the level of those within the
academic community but are simply not employed in the field.</p>
<p><em>The</em> one major benefit of the web
is thus at risk of being undone. By letting skilled outsiders enter the
academic discourse much more research could get done. Social sciences
and the humanities would be advanced in the pursuit of knowledge. On the
other hand old hierarchical structures would need to be flattened for
and by engaging pro-ams in the discourse. If the ideas of a pro-am are
to be seen as valid as those of a professor (given they are of the same
quality in terms of content), then this means a major loss of power on
the side of the professor. As science and education should be a
competition of ideas, this flattening of the hierarchies would be
beneficial.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#power">3</a></sup></p>
<p>If science aims for the broadening of ordered, publicly available
knowledge, the idea of creating a 'walled network' only for social
science/scientists and (people in) the humanities is thus not just not
beneficial but indeed a dangerous one.</p>
<p>All this speaks for simply setting up one's own website for researchers
or research groups. While social scientists and academics in the
humanities should open up to the internet more, they do not need
centralized services for this. Indeed, they should be most cautious of
the risks of centralized services. And if they are interested in
broadening the ordered and publicly available knowledge of humankind as
a collective, they should embrace the discourse with pro-ams, which are
less likely to join a network catering to any one specific group of
researchers.</p>
<hr />
<div class="footnote-definition" id="OBrown2013"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p><a href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/11/33">Patrick O Brown. 2013. "An interview with Patrick O Brown on the origins and future of open access." BMC Biology 11 (33)"</a></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="hypotheses"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">2</sup>
<p>German courts decided that website owners are responsible
for the comments made on the website. In a German setting, you thus need
to either moderate any comment or you are likely at risk of getting
sued. This is, among others, the reason I have disabled the comments on
this website, even if I have implemented commenting in my own CMS.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="power"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">3</sup>
<p>If science and education are seen as tools of power, the
opposite is quite obviously the case: flattening the hierarchies makes
the field harder to control. Engaging volunteers and thus rendering
money a less influencial aspect of academia decreases corporate and
state power in determining the academic discourse.</p>
</div>
Now Booksharing (Not Really Bookswapping)2015-09-17T00:00:00+00:002015-09-17T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/12/<p>In German - as I just learned - there is the term
<a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booksharing">booksharing</a> (yes, we love
awkward anglicisms, too). Wikipedia translates it to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_swapping">book
swapping</a>, but I think the
term booksharing is a better term indeed. After all, it is more open for
interpretation: I myself have many books I do not want to give away, but
which I am willing to lend to people who need them.</p>
<p>The Internet gives us the ability to share things much more effectively
than ever before - ideally for free and in a decentralized manner.
Unfortunately, book swapping projects that make use of the Internet seem
to be all platform based so far. And I am not willing to take the costs
of joining another platform if there may be a better way.</p>
<p>I have today created a <del>sub-section</del> on this website to
display my books. If someone from the area needs one of those and cannot
access them in the library, ask me.</p>
<p>Coding made me think more and more about scalability, in about anything
I do. For this concrete case, it would be great to create some kind of
markup for booksharing. Of course, things like MODS already exist, but a
<a href="http://aaron.pk/a4ar1">microformats solution would certainly help
more</a>.</p>
<p>This would first of all include transfering all the common content types
of MODS, BibTeX or comparable formats into
<a href="http://microformats.org/">microformats</a>. Second, additional ones would
need to be added for the status and the purpose of the entry (is it
currently available and is it meant to be given away or just lent out?).</p>
<p>With that, it would be possible to move sharing books and helping each
other much easier without having to rely on platforms which can always
be bought/shut down/etc.</p>
<hr />
<p>Aside from the technical aspects, it would of course also be great to
get more people to collaborate and open up to be asked about
collaboration. A first step towards this can pretty easily be made by
indexing what we have. For example, my little project here started with
me <a href="/post/6">indexing my books</a> for university - this only later
expanded into signatures being assigned to the books and the programing
of the sub-section.</p>
<p>If we just shared this information in a smaller scale setting that may
already help much.</p>
A Tiny Renaming Script2015-08-26T00:00:00+00:002015-08-26T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/10/<p>Some days ago, I remembered an old problem I had wanted to solve for a
long time: monitoring a directory and automatically renaming its
contents. Possible use cases are downloads folders, if you want to avoid
whitespaces in your filenames or shared folders if you want to educate
your collaborators to follow certain rules in giving filenames.</p>
<p>Over the last months I had always procrastinated on implementing this -
like too many other things. Fast forward to yesterday, I did some quick
checks for tools with the same functionality. If possible, I needed them
independent of platforms as I am still switching back and forth between
Linux and Windows.</p>
<p>I could only find <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/personalrenamer/">this
tool</a>. Unfortunately,
it seems to be Windows exclusive, and, let's face it, running a process
24/7 in Wine is just not that great. Worse yet the download link seemed
to be broken at the time. It is now working, so it might have just been
a temporary problem, but waiting would have taken longer than doing a
basic implementation of what I wanted myself. The same goes for any
deeper research.</p>
<p>Below you can find the code for it, written in Python 3. It checks the
directory it is in every 15 seconds, replaces whitespaces (and
everything added in the list <em>toescape</em>) with hyphens, and deletes
everything in the list <em>todel</em>. Of course, this is very limited, but it
is a start. Also, please excuse the non-working formating below. I hope
anyone to potentially use this can add the tabstops themselves (posting
code is unfortunately still a major hassle with my CMS).</p>
<pre data-lang="python" style="background-color:#2b303b;color:#c0c5ce;" class="language-python "><code class="language-python" data-lang="python"><span style="color:#b48ead;">import </span><span>os, time
</span><span>
</span><span style="color:#b48ead;">def </span><span style="color:#8fa1b3;">renamer_folder</span><span>(</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">such</span><span>):
</span><span>
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#65737e;"># Scanning the folder
</span><span> liste = os.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">listdir</span><span>(such)
</span><span>
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">for </span><span>i </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">in </span><span>liste:
</span><span>
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">if </span><span>os.path.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">isfile</span><span>(such + "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">/</span><span>" + i) == </span><span style="color:#d08770;">False</span><span>:
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#96b5b4;">print </span><span>("</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">-- Opening new directory: </span><span>" + such + "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">/</span><span>" + i + "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;"> --</span><span>")
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#bf616a;">renamer_folder</span><span>(such + "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">/</span><span>" + i)
</span><span>
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">else</span><span>:
</span><span>
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#65737e;"># Finalname is initially set to be the original filename and then edited to meet the wanted result
</span><span> finalname = i
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#65737e;"># Set up lists with values to be escaped or deleted
</span><span> toescape = [' ', '</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">%20</span><span>']
</span><span> todel = []
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">for </span><span>j </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">in </span><span>todel:
</span><span> finalname = finalname.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">replace</span><span>(j, '')
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">for </span><span>j </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">in </span><span>toescape:
</span><span> finalname = finalname.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">replace</span><span>(j, '</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">-</span><span>')
</span><span>
</span><span> finalname = finalname.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">strip</span><span>('</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">-</span><span>')
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">if </span><span>finalname != i:
</span><span> os.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">rename</span><span>(such + "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">/</span><span>" + i, such + "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">/</span><span>" + finalname)
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#96b5b4;">print </span><span>("</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;"> ---- Renaming: </span><span>" + such + "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">/</span><span>" + i + "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;"> into </span><span>" + such + "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">/</span><span>" + finalname + "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;"> ---- </span><span>")
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">else</span><span>:
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">pass
</span><span>
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">print
</span><span> ("</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">-------------------</span><span>")
</span><span>
</span><span style="color:#b48ead;">if </span><span>__name__ == "</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">__main__</span><span>":
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#65737e;"># As the function is meant to be run endlessly, a while loop with conditions that are always true is set
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#b48ead;">while </span><span style="color:#d08770;">1 </span><span>!= </span><span style="color:#d08770;">0</span><span>:
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#bf616a;">renamer_folder</span><span>('</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">.</span><span>')
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#65737e;"># Until the script is terminated, it will monitor the directory and its subdirectories recursively every 15 seconds
</span><span> time.</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">sleep</span><span>(</span><span style="color:#d08770;">15</span><span>)
</span><span>
</span></code></pre>
Small PHP Reader for mIRC logs2015-08-06T00:00:00+00:002015-08-06T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/9/<p>Quite recently I was forced to set my OS back up. When I moved old files
after that, I came across some pretty old logs from IRC and ended up
chatting about the good old times. It's just a shame that the log
reader in mIRC is not all that great. I wanted a prettier one, ideally
searchable and sorted.<br />
Since I have largely finished the first proper version of the CMS this
website runs on, I finally had some time to do some other programming
again. And thus I ended up implementing at least a very basic version of
it. Below you find the code.</p>
<p>If anyone wants to use this: the basic concept is that you have all the
logs you want to read in one directory (./logs in the same directory as
the script). This directory is then read and all files (which means the
log for each channel or PM chat et cetera) are linked. After selecting
one of these, the given .log file is parsed into HTML. I also added some
additions like a very simple parser for links and splitting up of
sessions (that's also the level of searchability the tool offers so
far...). The whole thing happens in PHP, so you might want to emulate
an Apache on your maschine (or run it online and make sure to add very
good security measures - privacy matters).</p>
<p>Update (2015-09-17): There are still some problems with my CMS
displaying PHP code without executing it and giving awkward results.
Usually any PHP is filtered out of posts for security reasons and
previous reasons of this post had the code entered manually. I now moved
it to a <a href="cont/coding/irc_log_reader.txt">separate file</a>.</p>
Playfulness and New Functions2015-07-08T00:00:00+00:002015-07-08T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/8/<p>The semester is almost over. I just got my first professional
translation order approved yesterday, my BA thesis is as good as done (I
just need to back check on some references), exams are waiting in line.
And since my last post about developing this website quite some time has
passed. I think it is time for a quick update, as extensive as time
permits.</p>
<h2 id="playfulness-and-the-web">Playfulness and the Web</h2>
<p>There are a lot of new functions to this website. When I first posted
something here, I only had implemented bookmarking and posting (back
then I had not even decided to call
posts/articles/whatever-you-want-to-call-it blog posts). Since then a
number of new forms of content have been added, most notably videos,
even if I don't really use that function, notes - kind of like tweets
-, and publications.</p>
<p>Before I did not use Twitter, but apparently I can see the awesomeness
of it - or similar functions, that is - now. My publication section is
at the point of writing ridiculously empty, since I have just not
published any more. You could say I program functions without thinking
about whether I have any use for them at the time of programming. That
is true.</p>
<p>The website is heavily inspired by the
<a href="http://indiewebcamp.com/">Indieweb</a> movement, as can be seen in my
sudden use of microformats, syndication and even the use of the term
"notes." In their <a href="http://indiewebcamp.com/principles">principles</a>,
they note down one most important thing, which they call
"selfdogfooding".</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Eat your own <a href="http://indiewebcamp.com/dogfood">dogfood</a>. Whatever you
build should be for yourself. If you aren't depending on it, why
should anybody else? We call that
<a href="http://indiewebcamp.com/selfdogfood">selfdogfooding</a>. More
importantly, build the indieweb around your needs. If you design tools
for some hypothetical user, they may not actually exist; if you build
tools for yourself, you actually do exist.
<a href="http://indiewebcamp.com/selfdogfood">selfdogfooding</a> is also a form
of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof-of-work_system">"proof of
work"</a> to help
focus on productive interactions.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I actually agree to this almost completely, and yet I write all these
functions I don't really need? Well, I think one important thing too
often forgotten is playfulness. When I think of my earliest (even given
my age) experiences on the web or of what we can still see with niche
subcultures on the web, it was and is - and should not be anything but -
a huge playground for people who try to build something.</p>
<p>Talking about young new employees and interns, I am told that many
overestimate themselves. They have opened an HTML editor once and
suddenly they say they knew all about it. On the one hand, having opened
the HTML editor, say, having gained confidence (no matter if realistic
or not) in your skills, already means having the perfect conditions to
really gain them in no time. But that aside, it just shows that the
playfulness of the web has already changed our culture.</p>
<p>I value this playfulness and try to follow it wherever I can, and that
also means that I will do more than just creating for my own immediate
needs. Maybe the need lies exactly in the creation of tools I have not
yet had before. This means, selfdogfooding in the formulation quoted
above is, I think, too restrictive a principle. I want to build things
because I think that they would be cool to have, not because I need
them. Making sense of what happened there can follow
after.</p>
<p>Again, I agree 90% plus to the principle though, and apparently I
believe our playfulness is not really to be restricted by it. Just that
maybe it assumes things to be one way around where the process can work
in both directions. Of course, a professional should know what they do
before they do it - but a good autodidact is learning by doing, usually
(at least in my case) doing more or less random stuff. And then,
eventually, as I stated above, it will probably make sense somehow or be
edited to do so. And then one can (and maybe, probably) will use what
one built. Say, "use what you build" not "build what you
need."</p>
<h2 id="new-functions">New functions</h2>
<p>Anyway, let's get to the new functions. New functions are not only
restricted to introducing new forms of content or the presentation
thereof. But let's start with these.</p>
<p>New types of content are notes, videos, lists (so far conceptualized
for books as I have been too lazy to edit it to be an all-encompassing
feature for lists), events on a calendar and publications.</p>
<p>The motivation for most of these was seeing them on other sides and
then, well, trying out if I was able to pull off the same. Take for
example notes, which are automatically
<a href="http://indiewebcamp.com/POSSE">POSSE</a>-d to Twitter, and
semi-automatically to Facebook. POSSE-ing has also been more or less
added for bookmarks and blog posts: new blog posts are automatically
announced via Twitter and can also be announced via Facebook
semi-automatically. This only shows a message stating that there is a
new post though, not a true repost.</p>
<p>Notes and blog posts also show an icon next to the content now (which
btw also adds author information to the post), which is also used in the
front page and as the favicon. This icon can be freely changed in the
backend. Similarly hopefully contributing to user experience is the
calendar that can now be found in the events section.</p>
<h2 id="connections-to-external-programs">Connections to External Programs</h2>
<p>Finally, there are now export functions for most kinds of content.
Bookmarks can - and could from the start - be automatically added to
your browser or, first of all, mine, by using live bookmarks.</p>
<p>In the publication section, you can export bibliographic information in
BibTeX, RIS and MODS format. I wrote a post on BibTeX and digital
bibliographical databases using JabRef earlier, which can be found
<a href="/post/6">here</a> "JabRef Tutorial, incl. information on BibTeX").</p>
<p>Finally, the calendar you can find on this website can also be accessed
in .ics format
(<del>here</del>),
which means that it can be subscribed to using external
programs.</p>
<p>To export my vcard (contact information for your address book, that
is), there is a link in the footer. Thanks to the Microformats community
for that, as their approach is indeed better than the one I took here in
many cases (like the calendar).</p>
<p>I create machine-readable information from the actual data, just as I
create the human-readable version from it here. Ideally, and that I also
(but not exclusively) follow here, you could and can combine these two.
For users to be able to use this though, the hurdles are still high.
Arguably too high - and certainly so if you are also working with less
techie people. Since of what use is machine-readable information if no
one can use it but some 0.5% of the people (those who had the time and
the means to learn to) can use it.</p>
<h2 id="other-additions-i-have-no-time-to-discuss">Other Additions I Have No Time to Discuss</h2>
<ul>
<li>A changelog was added.</li>
<li>Functions for commenting and mentions - at least the mentioning
function needs to be redone. Comments I don't really want anyway
(all hail German law for that).</li>
<li>If you are logged in in the backend, posting from the frontend also
works now.</li>
<li>A basic CSS file management system was added to store and install
custom designs.</li>
<li>A newsletter is already working, just not linked yet.</li>
<li>Some kind of link-rewriting (you can still always see an "i.php"
in the url).</li>
<li>Some more can be found in the <a href="i.php/changelog">changelog...</a></li>
</ul>
Renungan dan perubahan: ppanji.org dan Museum-Digital Indonesia2015-07-06T00:00:00+00:002015-07-06T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/11/<p>Dalam Pertemuan Pencinta Panji tahun lalu saya memberi presentasi
berjudul "Panji, benda-benda budaya dan digitalisasi". Presentasi itu
membicarakan aspek-aspek yang bisa didigitalisasi, menunjukkan software
<em>museum-digital</em> dan ide-ide untuk
menyebarkan pengetahuan tentang Panji di Indonesia dan seluruh dunia
melalui internet. Saat itu, sebagian besar software
<em>museum-digital</em> sudah diterjemahkan ke
dalam Bahasa Indonesia, tetapi hanya itu saja.</p>
<p>Situs web <a href="http://ppanji.org">ppanji.org</a> dibuat sebagai bentuk tindak
lanjut dari Pertemuan Pecinta Panji 2014 lalu, untuk merepresentasi
aktifitas Pencinta Panji dan mengumpulkan informasi lanjut seperti
bibliografi. Konsepnya adalah menghubungan berbagai sumber informasi
umum, dan bukan mengembangkan sendiri. Misalnya, Google Calendar
digunakan untuk kalender, bukan alat kalender situs web ppanji.org
sendiri. Ini dimaksudkan untuk memudahkan proses penambahan dan
penyuntingan, karena harap para editor sudah paham dan terbiasa dengan
layanan tersebut. Konsep itu sendiri bermasalah.</p>
<p>Ada beberapa masalah lain pada versi ppanji.org dan <em>museum-digital
Indonesia</em> di akhir tahun 2014. Masalah
utama adalah pada sentralisasi, pengalaman pengguna untuk administrator
dan kesulitan bahasa.</p>
<p>Masalah pertama disebabkan karena tidak ada fungsi yang dapat memberikan
tingkat otoritas yang berbeda kepada banyak pengguna. Akses hanya dapat
dipegang oleh segelintir orang. Hal ini mengakibatkan hanya ada satu
orang yang memiliki akses, sekaligus dapat mengubah tampilan dan
menambahkan informasi. Sementara banyak orang lainnya bertindak sebagai
sumber informasi. Jika ada banyak orang yang bisa mengakses untuk
menambahkan informasi, proses akan berlangsung semakin cepat.</p>
<p>Masalah kedua adalah masalah bagi administrator laman. Masalah ini
terdiri dari tiga masalah yang lebih spesifik lagi, masalah desain,
ketidaksamaan fungsi dan proses penambahan informasi yang terlalu makan
waktu.</p>
<p>Masalah desain adalah hal dasar: halaman penambahan dan penyuntingan
informasi ppanji.org kurang cantik. Hanya memiliki latar belakang putih,
tidak ada fungsi interaktif, dan tidak ada teks bantuan untuk berbagai
fungsi. Jika ingin memotivasi banyak orang untuk menambahkan informasi
baru, halaman ini harus dicantikkan lagi.</p>
<p>Masalah ketidaksamaan fungsi disebabkan oleh penggunaan berbagai layanan
untuk menyunting satu situs web. Fungsi penambahan menjadi susah untuk
dimengerti karena menggunakan berbagai formulir penambahan informasi
yang berbeda-beda. Berbagai cara berbeda untuk menambahkan informasi
juga berarti ada banyak hal baru lagi untuk dipelajari. Pernah terpikir
untuk menggunakan cara-cara tersebut, tapi hanya akan mempersulit
proses.</p>
<p>Terakhir, adalah kesulitan bahasa dalam versi Indonesia Museum-Digital.
Bertujuan untuk menyebarkan pengetahuan tentang Panji ke seluruh dunia.
Tapi versi Indonesia dari <em>museum-digital</em>
belum memiliki terjemahan multibahasa dari deskripsi benda atau
navigasi. Akan tetapi, sebaiknya ada informasi dalam dua bahasa, yaitu
bahasa Indonesia dan Bahasa Inggris. Ini untuk memudahkan informasi
tersebut dipahami oleh orang-orang yang tidak bisa berbahasa Indonesia.</p>
<h2 id="ada-apa-di-tahun-2015-dan-apa-akan-dibuat-lagi">Ada apa di tahun 2015 dan apa akan dibuat lagi?</h2>
<p>Itulah daftar kesulitan teknis yang pernah dan sedang dihadapi. Berikut
ini, saya menunjukkan software yang saya harap bisa menjadi solusi.</p>
<h3 id="sistem-yang-baru-untuk-ppanji-org">Sistem yang baru untuk ppanji.org</h3>
<p>Pada Pertemuan Pencinta Panji tahun 2015 ppanji.org
akan dibuatkan sistem yang baru. Dengan system ini persoalan yang
disebutkan di atas akan dapat teratasi.</p>
<p>Sistem yang baru ini mendukung fungsi level pengguna. Akan ada beberapa
level pengguna yang memiliki berbagai fungsi berbeda. Ada yang hanya
bisa menambahkan video dan gambar saja, ada level lain yang bisa
menambahkan isi tetapi tidak bisa mengubah tampilan laman. Ada level
khusus untuk mengatur tampilan laman. Dan terakhir, adalah administrator
yang memiliki akses ke semua hal tersebut.</p>
<p>Dengan fungsi baru ini, proses penyuntingan situs web ppanji.org bisa
didesentralisasi dan dibagi dengan lebih banyak orang. Ini berarti akan
ada lebih banyak informasi, tapi juga menjaga keamanan laman. Ini karena
ada unsur kontrol yang kuat: admin tertinggi dengan akses kode adalah
satu-satunya orang yang bisa menambahkan pengguna baru. Untuk memastikan
kualitas isi, penambah isinya juga akan ditunjukkan secara publik.</p>
<p>Software ini juga akan mengatasi kesulitan pengalaman pengguna. Halaman
penambahan dan penyuntingan informasi kini lebih cantik dan interaktif,
sehingga lebih menarik untuk para penambah. Selain bibliografi, semua
fungsi penambahan atau penyuntingan juga diintegrasi ke dalam sistem ini
dan diprogram untuknya sendiri. Jadi cara (dan formulir) penambahan dan
penyuntingan berbagai jenis informasi menjadi seragam. Dengan itu,
penggunaan web akan menjadi sangat mudah.</p>
<p>Tampilan untuk pengguna normal juga akan diperbaiki: desain baru ini
akan menyesuaikan secara otomatis tergantung dari ukuran layar. Sehingga
tidak ada masalah mengakses laman ppanji.org melalui tablet atau telepon
genggam.</p>
<p>Dengan adanya perubahan system ini, desain dan seluruh system akan lebih
berkesinambungan dan mudah diatur. Sehingga jika para Pecinta Panji
ingin mengubah desain atau menambahkan fungsi baru, hal itu akan lebih
mudah dilakukan.</p>
<h3 id="berita-museum-digital">Berita Museum-Digital</h3>
<p>Sayangnya, penerjemahan <em>museum-digital</em> ke
dalam Bahasa Indonesia belum berkembang di tahun 2015. Hal ini juga
berarti tidak ada perubahan teknis di <em>museum-digital Indonesia</em>.</p>
<p>Tetapi akan ada banyak fungsi penting yang baru di versi
<em>museum-digital</em> yang lain. Salah satu yang
terpenting adalah fungsi penerjemahan: Pernah penerjemahan
<em>museum-digital</em> dibuat melalui perubahan
kode, dalam versi-versi baru bisa menerjemahkan melalui formulir. Jadi,
proses penerjamahan dipermudah. Dengan ini, satu versi
<em>museum-digital</em> terkini juga bisa
digunakan dalam berbagai Bahasa.</p>
<p>Penerjemahan Bahasa Indonesia bagian publik
<em>museum-digital</em> sudah diintegrasi dan
sebagian besar sudah diterjemahkan. Proses integrasi fungsi-fungsi itu
ke dalam <em>museum-digital Indonesia</em> akan
dibuat nanti tahun ini.</p>
<p>- Terima kasih Irma atas pertolongan dengan Bahasa Indonesia dalam teks
ini -</p>
Elektronische Artikel, was?2015-06-17T00:00:00+00:002015-06-17T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/7/<p>Hier nun der zweite Teil der Reihe zu eigentlich grundsätzlichen
Problemen heutigen Studentenlebens. Den erste Teil zu JabRef und
Dateiformaten für bibliographischen Angaben kann man
<a href="/post/6" title="Bibliographische Datenbank, JabRef, was?">hier</a>
finden. Dieses Mal geht es darum, wie man als Student der Goethe
Universität Frankfurt an elektronische Kopien von wissenschaftlichen
Artikeln kommt. Eigentlich ist das ganze ziemlich gut dokumentiert, aber
da ich immer noch hin und wieder gefragt werde, wie man über die
Universität Zugriff auf elektronische Literaturdatenbanken bekommt, hier
noch einmal alles in zusammengefasster Form.</p>
<p>Die wohl meistbenutzte Literaturdatenbank ist
<a href="https://jstor.com">JSTOR</a>, deshalb folgt als erstes ein kurzes Tutorial
darüber, wie man über die Universitätswebsite auf JSTOR kommt. Dabei
darf man aber natürlich nicht vergessen, dass uns nicht nur Lizenzen für
JSTOR zur Verfügung stehen, sondern auch für eine Reihe anderer
nützlicher Datenbanken (z.B. <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/">Project Muse</a>) und
für Downloads auf den Seiten der Verlage (z.B. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/">Cambridge University
Press</a> oder
<a href="https://www.sagepublications.com/">Sage</a>). Danach folgen ein paar Tipps
und Tricks.</p>
<h2 id="wie-komme-ich-auf-literaturdatenbanken">Wie komme ich auf Literaturdatenbanken?</h2>
<p>Der typische Weg, um über die Uni-Website Zugang zu
Online-Literaturdatenbanken zu bekommen, fängt auf der <a href="http://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/" title="Webseite der Universitätsbibliothek der Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main">Seite der
Universitätsbibliothek</a>
an. Hier sucht man oben rechts nach einem Journal, das man benutzen
möchte oder das in einer der zu benutzenden Datenbanken verfügbar ist.</p>
<p>Als Beispiel nehmen wir das <em>Journal of Southeast Asian
Studies</em>. Nachdem die Suche abgegeben wurde
erscheint das Journal in den Suchergebnissen zwei Mal: Einmal normal und
einmal mit dem Zusatz „elektronische Ressource". Hier nun auf
elektronische Ressource klicken und man gelangt auf die
Seite des <em>Journal of Southeast Asian Studies</em> bei der Universitätsbibliothek der Goethe Universität Frankfurt.
Unten im Reiter „Mehr Informationen" sieht man „Online: Volltext".</p>
<p>Nach einem Klick auf den Schriftzug „Volltext" wird man aufgefordert
sich mit seinem Bibliotheksaccount anzumelden. Direkt rechts vom
Anmeldeformular steht
„<a href="http://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/benutzung/passwort.html" title="Hilfeseite zur Anmeldung mit dem Bibliotheksaccount">Hilfe</a>"
-- unter diesem Link werden kurz und verständlich alle Informationen zur
Anmeldung gegeben. Solange man sein Bibliothekspasswort nicht geändert
hat, ist der Username die Nummer auf der Goethecard (die Matrikelnummer
und davor ein paar Ziffern) und euer Geburtsdatum im Format DDMMYY.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Für Universitätsangehörige ist - wenn Sie sich kein anderes Passwort
gegeben haben - das Bibliothekspasswort Ihr Geburtsdatum in der Form
TTMMJJ, also z.B. für den 12. Mai 1993:
<strong>120593</strong>.</p>
<p>- <a href="http://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/benutzung/passwort.html" title="Hilfeseite zur Anmeldung mit dem Bibliotheksaccount">Bibliotheksseite der Goethe Universität
Frankfurt</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Jetzt sieht man unten zwei Links, einmal zu den „älteren Jahrgänge[n]
via JSTOR" und einmal direkt zur Seite des Journals (bei der University
of Cambridge Press). Beide sind mit einem gelben Ampel-Symbol
gekennzeichnet, d.h. man kann sie nur entweder mit Uni-Login oder von
einem Universitätsnetzwerk aus voll benutzen (oder man bezahlt viel
Geld). Also, ein Klick auf den Link zu älteren Jahrgängen, dann auf der
neu aufgehenden Seite direkt oben auf „Zu den Volltexten: Jg. 1, H. 1
(1970) - Nicht die letzten 6 Jahrgänge". Und schon ist man bei JSTOR
und kann dort auch nach Einträgen aus anderen Journals suchen.</p>
<h2 id="shortcut-uber-lesezeichen">Shortcut über Lesezeichen</h2>
<p>Wie man sieht ist der normale Weg etwas lang. Deshalb lohnt es sich,
einen Blick auf die URL zu werfen: alle URLs enden wie folgt:</p>
<p>URL.proxy.ub.uni-frankfurt.de</p>
<p>Das heißt, dass man tatsächlich wortwörtlich [über die
Universitätswebseite]{style="font-style: italic;"} auf die
Literaturdatenbanken zugreift, und das die URL sich ändert, je nachdem,
ob man über die Universitätswebseite oder einfach normal auf die
gegebene Seite zugreift.</p>
<p>Dementsprechend kann man also ein Lesezeichen setzen, direkt auf der
Seite, die man mit dem Universitätslogin geöffnet hat. Wenn man dann
diese Seite öffnet, gelangt man direkt zum Anmeldeformular für die
Universitätswebseite und nach dem Login dann auf die gewünschte Seite
(also z.B. JSTOR).</p>
<p>P.S.: Bisher wurde hier noch nichts über Werke im <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access">Open
Access</a> gesagt, und das
spiegelt leider wieder, dass bis heute Open Access häufig nicht recht
gewürdigt und akzeptiert wird. Dazu vielleicht mehr im nächsten Teil der
Reihe.</p>
Bibliographische Datenbank, JabRef, was?2015-06-15T00:00:00+00:002015-06-15T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/6/<p>Bildung und Forschung erreichen langsam den digitalen Raum, auch in den
Geisteswissenschaften. An der Goethe Universität Frankfurt wird die
Studienverwaltug über ein System
<a href="https://qis.server.uni-frankfurt.de/qisserver/" title="QIS/LSF der Goethe Universität Frankfurt">QIS/LSF</a>
organisiert und Lehrenden steht das e-learning System
<a href="https://olat.server.uni-frankfurt.de/">OLAT</a> (<a href="http://www.olat.org/" title="Offizielle Webseite von OLAT">Offizielle
Webseite</a>) zur
Verfügung um Lernmaterialen an Studierende zu verbreiten. Große Teile
der Bibliothek sind mittlerweile <a href="http://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/" title="Webseite der Uni-Bibliothek">im Web
durchsuchbar</a>.
Lehrenden und Studierenden steht Citavi als
Bibliographiedatenbankprogramm zur Verfügung. Zusätzlich haben wir dank
der deutschen Nationallizenzen Zugriff auf weite Teile der großen
Online-Literaturdatenbanken (z.B. <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/">JSTOR</a>,
<a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/">Project Muse</a>).</p>
<p>Was aber machen die Studierenden (zumindest in den Sozial- und
Kulturwissenschaften, ich habe den Verdacht, dass es hier Unterschiede
zu den Naturwissenschaftlern gibt)? Wir organisieren uns (immerhin) über
Facebook, wir benutzen gezwungenermaßen Word/Open Office Writer/Libre
Office Writer um unsere Hausarbeiten zu schreiben. Dabei belassen wir es
dann für gewöhnlich auch. Wir benutzen die Bibliothekswebseite um Bücher
zu finden, und selbst wenn sie im Open Access verfügbar sind, laufen wir
in die Bibliothek, um sie auszuleihen oder direkt dort zu lesen. Dann
schreiben wir beim fünften Mal, dass wir das gleiche Buch zitieren, noch
einmal alle bibliographischen Daten ab.</p>
<p>Das geht mittlerweile einfacher und effektiver! Und es sollte doch in
unserem Interesse sein, Arbeiten für die Uni effektiv zu gestalten, um
mehr Zeit wahlweise fürs Weiterlesen oder für mehr Freizeit zu haben.
Natürlich gibt es vor allem ein Vermittlungsproblem und das,
zugegebenermaßen, nicht nur zwischen Lehrenden und Studierenden. Noch
heute gibt es Lehrende, die ihre Bibliographie lieber aus dem eigenen
Karteikartenkatalog abschreiben als sie einfach zu copy-pasten. Und dann
ist es nur folgerichtig, dass diese Dozenten niemandem vermitteln
können, dass es mit dem technischen Fortschritt auch große
Arbeitserleichterungen in der Wissenschaft gibt.</p>
<p>Hier also nun eine kurze Einführung zu JabRef, einem Programm zur
Verwaltung von Bibliographiedatenbanken<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup>. JabRef ist ein
relativ simples aber extrem gut anpassbares Programm, deshalb benutze
ich es.
<a href="https://www.zotero.org/" title="Offizielle Webseite von Zotero">Zotero</a>, die
vielleicht wichtigste Alternative, mit mehr Funktionen und schönerem
Interface, benutze ich nur wenn es nicht anders geht, deshalb wird es
hier nicht vorgestellt. Hier aber wenigstens die <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zotero">Wikipedia-Seite von
Zotero</a>.</p>
<p>Im Anschluss geht es ein wenig um gängige Formate, in denen man
bibliographische Informationen maschinenlesbar speichern kann.</p>
<h2 id="jabref-warum">JabRef - Warum?</h2>
<p>JabRef ist ein freies,
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_%28software_platform%29">Java</a>-basiertes
Bibliographieprogramm. Das heißt, dass es Plattformunabhängig läuft,
solange Java installiert ist. Zusätzlich speichert es seine
Datenbank(en) in einfachen Textdateien und benutzt dafür ein gängiges,
uniformes, das heißt, dass die Datenbank einfach in andere Programme
transferierbar ist, sollte es JabRef irgendwann nicht mehr geben.
Andererseits kann es so relativ leicht zu Schwierigkeiten beim Speichern
kommen. Es empfiehlt sich regelmäßig Backups zu machen.</p>
<p>JabRef ist kostenlos. Um nun also mit der eigenen Bibliographiedatenbank
anzufangen, geht man zuerst zur Projektwebseite und <a href="http://jabref.sourceforge.net/download.php">lädt sich das
Programm herunter</a>,
installiert und öffnet es. Dann erstellt man eine neue Datenbank durch
einen Klick auf das Symbol links neben dem Speichersymbol oder im
„File"-Menü ganz oben.</p>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/6341be28f93300e400.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/6/Jabref-Newdatabase.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/d45cc41fdb1eeff600.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/39670d9f7668e8f600.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/e53accbcf503320b00.jpg" alt="Neue Datenbank in JabRef erstellen"
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1040"
width="616" -->
</picture>
<p>Jetzt kann man schon mit dem Eingeben anfangen. Um die Eingabemaske zu
öffnen, klickt man oben in der Mitte auf das grüne „+"-Symbol. Als
erstes wird man nun gefragt, zu welcher Kategorie der neue Eintrag
gehört, ob es sich um ein Buch handelt, einen Artikel, um
Konferenz-Proceedings, eine Masterarbeit usw.</p>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/009c3a621d6faa2d00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/6/JabRef-Newentry.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/5ad061ae7a2c4ef700.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/264c8568febbc82100.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/4c9ee6d37b67042d00.jpg" alt="Neuen Eintrag in JabRef erstellen"
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1039"
width="694" -->
</picture>
<p>Jetzt öffnet sich am unteren Bildrand die volle Eingabemaske. Sortiert
ist sie in Reitern mit Optionen entsprechend der Art von Eintrag, die
man vorher ausgewählt hat. Z.B. braucht ein Buch keine Option um zu
bestimmen, zu welchem Journal es gehört und ein Artikel aus einem
Journal braucht keine Informationen zum Verleger.</p>
<p>Zusätzlich gibt es Felder, die für jeden Eintrag gelten (markiert durch
ein braunes Quadrat im Reiter). Hier kann man Informationen zum
Speicherort (falls man eine digitale Kopie hat), die URL, den Abstract
(gilt effektiv aber auch für Kladdentexte etc.) und, wichtig,
Schlagworten notieren. Man gibt nun also die Informationen ein, klickt
den Zauberstab links neben der Eingabemaske, um dem neuen Eintrag einen
eindeutigen Identifikationswerk zuzuweisen und wiederholt denselben
Prozess für jeden neuen Eintrag.</p>
<p>Beim ersten Speichern (Diskettensymbol oben links oder STRG-S) nach dem
Erstellen einer neuen Datenbank kommt jetzt die Frage, an welchem Ort
die Datenbank zu speichern sei. Entsprechend lautet nun auch der Name
der Datenbank oben im Reiter.</p>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/13cfbafee1e9295400.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/6/jabref-tabs.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/fcc9545af3addaac00.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/cdb659f8e9cf5f4f00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/de76875d1fc09ab400.jpg" alt="Reiter in JabRef"
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1039"
width="694" -->
</picture>
<p>Besonders das Setzen von Schlagworten ist leicht zu übersehen macht aber
viel Sinn. Sind die Schlagworte richtig gesetzt, bietet JabRef eine sehr
nützliche Suchfunktion (<kbd>STRG-F</kbd>). Einerseits verliert man bei einer zu
großen Datenbank relativ leicht den Überblick ohne die Suchfunktion
nutzen zu können, andererseits hilft es gerade wenn man einmal eine
größere Datenbank hat einfach Schlagworte eingeben zu können und schon
einmal die bekannte Einstiegsliteratur versammelt zu haben.</p>
<p>Neben der Suchfunktion bietet JabRef noch eine Reihe wichtiger
Funktionen, vor allem das automatische exportieren von Bibliographischen
Einträgen in eine Reihe von Programmen. Für die Asienwissenschaften ist
hier wohl vor allem die Verknüpfung mit Open Office/Libre Office
interessant. Öffnet man erst sein Textverarbeitungsprogramm und klickt
dann auf „Open Office/Libre Office Connection" unter dem Menüpunkt
„Tools". Links erscheint nun ein Menü mit Stromstecker-Symbolen ganz
oben. Ein Klick auf das Linke verbindet die Programme und lässt JabRef
das Zitat direkt in den Text eintragen. Dazu reicht ein Klick auf
„Cite".</p>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/5c3ecb2bde95117500.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/6/jabref-openoffice.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/d29b074f972ba6f000.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/7d905ac655c7cd9500.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/ebf577131dff479500.jpg" alt="Reiter in JabRef"
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1023"
width="2239" -->
</picture>
<p>Eine andere nützliche und einfache Funktion ist „Cleanup entries". Mit
dieser Funktion kann man seine PDFs, so man PDFs hinzugefügt hat,
automatisch umbenennen lassen.</p>
<h2 id="neue-eingabeoptionen">Neue Eingabeoptionen</h2>
<p>Eine Anpassungsmöglichkeit, für die man keinerlei Art Code lesen können
muss, ist das Hinzufügen von neuen Feldern für Informationen.
Beispielsweise habe ich meine Bücher zuhause vertagt, um sie später
besser finden zu können. Die Verwaltung mache ich mit JabRef, aber ohne
Anpassungen hat JabRef keine Eingabeoption gezielt für den
physikalischen Aufbewahrungsort des eingetragenen Buches o.ä. Was tun?
Eine einfügen.</p>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/9c94abae8615350900.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/6/taggedbooks.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/9c94abae8615350900.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/9597296c33f4312f00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/9597296c33f4312f00.jpg" alt="Vertaggte Bücher"
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="500"
width="500" -->
</picture>
<p>Hierzu öffnet man im Menü „Options" entweder „Customize entry types"
oder „Set up general fields", je nachdem ob man das Feld nur für
bestimmte Arten von Einträgen (also z.B. Bücher oder Artikel) oder
einfach für alle Arten von Einträgen hinzufügen möchte. Im konkreten
Fall einer Verschlagwortung der eigenen Bücher wäre das das Letztere.</p>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/41aa30697558a73100.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/6/jabref-setupgenfields.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/a9eea756980751c000.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/743d3b1f2c3ab87100.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/1c8677a4ee61feb700.jpg" alt="Set up general fields"
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="1024"
width="1280" -->
</picture>
<p>Wie man im Screenshot sehen kann, habe ich vier zusätzliche Felder
eingefügt: "place", „isbn", „lccn", „loc". Im Hintergrund kann man
den Inhalt des gerade geöffneten Reiters „Place" sehen, „isbn"
erscheint aber nicht als Eingabeoption, weil ich noch nicht OK gedrückt
habe. Ab jetzt können die selbst hinzugefügten Felder genau wie die
standartmäßig gegebenen benutzt werden. Das sieht zum Beispiel so aus:</p>
<picture>
<source srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/98605ac453296a5700.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(min-width: 1000px)" srcset="/posts/6/jabref-taggedbooks.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/da0b6d2ded0e1fb800.webp" type="image/webp">
<source media="(max-width: 760px)" srcset="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/c224565ec2b18faf00.jpg" type="image/jpeg">
<img src="https://www.jrenslin.de/processed_images/4eb3a2e2fd55267e00.jpg" alt="Vertaggte Bücher in JabRef mit aktivierter Suche, markiert: Place-Feld"
loading="lazy"
/>
<!-- height="551"
width="1279" -->
</picture>
<h2 id="formate">Formate</h2>
<p>JabRef speichert seine Daten im
<a href="http://www.bibtex.org/" title="BibTeX Specification Page">BibTeX-Format</a>
(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BibTeX" title="BibTeX auf Wikipedia">Wikipedia-Eintrag
hier</a>), das
kann man zum Beispiel sehen, wenn man den Reiter „BibTeX Source" in der
Eingabemaske sieht. Hier werden die Informationen zu einem einzelnen
Eintrag gezeigt. Alle BibTeX Einträge gesammelt kann man sehen, indem
man einfach die Datenbank-Datei in einem Text-Editor (Zum Beispiel der
Windows Editor, Word, Open Office, usw.) öffnet. Für Bernhard Dahms
<em>José Rizal: Der Nationalheld der Filipinos</em> sieht das zum Beispiel so aus.</p>
<pre data-lang="bibtex" style="background-color:#2b303b;color:#c0c5ce;" class="language-bibtex "><code class="language-bibtex" data-lang="bibtex"><span style="color:#65737e;">\</span><span style="color:#b48ead;">@BOOK</span><span>{Dahm1989,
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">title </span><span>= {</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">José Rizal: Der Nationalheld der Filipinos</span><span>},
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">publisher </span><span>= {</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">Göttingen: Muster-Schmidt Verlag</span><span>},
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">year </span><span>= {</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">1989</span><span>},
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">author </span><span>= {</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">Bernhard Dahm</span><span>},
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">series </span><span>= {</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">Persönlichkeit und Geschichte, Bd. 134</span><span>},
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">keywords </span><span>= {</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">Rizal
</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;"> José Rizal y Mercado
</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;"> Philippinen
</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;"> Spanische Kolonialzeit
</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;"> Kolonialismus
</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;"> </span><span>},
</span><span> </span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">timestamp </span><span>= {</span><span style="color:#a3be8c;">2013.07.07</span><span>}
</span><span>}
</span></code></pre>
<p>@BOOK bedeutet, dass es sich um ein Buch (und z.B. nicht einen Artikel)
handelt. Als nächstes folgen der BibTeX-Schlüssel und dann die einzelnen
Merkmale des Buches innerhalb von geschwungenen Klammern. Das Buch wurde
also 1989 veröffentlicht - <code>year = {1989}</code> - und am siebten Juli 2013
eingegeben - <code>timestamp = {2013.07.07}</code>.</p>
<p>JabRef unterstützt für Importe und Exporte auch andere Formate, zum
Beispiel <a href="http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/">MODS</a> (hier der
Wikipedia-Eintrag) und
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIS_%28file_format%29" title="Wikipedia-Seite über RIS">RIS</a>.</p>
<p>Wichtig sind diese Formate vor allem weil sie die wichtigste Möglichkeit
zum Austausch von Informationen zwischen verschiedenen Programmen mit
bibliographischen Informationen bieten. Konkret bedeutet das, dass viele
Seiten die Möglichkeit geben, dass man bibliographische Informationen in
einem dieser Formate exportiert. Im Kleinen haben zum Beispiel die
<del>Publikationsunterseiten dieser Seite Exportfunktionen für die genannten
drei Formate</del>. Im Großen
bietet z.B. <a href="https://books.google.com/">Google Books</a> dieselben
Exportfunktionen.</p>
<p>Zusätzlich gibt es auf einigen Seiten gesamte bibliographische
Datenbanken in diesen Formaten zu downloaden, z.B. eine Datenbank mit
bibliographischen Informationen zu tausenden linguistischen Werken bei
<a href="http://glottolog.org/meta/downloads">Glottolog</a>. Auch gibt es
mittlerweile Tools, die Datenbanken anzapfen, z.B. bibliographische
Informationen automatisch mithilfe der ISBN eines Buches extrahieren,
sie umwandeln und als BibTeX ausgeben, zum Beispiel
<a href="http://manas.tungare.name/software/isbn-to-bibtex/">hier</a><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup>.</p>
<p>Hat man nun also eine dieser Datenquellen benutzt und die entsprechenden
bibliographischen Informationen in einem maschinenlesbaren Format
heruntergeladen, muss man sie nur noch per Drag-and-Drop in ein
JabRef-Fenster ziehen. Hier werden sie nun importiert und man hat ohne
irgendetwas abzutippen die gewünschten Informationen im Programm.</p>
<h2 id="workaround-uber-die-cloud-und-refmaster">Workaround über die Cloud und Refmaster</h2>
<p>Zum Schluss noch etwas zur geräteübergreifenden Benutzung. JabRef hat im
Gegensatz zu z.B. Zotero nicht von Haus aus eine Funktion zur
geräteunabhängigen Nutzung. Das lässt sich aber mithilfe von
selbstständigen Cloud-Programmen wie <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/">Dropbox</a>
oder <a href="https://spideroak.com/">Spideroak</a> oder einem FTP-Speicher
umgehen.</p>
<p>Dadurch das JabRef nur ein einfaches Textdokument zum Speichern der
Datenbank benutzt, kann die Datei in den synchronisierten Ordner gelegt
werden und ist ab da auf allen synchronisierten Geräten verfügbar. Hier
kann sie dann mit JabRef geöffnet werden.</p>
<p>Für mobile Geräte muss man auf Alternativen ausweichen, z.B. Refmaster
für Android. Refmaster funktioniert effektiv wie JabRef angepasst auf
den kleineren Bildschirm eines Smartphones und mit wesentlich weniger
Funktionen, reicht aber, um unterwegs schnell bibliographische Angaben
nachzuschlagen, vor allem wenn man sich an den Namen des Autors
erinnert.</p>
<h2 id="anmerkungen">Anmerkungen</h2>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>Citavi wird nicht beachtet, weil die kostenlose Lizenz solange
zur Verfügung steht, wie man an der Universität
beschäftigt/eingeschrieben ist. Danach ist mindestens die eingewöhnte
Arbeitsumgebung weg, im Schlimmstfall die Datenbank - oder man zahlt
für etwas, das man genauso gut kostenlos bekommen kann.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="2"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">2</sup>
<p>Die verlinkte Seite benutzt die leider unvollständige Amazon API.
Um ein einigermaßen umfassendes und korrektes Programm auf diese Art zu
bauen, müsste man mehrere Quellen miteinander vergleichen, dies wird
aber von den Firmen hinter den Datenbanken, also Amazon, Google etc.
effektiv nicht gestattet.</p>
</div>
Konferensi Asia-Afrika 20152015-05-19T00:00:00+00:002015-05-19T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/5/<p>In 1955, the Asia-African Conference in Bandung took place. This
conference was not only important for many anti-colonial liberation
movements, but it also helped to constitute the "third world" as a
self-confident part of the world.</p>
<p>This year, an anniversary event with over 70 countries represented in
some form was held. I had the task to collect some links from news
websites on this topic.</p>
<p>The articles can be roughly categorized into three groups: those
reminding of the original conference and referring mostly to that; those
published immediately before the conference and those about the events
at the conference. It is especially notable how media from different
countries are framing the event in their own ways, often at least
hinting at how (official) history is determined by the context it is
presented in. Find the list below.</p>
<h2 id="links">Links</h2>
<ul>
<li>"Asian-African Conference timeline". 2015. Jakarta Post (April
23). Available <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/04/23/asian-african-conference-timeline.html">here</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="summary-of-original-conference-and-follow-up-meetings">Summary of original conference and follow up meetings</h3>
<ul>
<li>"Bandung Spirit offers solutions to 21st-century global ills". 2015. China.org. cn (April 27). Available
<a href="http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/2015-04/27/content_35426260.htm">here</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="reminds-of-past-the-importance-of-africa-in-the-asian-african-conference-and-calls-to-abandon-anti-black-actions-in-china">Reminds of past, the importance of Africa in the Asian-African Conference, and calls to abandon anti-black actions in China</h3>
<ul>
<li>Bagus BT Saragih. 2015. „South Africa in high spirits ahead of
Bandung conference". Jakarta Post (March 28). Available
<a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/03/28/south-africa-high-spirits-ahead-bandung-conference.html">here</a>
<ul>
<li>South Africa remembers original Bandung Conference-</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>"Filipina spared: No executions in Indonesia until April
24". 2015. Philippine Daily Inquirer (April 8). Available
<a href="http://globalnation.inquirer.net/120418/a-few-more-days-to-live-for-filipino-on-death-row-in-indonesia">here</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="the-executions-of-people-on-death-row-in-indonesia-have-been-halted-until-the-asia-africa-conference">The executions of people on death row in Indonesia have been halted until the Asia-Africa conference</h3>
<ul>
<li>"77 countries, 34 leaders to attend Asia-Africa conference
commemoration". 2015. Jakarta Post (April 16). Available
<a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/04/16/77-countries-34-leaders-attend-asia-africa-conference-commemoration.html">here</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="more-and-more-countries-are-joining-the-conference">More and more countries are joining the conference</h3>
<ul>
<li>"China reaffirms post-war order as Bandung Conference anniversary
draws near". 2015. Xinhua.net (April 13).</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="china-s-role-in-the-asia-africa-movement-and-its-cooperation-with-countries-of-the-global-south">China's role in the Asia-Africa Movement and its cooperation with countries of the Global South</h3>
<ul>
<li>
<p>„Jokowi Buka Konferensi Asia-Afrika 2015". 2015. Tempo.co (April
22). Available <del>here</del></p>
<p>-- Jokowi opens the conference --</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>„Asia-Africa is future of the world, says Jokowi". 2015. Philippine
Daily Inquirer (April 22). Available
<a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/687120/asia-africa-is-future-of-the-world-says-jokowi">here</a></p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="jokowi-opens-the-conference">Jokowi opens the conference</h3>
<ul>
<li>Thomas Seifert. 2015. „Das Ende der westlichen Weltordnung". Wiener
Zeitung (April 22). Available
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151028223842/http://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/welt/weltpolitik/748076_Das-Ende-der-westlichen-Weltordnung.html">here</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="china-is-spreading-its-influence-and-jokowi-speaks-against-western-dominance">China is spreading its influence and Jokowi speaks against Western dominance</h3>
<ul>
<li>Shubhajit Roy. 2015. "Bandung conference: Nehru missing from
India's speeches". Indian Express (April 24). Available
<a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/bandung-conference-nehru-missing-from-indias-speeches/">here</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="criticism-of-the-indian-gov-t-s-non-mentioning-of-nehru">Criticism of the Indian gov't's non-mentioning of Nehru</h3>
<ul>
<li>Aubrey Kandelila Fanani. 2015. "Warna-warni Konferensi Asia Afrika
2015". Antara News (April 22). Available
<a href="http://www.antaranews.com/berita/492327/warna-warni-konferensi-asia-afrika-2015">here</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="culture-and-the-bandung-conference">Culture and the Bandung Conference</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.aacc2015.id/" title="View official website of the anniversary conference">Official anniversary conference
website</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandung_Conference" title="More information on the original conference on Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a></li>
</ul>
31.5 Euro for DRM2015-04-24T00:00:00+00:002015-04-24T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/4/<p>Some days ago I was looking through Amazon for some new books to buy.
Eventually I ended up at this book's page: <a href="http://www.amazon.de/Reading-Contemporary-Indonesian-Muslim-Writers/dp/9089640894" title="Find the book on Amazon">Reading Contemporary
Indonesian Muslim Women Writers : Representation, Identity and Religion
of Muslim Women in Indonesian
Fiction</a>.
I was considering to buy it, but finally decided not to because of the
high price of 42 Euro (even if that is not extremely high if compared to
non-university academic publishers).</p>
<p>Most fortunately I recognized the cover layout eventually and remembered
what good I connected the Amsterdam University Press with. Turns out, I
remembered correctly and many of its books, including my current object
of desire, are published in open access. You can find the book <a href="http://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=340018" title="Better go with the OA version">here as
an open access
E-book</a>.</p>
<p>Now, as I still had the Amazon tab I went back to it to close it. On the
go I noticed that there is a Kindle version available, quite hilariously
so, given that the book is available in OA. What's worse is that the
Kindle version costs 31.50 Euro.</p>
<p>I assume that the Terms of Service of Amazon do not permit a publisher
to add a link to an open access version. That sure is bad, but oh well.
But demanding 31.5 Euro for the DRM-contaminated version of an E-book
otherwise available in open access is indeed quite hilarious, I might
say.</p>
<p>Finally, it is important to again emphasize that it is great to put your
books online in OA as a publisher or researcher. It is a great chance
for poor students (like me), and, obviously, even way more so for
interested people from poorer backgrounds and countries.</p>
The 'Comfort Women' and their Representation in International Encyclopedias2015-04-16T00:00:00+00:002015-04-16T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/3/<p><em>(This is a revised version of a paper I wrote for university during the
summer semester 2014. As I put quite a bit of work into this paper, I
did not just want to let it pass as an unpublished term paper, so here
it is. It was quite a hassle to create proper html from a .doc, so
please excuse inconsistencies in formatting I have missed.</em>)</p>
<h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2>
<p>The so-called <em>comfort women</em> were sex slaves of the Japanese military
during the Second World War from a number of countries, including most
prominently China, Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan
itself.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#1">1</a></sup> Even if there is considerable evidence
to prove that the Japanese military and its affiliates systematically
coerced women and girls into so-called <em>comfort stations</em>, raped and
abused them, many aspects of the matter are still
under discussion.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#2">2</a></sup></p>
<p>The term <em>comfort women</em> derives from the Japanese <em>jugun ianfu</em>
(従軍慰安婦),
literally translated to "military comfort women", whereas
<em>jugun</em> (従軍) describes laborers in the
military's service, implying that they earned money, and <em>ianfu</em>
(慰安婦)
is literally translated to <em>comfort woman.</em> These terms were originally
used by the Japanese military during the Second World War and later on
popularized by, among others, the Japanese journalist and author Senda
Kako and historian Yoshiaki Yoshimi.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#3">3</a></sup> Alternatively to the term <em>comfort
women</em>, <em>military sex slaves</em> is used to refer to the victims by those
arguing, that the euphemist implications of the term <em>comfort women</em> was
not fit for a serious issue like this.Certainly, an advantage of the
term <em>comfort women</em> is its precision: <em>Military sex slaves</em> may refer to
any sex slaves, as <em>comfort women</em> specifically refers to those used by
the Japanese during the Second World War.</p>
<p>But not only the right term to use is a point of debate: As this paper
will show, many of those involved in the debate,such as the current
Japanese military, the victims themselves and human rights groups, pursue
widely differing aims. Hence, a consensus has yet to be reached regarding
many aspects of the <em>comfort women</em> issue such as the number of victims,
whether coercion was used and who exactly committed which
crimes.Considering the perspective of lobbyists for the cause of the
<em>comfort women</em> survivors,it also remains to be answered who exactly
qualifies to be called a victim: Are Japanese wartime prostitutes
<em>comfort women</em>, too? Especially Korean and Japanese feminists in the
1990s emphasized, that the issue of <em>comfort women</em>is not an isolated
one, but generally carries important implications for
human rights.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#4">4</a></sup> As explained below, the
historiographical aspect of the matter may also hint at persistent racist
and sexist thoughts among the different parties involved.</p>
<p>It took until the late 1980s and early 1990s that the issue of <em>comfort
women</em> gained much attention. Eventually,in 1993, then Japanese Chief
Cabinet Secretary Kono Yohei apologized to the <em>comfort women</em> and
textbooks where updates, so that "by 1997 almost all school history
textbooks and those in related subjects included a brief reference
to comfort women."<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#5">5</a></sup> Recently there has been a
strong and partially successful neoconservative movement to eradicate
references to the <em>comfort women</em> again in Japanese media, first of all
textbooks.</p>
<p>Among others, a central demand of human rights activists and victim
groups is that the public be informed about the issue. This exactly
includes leaving or putting the references back into textbooks
respectively. Hence, history textbooks and in parts other media in Japan
have remained a controversial topic.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#6">6</a></sup> Not only
have media and political groups dealt with this matter in length,
but much research has been done on especially the textbook debate, too.
In contrast to this, only little research has been done on the
representation of the issue in non-Japanese media. Especially in regard
to its representations in encyclopedias and historical
dictionaries<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#7">7</a></sup> there has been little if any
research to this day.</p>
<p>Print encyclopedias are useful indicators of the perceived relevance of
information in their given context, be it atemporal or a local one.
Because - like any other form of printed books - they are bound by
limitations of space, intensified by the extensive range of topics they
cover, supposedly irrelevant information is oftentimes not mentioned.
This also means that long elaborations of the possible controversies
revolving around an issue are a rare find. Mostly, they can be found only
with the most relevant topics, or if the article deals explicitly with
them. Without space to discuss the sources the use of unconfirmed data is
also hardly presentable,only the supposedly most trustworthy sources
will be used. Therefore, print encyclopedias serve as a fit indicator as
to what information is seen as confirmed or as to what sources are of
such a great relevance, that they must be
included.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#8">8</a></sup></p>
<p>Another important component in researching encyclopedias, especially
those with new, different concepts, is their role as multiplicators of
information to the broad public. A most prominent example for this may be
the <em>Wikipedia</em>, which has been among the top websites on the internet
for years. Depending on which information is given by most popular
and widely used sources like these, the public knowledge on an issue may
vary drastically.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#9">9</a></sup></p>
<p>This paper presents the results of a study conducted to find out, if and
how the discourse revolving around the <em>comfort women</em> and its
developments are reflected in international encyclopedias,outside of the
main countries immediately involved, China, the ROC and Japan.An
examination of encyclopedias from these countries and in their
respective languages, despite certainly being an interesting topic, would
be out of the scope of this paper. Only English language encyclopedias
from these countries were included, as they are sufficiently accessible
to international audiences.</p>
<p>As the study presented in this paper shows,just a small number of
international encyclopedias deem the <em>comfort women</em> as sufficiently
important to deal with them and their story. On the other hand,issues of
arguably much less importance are discussed,given they occurred in
a western context. And even among those encyclopedias that deal with the
topic,the limitations set upon the range of information provided vary
drastically.This paper may serve as a contribution to a number of fields
of research. For historians and historiographers, the limitations set by
the respective editors and authors may give hints at which sources and
accounts are seen as untrustworthy or at least too controversial to be
included by an international community of researchers and authors. The
same applies to relevance: For instance, encyclopedias give varying
accounts on the countries of origin of former <em>comfort women</em>. Are Thai
<em>comfort women</em> relevant enough to be mentioned explicitly? Moreover,
this paper may serve as a contribution to lexicography by depicting
different ways encyclopedias cope with a highly controversial topic and
its various aspects, and how this way of coping changed over time. To
provide the context for presenting the study sufficiently, the history of
the <em>comfort women</em> and the discussion of the matter since the Second
World War will be recapitulated first.</p>
<h2 id="on-conducting-the-study">On Conducting the Study</h2>
<p>For this study 41 randomly selected print encyclopedias were examined
(See table 1 and 2). For reference data and to examine possible
differences between print and online encyclopedias,information from
three online encyclopedias, which all contain information on the topic of
<em>comfort women,</em> were added after. Due to the rather
minimal international attention paid to the issue at hand before the
early 1990s, the study focused on encyclopedias published from 1990
onwards. A few earlier titles were checked -- the earliest published in
1984 -- to validate, that before the 1990s no information on the <em>comfort
women</em> was included. A number of encyclopedias, universal or of a
seemingly relevant focus, written in English,German, Spanish or
Indonesian/Malay were included in the study.</p>
<p>A huge majority of these encyclopedias does not provide any information
about the issue at all. Because it was obviously not possible to read the
complete encyclopedias, each included in the study was first checked for
entries on the term and, in case there was none, information provided on
related issues and terms, such as the original Japanese <em>jugun
ianfu</em>, "Second World War", "Japanese history" and "Korean
history." If there were no such entries and no information provided on
the issue elsewhere in related articles, it was concluded that the
encyclopedia as a whole does not provide information on the issue.</p>
<p>If any information regarding the <em>comfort women</em> could be found, the text
was checked for what term is used to describe the victims, which
countries of origin where mentioned, which number of victims is stated
and whether the recruitment process is depicted as a coercive one, as
these parts of the issue may convey important information on two
questions: What information is regarded as sufficiently important to
be mentioned, as for example less present countries of origin of the
former <em>comfort women</em>, and what party of the debate revolving around the
issue do the authors of the respective encyclopedias side with, as for
example in case of whether a use of coercion is mentioned or not.</p>
<h2 id="the-history-of-the-comfort-women">The History of the <em>Comfort Women</em></h2>
<p>The initial ordeals of the <em>comfort women</em>took place between 1932 and
1945: According to Yoshiaki Yoshimi, one of the major researchers on the
issue, the first <em>comfort women</em> were recruited<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#10">10</a></sup> for a<em>comfort station</em> in
Shanghai, then occupied by the Japanese, in 1932.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#11">11</a></sup> Japanese soldiers had raped local
women, which fueled anti-Japanese feelings of the local population. The
idea to use <em>comfort women</em> was at least in parts based on the Japanese
military's practice of providing prostitutes for their troops, as could
be seen already during the Siberian Intervention (from 1918
onwards)<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#12">12</a></sup> or even earlier, during the first
Sino-Japanese War at the end of the
19^th^century.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#13">13</a></sup> At first Japanese and Korean
women, later on women from a variety of countries,such as China, Taiwan,
the Philippines, and Indonesia were recruited.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#14">14</a></sup> There were two major groups of
recruits during the early stages of the <em>comfort women</em> system: Women
already employed in prostitution and girls from poor families.</p>
<p>Prostitution was legally sanctioned in Japan and its occupied areas and
Japanese culture did not taboo it.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#15">15</a></sup> This provided for Japanese
prostitutes relatively easily targetable for recruitment and lowered the
moral bar to setting up the <em>comfort women</em> system. Girls recruited from
poor families were oftentimes sent away to earn money for their family's
creditors or simply to earn a living for their family, and subsequently
sold to recruiters of the Japanese military. Especially during the first
years of the <em>comfort women</em> system, families did usually not know,what
would happen to their daughters.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#16">16</a></sup></p>
<p>A major turn in the history of comfort women took place after the 1937
so-called <em>Rape of Nanking,</em> in which Japanese troops murdered and raped
Nanjing people for weeks.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#17">17</a></sup> This incident
caused a major outcry against Japanese politics in the
international press*.* Subsequently, to prevent similar incidents from
happening, the Japanese military decided to institutionalize and enforce
the <em>comfort women</em> system: "It is essential to point out here, that the
justification given for this request is the prevention of
rape."<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#18">18</a></sup> A related, important factor is the
administration's fear of spreading venereal diseases. By recruiting
young, unmarried women -- preferably virgins - and making the use of
condoms obligatory<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#19">19</a></sup> when in <em>comfort
stations</em>, the Japanese hoped to put an end to their spreading. In fact,
the <em>comfort women</em> system could not prevent this from happening:
Oftentimes, measures taken to prevent venereal diseases spreading among
the <em>comfort women</em> were ignored or ineffective. Venereal diseases were
wide-spread among them and the Japanese
soldiers.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#20">20</a></sup></p>
<p>After the creation of this this first <em>comfort station</em> in Shanghai, an
organized system of recruitment and distribution of<em>comfort women</em>
ensued. Most <em>comfort women</em> were of Korean descent and their ordeals are
by far the best documented. Women and young girls were either deceived
under false premises or captured and consequently sent to Japanese
military stations in the country or abroad under the cover of the
<em>Women's Voluntary Labor Corps</em>.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#21">21</a></sup> The cover of
this <em>Voluntary Labor Force</em> can be seen as a kind of justification in
recruiting <em>comfort women</em>.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#22">22</a></sup> Important, too,
is that the Japanese military could isolate foreign <em>comfort women</em>
further from the public and enhance their image of voluntary prostitutes
by making use of, for example, language barriers in the case of
<em>comfort women</em> sent abroad.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#23 ">23</a></sup>Nevertheless, it
needs to be noted, that the circumstances of <em>comfort women</em>
differed from place to place. For example, in the Philippines there was
no such institutional cover-up like the <em>Women's</em> <em>Voluntary Labor
Corps</em>.There as well as in Indonesia there are cases of extremely
violent, coercive and less organized recruitment practices documented by
testimony of the victims.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#24">24</a></sup> The situation in
the Philippines was special in terms of <em>comfort women</em>'s circumstances.
<em>Comfort Women</em> in the Philippines were, according to many victims'
testimony, usually recruited in very brutal ways. Common stories include,
for example, the rape of young girls in front of their families and the
murder of family members during the recruitment
process.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#25">25</a></sup> At least one witness testified to
have been held in a tunnel directly next to the Japanese army's camp
instead of a regular <em>comfort station</em>.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#26">26</a></sup></p>
<p>There were several restrictions on the access to <em>comfort stations</em>. One
was the differentiation between <em>comfort stations</em> exclusive for
higher-ranking officers and those for lower-ranking ones. Regular
soldiers were prohibited from accessing officer-exclusive
<em>comfort stations</em> under the threat of draconic
penalties.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#27">27</a></sup> Also,according to Watanabe,
<em>comfort women</em> in officer-exclusive <em>comfort stations</em> were preferably
of Japanese or European descent and had better living conditions than
those in regular <em>comfort stations</em>.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#28">28</a></sup> Both forms of <em>comfort stations</em>
were often merged towards the end of the Second World War. Officers had
to pay a much higher entrance fee, matching their higher pay. To prevent
soldiers and <em>comfort women</em> from engaging in relationships with each
other, soldiers were only allowed to visit <em>comfort stations</em> a limited
number of times a month and they had to pay a considerable amount of
money in relation to their wages to have access to <em>comfort women</em>'s
services.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#29">29</a></sup></p>
<p>As the war's end was coming closer and the Japanese military evacuated
its stations, many <em>comfort women</em> were murdered or threatened to never
talk about their live during the Second
World War.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#30">30</a></sup> Many documents were also destroyed
to prevent the atrocities committed by Japanese forces, including the
issue of <em>comfort women</em>, from
becoming public.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#31">31</a></sup></p>
<h3 id="the-postwar-years-collective-amnesia">The Postwar Years: Collective Amnesia</h3>
<p>In the years immediately after the Second World War, there was only one
trial related to the <em>comfort women</em> issue,the Batavia Military Tribunal
in what is Jakarta today. During the Batavia Military Tribunal the case
of 35 Dutch women was dealt with: Their ordeals were recognized to be
"forced prostitution".<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#32 ">32</a></sup> It is important to
note, that „it ignored similar suffering by a much greater number of
native women in Indonesia, not to mention female victims in other Asian
countries."<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#33">33</a></sup> It took until 1991, that there
was a lawsuit dealing with <em>comfort women</em> of Asian descent. For the next
some decades after the Batavia Military Tribunal,there was in fact what
has been labelled "collective amnesia"<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#34">34</a></sup>
about the topic. Little if anything was told about the issue, and
especially governments remained silent about it. Four parties are to be
considered to understand this silence: The Allied forces and the victims'
home countries' governments (hereinafter Allied forces), the Japanese
government, the public knowledgeable about the existence of <em>comfort
women</em> - even if much of their information may have been false - and the
<em>comfort women</em> themselves.</p>
<p>Regarding the Allied forces, there are several theories as to why they
did not proactively address the issue and pursue a legal prosecution of
the culprits, except for the single case of the Batavia Military
Tribunal. One of the possible reasons is a persistent colonial, racist
mentality of the Allied forces, as illustrated by the example of the
Batavia Military Tribunal. Another possible reason is, that there
were new, supposedly more important, issues to deal with or preventing
the issue of <em>comfort women</em> from being dealt with during the Cold War.
Because of the extensiveness of the <em>comfort women</em> system, a
considerable number of Japanese soldiers would have had to be sued and
convicted in a trial dealing exclusively with the issue of <em>comfort
women</em> and sexual exploitation<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#35">35</a></sup> during the Second World War. This could have
diminished Japan's chances for economic growth and restoration further in
a setting of global politics in which a strong Japan was deemed positive
if not necessary for a favorable outcome of the Cold War. Subsequently,
many of the victim's countries of origin had an interest in good
relations with Japan after it had regained its economic power, for strong
Japanese investments.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#36">36</a></sup></p>
<p>In Korea and the Philippines, there were militant communist movements and
movements to counter them. Right-wing dictatorships as in Korea, later
on also in the Philippines and Indonesia, had no interest in promoting
women's rights and, all the less, feminist movements.Yet, it was exactly
feminist groups' support that made the late struggle of the<em>comfort
women</em> movement.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#37">37</a></sup> Especially feminist
publications argue that sexist tendencies played a
role.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#38">38</a></sup> Because
of their own use of prostitution, the Allied forces may have encountered
problems in addressing sex-related crimes. For example, South Korea used
sex tourism as a catalyst for economic growth in the 1960s and a
large number of prostitutes served the US army in Korea during the Korea
War, in Thailand during the Vietnam War and in the Philippines until the
closure of the Subic Naval Base and the Clark Air Base in 1992.</p>
<p>In Korea and Japan, the issue plays a major role in nationalist
discourses. Japanese nationalist forces try to deny or ignore and, if
that is impossible, downplay the issue to escape from the perceived shame
inflicted on Japan by its military's acts. Because of this stance of
Japanese nationalists and because of their political strength, the issue
is very rarely dealt with in the media.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#39">39</a></sup> The
Japanese government, too, has still to officially admit that
coercive measures were taken by Japanese military staff in the
recruitment of <em>comfort women</em> to this day.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#40">40</a></sup></p>
<p>Nationalist attitudes combined with patriarchal conceptions of what a
woman has to act and be like may not only have led to governments not
pressing the issue, but they definitely influenced the broad public and
the <em>comfort women</em>'s own further acts around it<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#41">41</a></sup>: In Korea, as with many other
countries the former <em>comfort women</em> come from, the issue of <em>comfort
women</em> was also seen as shameful to the nation for along of
time.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#42">42</a></sup> At least in Korea and the Philippines,
the idea that a woman raped was sullied,a
"dishonor"<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#43">43</a></sup> to her family and not
marriable, persisted and does in parts still
persist.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#44">44</a></sup>
Urged by their families to conceal their ordeals and marry
soon<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#45">45</a></sup>, many former <em>comfort women</em>'s married
life became severely strained and eventually ended after their husbands
learned of what had happened to them during the Second World
War.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#46">46</a></sup></p>
<p>Venereal diseases and forced abortions further diminished <em>comfort
women</em>'s livelihood. Many died from them during the Second World War and
even after, many victims kept struggling with their diseases and their
aftereffects.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#47">47</a></sup> Especially noteworthy is that
many victims lost their ability to give birth.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#48">48</a></sup> This led to further discrimination
and social marginalization, based on female role models placing women as
mothers and protectors of their families.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#49">49</a></sup></p>
<p>In most areas occupied by the Japanese, <em>comfort women</em> were usually held
in so-called <em>comfort stations</em>: Hoods or barracks usually secluded from,
but supervised by, the Japanese military garrisons and the public's
view.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#50">50</a></sup> This was an attempt to keep the
existent of these <em>comfort women</em> and their conditions secret. In fact,
many people that knew of their existence thought that the <em>comfort</em>
<em>women</em> willfully collaborated with the Japanese and led a good life and
received decent pay for their work. Actually,most if not all did receive
nothing but the most basic things to survive, such as food and clothes
though.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#51">51</a></sup> This conception of the <em>comfort
women</em> as voluntary servants combined with the idea that raped women were
a disgrace very likely contributed to the public's silence about the
issue.</p>
<p>This remains a point to debate until today.The perception of
prostitution as a shameful activity is of utmost importance in deciding
which term was appropriate, for example <em>military sex slaves</em>
versus<em>comfort women</em>. Former <em>comfort women</em> refused the term for
its implication of voluntariness. Contrastingly some researchers use
it consciously, indiscriminately of whether recruitment took place
voluntarily or involuntarily, arguing, that on the one hand such a
differentiation may contribute to a continuation and reproduction of
sexist approaches on gender,sex and the role of prostitution and that on
the other hand, no matter how they were recruited, the circumstances of
<em>comfort women</em> did not
differ notably.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#52">52</a></sup> Emphasizing the differences
between voluntarily recruited, despite having to live under circumstances
just as bad, and involuntary <em>comfort women</em>, as, according to Pyong Gap
Min, also done by some Korean activists, does not only reproduce
questionable ideological views, but it also leads to a split within the
<em>comfort women</em> movement.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#53">53</a></sup> This may lead to a
partial exclusion of Japanese former <em>comfort women,</em> which in turn would
weaken them in demanding compensation.</p>
<p>Furthermore, as explained above, most <em>comfort women</em> were recruited from
poor families. Many probably had simply not the means to speak out about
the issue or keep up a long fight for their demands.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#54">54</a></sup> The fact that <em>comfort women</em>
imprisoned together were often prohibited from talking to each other and
had to use Japanese names further intensified their isolation during and
after the Second World War. Not only did this increase the trauma
suffered by the victims, but it also prevented them from getting to
know each other better and possibly form groups to tell their stories and
join hands in making their demands.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#55">55</a></sup></p>
<p>Last but not least, the idea that rape and other gender based crimes were
a natural consequence of war or a plain necessity in conflicts was
prevailing.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#56">56</a></sup></p>
<h3 id="breaking-the-silence">Breaking the Silence</h3>
<p>All these factors may give an explanation to the relative absence of the
issue in the media and public discourse for at least 20 to 25 years until
the 1970s:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"A number of reports, diaries, and memoirs published in Japan during
and after World War II mentioned military comfort facilities on various
war fronts and throughout territories occupied by Japanese imperial
forces. In these writings, the term ianfu (comfort women) was a
euphemism for prostitutes who provided sex to men in service. Although
the story had no place in Japan's official war history, it was told and
retold privately as a nostalgic (and sometimes romantic) episode in
men's memoirs and novels."<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#57">57</a></sup></p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the 1970s, the Japanese journalist and author Senda Kako started
publishing non-fiction books on the issue, which gained a lot of
attention. Other authors in both Japan and South Korea followed soon
after, but this did not yet trigger any political
reactions.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#58">58</a></sup></p>
<p>The first major article about <em>comfort women</em> was published by Matsui
Yayori in Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan's largest newspapers after
interviewing an unnamed Korean former <em>comfort woman</em>.Even if the
article did not yet gain much attention, Korean researchers pick edit up
and started working more on the topic after the end of South
Korea's dictatorship in 1987. From 1988 onwards, after extensive research
on her own and consultation with Matsui, South Korean scholar Yun
Chung-ok "wrote a series of reports on the issue for a
Korean newspaper."<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#59">59</a></sup> These reports boosted
awareness of the issue and caused an outcry by the public and political
groups, which in return forced the Japanese government to
react.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#60">60</a></sup></p>
<p>Women rights groups managed to raise further awareness of and political
pressure regarding the issue in the context of the 1990 state visit of
South Korean President Roh Tae Woo to Japan.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#61">61</a></sup> The Japanese government continued
to refuse acknowledging any involvement of the military in the issue,
"insisting on its official position of regarding the institution of
military 'comfort stations' as private enterprise."<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#62">62</a></sup></p>
<p>Finally, in 1991, Kim Hak-sun, was the first former <em>comfort woman</em> to
speak out publicly about her ordeals.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#63">63</a></sup> It is important to note, that she
waited until she was the only member of her
family remaining.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#64">64</a></sup>This may have at least
contributed to her willingness to give testimony.Subsequently, many more
former <em>comfort women</em> from various countries,gave testimony and a
series of lawsuits in front of the Tokyo High Court and the Japanese
Supreme Court ensued.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#65">65</a></sup> In December 1991 the
first of these was filed by Kim and two other Korean former <em>comfort
women</em>, backed by civil society, first of all in
Korea.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#66">66</a></sup> Further
lawsuits included, among others, that by Philippine women in 1993
and that by Taiwanese women in 1999.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#67">67</a></sup> In 1993
the South Korea government announced its support of the former
<em>comfort women</em>'s demand for clarification and an earnest apology, but
that it would not seek financial compensation. It also started paying
compensation to the victims. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono
reacted by issuing a statement (usually referred to as Kono Statement)
expressing his apology to the former <em>comfort
women</em>.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#68">68</a></sup></p>
<p>An important factor in triggering the Kono Statement had been that
Yoshiaki Yoshimi found Japanese military documents giving evidence for
the existence of <em>comfort women</em> in the Japanese Self Defense Forces'
archives. Further research by international researchers was in turn
fueled by the Kono Statement. The early 1990s' Rwanda Civil War
and Yugoslavia Wars gave a new, global dimension to the issue, setting it
in context with gender based crime in
war.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#69">69</a></sup> This new dimension broadened the range
of disciplines dealing with the topic, as for example more and more law
experts came to mind it, and internationalized the research conducted on
it. Eventually, in 1998, sexual slavery was added to the list of war
crimes in the <em>Rome Statute of the International Criminal
Court</em>.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#70">70</a></sup></p>
<p>Nevertheless it has to be noted, that the majority of research conducted
on the <em>comfort women</em> issue was and is centered on Korean victims. Most
documents probably deal with them, and they enjoy a broad backing from
civil society organizations, and in parts the government, as explained
above. Comparatively little research can be found on comfort women from
less prominently named areas, such as Burma, where <em>comfort women</em>
survivors also do not enjoy as strong a civil society backing.</p>
<p>One consequence of the Kono Statement was the foundation of the AMF
(Asian Women's Fund), funded mainly by private donations. Its aim was to
pay compensation to former <em>comfort women</em> and to teach the public about
their existence and
circumstances.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#71">71</a></sup> Nevertheless, both, the AMF
and the Kono Statement led to a serious discourse within organizations of
former <em>comfort women</em>: Because it was just Chief Cabinet Secretary Kono
as a private person and not the whole government who apologized, and
because the AWF was not paid for primarily with state money,many former
<em>comfort women</em> refused to accept them. The Japanese government had and
has still to give an official, legally binding apology passed by the
parliament.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#72">72</a></sup></p>
<p>The next crucial event resolving around the<em>comfort women</em> issue took
place in 2000. The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's
Military Sexual Slavery (Hereinafter Tokyo Women's Tribunal), primarily
organized by former <em>comfort women</em> and human rights activists, met to
discuss the issue in a setting at least resembling a legal one.
Nevertheless, the Tokyo Women's Tribunal had no official legal
backing,and consequently its extensive conclusions were not binding,
even if the procedures of a regular war tribunal were followed and many
people involved informer war tribunals such as the Yugoslavia and Rwanda
Tribunal took over key positions in the Tokyo Women's
Tribunal.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#73">73</a></sup> Despite wide international press
coverage and support, the Tokyo Women's Tribunal was answered with harsh
criticism from Japanese neo-nationalists and was widely ignored by
Japanese media. A documentary about the tribunal by Japan's national
broadcasting NHK was only aired after radical editing, after a visit of
the current Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, then Deputy
Chief Secretary, to NHK higher-ups. This visit in turn led researchers
and commentators to question the neutrality of Japanese
media.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#74">74</a></sup> Since then, there have been several
attempts by Japanese officials to revise or ignore the Kono Statement in
regard to whether coercion was used when recruiting <em>comfort women</em>, and
in which form the military was involved,especially since Shinzo Abe was
elected in 2006.</p>
<p>One last notable event is the final step to internationalizing the issue:
United States House of Representatives House Resolution 121 (Hereinafter
H.R. 121). Activists hoped to raise the international pressure applied on
the Japanese Government by involving the US and other seemingly
uninvolved nations. Subsequently a broad front of representatives of
civil society in the US and abroad, along with some senators pushed
forward the resolution. It expresses the US' support for the demands
of former <em>comfort women</em> for an official apology, a refusal of all claims
that the <em>comfort women</em> system never existed and that teachers would
teach their students about the issue.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#75">75</a></sup> It was
introduced to the US House of Representatives in 2007 and passed 2007and
2014 by the US House of Representatives and Congress
respectively.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#76">76</a></sup></p>
<p>Several crucial points about the <em>comfort women</em> issue are still up for
discussion and further research. Besides the debate about the use of
coercion already mentioned above, there is the question of how many
<em>comfort women</em> existed. "[E]stimates vary from 20,000 to 400,000,
though a careful study by historian Yoshimi Yoshiaki suggests a narrower
range of between 50,000 and 200,000."<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#77">77</a></sup> This estimate, 50000 to 200000,
is the one mentioned by most researchers on the topic, as well as by most
encyclopedias giving a number that were found by the study presented in
this paper. No matter the estimated number, a consensus has almost been
reached among international scholars in estimating the relative number of
Korean former <em>comfort women</em> at around 80 percent of the
victims.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#78">78</a></sup> This estimate is also most
presently stated in the encyclopedias examined for this paper.</p>
<h2 id="the-representation-of-the-issue-in-international-encyclopedias-and-historical-dictionaries">The Representation of the Issue in International Encyclopedias and Historical Dictionaries</h2>
<p>As mentioned above, 41 print encyclopedias,published after 1984, from a
wide range of academic fields and supposedly universal ones were checked
for this study. As illustrated in table 1, only six out of these 41 print
encyclopedias contain information on the issue of <em>comfort women</em>.
Especially with those encyclopedias published for local markets outside
of the immediately affected areas, it is to be assumed, that the
issue was regarded as of not enough relevant to be included. In fact,
none of the examined print encyclopedias from
Germany<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#79">79</a></sup> and Spain contained information
about the <em>comfort women</em>. Malaysian and Japanese did not contain any
information regarding the issue either. Especially with Japanese
encyclopedias, political considerations may have been a possible reason,
even if those checked were both published before 1999, when the issue had
not yet gained as much attention.</p>
<p>Also, only one of the print encyclopedias,which deal with the issue, has
a universal approach (<em>The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World</em>).
Contrastingly, half of the encyclopedias -- <em>Singapore:The
Encyclopedia</em>, <em>Southeast Asia - A Historical Encyclopedia: From Angkor
Wat to East Timor</em> and <em>The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues
Worldwide: Asia and Oceania</em> - are Asian studies related ones and
the remainder consists of topically related encyclopedias,
historiography, gender studies or human rights related ones. This may
lead to the conclusion, that the issue did not yet make it fully to the
international arena until at least the mid-2000s. Actually, this may have
changed with the introduction of H. Res. 121 (2007), the first time US
representatives became actively involved in the debate around <em>comfort
women</em>, to the US' House of Representatives though,as the one universal
encyclopedia that contains information on the issue was also the only
print encyclopedia found to do so after the resolutions passing at all.
Despite not necessarily mentioning it directly, all online encyclopedias
checked were updated after H. Res. 121 had been passed, and with only one
exception (<em>The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia</em>) they were universal
ones.</p>
<p>In terms of time, a general trend can be seen in the number of
publications dealing with the issue rising from 1999 onwards. Reasons may
be the introduction of sexual slavery to the catalogue of war crimes or,
more likely, the Tokyo Women's Tribunal. Because interestingly those
encyclopedias that do contain information on the issue are
all comparatively short works, it is not likely that their editing times
were extensive enough to make the AWF's creation likely to be the
triggering reason.Another fact speaking in favor of the Tokyo Women's
Tribunal giving a bump to the perceived relevance of the issue is that
the earliest of the encyclopedias examined containing an own article on
the issue was published almost right after, in 2001, and that those, that
deal with the topic and were published after, do all feature a separate
article except for one exception. (Table 2)</p>
<figure>
<table><thead><tr><th>Title</th><th>Edition</th><th>Year</th><th>Page</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td>Die große Bertelsmann Lexikothek</td><td> </td><td>1985</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Meyers Großes Taschenlexikon</td><td> </td><td>1987</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia of Asian History</td><td>1</td><td>1988</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Das neue Duden Lexikon</td><td>2</td><td>1989</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Dictionary of the Second World War</td><td>1</td><td>1989</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia of the Second World War</td><td>1</td><td>1989</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Information China</td><td>1</td><td>1989</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Cambridge Encyclopedia</td><td>1</td><td>1990</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>BI Universallexikon</td><td>2</td><td>1991</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Historical Dictionary of Singapore</td><td>1</td><td>1991</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Historical Dictionary of Indonesia</td><td>1</td><td>1992</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Collier's Encyclopedia</td><td> </td><td>1993</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Japan - An Illustrated Encyclopedia</td><td>1</td><td>1993</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan</td><td>1</td><td>1993</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Japan</td><td>1</td><td>1993</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Columbia Encyclopedia</td><td>5</td><td>1993</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Webster's New World Encyclopedia</td><td> </td><td>1993</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Meyers neues Lexikon</td><td> </td><td>1994</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia Americana</td><td> </td><td>1995</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ensiklopedia Malaysiana</td><td> </td><td>1995</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Harenberg Kompaktlexikon</td><td> </td><td>1996</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Nueva Enciclopedia del Mundo - 36 Tomos -</td><td> </td><td>1998</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Kodansha Bilingual Encyclopedia of Japan</td><td>1</td><td>1998</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia of China</td><td>1</td><td>1999</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia of Historians & Historical Writing</td><td>1</td><td>1999</td><td>1314</td></tr>
<tr><td>Censorship - A World Encyclopedia</td><td>1</td><td>2001</td><td>555-556</td></tr>
<tr><td>Das große China Lexikon</td><td> </td><td>2003</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide - Asia and Oceania</td><td>1</td><td>2003</td><td>259; 260; 435</td></tr>
<tr><td>Southeast Asia - A Historical Encyclopedia: From Angkor Wat to East Timor</td><td>1</td><td>2004</td><td>43; 374-375</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia Britanica</td><td>15</td><td>2005</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture</td><td>1</td><td>2005</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Historical Dictionary of the Philippines</td><td>2</td><td>2005</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Japan Encyclopedia</td><td>1</td><td>2005</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Brockhaus Enzyklopädie</td><td>21</td><td>2006</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia of Singapore</td><td>1</td><td>2006</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>Singapore - The Encyclopedia</td><td>1</td><td>2006</td><td>137</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Encyclopedia of Malaysia</td><td>1</td><td>2006</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Encyclopedia of the Overseas Chinese</td><td>1</td><td>2006</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Penguin Encyclopedia</td><td>3</td><td>2006</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World</td><td> </td><td>2008</td><td>256-257</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia Britanica</td><td>15</td><td>2010</td><td>-</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<figcaption>
Table 1: Print encyclopedias examined(Blanks in case of unavailable information; no page given means no information found)
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<table><thead><tr><th>Title</th><th>Own Entry</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td>Censorship - A World Encyclopedia</td><td>X</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia of Historians & Historical Writing</td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Singapore - The Encyclopedia</td><td>X</td></tr>
<tr><td>Southeast Asia - A Historical Encyclopedia: From Angkor Wat to East Timor</td><td>X</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide - Asia and Oceania</td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World</td><td>X</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<figcaption>
Table 2: Print encyclopedias checked, that contain information on the issue by whether they feature the issue in a separate article.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<table><thead><tr><th>Title</th><th>URL</th><th>Accessed</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td>The Pacific War Encyclopedia</td><td><a href="http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/C/o/Comfort_Women.htm">http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/C/o/Comfort_Women.htm</a></td><td>3.5.2014 - 17:59</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia Britannica Online</td><td><a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1959015/comfort-women">http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1959015/comfort-women</a></td><td>3.5.2014 - 21:26</td></tr>
<tr><td>Wikipedia<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#80">80</a></sup></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women</a></td><td>3.5.2014 - 19:41</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<figcaption>
Table 3: Online Encyclopedias examined.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Curiously, unlike in the academic discussion revolving around the topic,
all encyclopedias examined used the term<em>comfort women</em>. Their use of
quotation marks when using the term <em>comfort women</em> (Table 4), be it more
or less consistent, most likely indicates a consciousness of the problems
in naming the victim. Encyclopedia editors and writers found a similar
solution as most researchers: Many give an account of the original term
(<em>ianfu</em> or <em>jugun ianfu</em>; see above), <em>The Oxford Encyclopedia of the
Modern World</em> even discusses the usage of the term and possible
alternatives in its article. Nevertheless, even there, the most widely
used referral remains "comfort women."</p>
<figure>
<table><thead><tr><th>Title</th><th>Term Used</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td>Censorship - A World Encyclopedia</td><td>"comfort women"; jūgun i'anfu</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopaedia Britanica Online</td><td>comfort women; military comfort women; <em>juguns ianfu (sic!)</em></td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia of Historians & Historical Writing</td><td>comfort Women;wi'anbu; ianfu</td></tr>
<tr><td>Singapore - The Encyclopedia</td><td>comfort Women</td></tr>
<tr><td>Southeast Asia - A Historical Encyclopedia: From Angkor Wat to East Timor</td><td>"comfort women"; comfort women</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide - Asia and Oceania</td><td>"comfort women"</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World</td><td>"comfort women"; "military comfort women" (jügun ianfu); ianfu; "voluntary labor corps" (chôngsindae); "military sex slaves"</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia</td><td>"comfort women"; comfort women</td></tr>
<tr><td>Wikipedia</td><td>comfort women; ianfu</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<figcaption>
Table 4: Encyclopedias checked by terms used to describe*comfort women*.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When looking at the stated number of victims, the regarding encyclopedias
give very different information (Table 4).It is to be assumed, that this
can be attributed to different approaches regarding unconfirmed data,
too. The average value of the numbers stated always remains within a
range of 100000 and 150000 victims with only one exception.The
<em>Wikipedia</em> gives account of a much wider range of an
estimation:Probably due to the lack of limitations set by printing costs
and space, a number of estimations, ranging from 20000 to 410000 victims,
are mentioned. The most extreme of these are by far the highest and the
lowest number of victims to be found in any of the encyclopedias included
in this study. Similarly, <em>The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World</em>
gives a relatively broad range of an estimate. Here, too, it is likely
that a wide range was chosen to give safety of accurate information. A
totally contrasting approach is not giving full information or none at
all, as for example the <em>Encyclopedia of Historians& Historical Writing</em>
does not give any estimate for the number of victims. Special is the case
of <em>The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide - Asia and
Oceania</em>, which not only gives a relatively high estimate, but does so
regarding Korean victims only, which subsequently leads to a very high
estimate if victims from other countries are taken into
account. Nevertheless, no information is provided on the number of
victims of anon-Korean descent. In terms of the publication date, a
shift from giving no information, to giving a comparatively exact
estimation and finally to giving a wider range of numbers again is to be
recognized.</p>
<figure>
<table><thead><tr><th>Title</th><th>Number of Victims - Minimum</th><th>Number of Victims - Maximum</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td>Censorship - A World Encyclopedia</td><td>N/A</td><td>200000</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopaedia Britanica Online</td><td>80000</td><td>200000</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia of Historians & Historical Writing</td><td>N/A</td><td>N/A</td></tr>
<tr><td>Singapore - The Encyclopedia</td><td>~100000</td><td>~100000</td></tr>
<tr><td>Southeast Asia - A Historical Encyclopedia: From Angkor Wat to East Timor</td><td>50000</td><td>200000</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide - Asia and Oceania<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#81">81</a></sup></td><td>100000</td><td>200000</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World</td><td>20000</td><td>200000</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia</td><td>40000</td><td>200000</td></tr>
<tr><td>Wikipedia</td><td>20000</td><td>410000</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<figcaption>
Table 5: Encyclopedias checked by number of victims.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Korean former <em>comfort women</em> are not only the most researched group,
they are also the only one mentioned by all encyclopedias. Other
countries of origin mentioned oftentimes are the Philippines and China.
This may be due to the extremeness of the crimes done there, the
comparatively large number of outspoken victims in the case of
the Philippines and the close relation of the <em>comfort women</em> issue
with the <em>Rape of Nanking</em>. The <em>Rape of Nanking</em> has been an
integral part in mainland Chinese nation building, and the Chinese
government has asserted much pressure on the Japanese government in its
context.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#82">82</a></sup></p>
<p>Curiously, Japanese women are only mentioned as victims in about half the
examined encyclopedias. A demand for clear cut lines between victims and
victimizers comes to mind first. Other possible reasons include the
incomplete collaboration between Japanese and Korean survivors and the
perceived different legal situation they find themselves in, as Japanese
citizens are first and foremost subjects to Japanese national law, not
immediately to international laws.</p>
<p>Interesting, too, is the high number of occasions on which Dutch victims
are mentioned and contrastingly the low number references to Thai women.
The frequent mentioning of Dutch women may be attributed to Ruff
O'Herne's great prominence. Together with Kim Hak-sun and Rosa Henson,
she is arguably the most well-known former <em>comfort woman</em>.Another
reason may be, that the Batavia Military Tribunal's results can serve as
an official framework to confirm and validate the information given
about the existence and circumstances of Dutch military sex slaves of the
Japanese during their occupation of Southeast Asia. It needs to be
mentioned though,that even these do or may carry a racist component. It
remains to be answered,why exactly Ruff O'Herne is such a prominent
spokesperson for the <em>comfort</em> women's cause. Likely is, that her
different social and racial backgrounds do still give her relevance when
dealing with international audiences: Seeing for example Korean women or
Filipinas demonstrate for justice gives rise to the assumption, that the
<em>comfort women</em> issue were an inner-Asian one; seeing a Caucasian victim
may make it easier to understand the issue's international relevance. As
explained above, racial mechanisms were also at work in the set-up of the
Batavia Military Tribunal as no victims of native
Indonesian<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#83">83</a></sup> descent where dealt with. Contrastingly, Thai victims
may be so rarely dealt with for a lack of research, which in turn may be
caused by the positive stance many Thai people have towards the Japanese
today and in the past.</p>
<p>A development can be seen in the descent of victims stated, too: The
newer the sources, the more concrete information are given, and the more
countries are mentioned explicitly. As the 1999 <em>Encyclopedia of
Historians & Historical Writing</em> only mentions "from the
Japanese colonies" and remains not concrete, <em>Censorship - A World
Encyclopedia</em> (2001)only mentions two countries explicitly, Indonesia
and Korea. Five or more different countries of origin are mentioned
explicitly by the 2008' <em>Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World</em> and all
online encyclopedias included in the study, with the only exception of
the Encyclopedia Britannica Online. In the case of online encyclopedias,
there is obviously no need to keep articles short, as in contrast to
print encyclopedias printing costs et cetera do not need to be considered
anymore. At the same time, it may be concluded that,this, too, is an
aftereffect of the Tokyo Woman's Tribunal. The Tokyo Women's Tribunal
published its judgement in December 2001, at the same time releasing the
results of its extensive studies conducted on
paper.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#84">84</a></sup></p>
<figure>
<table><thead><tr><th>Title</th><th>Japanese</th><th>Korean</th><th>Chinese</th><th>Taiwanese</th><th>Indonesian</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td>Censorship - A World Encyclopedia</td><td> </td><td>X</td><td> </td><td> </td><td>X</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopaedia Britanica Online</td><td> </td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td> </td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia of Historians & Historical Writing</td><td> </td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td></tr>
<tr><td>Singapore - The Encyclopedia</td><td> </td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td></tr>
<tr><td>Southeast Asia - A Historical Encyclopedia: From Angkor Wat to East Timor</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td> </td><td>X</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide - Asia and Oceania</td><td> </td><td>X</td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr>
<tr><td>The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td> </td><td>X</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr>
<tr><td>Wikipedia</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<figcaption>
Table 6: Encyclopedias checked by countries of origin mentioned.[^85]
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<table><thead><tr><th>Title</th><th>Vietnamese</th><th>Burmese</th><th>Filipino</th><th>From Malaya or Malaysian</th><th>Dutch</th><th>Thai</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td>Censorship - A World Encyclopedia</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopaedia Britanica Online</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia of Historians & Historical Writing</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td> </td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Singapore - The Encyclopedia</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Southeast Asia - A Historical Encyclopedia: From Angkor Wat to East Timor<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#86">85</a></sup></td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td> </td></tr>
<tr><td>The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide - Asia and Oceania</td><td> </td><td> </td><td>X</td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr>
<tr><td>The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#87">86</a></sup></td><td> </td><td> </td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td> </td></tr>
<tr><td>The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia</td><td> </td><td> </td><td>X</td><td> </td><td>X</td><td> </td></tr>
<tr><td>Wikipedia</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td><td>X</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<figcaption>
Table 6 (continued)
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Last but certainly not least, the issue of coercion remains. All
encyclopedias at least suggest that coercion was used in the context of
<em>comfort women</em>. Interestingly, it is not the two -- in the widest sense - historiographical encyclopedias that try to couch their statement that
coercion was used. None of the encyclopedias did question extensive
brutality in dealing with <em>comfort women</em>, and so it may be said that
there is, at least in international encyclopedias that take up the
issue,a consensus, that the <em>comfort women</em> system served to severely
abuse women as sex slaves for the Japanese military in the Second World
War.</p>
<figure>
<table><thead><tr><th>Title</th><th>Coercion stated</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td>Censorship - A World Encyclopedia</td><td>~</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopaedia Britanica Online</td><td>X</td></tr>
<tr><td>Encyclopedia of Historians & Historical Writing</td><td>X</td></tr>
<tr><td>Singapore - The Encyclopedia</td><td>X</td></tr>
<tr><td>Southeast Asia - A Historical Encyclopedia: From Angkor Wat to East Timor</td><td>X</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide - Asia and Oceania</td><td>X</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World</td><td>X</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia</td><td>~</td></tr>
<tr><td>Wikipedia</td><td>X</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<figcaption>
Table 7: Encyclopedias by statement on use of coercion, where "X" means
that a use of coercion is stated and "~" means that not as clear an
account is given regarding the use of coercion in recruiting *comfort
women*.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A number of conclusions may be drawn from this study. Focusing on the
lexicographic aspects, a trend to more lengthy articles offering
comparatively extensive information is to be recognized. A likely reason
is the emergence of electronic encyclopedias, most specifically the
<em>Wikipedia</em> with its new, more comprehensive (even if less
controlled)approach. Also, Smelser's description of encyclopedias'
traditional approaches "embod[ying] some kind of 'integrative
impulse' -- to symbolize civilizational progress, to express the unity of
positive knowledge[...].<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#88">87</a></sup> has to be limited further. This "positive
knowledge" is comprised differently,obviously, depending on the
authors' and editors' contexts: In the <em>comfort women</em>'s case,
encyclopedias that do not discuss for example the number of victims
ignore lower and higher estimates, as expressed in arguably
biased sources like Hata's writing on the <em>comfort
women</em>.<sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#89">88</a></sup> Especially in Japan Hata and his
writing on <em>comfort women</em> are well acknowledged though,even if his
count of <em>comfort women</em> differs much from that of other researchers like
Yoshimi. Consequently, it shall be concluded, that the "positive
knowledge" strived to be presented is limited to what may trustworthy in
the authors' settings. By this, what has been described as a, at least
in parts, racist and sexist perspective is usually reproduced in and by
encyclopedias.</p>
<p>This study also hints at the development in the reception of <em>comfort
women</em>. At first the issue was ignored, but key events like the Tokyo
Women's Tribunal managed to push the matter closer to an international
audience's vision. Nevertheless it is most probably this
already mentioned ignorance that is the most important finding of this
study, the validation that the issue of the <em>comfort women</em> took a long
time to become what may be referred to as common knowledge in an
international setting.Even after the Kono Statement, it took another six
years for the first international encyclopedia to deal with the topic.
Encyclopedias from seemingly unrelated countries like Germany remain
ignorant of the issue.</p>
<h2 id="final-remarks-and-suggestions-for-further-research">Final Remarks and Suggestions for Further Research</h2>
<p>The study presented in this paper was not intended to be seen as
extensive, it is meant to be seen as an initial study.By only including
a relatively small number of encyclopedias, it may not be able to give
final answers to the questions driving it, but it does give hints at what
these answers may look like. In case they deal with controversial topics
like the <em>comfort women</em>, encyclopedias give broader and broader
information. Nevertheless, many do still have a Eurocentric perspective,
visible in the relatively little number of encyclopedias dealing with the
topic and in parts the information presented. Finally the effect of
far-reaching events like the Tokyo Women's Tribunal or the introduction
of H. Res. 121 is notable.</p>
<p>The potentials of a study of encyclopedias regarding the matter of
<em>comfort women</em> have been shown, nevertheless, the limitations of such a
study need to be noted, too. These limitations lie primarily in trying to
gain information from encyclopedias published in the victims' countries
of origin: Many of these countries were colonies and are still developing
countries where publishers have very limited funds and much less
encyclopedias are published than in the first world. Other
after effects have to be taken into account, too.</p>
<p>Especially the case of the Philippines maybe highlighted here, as there
are extremely few encyclopedias made in the Philippines -- those, who can
afford to buy an encyclopedia, are with very few if any exceptions
literate in the English language, and the production costs
of encyclopedias are too high to make an encyclopedia's creation
economically reasonable given the small target audience. Hence, most
encyclopedias to be found in the Philippines are reprints of British or
US products. This ultimately leads to a situation, in which the specific
view of Filipino publishers, editors, authors et cetera is barely
represented. In this specific case, research on other forms of media may
be more rewarding.</p>
<p>Not only a comparison with Philippine media in general may be of
interest, but also further research into encyclopedias from other
countries not as present in the initial study presented here: Only one
encyclopedia from Malaysia was included, and it does not
contain information on the <em>comfort women.</em> Consequently, the question
remains, whether other Malaysian encyclopedias contain information on the
<em>comfort women</em> issue. If not, it would remain to be researched which
specific circumstances keep Malaysian authors from depicting the issue in
a time in which even many US-American ones deal with the topic.</p>
<p>Especially the way Korean encyclopedias deal with the <em>comfort women</em> may
give valuable information, too. As has been explained beforehand, there
is almost a consensus that most <em>comfort women</em> came from Korea; it was
Korean women who came out publicly first and who filed the first
lawsuits, and the government of the Republic of Korea supported the
Korean <em>comfort women</em> in their struggle for acknowledgement and
compensation. It is very likely, that information in Korean
encyclopedias differs much from that in those examined here -- in case
they deal with the issue - and, on the other hand, that a much larger
number of Korean encyclopedias do actually deal with the issue. In turn,
comparing research on data from, say, Malaysian encyclopedias and Korean
ones may give valuable information on how different peoples cope with
their past.</p>
<p>Finally, encyclopedias from the former Yugoslavia's countries may be a
point to further research. Drawing from the results of the study
presented in this paper, it seems likely that, like German encyclopedias,
they will not deal with the <em>comfort women</em>. Information on activists'
success in setting the topic into a broader context by relating it to war
crimes committed during the Yugoslavia War may be found out by
examining encyclopedias from these countries.</p>
<hr />
<div class="footnote-definition" id="1"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">1</sup>
<p>Because it is still the most common and arguably most precise term to describe military sex slaves in territory occupied by the Japanese during the Second World War, the term <em>comfort women</em> will be used throughout this paper. Nevertheless, it will be set in italics due to the ongoing controversy about its use. Other groups of victims include Thais, Burmese, Indonesians, Malaysians, women from then French Indochina and a small number of Dutch women.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="2"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">2</sup>
<p>C.f.: Yoshiaki Yoshimi, <em>Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II</em>, trans.Suzanne O'Brien (New York:Columbia University Press, 2000) and George Hicks, <em>The Comfort Women:Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War</em> (NewYork: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1995)</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="3"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">3</sup>
<p>Yoshiko Nozaki, The "Comfort Women" Controversy: History and
Testimony,http://www.japanfocus.org/-Yoshiko-Nozaki/2063. Accessed:
13.05.2014, 19:03</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="4"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">4</sup>
<p>Kazuko Watanabe, Trafficking in Women's
Bodies, Then and Now: The Issue of Military "Comfort Women". <em>Women's Studies Quarterly</em> 27, 1/2 (1999), 26.</p>
</div>
<p>Generally caution is advised when dealing with this source as a great
number of generalizations, in parts incorrect, have been used.
"Confucianism, which is the basis for the patriarchal system in Asian
countries, has created a cultural double standard." (Watanabe,
Trafficking in Women's Bodies: 23) For example in the Philippines, which
are the country of origin of many former <em>comfort women</em> and many sex
workers in modern day Japan (continuities between these two groups are
the main issue of the article), it is very questionable
whether Confucianism really lays the foundation for any form of local
culture, except for that of Chinese minority groups that have not yet
been integrated into society.</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="5"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">5</sup>
<p>Nozaki, <em>The "Comfort Women" Controversy.</em></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="6"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">6</sup>
<p>C.f.: Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Free Speech - Silenced Voices: The Japanese Media and the NHK Affair, <em>Asia Rights</em> 4(2005)</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="7"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">7</sup>
<p>Hereinafter, the term <em>encyclopedias</em> is used to refer to both encyclopedias and historical dictionaries.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="8"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">8</sup>
<p>Neil J. Smelser, On Compiling a New Encyclopedia, <em>Daedalus</em> 131, 1 (2002), 151-154.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="9"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">9</sup>
<p>C.f.: Darren Crovitz and W. Scott Smoot, Wikipedia: Friend, Not Foe, <em>The English Journal</em> 98, 3 (2009): 90-92.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="10"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">10</sup>
<p>The term <em>recruiting</em> is meant to be as
neutral as possible regarding the matter of coercion. As there are still
people denying a forceful recruitment of <em>comfort women</em>, this neutral
term is deemed necessary.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="11"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">11</sup>
<p>Yoshimi, <em>Comfort Women</em>, 45-47.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="12"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">12</sup>
<p>Ibid.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="13"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">13</sup>
<p>Pyong Gap Min, Korean "Comfort Women":
The Intersection of Colonial Power, Gender, and Class, <em>Gender & Society</em> 17 (December 2003),948.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="14"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">14</sup>
<p>C.f.: Min, <em>Intersection of Colonial
Power,</em> 941. This source mentions Dutch women from Indonesia explicitly.
It does not mention Chinese victims, which are among the most often
mentioned in encyclopedia articles (table 5).</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="15"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">15</sup>
<p>See: Sheldon Garon, The World's Oldest
Debate? Prostitution and the State in Imperial Japan, 1900-1945,
<em>American Historical Review</em> 98, 3(1993), 710-32.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="16"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">16</sup>
<p>Ustinia Dolgopol, Women's Voices,
Women's Pain. <em>Human Rights Quarterly</em> 17, 1 (1995), 131. This issue is
of special importance regarding the debate on responsibility and
coercion.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="17"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">17</sup>
<p>Yoshimi, <em>Comfort Women,</em> 43-47.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="18"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">18</sup>
<p>Ibid.; See also: Carmen M. Argibay, Sexual
Slavery and the Comfort Women of World War II, <em>Berkeley Journal of
International Law</em> 21, 2(2003), 377.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="19"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">19</sup>
<p>Michelle Park, Defining Responsibility for
Sexual Assault - War Crimes Committed in the Second World War, <em>Stanford
Journal of East Asian Affairs</em> 8, 1 (2008), 25.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="20"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">20</sup>
<p>Yoshimi, <em>Comfort Women,</em> 48.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="21"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">21</sup>
<p>Korean comfort women were shipped as far
as Rabaul in modern day Papua New Guinea. See: Gordon Thomas, Rabaul
1942-1945, typescript ms: 96,quoted after Hank Nelson, <em>The New Guinea
Comfort Women, Japan and the Australian Connection: out of the shadows</em>
(May 2007), <a href="http://japanfocus.org/-Hank-Nelson/2426">http://japanfocus.org/-Hank-Nelson/2426</a>, Accessed: 26.04.2014, 19:46. See also: Min, <em>Intersection of Colonial Power,</em> 945,951.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="22"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">22</sup>
<p>Chunghee Sarah Soh, The Korean "Comfort Women": Movement for Redress*, Asian Survey* 36, 12 (1996), 1228.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="23"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">89</sup>
<p>C.f.: Nelson, <em>New Guinea Comfort Women</em>.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="24"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">24</sup>
<p>"Statement of Jan Ruff O'Herne AO",
Hearing on Protecting the HumanRights of "Comfort Women" (15.02.2007),
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160404231020/http://archives.republicans.foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/ohe021507.htm">https://web.archive.org/web/20160404231020/http://archives.republicans.foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/ohe021507.htm</a>, accessed:
20.05.2014, 11:50.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="25"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">25</sup>
<p>Nelia Sancho (ed.), <em>War Crimes on Asian
Women: Military Sexual Slavery by Japan During World War II -- The Case
of the Filipino Comfort Women(Part II)</em> (Unknown Place: Asian Women
Rights Council India Regional Secretariat and Manila Secretariat, 1998),
61-64. Stories like these can be found elsewhere, too; the difference
lays in their frequency in the Philippine case.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="26"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">26</sup>
<p>Sancho, <em>War Crimes,</em> 75-80.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="27"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">27</sup>
<p>Nelson, <em>New Guinea Comfort Women</em>.</p>
</div>
<p><sup class="footnote-reference"><a href="#28:">90</a></sup> Watanabe, <em>Trafficking in Women's Bodies</em>, 20-21.</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="29"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">29</sup>
<p>See: Nelson, <em>New Guinea Comfort Women</em> and Dolgopol, <em>Women's Voices,</em> 136.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="30"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">30</sup>
<p>Maki Arakawa, New Forum for Comfort Women: Fighting Japan in United States Federal Court, <em>Berkely Women's Law Journal</em> 16, 1 (2001), 180.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="31"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">31</sup>
<p>Yvonne Park Hsu, "Comfort Women" from
Korea: Japan's World War IISex Slaves and the Legitimacy of their Claims
for Reparations. <em>Pacific RimLaw & Policy Journal</em> 2, 1 (1993), 101.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="32"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">91</sup>
<p>Chunghee Sarah Soh, "Japan's Responsibility Toward Comfort Women Survivors", JPRI Working Paper, 77 (2001),
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190727120038/http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingpapers/wp77.html">https://web.archive.org/web/20190727120038/http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingpapers/wp77.html</a>, accessed:
20.05.2014, 11:02</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="33"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">33</sup>
<p>Soh, <em>Responsibility</em>.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="34"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">34</sup>
<p>Kelly D. Askin, Comfort women: Shifting shame and stigma fromvictims to victimizers, <em>International Criminal Law Review</em> 1 (2001), 24.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="35"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">35</sup>
<p>Here, the term sexual exploitation may
refer to both sexual slaveryand rape. See: <em>Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court</em> (Rome:1998).</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="36"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">36</sup>
<p>C.f.: Roger Dingman. The Diplomacy of Dependency: The Philippines and Peacemaking with Japan, 1945--52. <em>Journal of Southeast Asian Studies</em> 17, 2 (1986), 307-321</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="37"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">37</sup>
<p>For example, in the Philippines, GABRIELA,
the most major feminist group of the country and the Women's Desk of
BAYAN, a leftist party, were involved in the work of the Taskforce of
Filipina Victims of Military Slavery by Japan. See: Taskforce of Filipina
Victims of Military Slavery Secretariat, <em>Primeron Filipina "Comfort
Women": Questions and Answers</em> (Quezon City: Taskforce of Filipina
Victims of Military Slavery by Japan, 1992), 2.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="38"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">38</sup>
<p>Min, <em>Intersection of Colonial Power</em>, 940-942.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="39"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">39</sup>
<p>Morris-Suzuki, <em>Free Speech</em>.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="40"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">40</sup>
<p>Tokudome Kinue, <em>The Japanese Apology on the "Comfort Women" Cannot Be Considered Official: Interview with Congressman MichaelHonda</em>, (2007), <a href="http://japanfocus.org/-Michael-Honda/2438">http://japanfocus.org/-Michael-Honda/2438</a>.Accessed: 14.05.2014, 16:21.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="41"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">41</sup>
<p>C.f.: Min, <em>Intersection of Colonial Power</em>, 948-949.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="42"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">42</sup>
<p>Yayo Okano, Toward Resolution of the
Comfort Women Issue---The 1000th Wednesday Protest in Seoul and Japanese
Intransigence, <em>The Asia-Pacific Journal</em>10, 50, 2 (December 10, 2012)</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="43"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">43</sup>
<p>Myrna Elizabeth P. Borromeo, Media for Justice and Healing - The Case of Philippine Comfort Women Survivors, <em>Review of Women's Studies</em> 20, 1/2 (2010), 88.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="44"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">44</sup>
<p>A contemporary account on this phenomenon can be found at: Bella Ellwood-Clayton, Maria Clara, Manila Girl & the other Mary - Premarital Sexin the Catholic Philippines - Constructions of Seduction. <em>Pilipinas: A Journal of Philippine Studies</em> 46 (2006), 10.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="45"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">45</sup>
<p>See: Maria Rosa Henson, <em>Comfort Woman --
Slave of Destiny</em>(Pasig City: Philippine Center for Investigative
Journalism, 1996), 97. For asimilar account regarding Korean women's
case, see: Borromeo, <em>Media for Justice and Healing</em>: 95. Interestingly,
Soh mentions a related case even with Dutch victims (Soh, <em>Movement for
Redress</em>, 1229).</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="46"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">46</sup>
<p>As an example may serve Remedios Estorninos Felias' testimony:Sancho, <em>War Crimes</em>, 71.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="47"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">47</sup>
<p>Min, <em>Intersection of Colonial Power</em>, 941.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="48"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">48</sup>
<p>Askin, <em>Shifting Shame</em>, 19.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="49"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">49</sup>
<p>Park, <em>Defining Responsibility</em>, 26.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="50"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">50</sup>
<p>Yoshimi*, Comfort Women,* 131-135 and Min, <em>Intersection ofColonial Power,</em> 941.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="51"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">51</sup>
<p>Askin, Shifting Shame, 15.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="52"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">52</sup>
<p>Maki Kimura, Listening to Voices:
Testimonies of "Comfort Women" of the Second World War. <em>New Working
Paper Series</em> 8 (London: London School of Economics, Gender Institute,
2003), 2.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="53"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">53</sup>
<p>Min, <em>Intersections of Colonial Power</em>, 939.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="54"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">54</sup>
<p>Yoshiaki Yoshimi assumes, that most of the women accepting the AWF were probably poor Filipinas, "who have little hope of receiving any form of aid from their own government." (<em>Yoshimi, Comfort Women,</em> 24)</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="55"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">55</sup>
<p>C.f.: Sancho, <em>War Crimes</em>, 75-80 and Watanabe, <em>Trafficking in Women's Bodies</em>, 23-24.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="56"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">56</sup>
<p>This does not only include systematic
rape, but any form of rape.As an example may serve this account from a
1943 intelligence report: "Raping of native women seems to have been
fairly common in the Buna Area, but it was condoned by the men who seemed
to accept it as the normal thing in war." See: Report on Native
Conditions in Rabaul. NAA Victoria B3476: 24, quoted after Nelson,
<em>New Guinea Comfort Women</em>.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="57"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">57</sup>
<p>Nozaki, <em>The "Comfort Women" Controversy</em>. The first sentence contains a reference to Takasaki,Ryuji
(ed.). 1994. Hyakusatsu ga Kataru "Ianjyo" Otoko no Honne: Ajia-zeniki
ni "Inanjyo" ga Atta [The "comfort facility" and men's confessions
told in one hundred books: There were "comfort facilities" all over
Asia]. Tokyo: Nashinokisha. This reference has been omitted from the
text for an enhanced readability.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="58"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">58</sup>
<p>Nozaki, <em>The "Comfort Women"
Controversy</em>.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="59"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">59</sup>
<p>Nozaki, <em>The "Comfort Women" Controversy</em>.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="60"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">60</sup>
<p>Nozaki, <em>The "Comfort Women" Controversy</em>
and Soh, <em>Movement for Redress</em>, 1226-1240.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="61"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">61</sup>
<p>Soh, <em>Movement for Redress</em>, 1232.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="62"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">62</sup>
<p>Ibid.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="63"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">63</sup>
<p>Publicly means non-anonymously here. A few
former comfort women told their stories as early as the 1980s, but in
those cases they chose to remain anonymous. See.: Nozaki, <em>The "Comfort
Women" Controversy</em>.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="64"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">64</sup>
<p>Askin, Shifting Shame, 13.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="65"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">65</sup>
<p>Soh, <em>Movement for Redress</em>, 1233.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="66"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">66</sup>
<p>For a list of very early lawsuits of
former <em>comfort women</em>,see: Etsuro Totsuka, Commentary on a Victory for
"Comfort Women":Japan's Judicial Recognition of Military Sexual
Slavery, <em>Pacific Rim Law& Policy Journal</em> 8, 1 (1999), 49. </p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="67"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">67</sup>
<p>It needs to be noted, that there were also
more lawsuit by other organizations and former <em>comfort women</em> from Korea
and the Philippines.Those mentioned are the initial ones from women of
the regarding countries.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="68"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">68</sup>
<p>Soh, <em>Movement for Redress</em>, 1236.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="69"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">69</sup>
<p>Ruki Sakamoto, The Women's International
War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery: A Legal and
Feminist Approach to the 'Comfort Women' Issue. <em>New Zealand Journal of
Asian Studies</em> 3, 1 (2001), 49-50.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="70"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">70</sup>
<p>Askin, Shifting Shame, 7.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="71"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">71</sup>
<p>Shellie K. Park, Broken Silence - Redressing the Mass Rape and Sexual Enslavement of Asian Women by the Japanese Government in an Appropriate Forum, <em>Asia-Pacific Law & Policy Journal</em> 3, 1 (2002), 43-44.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="72"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">72</sup>
<p>Kinue, <em>The Japanese Apology</em>.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="73"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">73</sup>
<p>Sakamoto, <em>Legal and Feminist Approach</em>, 49.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="74"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">74</sup>
<p>C.f.: Morris-Suzuki, <em>Free Speech</em>.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="75"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">75</sup>
<p>H. Res. 121. July 30 2007. (Passed version).</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="76"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">76</sup>
<p>Hyun Park, Bill related to comfort women
passed in US congress, <em>The hankyoreh</em> (January 17, 2014).
<a href="http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/620209.html">http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/620209.html</a>, accessed:
21.05.2014, 20:39</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="77"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">77</sup>
<p>Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Policy Forum 07-025:
Comfort women: It's timefor the truth (in the ordinary, everyday sense
of the word), <em>APSNet PolicyForum</em> (December 01, 2007), available at:
<a href="http://nautilus.org/apsnet/comfort-women-its-time-for-the-truth-in-the-ordinary-everyday-sense-of-the-word/">http://nautilus.org/apsnet/comfort-women-its-time-for-the-truth-in-the-ordinary-everyday-sense-of-the-word/</a></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="78"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">78</sup>
<p>C.f.: Soh,<em>Movement for Redress</em>, 1227.</p>
</div>
<p>It needs to be mentioned, that there are still voices questioning this
information, most prominently Ikuhiko Hata, who also estimates the number
of <em>comfort women</em> much lower than most other important researchers on
the issue and denies the use of coercion in recruiting them. Hata
believes, that Japanese <em>comfort women</em> were the largest group of victims
at 40 percent (Ikuhiko Hata, <em>No Organized or Forced Recruitment:
Misconceptions about Comfort Women and the Japanese Military</em>, trans.
Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact (2007),
<a href="http://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/31_S4.pdf">http://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/31_S4.pdf</a>, accessed:
24.05.2014, 12:53, 18). These voices are oftentimes overheard or regarded
as revisionist and therefore basically invalid, especially
by international scholars.</p>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="79"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">79</sup>
<p>Curiously, the German Nazis used a
similar, even if much less extensive, system in their occupied areas
during the Second World War. See: Nanda Herbermann, Hester Baer and
Elizabeth Roberts Baer, <em>The Blessed Abyss: Inmate #6582 in Ravensbruck
Concentration Camp for Women,</em> trans.Hester Baer (Detroit: Wayne State
University Press, 2000), 33--34.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="80"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">80</sup>
<p>Hereinafter, the title <em>Wikipedia</em> refers to the Englishversion of <em>Wikipedia</em>.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="81"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">81</sup>
<p>The numbers mentioned by <em>The Greenwood
Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide - Asia and Oceania</em> refer to
Korean victims only.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="82"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">82</sup>
<p>C.f.: Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi, <em>The Nanking
Atrocity 1937-38: Complicating the Picture</em> (New York and
Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2007), 22.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="83"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">83</sup>
<p>The author is conscious of how problematic
a term "native Indonesian" may be to some of the readers.
Unfortunately, the limited space of this essay does not permit a thorough
discussion of the matter.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="84"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">84</sup>
<p>See: The Women's International War Crimes
Tribunal, "Judgement on the Common Indictment and the Application for
Restitution and Reparation"(2001), available at:
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110929062458/http://www1.jca.apc.org/vaww-net-japan/english/womenstribunal2000/Judgement.pdf">https://web.archive.org/web/20110929062458/http://www1.jca.apc.org/vaww-net-japan/english/womenstribunal2000/Judgement.pdf</a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="85"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">92</sup>
<p>Oftentimes concepts like "other Asian
countries" ("Comfort Women."Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
<a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1959015/comfort-women">http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1959015/comfort-women</a>.Accessed:
3.5.2014 - 21:26) are mentioned. In this particular case, only
the countries named explicitly can be found in the table. "From the
Japanese colonies" (Kelly Boyd (ed.). 1999. Encyclopedia of Historians &
Historical Writing. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers: 1314) and "from
all Japanese-occupied territories" (Koh, Tommy (ed.), <em>Singapore: The
Encyclopedia</em> (Singapore: Editions Didier Miller, 2006), 137) has
been interpreted as any from (giving the current states' names) Korea,
the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Burma,
Malaysia,Indonesia. Laos and Cambodia were left out of the table because
no other sources mention them and because, at the time, they were still
part of French Indochina, together with Vietnam. For their relatively
small political influence and size other countries like modern day Papua
New-Guinea have been left out, too.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="86"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">85</sup>
<p>This book also mentions <em>overseas Chinese</em>
and <em>Indians</em>.Probably this is meant to say, that all kinds of Malaysian
women were recruited to be comfort women.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="87"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">86</sup>
<p>This encyclopedia mentions women from
Indonesia and the Dutch East Indies separately. It is to be assumed, that
white Dutch women were meant with this.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="88"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">87</sup>
<p>Smelser, <em>Compiling,</em> 151.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote-definition" id="89"><sup class="footnote-definition-label">88</sup>
<p>See footnote 78.</p>
</div>
<h2 id="references">References</h2>
<ul>
<li>Arakawa, Maki. 2013. “A New Forum For Comfort Women: Fighting Japan In United States Federal Court”. Berkeley Journal Of Gender, Law And Justice 16 (1): 174-200. http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/bglj/vol16/iss1/6.</li>
<li>Argibay, Carmen M. 2003. “Sexual Slavery And The Comfort Women Of World War II”. Berkeley Journal Of International Law 21 (2): 375-389. http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/bjil/vol21/iss2/6.</li>
<li>Askin, Kelly D. 2001. “Comfort Women - Shifting Shame And Stigma From Victims To Victimizers”. International Criminal Law Review 1: 5-32. doi:10.1163/15718120121002522.</li>
<li>Borromeo, Myrna Elizabeth P. 2010. “Media For Justice And Healing - The Case Of Philippine Comfort Women Survivors”. Review Of Women's Studies 20 (1-2): 87-122.</li>
<li>Crovitz, Darren, and W. Scott Smoot. 2009. “Wikipedia: Friend, Not Foe”. The English Journal 98 (3): 91-97. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40503515.</li>
<li>Dingman, Roger. 1986. “The Diplomacy Of Dependency: The Philippines And Peacemaking With Japan, 1945-52”. Journal Of Southeast Asian Studies 17 (2): 307-321.</li>
<li>Dolgopol, Ustinia. 1995. “Women's Voices, Women's Pain”. Human Rights Quarterly 17 (1): 127-154. http://www.jstor.org/stable/762350.</li>
<li>Ellwood-Clayton, Bella. 2006. “Maria Clara, Manila Girl & The Other Mary - Premarital Sex In The Catholic Philippines - Constructions Of Seduction”. Pilipinas: A Journal Of Philippine Studies 46: 1-27.</li>
<li>Secretariat, The Task Force on Filipina Victims of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. 1992. “Primer On Filipino "Comfort Women" - Questions And Answers”.</li>
<li>Garon, Sheldon. 1993. “The World's Oldest Debate? Prostitution And The State In Imperial Japan, 1900-1945”. The American Historical Review 98 (3): 710-732. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2167547.</li>
<li>Hata, Ikuhiko. 2007. No Organized Or Forced Recruitment: Misconceptions About Comfort Women And The Japanese Military. Tokyo: Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact. http://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/31_S4.pdf.</li>
<li>Henson, Maria Rosa. 1996. Comfort Woman: Slave Of Destiny. Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.</li>
<li>Herbermann, Nanda, Hester Baer, and Elizabeth Roberts Baer. 2000. The Blessed Abyss: Inmate #6582 In Ravensbruck Concentration Camp For Women. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.</li>
<li>Hicks, George. 1997. The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime Of Enforced Prostitution In The Second World War. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.</li>
<li>Hsu, Yvonne Park. 1993. “"Comfort Women" From Korea: Japan’s World War Ii Sex Slaves And The Legitimacy Of Their Claims For Reparations”. Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal 2 (1).</li>
<li>Kinue, Tokudome. 2007. “The Japanese Apology On The "Comfort Women" Cannot Be Considered Official: Interview With Congressman Michael Honda”. The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. japanfocus.org/-Michael-Honda/2438.</li>
<li>Min, Pyong Gap. 2003. “Korean "Comfort Women": The Intersection Of Colonial Power, Gender, And Class”. Gender & Society 17: 938-957. doi:10.1177/0891243203257584.</li>
<li>Morris-Suzuki, Tessa. 2007. “Japan’s 'Comfort Women': It's Time For The Truth (In The Ordinary, Everyday Sense Of The Word)”. The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. http://japanfocus.org/-Tessa-Morris_Suzuki/2373.</li>
<li>Morris-Suzuki, Tessa. 2005. “Free Speech - Silenced Voices: The Japanese Media, The Comfort Women Tribunal, And The Nhk Affair”. The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. http://japanfocus.org/-Tessa-Morris_Suzuki/2305.</li>
<li>Nelson, Hank. 2007. “The New Guinea Comfort Women, Japan And The Australian Connection: Out Of The Shadows”. The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. http://japanfocus.org/-Hank-Nelson/2426.</li>
<li>Nozaki, Yoshiko. “The 'Comfort Women' Controversy: History And Testimony”. The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. http://japanfocus.org/-Yoshiko-Nozaki/2063.</li>
<li>Okano, Yayo. 2012. “Toward Resolution Of The Comfort Women Issue—The 1000Th Wednesday Protest In Seoul And Japanese Intransigence”. The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 10 (50). http://japanfocus.org/-Okano-Yayo/3863.</li>
<li>O’Herne, Jan Ruff. 2007. “Statement Of Jan Ruff O’herne Ao Friends Of "Comfort Women" In Australia”. http://archives.republicans.foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/ohe021507.htm.</li>
<li>Park, Hyun. 2014. “Bill Related To Comfort Women Passed In Us Congress”. http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/620209.html.</li>
<li>Park, Michelle. 2008. “Defining Responsibility For Sexual Assault - War Crimes Committed In The Second World War”. Stanford Journal Of East Asian Affairs 8 (1): 23-32. http://www.stanford.edu/group/sjeaa/journal81/CE3.pdf.</li>
<li>Park, Shellie K. 2002. “Broken Silence - Redressing The Mass Rape And Sexual Enslavement Of Asian Women By The Japanese Government In An Appropriate Forum”. Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal 3 (1): 23-55.</li>
<li>Sakamoto, Rumi. 2001. “The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal On Japan's Military Sexual Slavery: A Legal And Feminist Approach To The 'Comfort Women' Issue”. New Zealand Journal Of Asian Studies 3 (1): 49-58. http://www.nzasia.org.nz/downloads/NZJAS-June01/Comfortwomen.pdf.</li>
<li>Smelser, Neil J. 2002. “On Compiling A New Encyclopedia”. Daedalus 131 (1): 151-154. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20027749.</li>
<li>Soh, Chunghee Sarah. 1996. “The Korean "Comfort Women": Movement For Redress”. Asian Survey 36 (12): 1226-1240. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2645577.</li>
<li>Totsuka, Etsuro. 1999. “Commentary On A Victory For "Comfort Women": Japan's Judicial Recognition Of Military Sexual Slavery”. Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal 8 (1): 47-61.</li>
<li>Slavery, The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal For the Trial of Japan's Military Sexual. 2002. Judgement On The Common Indictment And The Application For Restitution And Reparation. The Hague: The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal For the Trial of Japan's Military Sexual Slavery.</li>
<li>Wakabayashi, Bob Tadashi. 2000. “The Nanking 100-Man Killing Contest Debate: War Guilt Amid Fabricated Illusions, 1971-75”. Journal Of Japanese Studies 26 (2): 307-340. http://www.jstor.org/stable/133271.</li>
<li>Watanabe, Kazuko. 1999. “Trafficking In Women's Bodies, Then And Now: The Issue Of Military "Comfort Women"”. Women's Studies Quarterly 27 (1/2): 19-31. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40003395.</li>
<li>Yoshimi, Yoshiaki. 2002. Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery In The Japanese Military During World War Ii. New York: Columbia University Press.</li>
<li>Nelia Sancho, ed. 1998. “Testimonies”.</li>
</ul>
Making a (More or Less) Functional Linux PC from a Buffalo LS-WX2.0TL/R12015-04-12T00:00:00+00:002015-04-12T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/2/<p>Recently, I bought a WD MyCloud. Thus, I didn't actually have a use for
my old Buffalo Linkstation anymore.</p>
<p>So, I decided to play around a bit - and make at least Python scripts
run on it.</p>
<p>To do so, I first followed the followed the guide most noteworthy guide
on the <del>NAS-Central wiki</del>. After enabling
Telnet and SSH, I now had to find out which installer was fit - indeed,
most of the common Linux installers (as Linux is run on the machine by
default) are not installed) are not installed themselves. But IPKG is.</p>
<p>IPKG offers a download for Python 3, which I am using usually. To get
there, the download list had to be updated first. Thus, what was to type
was the following</p>
<pre data-lang="bash" style="background-color:#2b303b;color:#c0c5ce;" class="language-bash "><code class="language-bash" data-lang="bash"><span style="color:#bf616a;">ipkg</span><span> update
</span><span style="color:#bf616a;">ipkg</span><span> install python3
</span></code></pre>
<p>Now Python 3.2.3 is installed. As it is noted in the registry as
Python3, you put in the command "Python3" to enter the Python shell,
and accordingly, Python3 -filename- to run a specified script.
Unfortunately, I have not yet found a proper way to install any further
install mechanisms besides make, which is also available via IPKG.</p>
<p>Anyway, another funny feature I found was the possibility to tamper with
the web interface of the Linkstation. You can see where that ended in in
the screenshot linked (thanks to wikimedia for the Unicorn by the way).</p>
<p>To do so, you use the command line to enter the directory
<code>/www/cgi-bin/html/en/style</code> (command: <code>cd /www/cgi-bin/html/en/style</code>)
and then use the pre-installed text editor vi to edit the CSS file used
for the web interface.</p>
<p>So, once your working directory is <code>/www/cgi-bin/html/en/style</code>, you enter
<code>vi style240.css</code> and edit it in whatever way you want. Good thing,
that your browser will recognize all fonts installed on your machine -
even if I put MS Comic Sans as the default font until I became too lazy
to copy-paste it. Aside from that, you can re-design pretty much your
whole web interface from there - and if there is anything you want to
reorganize, the files are to be found along the folder path, even if I
have not yet had the time to look into the CGI files.</p>
Enslin, Joshua Ramon. 2015. “Ungenutzte Chancen – Arbeitsmigration und Entwicklung in den Philippinen”. *Südostasien* 34 (2): 55-57. [doi:10.11588/soa.2015.2.3140](https://doi.org/10.11588/soa.2015.2.3140).2015-01-01T00:00:00+00:002015-01-01T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/publications/enslin2015-ungenutzte-chancen/Hae, Zen. 2015. Red Cup And Other Stories. Jakarta: BTW. [Transl. Marjie Suanda and Joshua Ramon Enslin]2015-01-01T00:00:00+00:002015-01-01T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/publications/hae2015-red-cup/Yays! The new site design is up.2014-12-12T00:00:00+00:002015-07-07T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/post/1/<p>Apparently, I had this website online for quite some time, but in a rather ugly and unpractical form. After finally getting back a bit to coding when working on <a href="http://ppanji.org">ppanji.org</a>, I felt motivated again to rework my website. Unfortunately, I just haven't had the time to add many of the features I plan to add to this website yet.</p>
<p>Whereas I added a bibliography function based on my personal bibliographical database, I haven't yet come around to do other essential functions such as a function to retrieve information for the tag pages (as an example, see the page for "Coding") from dbpedia.</p>
<p>Anyway, I think even without those functions, the new design should be quite nice, and I might update the site much more frequently now, as the updating process is much more convenient now, thanks to a new backend and some new functions for working with this site.</p>
<p>Update (<time class="dt-updated" datetime="2015-07-07">07.07.2015</time>): As you can probably tell from looking at the other pages on here, I changed the design after this post. After reading <a href="https://indiewebcamp.com/custom_post_style">this</a>, I decided that I want to implement a similar function. So, here we go: this post should carry the old design.<br />Custom designs are not yet supported in the backend, but need to be written in the XML that is used to store posts directly. Maybe (that's a big maybe though) I will add a field for this later.</p>
Panji, benda-benda budaya dan digitalisasi2014-09-12T00:00:00+00:002014-09-12T00:00:00+00:00https://www.jrenslin.de/talks/panji/<p>Sebuah presentasi tentang kemungkinan digitalisasi benda dan manfaatnya untuk revitalisasi Budaya Panji. Diberikan dalam rangka Pertemuan Pencinta Panji 12-13 September 2014 di Trawas.</p>