A Multi-Purpose Model for Structural Manuscript Data Storage and Representation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55630/dipp.2026.16.14Keywords:
Manuscript Studies, Data Storage, South Slavic Cyrillic Manuscripts, Digital HumanitiesAbstract
This paper presents a hybrid data-model architecture developed for the Repertorium of South Slavonic Manuscripts and Copyists, a digital system for the description and analysis of Cyrillic manuscripts produced in the South Slavic lands. The model functions simultaneously as a structured storage schema, an ontological model for knowledge management, and a framework governing data representation and interface behaviour. By integrating codicological description and palaeographical analysis within a single machine-readable definition, it reduces schema–interface divergence, lowers maintenance overhead, and improves data consistency. The case study shows how domain-driven modelling can support rigorous and operationally efficient digital infrastructures for manuscript studies.References
Amory, Y. (2025). More than a simple intuition: towards a categorization of palaeographical features in Greek documentary papyri. Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin, 1–18. http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01HXXGDHQ4JPCP5D0MKEC4HS57
Herbst, Y. W., Roeder, T., & Saderi, S. M. S. (2023). On the Relationship Between Interfaces and TEI in Digital Scholarly Editions. Text Encoding Initiative. https://old.tei-c.org/Vault/MembersMeetings/2023/contributions/149.html
Horobin, S. (2024). Identifying Scribal Hands: Principles and Problems. Speculum, 99(3), 688–696. https://dx.doi.org/10.1086/730563
Kestemont, M., Christlein, V., & Stutzmann, D. (2017). Artificial Paleography: Computational Approaches to Identifying Script Types in Medieval Manuscripts. Speculum, 92(S1), S86–S109. https://doi.org/10.1086/694112
Korogodina, M. V., & Levchenko, N. N. (2025). Konvoliut ili sbornik: problemy tipologizatsii [Convolute or miscellany: the problem of typology]. Peterburgskii istoricheskii zhurnal, 1(45), 155–164. https://doi.org/10.51255/2311-603X_2025_1_155
Luchev, D., Goynov, M., Paneva-Marinova, D., Pavlov, R., & Rangochev, K. (2024). Repertoire of medieval South Slavic manuscripts and scribes in research context. Chuzhdoezikovo Obuchenie – Foreign Language Teaching, 51(1), 75–89. https://doi.org/10.53656/for2024-01-09
Martin-Rodilla, P., & Gonzalez-Perez, C. (2019). Metainformation scenarios in Digital Humanities: Characterization and conceptual modelling strategies. Information Systems, 84, 29-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.is.2019.04.009
Orsini, P. (2025). The Dating of Early Christian Manuscripts: Paleography and Material Culture. In S. W. Crawford & T. Wasserman (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Textual Criticism of the Bible (pp. 419–445). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197581315.013.0025
Paneva-Marinova, D., Scarpa, M., Riparante, M., Goynov, M., Luchev, D., Pavlova, L., & Zlatkov, L. (2022). Machine-readable descriptive structures to study medieval South Slavic scriptoria and scribes. TEM Journal, 11(2), 675–682. https://doi.org/10.18421/TEM112-22
Riparante, M. (2024). Predlozhenie za paleografski analiz na srednovekovnata yuzhnoslavyanskata kirilitsa [A Proposal for the Palaeographic Analysis of Medieval South Slavonic Cyrillic Script]. Palaeobulgarica, 48(2), 113–127. https://doi.org/10.59076/2603-2899.2024.2.06
Riparante, M., Goynov, M., Paneva-Marinova, D., & Pavlova, L. (2025). Enhancing South Slavic Cyrillic Manuscripts Research through a Digital Toolkit for Cyrillic Palaeography. In S. Campana, D. Ferdani, H. Graf, G. Guidi, Z. Hegarty, S. Pescarin, & F. Remondino (Eds.), Digital Heritage. The Eurographics Association. https://doi.org/10.2312/dh.20253058
Sanderson, R. (2024). Implementing Linked Art in a Multi-Modal Database for Cross-Collection Discovery. Open Library of Humanities, 10(2), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.16995/olh.15407
Scarpa, M., Burlacu, C., & Paneva-Marinova, D. (2021). New digital life for fourteenth century South Slavonic scriptoria. Digital Presentation and Preservation of Cultural and Scientific Heritage, 11, 57–64. https://doi.org/10.55630/dipp.2021.11.5
van Lit, L. W. C. (2020). Among digitized manuscripts: Philology, codicology, paleography in a digital world. Brill.
Verhoeven, D., & Burrows, T. (2015). Aggregating cultural heritage data for research use: The Humanities Networked Infrastructure (HuNI). In Metadata and Semantics Research: 9th Research Conference, MTSR 2015, Proceedings (pp. 445–452). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24129-6
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Digital Presentation and Preservation of Cultural and Scientific Heritage

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
