Projects and Participants in The Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library (THDL)

THDL is an umbrella for many distinct projects, individuals and organizations that adhere to technical integration, but otherwise are administered and created on a very decentralized basis. It is utilizing new technologies to bypass the typical blocks impeding the development of collaborative partnerships between scholars, librarians, artists, technologists and others sharing a common commitment to the value of knowledge. Thus all projects agree to strict technical standards and integration, but otherwise are independently run. In order to maintain the highest standards of intellectual quality, and ensure the involvement of academic researchers from around the world, THDL is a refereed at all stages. Scholarly review boards decide upon the acceptance of new projects, finished projects undergo a review process, individual contributions to the journal and encyclopedia are independently reviewed, and more granular contributions such as to the dictionary and gazetteer also are reviewed.

Facilitating collaboration at such a large scale involves major logistical, political, intellectual and technical challenges. Technically, we have been developing a suite of tools and documentation supporting collaboration within THDL under the rubric "Scholar's Toolbox". These tools are a mixture of off-line and on-line tools for creating and editing content. THDL is currently undergoing a complex transition during 2004-2006 to a single integrated collaborative interface that allows scholars to have variable privileges to create, submit, edit and develop resources on-line from remote locations (see "How to Participate" for details).

THDL is organized into five domains: Collections, Reference, Community, Education and Tools. These domains each contain diverse projects possessing their own distinct institutional base(s) and participants. The present document is a presentation of current projects with their participants and is organized in terms of the five domains.

I. PARTICIPANTS IN THDL COLLECTIONS

Collections is divided into five basic areas:

A. MULTIMEDIA RESOURCES

The Audio and Video Collections have major collections of Tibetan Music, Tibetan literature and Tibetan cultural life in Lhasa. In addition, there are important new collections from across the Himalayas that will result from our integration with Digital Himalaya, and include collaborations with Alan Macfarlane and Sarah Harrison of Cambridge, Mark Turin and Sara Shneiderman of Cornell, and David Holmberg and Kathryn March of Cornell. The underlying cataloging and display system has been principally built by the University of Virginia's Travis McCauley and Jack Kelley, along with Eastern Michigan University's Edward Garrett.

A central aspect of the audio-video collections involves the establishment of the Tibet University Transcription Center for the transcription of audio and video materials using Tibetan script. This center is directed by Ngödrup (Computing Science, Tibet University), and managed by Eveline Yang with support from Chris Walker and Pema Tashi.

The Image Collections include extensive materials that are mostly contemporary, but also include historical collections. Contributors includes: Britt Alm, José Cabezón (University of California at Santa Barbara), Edward Garrett (Eastern Michigan University), Frances Garrett (University of Toronto), David Germano (University of Virginia), Tsering Gyalpo (Tibet Academy of Social Sciences), David Holmberg (Cornell University), Konchok Jiatso (Tibet Academy of Social Sciences), Matthew Kapstein (University of Chicago), Kathryn March (Cornell University), Travis McCauley (University of Virginia), David Newman (University of Virginia), Françoise Pommaret (CNRS), John Powers (Australian National University), Will Rourk (University of Virginia), Trace Foundation as organized by Eric Colombel, Sara Shneiderman (Cornell University), Michael Tuite (University of Virginia), Mark Turin (Cornell University, Cambridge University), Chris Walker (University of Chicago), Eveline Yang (University of Virginia), Emily Yeh (University of Colorado).

The underlying image cataloging system has been designed by the Digital Media Lab's Judy Thomas and Michael Tuite, along with consultation by David Newman. It is being migrated into a new XML system designed by Thorny Staples and Perry Roland of Virginia's Digital Library Research and Development Department. The University of Virginia's David Newman manages the collections overall.

Our collections of three-dimensional objects are from the University of Virginia's Digital Media Lab and Will Rourke.

B. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Mark Turin (Cornell University, Cambridge University) and David Germano (University of Virginia) are jointly designing this area. The initial major collections being focused on derive from collaborations with Alan Macfarlane and Sarah Harrison (Cambridge University) as organized by Digital Himalaya.

C. ENVIRONMENTAL/CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

The Environmental and Cultural Geography project's technical infrastructure has been developed at the University of Virginia by Michael Furlough and Blair Tinker of the Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, Thorny Staples and Perry Roland of the Digital Library Research and Development Department, Will Rourke, Michael Tuite and Judy Thomas of the Digital Media Lab, and David Newman of THDL.

We also benefit from a close relationship with the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative, for whom we head their Tibetan and Himalayan regional team.

The broad scale regional data for the GIS model of the plateau represents a collaboration with Karl Ryavac of the University of Minnesota and Larry Crissman of Griffiths University. Michael Furlough, Blair Tinker and Sherry Lake of the Geospatial and Statistical Data Center have been crucial in processing that data, while David Newman of THDL and Lex Berman of Harvard University have collaborated on augmenting it. We are also consulting with Tsering Wangyal Shawa of the Digital Map and Geospatial Information Center at Princeton University.

We are now collaborating with Jim Knighton of Clear Light Image Products to create satellite imagery coverage of the Tibetan plateau at 275 meter resolution, as well as with Michael Ryan and others mentioned above at Virginia to incorporate sample higher resolute satellite imagery.

Our model of Lhasa is driven by recent ethnography in which many scholars have participated. The University of Virginia's David Germano is the coordinator for this project, but individual projects within Lhasa are run various people. The Lingkor project is directed by André Alexander, the Sera Monastery project by José Cabezón (University of California at Santa Barbara), the Meru Monastery project by Will Rourk (University of Virginia-Digital Media Lab), the vegetable gardening project by Emily Yeh, the Lhasa language project by Nicolas Tournadre (CNRS-Lacito (Langues et Civilisations à Tradition Orale)/Paris 8 University) with David Germano, and so forth, with each of the projects in turn involving multiple collaborators.

The digital ethnography and place studies that fill out the project are being driven by a wide variety of scholars. The Tibet Academy of Social Sciences (especially Tsering Gyelpo and Konchok Jiatso) and the University of Virginia have been the leading institutions in this work to date, but we are working at new broad scale institutional partnerships as well. Important scholars to date include Nicolas Tournadre of CNRS-Lacito/Paris 8 University, John Flower and Pam Leonard of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Guntram Hazod of the University of Leipzig, and many others. Collaboration on the horizon includes a study of hunting culture and tribal histories by Toni Huber of Victoria University and Tsering Gyelpo in the Jangthang (byang thang) region. There are also a number of initiatives stemming from our merging with Digital Himalaya which are now being integrated.

D. THEMATIC COLLECTIONS

i. Art Collections

While our Art Collections remains off-line, we have been developing a number of interesting projects. The most important involve a collaboration with the Rubin Foundation/Himalayan Art Project, including a GIS layer of important art sites in Tibet, video interviews with prominent artists and art historians, a video series on the making of Tibetan thankas, and photography of Tibetan art. Other projects include a study of Derge (sde dge) Publishing House deity wood block prints with Alex Kotcharov, formerly of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, and a study of the Lukhang (klu khang) yogic wall murals with David Germano of the University of Virginia.

ii. Architecture Collections

Our work here to date has been limited to studies in Lhasa with Will Rourke of the Digital Media Lab at the University of Virginia, and the Tibet Heritage Fund, the latter represented particularly by André Alexander and John Harrison.

iii. Environmental Collections

Our Environmental Collections is currently not under intensive development. The work to date involves a collaboration with Karl Ryavac of the University of Minnesota and Larry Crissman of Griffiths University on broad scale regional data, and particularly the GIS coverage of the Tibetan plateau with fifty two kinds of land cover. We plan to expand this work with the help of Gregory Okin of the University of Virginia's Environmental Science Department, and welcome other interested parties to contact us.

iv. History Collections

The History Collections is co-directed by Bryan J. Cuevas (Florida State University) and Kurtis R. Schaeffer (University of Virginia)

The History Collections seeks to integrate e-texts of Tibetan historical literature, as well as relevant research and learning materials, with audio/visual materials such as oral commentary, site documentation, and maps. Projects are international, benefiting from the joint input of Tibetan scholars, European and American researchers, and a host of technical specialists. Projects emphasize primary historical literature and contemporary research on places and events.

As of June 2004 we have begun to input Tibetan e-texts at a faster rate. The e-texts of the Blue Annals and the Fifth Dalai Lama’s History of Tibet are the first products of this effort. In the coming year we hope to make more texts available.

Future goals include the increasing integration of textual, audio-visual, mapping, and gazeteer resources, increased e-text offerings, and expanded reference materials

Projects:

The Blue Annals Project

The Blue Annals Project is currently preparing an e-version of the Tibetan text, scans of a second edition, analytical summaries, and a long term retranslation project. At present, available for download are 1) a detailed outline and concordance of Roerich's English translation and the two published editions of the Tibetan text, and 2) a spreadsheet of place names mentioned in the English translation. The E-text is not yet available for public distribution.

Project directors: Kurtis R. Schaeffer (University of Virginia) and David Germano (University of Virginia), Bryan J. Cuevas (Florida State University). Project participant: Jann Ronis (University of Virginia); Eveline Yang (University of Virginia), facilitating data input.

The Historical Sites of Central Tibet Project

Project directing board: Buchung (Tibet Academy of Social Sciences), David Germano (University of Virginia), Tsering Gyalpo (Tibet Academy of Social Sciences), Matthew Kapstein (University of Chicago), Kurtis Schaeffer (University of Virginia), and Bryan J. Cuevas (Florida State University). The operational manager is David Newman (University of Virginia). A full list of participants and their roles to date is as follows: Nordrang Orgyen (Tibet Academy of Social Sciences), speaker of detailed oral commentary on the Fifth Dalai Lama’s history; Jann Ronis (University of Virginia), markup of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s history; Pema Trashi (Tibet Library), lead transcriber of lectures and commentary, Chris Walker (University of Chicago), lead manager, along with David Newman, of fieldwork operations in the crucial summer 2002 site documentation; Eveline Yang (University of Virginia), overseeing transcription of video.

The Tibetan Timelines Project

The Tibetan Timelines Project is currently soliciting timelines of any and all type that are relevant to Tibet and the Himalayas, including links to already-published resources. Our long-term goal is to build a collaborative and sophisticated timeline, and a variety of annotated periodizations of Tibetan and Himalayan history. At present the timelines and periodization schemes are bound together.

Project directors: Bryan J. Cuevas (Florida State University), Frances M. Garret (University of Toronto), and Kurtis R. Schaeffer (University of Virginia).

The Tibetan Histories List

The Tibetan Histories List presents brief introductions and content summaries for major Tibetan-language historical writings. Begun in the summer of 2004, the list presents introductory information with a focus on works that offer broad coverage of Tibetan political and religious history.

Project directors: Bryan J. Cuevas (Florida State University), Jann Ronis (University of Virginia), Kurtis R. Schaeffer (University of Virginia).

v. Literature Collections

Board:

Projects:

Notes: The Literature Collections in its infrastructure development has been supported primarily by the Institute of Advanced Technology in the Humanities with the guidance of Daniel Pitti and Worthy Martin, as well as support from Robbie Bingler. The Samantabhadra Collection in particular has been sustained by the University of Virginia's Nathaniel Garson, Steven Weinberger, and Kevin Vose, as well as Gregory Hillis while at Rice University. Gene Smith and the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center have been important contributors. The Bonpo Collection has been directed by Rice University's Anne Klein and Gregory Hillis at Fondren Library.

vi. Language and Linguistics Collections

Directors: Nicolas Tournadre (Paris 8 University/CNRS-Lacito (Langues et Civilisations à Tradition Orale)) and David Germano (University of Virginia)

Manager: Edward Garrett

Board:

Projects:

Notes: TLLR is building instructional materials for teaching and studying Tibetan language. In addition, there are other specific projects listed above which are building general resources for understanding Tibetan language. This includes a reference grammar, rich modular dictionary, and general documentation of the features of the Tibetan language. A particular initiative of note is the Tibetan Dialects Initiative run by Nicolas Tournadre to analyze and document the rich diversity of Tibetan dialects. HLLR is a new initiative based on existing work at CNRS-Lacito in Himalayan linguistics.

vii. Medicine Collections

Portions of the THDL Medicine Collections are being developed with the cooperation of the University of Virginia's Center for Complementary and Alternative Therapies, one of the original NIH-funded Centers to stimulate research in complementary and alternative medicines, directed by Dr. Ann Taylor. The Collections are directed by Frances Garrett, frances.garrett@utoronto.ca. Contributors include Kurtis Schaeffer (University of Virginia), Leslie Blackhall (University of Virginia), and many scholars and physicians at the Hospital of Tibetan Medicine (Mentsikhang) in Lhasa, Tibet (please see the Video List for a record of names). We are grateful to these individuals for their generous collaborative spirit, without which we could not have built this collection.

Additional support has been provided by the UVA School of Nursing, the Raven Society, the UVA Weedon Foundation, the UVA Center for South Asian Studies, the UVA Center for Global Health, the TRACE Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education.

viii. Music Collections

The current Music Collections focus on digital ethnography on Tibetan folk music done in 2000 and 2001 in Tibet with John Flower and Pam Leonard of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Paul Brown of National Public Radio, Tsering Gyelpo, Könchok Jiatso, Tenzin, and Buchung of the Tibet Academy of Social Science, Nicolas Tournadre of Paris 8 University/CNRS-Lacito, David Germano and Travis McCauley of the University of Virginia, Frances Garrett of the University of Toronto, Edward Garrett of Eastern Michigan University, Sangda Dorje of Tibet University, and many performers from across Tibet.

We are now looking to expand this project with the collaboration of Alice Egyed of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Ter Ellingson of the University of Washington, and Judith Quinones of the University of California at Los Angeles.

ix. Religion Collections

While our Religion Collections remains mostly off-line, we do have multiple projects that have not yet been packaged together under this rubric and which are detailed separately elsewhere here. In addition, we have several projects in the planning stages with Jeffrey Hopkins of the University of Virginia, including digitization of an oral archive of philosophical and religious commentaries by prominent Tibetan scholars, as well as the documentation of basic genres of philosophical literature in Tibet for instructional purposes.

E. JOURNALS OF TIBETAN AND HIMALAYAN STUDIES

Currently no active collaborations.

II. PARTICIPANTS IN THDL REFERENCE

A. DICTIONARY

Our broader Oxford English Dictionary-style Dictionary infrastructure is being programmed by Travis McCauley (University of Virginia) on the basis of earlier programming of a prototype version by Yitna Firdyiwek (University of Virginia's Instructional Technology Group). Non-programming design has been done chiefly by David Germano (University of Virginia), with consultation with Edward Garrett (Eastern Michigan University), Nicolas Tournadre (Paris 8 University/CNRS-Lacito), Matthew Kapstein (University of Chicago), Sangda Dorje (Tibet University), and Norbu Jiamtso (Tibet Academy of Social Sciences).

Content to the Dictionary has been provided primarily in the form of modular dictionaries contributed by Rangjung Yeshe, Jim Valby, Jeffrey Hopkins, and Dan Martin at this point, but there is a long list of new dictionaries ready to be migrated into it furing 2003-4. Major contributors include Dan Martin, Matthew Kapstein, Nicolas Tournadre/Sangda Dorje, David Germano, Geoff Bailey, Yangkyi Wang, and others.

The Translator Tool has been designed by the University of Virginia's Andres Montano Pellegrini, while its Tibetan script input facility was built by Edward Garrett (then of University of Virginia, now of Eastern Michigan University) and subsequently developed by David Chandler. The content has been provided by Erik Hein Schmidt of Rangjung Yeshe Publications and Jim Valby of the Dzokchen Community, Tsegyalgar.

B. BIBLIOGRAPHY

The bibliography system has been designed by Daniel McShane of the University of Virginia's Alderman Library, and consultation has been provided by Phillip McEldowney and Nawang Thokmey of the Library, Perry Roland of the Virginia's Digital Library Research and Development Department, and David Germano of Virginia.

A number of scholars, librarians and curators have signed on to manage bibliographies once the system is finalized in mid 2002, including Donald LaRocca of the New York Metropolitan Museum (Tibetan arms and armory), Lauran Hartley (modern Tibetan literature), Kurtis Schaeffer of the University of Virginia and Bryan Cuevas of Florida State University (Tibetan history), Frances Garrett of the University of Toronto (Tibetan medicine), and others.

C. PARTICIPANTS IN THDL ENCYCLOPEDIA

This is currently being designed by David Germano and Steve Weinberger in technical consultation with Nathaniel Garson and Travis McCauley, all of the University of Virginia.

Diverse scholars have participated in design collaboration on specific aspects: John Bellezza (Archaeological Sites), José Cabezón (Buildings, Religious Institutions, Tibetan Literary Genres), Janet Gyatso (Biographical, Religious Institutions), Matthew Kapstein (Tibetan Literary Genres), Will Rourk (Buildings), Gene Smith (Tibetan Literary Genres), Michael Tuite (Buildings).

III. PARTICIPANTS IN THDL COMMUNITY

A. ADVISORY BOARD

THDL's Community domain is closely integrated, and we plan to have a single board collectively oversee all parts of it rather than different groups. We have activated such a board and encourated interested volunteers to contact us at thdlcommunity@virginia.edu.

A. ROSTER OF INDIVIDUALS, ORGANIZATIONS AND PROJECTS

This is currently supported by the University of Virginia Library, was designed conceptually by David Germano, and built and technically designed by Travis McCauley.

B. DISCUSSION FORUMS

This is currently supported by the University of Virginia Library and administered technically by Leslie Johnston. Frances Garrett supervises the Tibetan Medicine discussion forum. We are currently seeking volunteers to supervise the other discussion forums.

C. MAILING LISTS

This is currently technically supported by the University of Virginia ITC group and overseen administratively by David Germano. We are currently seeking volunteers to supervise specific mailing lists.

D. COMMUNITY LINKS

These are currently being administered informally by Jann Ronis and David Germano. We are currently seeking volunteers to focus more specifically on their development.

IV. PARTICIPANTS IN THDL EDUCATION

Director: David Germano

A. LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION

Notes: TLLR is building instructional materials for teaching and studying Tibetan language. In addition, there are other specific projects listed above which are building general resources for understanding Tibetan language. This includes a reference grammar, rich modular dictionary, and general documentation of the features of the Tibetan language.

Our modular instructional initiative in Tibetan and Himalayan Studies is a project currently applying for funding. A number of scholars have signed up to participate in its design and implementation, but at present actual efforts have been limited to the complete incorporation of THDL into a course on Tibetan Buddhist Culture taught by David Germano of the University of Virginia. This work has been supported by Yitna Firdyiwek and Anne Ingram of the University of Virginia's Instructional Technology Group, and managed by THDL's David Newman.

For the E-folio classroom management system, please see the documentation of partnerships above within the "Instructional Tools" section of Education.

The Tibet University Language program is a collaborative initiative with Lhakpa Tseten and others of Tibet University, Robbie Barnett of Columbia University, and David Germano of the University of Virginia.

V. PARTICIPANTS IN THDL TOOLS

ADVISORY BOARD

Tools for THDL are being developed by an international team of programmers and scholars. The lead programmers and technical consultants for THDL include David Chandler, David Chapman, Edward Garrett (Eastern Michiagan University), Chris Fynn, Nathaniel Garson (University of Virginia), Michel Jacobson (CNRS-LACITO), ? Travis McCauley (University of Virginia), Andres Montano Pellegrini (University of Virginia), David Newman (University of Virginia), Ngödrup (Tibet University), Norgye (University of Virginia), Tashi Tsering (National Center for Tibetology/University of Virginia).

David Germano (University of Virginia) is the main scholar consulting on design and planning of these tools and resources, but Roger Andersen (UCLA), and Frances Garrett (University of Toronto) have also been centrally involved with certain elements, and many other scholars have acted as consultants in general. The Trace Foundation (Eric Colombel) and Tibetan Computing Company (Tony Duff) have also been important organizations assisting in planning and support.

Many non-THDL staff at the University of Virginia have played central roles in the development of THDL tools and systems, including the broader underlying FEDORA digital library system. These include staff from the Library's Digital Library Research and Development Group (Perry Roland, Thorny Staples, Ross Wayland — See related link on Supporting Digital Scholarship), the Library's Digital Media Lab (Judy Thomas, Will Rourk, Michael Tuite), the Library's Geospatial and Statistical Data Center (Mike Furlough, Blair Tinker), the Library's Information Communities Project (Leslie Johnston), and last but not least, the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (Robbie Bingler, Chris Jesse, Worthy Martin, Daniel Pitti).

The following organizations have participated in the development of the digital tools represented within this site:

A. FEDORA DIGITAL LIBRARY SYSTEM AND THDL'S GENERAL INFRASTRUCTURE

THDL is in the process of transferring over to the FEDORA digital library system for its overarching architecture. This system is being built as a cooperation between the University of Virginia's Digital Library Research and Development Department headed by Thornton Staples, and Cornell University's Digital Libraries Group in the Department of Computer Science directed by Carl Lagoze and Sandra Payette. Some elements of the overall system's development involve the participation of THDL staff, while its adaptation for Tibetan and Himalayan purposes is being done by THDL staff.

Other elements of THDL's infrastructure are supported by the University of Virginia's Institute of Advanced Technology in the Humanities, Digital Media Lab, and Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, Tashi Tsering of the National Center for Tibetology, Roger Andersen of UCLA, and Michel Jacobson of CNRS-Lacito.

B. SYSTEMS

The E-folio collaborative classroom management system which we utilize for educational uses of the digital library, including on-line creation of HTML assignments, has been designed primarily by Yitna Firdyiwek of the University of Virginia's Instructional Technology Group, along with help from Anne Ingram of the same Group and THDL's David Newman.

Software for Tibetan dictionary support has been done by University of Virginia staff, including Travis McCauley, Andres Montano Pellegrini and Yitna Firdyiwek of the Instructional Technology Group. See further details under the discussion of Reference above.

C. FONTS

Our largest partnership to date has been with Tony Duff of the Tibetan Computing Company and Eric Colombel of Trace Foundation in work on Tibetan fonts and input software. We are building upon this partnership with Ngödrup of Tibet University and Colombel for further work on Tibetan fonts and input software to be developed in Tibet; Tashi Tsering of the National Center for Tibetology is also a central partner in this process.

Anne Ingram of the University of Virginia's Instructional Technology Group has provided aid in building a system keyboard for Unicode diacritic input.

D. SOFTWARE

Roger Andersen, David Chandler, David Chapman, Edward Garrett, Nathaniel Garson, David Germano, Michel Jacobson, Ngödrup, Tashi Tsering.

The Institute of Advanced Technology in the Humanities — Worthy Martin, Daniel Pitti, Robbie Bingler and Kirk Hastings have been a central support at the University of Virginia in all of this work. Nathaniel Garson, Edward Garrett and Travis McCauley have been the key THDL staff members involved to date.

Programming work on creating new tools for viewing Tibetan videos and transcripts in Tibetan script has been spearheaded by Edward Garrett (formerly of University of Virginia; currently of Eastern Michigan University), with assistance from David Chandler, Michel Jacobson (CNRS-LACITO), and Travis McCauley (University of Virginia). David Germano (University of Virginia) and Roger Andersen (UCLA) have also been involved in design issues at all points.

E. SCHOLAR'S TOOLBOX

The Scholar's Toolbox involves software, documentation, and training processes. Its primary support to date has been from the University of Virginia.