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Important update: MMR is now an international newsletter


MMR was originally created in 2008, under the title Medieval Memoria Research in the Low Countries, to inform scholars and other interested people of current developments concerning the research of the commemoration of the dead, and of commemorative practices in the Low Countries. MMR is part of the Utrecht research project The functions of art, ritual and text in medieval memoria and works closely with the project Medieval Memoria Online (MeMO). In the next issue of MMR you will find a status update on the MeMO project, including a description of MeMO's ongoing internationalisation activities. As a direct result of these activities, we have chosen to go international with MMR as well. Starting with this issue, MMR is will host international news about memoria research!
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MMR - Editorial


Introduction

We are proud to present the sixth issue of the Medieval Memoria Online Newsletter in a new layout, designed by our editor, Charlotte Dikken (Utrecht University). The sections remain the same: you will find information on recent publications, congresses and symposiums, and various news items in the field of the commemoration of the dead.

One of this issue's publications is the paper presented by Anna Adamska (Utrecht University) at the fourth German-Dutch colloquium on memoria research (Utrecht, February 2009). This paper gives an overview of the very interesting developments in Central Europe in the field of the medieval commemoration of the dead up to 2008. It provides plenty of reasons to strengthen contacts with researchers in these countries.

The publication of the newsletter is a good opportunity to look back on the first year and to briefly look ahead to the next two years of the MeMO project. We have every reason to be content: our targets for the first year have been reached and the results and products are now published on our website Medieval Memoria Research.

The description standard MeMO DS

Among the project's first aims was the development of an international description standard, MeMO DS. Existing description standards proved not entirely suitable for a project such as MeMO, which takes the concept of memoria as its starting point.

Due to the efforts of Rolf de Weijert (coordinator) and an international group of specialists we can now present MeMO DS on our website. MeMO DS consists of one standard for object sources and one for texts and text carriers (MeMO DS Objects and MeMO DS Texts respectively). For the Institutions database, which provides information on the institutions from where the described sources originate, a standard has been created by Rolf de Weijert (Utrecht University) and Koen Goudriaan (VU University Amsterdam). The Institutions database will soon be published on the website.

The data model and the databases

The standards for the various databases formed the basis for the development of the data model and the development of the databases.
  • The data model was designed by Jan van Mansum at Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) in collaboration with Rolf de Weijert and in consultation with Leen Breure (Utrecht University). You will find the result on the MeMO website.
  • It was decided to use Grails for the databases. For general information on this open source web application framework see: http://www.grails.org/. The databases have been developed by Jan van Mansum and Martin Braaksma at DANS in collaboration with Rolf de Weijert.

Other products

Over the past year other products related to MeMO were developed or finalised:
  • First, the MeMO website, Medieval Memoria Online, deserves mention. The website presents the results of the project on the Internet. Charlotte Dikken is the designer and webmaster.
  • The contents of the Memoria in Beeld (Representations of Medieval Memoria) database were updated extensively by Fenna Visser and Truus van Bueren (Utrecht University). This database catalogues Dutch representations of memoria until circa 1630. Some introductory articles on the subject were also added, both in Dutch and in English. Rutger Kramer (DANS) was responsible for the website and the search tools. The database Memoria in Beeld will eventually be included in the English MeMO application.
  • The Rich Internet Application called Commemoration in the Convent Mariënpoel: Prayer and Politics is an interactive website. It is especially aimed at students and other interested parties, to allow them to familiarise themselves with all aspects concerning the commemoration of the dead. The RIA, created by Leen Breure and Truus van Bueren, is a scholarly publication which aims to be accessible to a wider audience. The Research Notes will be added to the RIA shortly.
  • In a few weeks we shall also present on our website the Dutch-language website Kloosterkleding in beeld (Representations of monastic dress), a website and database accompanying the master thesis by Lonneke Hoondert, which is a follow-up of the thesis and website by Kassandra van Houdt (both at Utrecht University).
  • A first version of the Bibliography Medieval Memoria Research for the Low Countries was compiled by Viera Bonenkampová, Ph.D. student at VU University Amsterdam, and Kim Ragetli, who at that time was a research master student at Utrecht University.
  • To conclude we would like to mention the symposiums, the MeMO publications and the papers we presented. The organisation of the symposiums was undertaken by Jeannette van Arenthals, Kim Ragetli and Rolf de Weijert (Utrecht, 25-27 May and Leeds, 12-15 July). Articles were written by Truus van Bueren, Fenna Visser and Rolf de Weijert. An extensive discussion paper written by Truus van Bueren and Kim Ragetli has been reworked into and article and will be published soon.
The English translations and text editing were mostly provided by Jeannette van Arenthals and Charlotte Dikken.

A look ahead

Two substantial tasks await us in this academic year:
  • Entering the information into the databases and undertaking all further research required for this. This work is carried out at the three participating universities, VU University Amsterdam (the Institutions database and part of the Memorial Registers database), University of Groningen (Narrative Sources database), and Utrecht University (Memorial Paintings and Sculptures database, Tomb Monuments database and part of the Memorial Registers database). Visit our website for a list of all co-workers.
  • Creating a central portal for our databases and for links to other websites that are important to memoria researchers, a thesaurus (English, German and Dutch) and extensive, user-friendly search features for the MeMO users.
We hope to present the final results at an international congress in January 2013.

Truus van Bueren
General project leader


Source: editorial of the sixth issue of MMR.


This page was last updated on: September 8th, 2011





MMR Updates


September 8th, 2011:

The eighth issue of Medieval Memoria Research in the Low Countries is now available! This issue contains a list of many new publications, and an update on the MeMO project.
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February 3rd, 2011:

The seventh issue of Medieval Memoria Research in the Low Countries is now available! In this issue you will find new updates about the MeMO project's activities, such as the programme for its sessions during the IMC in Leeds. There are also new features about publications and websites.
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October 7th, 2010:

The sixth issue of Medieval Memoria Research in the Low Countries is now online and the MMR website has been given a makeover.
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May 18th, 2010:

The fifth issue of Medieval Memoria Research in the Low Countries has been published and is downloadable at the archives.
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February 4th, 2010:

The fourth issue of Medieval Memoria Research in the Low Countries is now available. The download-button is in the upper-left corner of the menu.
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Older updates...


Disclaimer
September, 2008: MMR Newsletter launch. September, 2010: web design by Charlotte Dikken. This website was tested and works on Internet Explorer, Opera and Firefox and is best viewed on a fully maximized screen. For full functionality, please ensure your browser has JavaScript enabled. For any questions regarding this research group, the newsletter or the website please feel free to contact the webmaster.