Venice-B08 IQP - Origins Group

Introduction

Felix Nwaobasi, Shikhar Saxena Viktoras Truchanovicius and Erik Carlson

Venice has transformed through centuries to evolve into the culturally rich city that it is today. Although the previous two hundred years of this evolution are well documented,

information regarding the origins of Venice and its people in the years before is scarce. The ease of accessing Venice through the sea made it easy for several civilizations to approach this city, thus leading to the creation of many hypotheses about the origins of the very first Venetians. Historians have tried to create models to explain the evolution of Venice in this lapse of time but have failed to do so. This can be partly attributed to the gaps in the written records (Manuscripts) which date back to only the 14th Century and the loss of records and landmarks during Napoleonic times.

Venice has made continuous efforts to find out about its origins. Efforts are being made in the fields of archaeology and manuscripts to complete the puzzle of the evolution of Venice

and find out the origins of its people. The Venetian government has identified the importance of archaeological artifacts in Venice. To preserve artifacts, measures such as mandating the presence of an archaeologist at any digging have been taken. The Venice State archive is an initiative taken to preserve historical manuscripts that contain historical information about Venice and the rest of the world. These current initiatives complement each other very well; archaeology serves as an eye into the evolution of landmasses and the people and manuscripts provide insight on people’s thoughts and provide vivid description of what existed when the manuscript was written.:In Venice, archaeology is a field that was especially indispensible in uncovering what is known about the city’s history. Currently, archaeological information in Venice is required by the Soprintendenza Archeologica to be recorded manually on large amounts of forms. This process is very long and tedious, and to complicate matters, many of these forms are difficult to search and access once the information has been recorded. Due to this fact, our goal was to create a system that would help facilitate the process of gathering information from archaeological artifacts, which in turn would expedite the rate at which knowledge of the city grows. To accomplish this, we developed ArchEasy™, a prototype for a system that would centralize and digitalize these forms to increase their accessibility, as well as accelerate the analytical process. With data easier to search for and analyze, archaeologists would be able to gather more information with regards to the origins of Venice.

Manuscripts also serve as a primary source to recreate Venice’s history. Historians transcribe manuscripts at the Venice State Archive, since they are hand written and hard to read,

to deduce conclusions about the history of Venice. Currently these efforts are carried out by a lot of scholars independently and the transcriptions completed by them are not stored at a central location. This leads to a lot of duplication of effort and creates an indefinite space between the ultimate goals of transcribing all these manuscripts. Furthermore, these manuscripts are hard to search since they are just categorized by the type of record (such as Land deeds, Marriage Certificates etc) and not by the place or person it pertains to. These two problems combined lead to a very slow process of uncovering the origins of Venice. In order to solve this problem we revised uScript, a web based manuscript transcription system, and exemplified its unique features and the importance for having such a system in place. This system simplifies the research process for historians by making it easier to search manuscripts using the type of data it contains and by storing every transcription that is created using the system. In addition, uScript provides archivists with the facility to store manuscripts online and helps preserve these books of history.

ArchEasy and uScript only centralize data, but do not provide chronological and visual analysis of it. Such analysis is important because it can identify erroneous data and give us

suggestions for future explorations. Historical data tends to fluctuate over time because of new discoveries made using latest technologies. Moreover, the sheer size of this data makes it impractical to recreate the visual analysis manually. To tackle these issues we designed a framework for an application that would visualize the evolution of Venice based on input data. We incorporated a data driven design that dynamically generates visualizations based on the latest data that is present in the ArchEasy and uScript systems. Technology makes it possible for this system to be modular. Therefore, we can immediately use current data and start recreating the evolution of Venice and expand upon it as new information is made available. The full implementation of the system will serve as a cohesive description of the origin of the Venetian Landmass.

This project also focuses on the origins of the Venetian people. While the more recent history of the Venetians is known because of manuscripts and archaeology, there are gaps in

the understanding when investigating their very distant past and their origins. Many theories rely on myths and legends, and lack scientific confirmation. Emergent technology has made DNA, found in almost every human cell, a source to better understand the migratory history of a group of people. In 2001, genetic scientists sequenced the entire human genome, opening up amazing possibilities in the world of human genetics. DNA technology has advanced tremendously in recent years, leading to projects such as the Genographic Project, collaboration between National Geographic and IBM. The Genographic Project aims to map the migratory paths of mankind using DNA analysis. We collaborated with Professor David Comas of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain. Professor Comas is one of the Principle Investigators of the Genographic Project. Our team collected Venetian DNA samples to be included in the study. Once analyzed by Comas’ team, the genetic similarities of Venetians to other regions of the world can be determined. We are now on the way to a more complete understanding of the origins of the Venetian people.

Our project leaves behind comprehensive recommendations regarding best means to better understand the origins of Venice and its people. Immediate work done on the ArchEasy and

uScript system will speed up the historical discovery process and make it simpler. After the completion of these systems it is imperative to amalgamate these systems using our framework for visualizing data to make big strides in the analysis of historical data. Our collaboration with Genographic provides a breakthrough for efforts related to finding the origins of Venetians. Follow up projects should utilize this mutually beneficial effort to collect samples and test the different theories that we have suggested regarding the migratory path of early Venetians. Once these efforts have been implemented to their capacity, we will be exposed to the true origins of Venice and its people.

About Us

Erik Carlson

Major: Chemical Engineering
Year of Graduation: 2010
Email: ecarlson@wpi.edu

Felix Nwaobasi

Major: Interactive Media and Game Development
Year of Graduation: 2010
Email: flipside@wpi.edu

Shikhar Saxena

Major: Computer Science
Year of Graduation: 2010
Email ID: shikhar2002in@yahoo.com

Viktoras Truchanovicius

Major: Computer Science
Year of Graduation: 2010
E-mail Address: victort@wpi.edu
Website: www.after1986.net

Our Project

Mission Statement

The purpose of this project is to contribute to a better understanding of the origins of Venice and Venetians.

Objectives

To contribute to finding the origins of Venetians through DNA analysis.
To design a system for centralizing and analyzing archaeological data.
To make manuscript transcriptions more accessible by revising and promoting the Uscript system.
To design a system that would visualize the evolution of a place based on input data.

Files To Download

Assignments

Assignment 2 (Last update: 9/8/2008)
Assignment 4(Last update: 9/15/2008)
Assignment 6 (Last update: 9/22/2008)

Meeting Minutes

2nd Meeting Minutes (9/10/2008)
3rd Meeting Minutes (9/17/2008)
4th Meeting Minutes (9/24/2008)
5th Meeting Minutes (10/01/2008)
6th Meeting Minutes (10/08/2008)

Presentations

Project Proposal

Annotated Bibliography

Contents