Version Variation Visualization with Shakespeare's Othello

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VV's TransVis or Translation Array Prototype is an online system for exploring a corpus of translations of a work. Among various interfaces and outputs, the interface "Eddy and Viv" (E&V) enables users to see which passages in a translated work generate least/most variation among the translations. Users can retrieve all translations of a selected passage, and view the translations in algorithmically derived order of deviation from average: from most to least predictable. Developed with 37 German versions of Shakespeare’s Othello (1766-2010), the system reveals how staggeringly various translations can be, and enables new approaches to understanding why and how.

Website

Partners

Studio Nand (Berlin)
ABBYY UK Ltd (London)
Wolfestone Translation (Swansea)
Reclam, Suhrkamp, and 17 other publishers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (London)

Project Team

Tom Cheesman: Department of Languages, Swansea University, Wales, UK (PI)
Kevin Flanagan: SDL Research, Bristol (was: Department of Languages, Swansea University) (Developer)
Stephan Thiel: Studio Nand, Berlin (was: Bauhaus University Weimar, Germany) (Developer)
Robert S. Laramee: Department of Computer Science, Swansea University
Jan Rybicki: Institute of English Studies, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
Jan Rybicki: Institute of English Studies, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland Jonathan Hope: Department of English, Strathclyde University, UK
Avraham Roos: Centre for Digital Humanities, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Funders

Swansea University
Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK)