NEWS

English professor develops virtual Open Corpus Project

■ Prof. Dorothy Kim (ENG) presented her progress on developing the Open Corpus Project to the Brandeis community.

By HANNAH TAYLOR

JUSTICE EDITOR

Prof. Dorothy Kim (ENG) is currently working to develop a virtual corpus, or collection of written texts, of Early Middle English language. This would give researchers the opportunity to search across multiple archives and databases of manuscripts. The current status of the Open Corpus Project, as the site is titled, was unveiled at a Faculty Lunch Symposium on Thursday, March 17.

Kim presented her project in three sections: “the larger state of corpus projects,” “digital editing and property entity,” and an “environmental scan” of the pros and cons of existing corpus projects.

She began by explaining how online corpora shift away from the “print imaginary” and “print culture” into a digital realm of accessible and researchable media. The Open Corpus Project will be a centralized platform designed with this idea in mind, allowing for the ability to layer and flter searches, and explore linked resources, manuscript information, and annotations, Kim said. Most importantly, however, the project will have a set of editorial standards that each manuscript submission must adhere to.

There are many existing corpora for Early Middle English and other languages, but each one has a different set of pros and cons, Kim explained. First, she analyzed the TEAMS: Middle English Texts Series designed through the University of Rochester. This HTML platform lacks searchability, linked data, and an editorial standard, Kim said, which makes the database diffcult to navigate and to analyze manuscripts. “It is terrible for corpus linguists,” she added.

Second, Kim discussed the Piers Plowman Electronic Archive, which she said is “stuck in the print imaginary.” Also lacking key elements, Kim described the PPEA as being “literally the most infuriating, unimaginative digital visual project ever.” She said that regulating editorial standards is defnitely the biggest issue with this platform –– individual editors can edit manuscripts in any way they choose, and they only edit the portion of the manuscripts published on PPEA instead of the entirety of the document.

Third, Digital Mappa is a platform that is designed with the intention of editors being able to use a virtual workspace to develop their own corpora and other publications. However, Kim explained that Digital Mappa is “not scalable.” While one may be able to produce a short book using this software, she said that an entire corpus would be impossible since editors are limited to using 100 images.

Fourth, Parker Library on the Web, designed through Stanford University, is both “stuck in the print imaginary and the physical library imaginary,” Kim said. Although researchers can view many manuscripts within this corpus, searchability remains diffcult. Kim explained that the site is organized like a library catalogue database.

This means that users can browse documents and retrieve bibliographical information on them, but in order to do more indepth research, one would already need to have very specifc knowledge of the manuscripts they are interested in locating.

Moreover, once viewing a manuscript, Parker Library on the web still does not have linked data to other virtual archives, Kim added. She did say, however, that while this platform has its issues, it is “a best practices example of a digitized manuscript archive” in comparison to the rest of the corpora she has analyzed.

Kim continued on to further discuss her ideas for the Open Corpus Project and how it would be a better platform for manuscript editors, researchers, linguists, and students alike. She explained that the design for the Open Corpus Project will be mainly based on a digital platform called Open Context, which is an open access archeological database. She said that Open Context has a landing page with a map, clickable links, and search flters; searches are presented in an organized list so that documents are easy to view and further searches can be done from the results. In order to develop the Open Corpus Project in a similar manner, Kim is partnering with Geocene, an engineering consultancy.

The goal for the Open Corpus Project is to develop a corpus platform that publishes manuscripts of Early Middle English language that are edited by a set of specifc standards, presented in an accessible manner, and are linked to multiple other virtual corpora and archives for in-depth research, Kim explained. Similarly to Open Context, she described how she would like the site to have a landing page with refned search abilities and a structured list of available manuscripts, as well as the ability to download data.

Moreover, the Open Corpus Project would have built-in analytical tools. Kim said her hope is that each manuscript will be edited to have three different viewing options in order to make research more accessible to all types of users: a document edition, a critical edition, and a student reading edition. She explained that the document edition would be a manuscript that remains close to the original text, the critical edition would contain commentary and annotations of the text, and the student reading edition would be written with normalized spelling so that it is simpler for the general public to understand. The website would also be developed so that users can simply change the interface to display their desired edition, Kim added.

Kim also emphasized how the key element of the Open Corpus Project will be a regulated set of editorial standards. However, she said that developing these guidelines will take time as there is much to consider, particularly in terms of standardizing the vocabulary between texts.

Kim said that the second phase for the Open Corpus Project, once developed for Early Middle English, will be to add manuscripts of other early languages, and the third phase will be to add images, charts, and music.

UNDERSTANDING GAS IMPORTS Experts discuss history and implications of Ukraine crisis

■ The panel covered Ukraine’s role in geopolitics, oil relations, and a potential no-fly zone.

By JEN CRYSTAL

JUSTICE ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Prof. Sabine von Mering (GECS) exclaimed that when the Center for German and European Studies frst began planning the “Contextualizing the Ukraine Crisis” webinar set to take place on March 22, they were not expecting the countries to be at war. Following Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, however, von Mering continued “we now fnd ourselves in the fourth week of war, with thousands dead, millions feeing, and numerous hard economic losses.” In order to fully understand this crisis, it is important to look at it from a political and economic context and evaluate Germany’s crucial role in all of this.

The event featured three speakers — Prof. Steven Wilson (POL), Simon Pirani (University of Durham) and Marcel Roethig (Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Kyiv, Ukraine) — who dissected “the broader context of the Ukraine Crisis,” per the event description.

Ukraine serves as a “West-East junction point,” Wilson explained. It is a critical place that “straddles” the boundary between Europe and Asia, which invites the dichotomy of the East versus the West and who should have control over this territory. More recently, Ukraine has been subject to a lot of Western and Russian imperial aggression. However, the territory has remained relatively split on ethnic and linguistic maps as well as politics, Wilson said.

This, Wilson said, is often used as an excuse for Russian acts of imperialism, especially in the context of the current invasion “where there is this notion of Russia as defender of the Slavs [who protects] the ethnic Russians who are being abused by foreign powers.” President of Russia Vladimir Putin certainly subscribes to this line of logic, Wilson explained.

“I think it’s critical to understand that Putin’s perspective here isn’t irrational; you might not agree with it, it might be evil, but it’s not irrational. It’s not the actions of a madman,” Wilson continued. Throughout his presidency, Putin has strongly advocated for the resurgence of Russia as a major power, so this ideology is not “out of the blue. It is a combination of 20 years of foreign policy,” Wilson said.

Thinking about how the confict can end is where things get dicey and the situation gets “scary.” Putin is “insisting that it is existential for Russia to control its buffer states” and is acting in service of the long-term legacy he hopes to create, Wilson said. This means there aren’t any “off ramp” or otherwise diplomatic options. The options for Putin are winning or losing, neither of which are good in terms of minimizing casualties or ending human suffering.

Another key component to understanding the Ukrainian crisis is understanding the underlying economic infuences. These motivations do impact Russia’s actions, but “Putinism,” as termed by Pirani, has “shown a great skill for compensating for Russia’s economic weakness with military strength.” Pirani explained how the gas trade is crucial to RussiaEurope and Germany relations, but the “last 30 years have been a story of decline of that relationship,” Pirani said.

Russian gas revenue is achieved either through imports to Ukraine or to other European countries, which travel through pipelines in Ukraine. As tensions have grown between Russia and Ukraine politically, the gas imports from Russia to Ukraine have reduced, Pirani continued. There were low levels during the Crimean crisis in 2014 which resulted in the overthrow of former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, and imports stopped completely in 2016. However, Russia still transports gas through pipelines passing through Ukraine. In trying to fnd a way to transport gas from Russia to Germany without passing through Ukraine, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was proposed. “Had it been completed, it would not have increased the amount of Russian gas that Europe would have used,” Pirani explained. “It would have [transported] gas [to] Europe [via passageway of] the Baltic sea.” From here, there are two routes to take, Pirani continued. Countries can either get their energy somewhere else — in the form of renewable energy, etc. — or they can take actions to lower the demand rates for energy. These demand measures are very good for climate policy. Beyond just that, though, it is important to think about how countries are spending money on energy. This, von Mering said, is a form of income worth “billions of dollars a day” that is kept out of sanctions and is therefore helping to fund Putin’s war. Roethig joined the conversation from Germany as he had fed Ukraine and was no longer at his Kyiv offce. Most of his 20-some colleagues, Roethig explained, are still trapped in Ukraine under fre, in shelters, as refugees, and/or without water. Roethig explained that when the Minsk Agreement was created in September 2014, it marked an end to the war in the Donbas region of Ukraine. Germany, Roethig said, saw itself as a “mediator” in this agreement. The Germans, he continued, wanted to help Ukraine modernize its economy and supported Ukraine in everything except for arms deliveries. After the end of the Cold War, “we believed our armed forces were really only there for peacekeeping issues,” Roethig said. “We saw our mission in international peacekeeping rather than defending our land.” This poses a large problem now as Ukrainian forces were not prepared militarily for a large-scale invasion and have struggled to defend themselves. Germany is now delivering arms to Ukraine, but some people question if this is enough. Finally, the speakers turned to the issue of a no-fy zone. Although a nofy zone would be cause for a potential World War III, some have advocated for this option, von Mering said. She then turned the question to Roethig. He explained that his colleagues sometimes ask why a no-fy zone has not been implemented. Roethig attributes this desire for a no-fy zone to their stressful situation since a no-fy zone would not be the most rational decision. Practically speaking, although Roethig did explain that the practical point of view can sometimes have little meaning when you are in the middle of a large-scale confict, a nofy zone would not help much because there have been fewer planes and more missiles recently, per Roethig. Instead he advocates for anti-aircraft systems, which are currently being delivered. This war, he explained, is far from simple. Although a no-fy zone “could end this war in several hours, none of us would be there tomorrow to speak about it.” UKRAINE CRISIS WEBINAR

SKATING: Students part of first US Elite 12 team

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teams within this same organization prior to joining Hayden Select this year. With skating, both Israel and Winawer have had to face the challenge of balancing skating and school. Their practice schedule is Tuesday nights, Wednesday mornings, Friday mornings, and Saturday afternoons, which sometimes limits which classes they can register for. Additionally, they occasionally have to miss classes for multiple days at a time when traveling for competitions. Luckily, since they both have been skating at a competitive level for many years, they have experience juggling school and skating. They both agreed that time management has been a skill they acquired while being a skater and student. “I'm big on procrastination, so especially when we have competitions and stuff, you really have to be on top of your work,” Israel said. Additionally, being able to communicate about scheduling and being proactive about missing class are other important skills they had to learn. “Knowing how to communicate with people who are in positions of power over you, and professors especially — that layer of professionalism I think will [stay] with me through my career,” Winawer said.

Being on the team is a signifcant time commitment, especially since it is an off campus activity. While the coaches are understanding since everyone on the team is in college, missing practice is not much of an option, according to Israel. “Imagine you have a cheerleading pyramid and you take one person out of the bottom — it's not going to work. That's essentially the same with Synchro. You can't just take one person out of a formation; you have to be there and committed to the team at all times,” she said. Recently, their team traveled to France for the French Cup and to Colorado for the U.S. Synchronized Skating National Championship. They went to France in early February and competed against two other countries who have teams in the Elite 12 division. This was the frst competition for this new division. Hayden Select won, and Israel said regarding the victory, “We were the frst ever Elite 12 champions which was super cool.” Hayden Select is the only Elite 12 team in the country, so while in Colorado, rather than competing against other teams, “we went to do an exhibition to kind of show the judges and the audience hopefully where the future of the sport is going,” Winawer said. They achieved their goal of receiving their highest score of the season. They also had a rose ceremony, as they did not get medals. “It was really nice to feel like they [U.S. fgure skating] were fnally recognizing us and it felt like maybe this could go somewhere and our efforts to create this new division were not for nothing,” Israel added. Both Israel and Winawer have competed by themselves, but they agree that they prefer the team aspect of synchronized skating. “It's a completely different feeling taking the ice by yourself versus taking the ice with your 15 or your 11 or however many best friends … we're all supporting each other along the way and that's the main reason why I've been able to stick with it for so long,” Israel said. She also added that they are all friends outside of skating, which strengthens their bonds and support for each other on the ice. Furthermore, synchronized skating has been able to be more inclusive than other disciplines, Winawer noted. “The fact that it's a team sport allows for more gender identities to compete. In other forms of fgure skating it's separated into men and women … it's very hard to be a more inclusive space,” she said. Synchronized skating “opens up room for so many more people to participate,” she continued. As for the future of their skating careers, Winawer will be retiring within the next few years in preparation for law school. Before then, she hopes to make a Worlds Team: “Two teams are selected every year in the senior level to go represent the United States at Worlds. Next year, they're in the U.S. — they're in Lake Placid — so it would be a real honor to get to go compete at a home Worlds,” she said. Israel will be taking the year off from synchronized skating as she intends to study abroad, so she will be focusing on single skating for the time being. She hopes to rejoin the synchronized skating world when she returns, but until then, she hopes to stay involved in other ways. “I'm currently working at ‘Get it Called,’ which is a skating publication. They post articles and stuff about synchro competitions and synchro related events,” Israel said. They both have the same ultimate goal for the sport: to see it get to the Olympics. Additionally, Winawer hopes to see synchronized skating “grow to include more people from more races, gender identities, and socioeconomic backgrounds.” In general, she hopes skating will become a more inclusive and accepting sport, “and also hopefully get to the Olympics,” Winawer concluded.

BRANDEIS SKATERS

THE JUSTICE ● NEWS ● TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2022 5 PURIM: Chabad hosts celebration

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an easy Jewish holiday to engage in because “Purim is also just super goofy! I mean, who doesn’t love fun costumes, lots of food, and giving gifts to friends?” In addition to the Brandeis Breakfast club on Thursday morning, Brody explained that Hillel also hosted a meal to break the traditional fast before Purim-eve, called Taanit Esther. She added, “We also had eight readings of the Megillah, the Purim story” across various Jewish denominational groups under the Brandeis Hillel umbrella. On Wednesday, the eve of Purim, there were two readings led by the Brandeis Orthodox Organization, and Masorti and Baruch, the Conservative/Egalitarian and Reform Jewish clubs on campus, each had their own. The Brandeis Orthodox Organization and Masorti held additional services on Thursday, the second day of Purim celebrations. The Cheins added, “When we arrived at Brandeis … we didn’t want to replicate existing activities” that Hillel and the Jewish religious clubs under it put on. Instead, Rabbi Chein explained that Chabad reached out to students’ fraternities and sororities to host a Purim party at the Chabad House. “Greek life was our biggest partner … Purim was an event welcoming to Jewish students who weren’t active in the Jewish community. Talking to Greek life brought people in.” Over the years, he continued, Chabad has worked with fraternities and sororities less because people wanted to join the party regardless of it being thrown by Greek life, and, “we wanted to make the party open to everyone.” With the rise of COVID-19 cases, though, the party was capped at a certain capacity and the Chabad House required people to test negative for COVID-19 the day prior. Chabad tried to balance this concern with the concern for students’ mental health in the social time that is students’ college years. Sohn, whose frst Purim at Brandeis coincided with the beginning of the pandemic, agreed. The quintessential Purim experience he was looking for was “exciting and out there,” whether that meant dressing up for the Cheins’ party on a Wednesday, or “even having a smoothie at Hillel on Purim morning.” Rabbi Chein concluded that Purim’s value of joy is something that can beneft the entire Brandeis community. “Not often do you fnd people dancing in the middle of campus,” Chein mused. “Imagine what campus would be like if we had more of that. For Chabad, we use Purim to bring that value of joy … beyond just the Jewish community.”

CHABAD FAMILY

Photo courtesy of CHANIE CHEIN

CHABAD: The Chein family holds their annual Purim party after a two year break.