The Census database has upgraded to a new system and a new interface. There are several aides to help you navigate the new system:
A user guide (available in English only)
A webpage with FAQs (in German and English)
A help video (available in English only)
A live discussion and training session which will take place on Zoom on 14 April at 18.00 CET. Please check the help page (in German and English) for the link, which will be posted one hour beforehand. There is no need to register.
In the new system, the search functions have changed significantly: while users of the previous version of the database first had to choose between “Antique Monuments” and “Post-Antique Documents” when making search queries, the new interface now has a free-text bar which allows them to search the entirety of database records.
Within the new interface, the vast image collection of the Census takes center stage. Users can view search results as images of multiple objects and artworks, and no longer have to open records one-by-one to access images.
As was the case in the previous version, the creation of a user account enables the creation of personal collections, in which important records can be saved for future reference. In the new database, however, whenever copyright allows it is also possible to download relevant images. In the future the Census will also be adding PDFs of bibliographic literature or other files which, when out of copyright, will be available for download.
Another change in the new interface is that the object type previously referred to as “Post-Antique Documents” is now called “Postclassical Works.” The new terminology reflects the complexity of Postclassical texts and works of art themselves, as well as the complexity of their relationships with antique material culture. These relationships are no longer defined in the Census database through the framework of “documentation,” allowing users instead to grapple with the methods, motivations, and techniques of the reception of antiquity in the Early Modern era.
In the new interface, records more clearly indicate uncertainty about dates, locations, and authorship. There is also greater opportunity to model in the database varied opinions about these topics. New fields in the data model can define the era in which opinions about the dates, authors and locations of antique monuments originated: in the Early Modern period, or in current scholarship. These features allow the Census database to model diverse opinions about objects and texts that might have been considered antique in the Early Modern era, but are not considered antique in current scholarship.
The Census database has also been semantically modelled, and other Linked Open Data features are being introduced and implemented (see the FAQs under Linked Open Data).
At the moment the map view, which was available as part of the old database interface, is currently not available.
We hope you enjoy the new features and capacities of the database!