A slight change in our Ph.D. groups happened last time, which is why the point on the agenda today has been to talk about and provide feedback for a chapter from Theme 1. Normally, the two groups take turns, but due to the Finissage and the preparations for it, it was decided to split it.
Other points on the agenda were to plan the removel of the artefacts and posters from the exhibition in the Tieranatomischen Theater.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday October 20.
The meeting today did not only revolve around feedback for Ph.D. candidates as it has the last five times. Thursday September 29 2022, the Ostia Forum Project will have a finissage (the concluding event) for the exhibition "A 200 year-long Quest for Traces in Ostia: The Discovery of a Sanctuary" at the Tieranatomischen Theater in Berlin. An important point on the agenda for this meeting was therefore to prepare for this event.
Only one Ph.D. candidate was in focus, Theme 2, which received feedback based on a chapter. Due to this, an extra meeting has been planned for Friday October 7, where Themes 1 and 5 will be in focus.
We have made a little program and course, where we have divided the six ph.d candidates into two groups. Group one is themes 3, 4 and 6, and group two is themes 1, 2 and 5. The idea is that from now on, we will conduct meetings every two weeks, where we take turn to feedback chapters from each group.
Hence, the agenda today was to talk and feedback three chapters. One from each theme in group one: Themes 3, 4 and 6.
The purpose is twofold.
Firstly, the purpose is obviously to receive feedback. Three candidates send a chapter of their own choosing at least 4 days before the meeting. Everybody reads and provides feedback for the three chapters. We then all together go through each chapter. The chapters themselves can also be work in progress, where one needs some important feedback or simply needs to know whether they are on the right track or not.
Secondly, due to the fact that we have meetings every two weeks, the intensive writing process can be upheld. There is 9 months until deadline, which is why these meetings are of utmost importance.
The meeting today was the first meeting in a while, where we did not talk or prepare the exhibition. The meeting revolved around the further process of the dissertations.
The first point on the agenda was about our individually planned trips to Rome and Ostia during the summer. For the first time in more than a decade, the Ostia Forum Project and the Ostia Graduiertenkolleg are not going to have a campaign in Ostia in August and September. Due to the process of the individual projects, we had the annual campaign in February and March.
The last point on the agenda was to structure the process by conducting regular meetings. The purpose of these meetings is going to be to discuss individual chapters, which are going to be send to all of the candidates and Prof. Dr. Axel Gering latest a week before a meeting. To make this process easier, it was decided to divide the group into two. The htree persons in each group are thus going to send a chapter of their own choosing to the five other candidates and Prof. Dr. Axel Gering. These three chapters will then be discussed in the follwoing meeting.
Since New Year, we have had several meetings, both online and in person, where we have discussed the preparations for the exhibition at the Tieranatomisches Theater. Since the meetings have been part of a larger development, we decided not to update after every meeting, but to sum up after the opening of the exhibition.
It has been some tough months with dissertation work, but also with a focal point on preparing the exhibition. This has involved a lot of research and contact from our behalf, but it would not have been possible without the help and exhaustive work from corporation partners, such as Jakob, Markus and Viktoria. Furthermore, the realization of 3D prints made by ViNN:Lab from the Technical Hochschule in Wildau really added an important aspect to the exhibition.
Below you can see some photos from the some of the days, where we prepared the exhibition.
The meeting was initiated with a little presentation from Jakob Korbel. He presented his hitherto work concerning the Virtual Reality room (area of TFR 1-3), which will be part of the exhibition at the Tieranatomisches Theater from the April 1 2022, and how he wanted to set it all up, so that guests easily can use the VR equipment, but also how to built the VR room, so that guests can learn about our research and leave the museum with some new knowledge. This led to a conversation, where Jakob recieved some feedback concerning ancient rituals and how to recreate that in a VR room. Trine Bak Pedersen is specialised within the process of ancient rituals, so she provided Jakob with a lot of feedback.
This was followed by a short presentation from Steven Götz. He presented his newest result of the rooms TFR with a newly reconstructed portico and two temples. This all relies on our ongoing research, and you can read more here and here. Furthermore, you can always follow the progress of this on the pages of Theme 2 and Theme 4.
One last point of the agenda was to discuss small details in relation to the forthcoming exhibition. Discussions regarding 3D printing of different objects was for example proposed.
After this, we all wished each other a merry christmas and a happy new year! We also wish you guys out there a merry christmas and a happy new year as well!
The first point of today's agenda was concerning an exhibition, which the Ostia Forum Project is planning to make in the Tieranatomisches Theater in Berlin in the period from April 1 until September 15. The plan is to exhibit posters from each individual project and from the overall project in OFP. In continuations to this, each individual section will also be accompanied by 3D and Virtual Reality. These additions are being made possible through the work of Steven Götz and Jakob Korbel. Needles to say, they also attended the meeting. The topic therefore concerned the organisation of the exhibition, and each participant was encouraged to consider how they want to create their section with posters and so on.
The next point on the agenda related to the forthcoming campaign, which is planned to take place either in February-March or April-May. This all depends on the Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica and of course the development of the exhibition.
After these organisational topics, Jakob Korbel wanted to present some of his work on TFR 2, where he had created the first steps towards a VR-model, which would enable people to experince the room in its context. This led to the idea that Steven and Jakob should work closely together, since Steven is responsible for creating the reconstructions of the room with its temples and altars in their different phases in Cinema 4D, which can be transferred to a VR room that is the area of which Jakob is responsible.
The last part of the meeting revolved around different topics such as the progress of each ph.d. candidate and how to structure the dissertation. Furthermore, Trine Bak Pedersen proposed the possibility of having some of the charcoal from the excavations anaylsed through C-14 methods. We do have charcoal from interesting contexts in both TFR 2 and TDV 1.
The first meeting after our campaign in September and October was planned to be live inside the library. The first live meeting in a long time. We of course followed the regulations put forward by the administration of the university.
The focus of the meeting was to discuss the 3D reconstructions made in Cinema 4D by Steven Götz. Here we were presented with his newest results, and provided some feedback, where it was needed. Since Steven's job is to reconstruct the different phases of TFR 2 with its temples and altars and the phases of the southern Forum's area, he of course needs to be informed as new evidence and ideas emerge. In this way, the ph.d. candidates and Prof. Dr. Axel Gering can get ideas and hypotheses visualised in a 3D room, and the 3D models made by Steven are always up to date. This is always work in progress, since it sometimes is trial and error, but eventually we come up with a very good result.
After the conversation regarding the 3D reconstructions, the group talked in plenum about their different progress.
After a month without meetings, we were all happy to finally meet again. In the meantime, some have been working, while others were on vacation.
The points of the agenda included both presentations and planning of the forthcoming campaign, which is set to initiate September 14.
The first presentation was from Steven Götz, who has been working on the 3D reconstruction of the Temple of Roma and Augustus. We were all giving him feedback, since the 3D model was so detailed that we could analyse every inch of the temple.
The next presentation was from Prof. Dr. Axel Gering. New data was shown regarding the room TFR 2 with a focal point on the altar and a preserved wall built in opus reticulatum on top (Possibly Trajanic, but this is still work in progress). This wall was clearly the end of the altar, since it was directly on the altar and closed off the well (it. pozzo) located just next to the altar. For more information on the room and its development, click here and here.
The last presentation was from Sophie Menge, Theme 2 and was twofold.
The first half of the presentation, she presented some new data on the development of the drain-hole/pit/trench (ancient gr. Bothros) associated with the altar. A good comparison can be found in Veii, where a similar bothros has been found. The bothros in TFR 2 was kept and maintained throughout 400 years, before the altar was built over by the abovementioned opus reticulatum wall. However, the usage of the word bothros is problematic, since it is being used for many different definitions of pits, trenches and votive deposits. We thus discussed, whether the drain-hole in TFR 2 should be labelled bothros or not, since it has many connotations, and after some conversation we decided to not label it bothros. Other terms were discussed, but at the moment we maintain the term drain-hole.
The second half of her presentation revolved around the Giornale degli Scavi (GdS). The purpose was to discuss what was actually written in the diaries, since the descriptions are not always straight forward nor are they not always following the four world directions. Nevertheless, it is clear that the descriptions provided by Finelli in the GdS are in relation to the room TFR 2, but are concerning the portico, MFE, just west of the room. Regarding the problematic of the diaries, you can find more here.
The last part of the meeting was about the forthcoming campaign. We thus talked about flight booking, dates, purpose and so forth.
Since we are working intensively on the excavation report from 2019 as well as the applications for a campaign this year, 2021, this meeting was very similar to the last two meetings. Work is in progress and we are proceeding as planned.
This meeting was an extension of last meeting, where the strategy plan for finishing the excavation report of 2019 and preparing the application for a campaign in September of this year, 2021. The meeting was shorter than usual, since we only had to divide the tasks between us and talk about what we have done since the last meeting.
The meeting of today is an extraordinary meeting, since we are working towards a possible campaign in September and early October. This work involves a lot of applications and finishing the excavation report from 2019 involving finds lists, context sheets, stratigrahpical plans and a lot of photographic work. The different tasks have been divided between the six ph.d. candidates and Prof. Dr. Axel Gering.
The meeting of today was a bit different compard to the other meetings. Today we had no presentations. The focus was turned to the possibility of a forthcoming campaign, In this context, several different tasks were distributed to all participants and the professor.
The meeting was initiated with a short presentation by Steven Götz, where several phases of the Vulcan altar was shown in Cinema 4D. The presentation was shown slavishly, thus enabling feedback, which furthered a discussion of the appearance of both the altar and the surroundings.
This was followed by a presentation from Prof. Dr. Axel Gering. He showed new plans and contexts from the room TFR 2, which were all connected to the Vulcan altar.
Together, Sophie Menge and Trine Bak Pedersen, had prepared a little presentation, where they presented their take on the excavations diaries, Giornale degli Scavi (GdS), where they attempted to figure out the different strata presented by Raffaele Finelli. You can read more about the purpose here.
We decided to have an extra meeting, since the remaining three ph.d. canidates, Johannes, Jesper and Daniel, are going to present their projects in the same seminar as last Wednesday May 19. The purpose was thus similar to the last meeting, which was to go through the presentations slavishly and, if necessary, get the last feedback.
The first presentation was held by Daniel Damgaard, Theme 6. The presentation revolved around hypotheses concerning the first Forum of Ostia, where three different phases were presented. You can also read more here.
The next presentation was held by Jesper Vestergaard Jensen, Theme 5. This presentation revolved around marble decor found in several marble deposits in and around the Forum. Several attempts to find original contexts were made. You can also read more here.
The last presentation in this little session was held by Johannes Trockels, Theme 1. This presentation revolved around the new architectural layout of the Hadrianic Capitolium, where older drawings from French architects were included. You can also read more here.
All three presenters received feedback and incorporated that feedback into their presentations.
The last point on the agenda was to discuss 3D reconstructions of buildings, where the marble material anaylsed by the Ostia Forum Project (OFP) would inserted. It was discussed in cooperation with Steven Götz, who works as an employee in the project, where he creates the 3D models of buildings in Cinema 4D.
The meeting was initiated with the mandatory 15 min. smalltalk. The purpose of the meeting was to go through three presentations, which will be presented tomorrow, Wednesday May 19, through a seminar at the Winckelmann-Institute. Every presentation has been given 20 mins. The purpose of this meeting was thus to go through the presentations slavishly and, if necessary, get the last feedback.
The first presentation was held by Sophie Menge, Theme 2. The presentation revolved around stratigraphies and overviews of the contexts and dating inside the room, TFR 2. You can also read more here.
The next presentation was held by Niccolò Daviddi, Theme 3. This presentation revolved around the more than 550 coins, which have been found inside TDV. You can also read more here.
The last presentation in this little session was held by Trine Bak Pedersen, Theme 4. This presentation revolved around religious practices and deposits, where the different phases of the sanctuary was shown. You can also read more here.
All three presenters received feedback and incorporated that feedback into their presentations.
The meeting was initiated with a short conversation regarding vaccines, Covid-19 and the possibility of establishing a short campaign in Ostia in August and September 2021. In continuations to this, it was decided to prepare applications to be send to Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica, where each candidate will apply individually.
The first presentation was held by Johannes Trockels, Theme 1, who presented some new ideas visualised in 3D regarding the pilaster columns and capitals from the Capitolium. In continuations to this presentation, Jesper Vestergaard Jensen, presented the idea of a database made in Microsoft Access. In the following discussion several possibilities were discussed, as well as a major server for storing all the finds comprising thousands of pottery fragments, coins and architectural elements. This is possible through the home university, Humboldt University of Berlin.
Sophie Menge, Theme 2, presented a new overview of different contexts inside TFR 2, and how those contexts containing a lot of cooking ware could relate to a "temple kitchen". The contexts have a dating range from the 3rd century BCE until the early 2nd century CE - thus a five century period. This was followed by a discussion on so-called temple kitchens and cooking ware. The discussion further involved sanctuaries in general, sacrifices and flooring and stairs inside a sanctaury. It was all held up against the evidence from TFR 2.
Prof. Dr. Axel Gering ended the meeting with a presentation regarding several tuff blocks, which could originate from an altar. They were found in the lowest stratum of the marble pile that was emptied and excavated in 2016. Afterwards, a reconstruction and the chronology of the altar was presented.
The meeting was begun by a conversation on some selected finds, two oil lamps, described in the Giornale degli Scavi from 1913. They were find during the deep excavations conducted in the north eastern portico, MFE. They were presented by Sophie Menge and Trine Bak Pedersen, who work on Themes 2 and 4 respectively. The presentation and the following discussion adressed questions such as the possible context of these specific finds within the Vulcan sanctuary, which is preserved beneath the Hadrianic portico (MFE), the southern room of the three rooms (MFR) and the shops (TFR). In 2010-2011, the Ostia Forum Project (OFP) excavated MFR. Even though the focus in 2010-211 was on Late Antiquity and late repairs, some of the results could be used to highlight and to better understand the excavations conducted by Vaglieri in 1913 in that same area.
This was followed by a short presentation by Prof. Dr. Axel Gering, who presented some issues of specific contexts in a wider context and how to define the chronology of the sanctuary.
Steven Götz had finished his work on the two Late Republican temples preserved beneath the Hadrianic Capitolium and the north western portico, MFW. These results were presented and discussed afterwards. The benefits of working in Cinema 4D is that you can visualise your results and quite quickly discover mistakes in e.g. porportions of temples. These different aspects were discussed and afterwards incorporated into Cinema 4D.
Jesper Vestergaard Jensen, Theme 5, did also have some finds, which he presented. He had also scrutinised the Giornale degli Scavi from the same excavations in the portico MFE. The marble deposit, which filled the room TFR2 before its excavations did most likely also have marble fragments coming from the Vaglieri excavations in 1913 and could have been desribed in the diaries, but not put in a deposit or inside the museum. Thus, it is possible that some of the marble finds from the diaries are still present among the marble constituting Theme 5.
The meeting was ended with another short presentation from Prof. Dr. Axel Gering, who presented two suggestions for the Castrum grid.
The meeting was initiated with greetings and small talk about the Easter holidays.
The first point on the agenda was a presentation held by Prof. Dr. Axel Gering. He presented some new discoveries from the Archivio Fotografico, which he had incoporated into our Forum plans. This involved a conversation on ancient sidewalks and precinct of sanctuaries.
This was followed by a short presentation from Daniel Damgaard, who was tasked with analysing older architectural terracotta finds from excavations conducted by Dante Vaglieri on the northeastern portico, MFE, in 1913. Comparanda from the Vatican Museums and inside Ostia itself was presented.
A conversation in plenum on sacrifices and written sources emerged, due to the themes of the two presentations. It was discussed how and if the written sources could be used as evidence for the sacrificial praxis, when comparing it to the actual archaeological evidence.
Niccolò Daviddi, Theme 3, followed up by presenting some new ideas and discoveries from the southwestern part of the Forum and the room TDV. As in earlier presentations, this one also involved stratigraphy, destruction layers and floors. However, the room does also offer perfect contexts for anaylsing several centuries of urban development in that area.
Prof. Dr. Axel Gering had also prepared a second presentation on the possibility of creating a 3D-model of a sanctuary in different phases.
This was quite logical followed up by Steven Götz, where he presented the final results of his 3D-models of the two Late Republican temples preserved beneath the Hadrianic Forum.
We ended the meeting with a conversation on the entire situation concerning Covid-19. At the moment, the Graduate College is scattered around Europe, with its members being in Germany, France, Italy and Denmark.
The meeting was initiated with a presentation by Johannes Trockels, Theme 1. He presented the excavation history of the Capitolium and its surroundings, but with a focal point on old drawings from the 19th century attempting to re-create the status of the earlier excavations, but also to obtain an overview of the status in the area in general. It was clear that Ostia had been used as a marble quarry, due to the vast amount of marbles utilised in the city during a period of five centuries. It also became clear that columns used in the monumental centre (the Castrum area) were scattered around the fields surrounding the Capitolium - also in the 18th and 19th centuries before excavation. This was combined with photographs from the excavations conducted in the 1920's, where it could be seen that columns were lying around as well. This led to the last part of the presentation, which was on the Hadrianic levels of the centre and possible architectural elements stemming from the Capitolium. The presentation was followed by a discussion on lime-kilns and if the columns from the 1920's still was in situ on the photographs. A master student working for the Ostia-Forum-Project (OFP), Steven Götz was also attending, and he recommended a programme through which it is possible to generate the colours of the black and white photographs. This could be an interesting tool, since it would be possible to distinguish the colours of the stratigraphical layers on the old photographs.
The second presentation was held by Steven Götz. His presentation was short, but important. He presented his newest work, where he has created 3D models of temples in the Forum's area. His reconstructions are based on the archaeological remains still present in situ and on the work conducted by OFP.
The last presentation for the day was conducted by Prof. Dr. Axel Gering. It was a short presentation, where the six ph.d. candidates were introdcued to the newest plans including old drawings and plans. The purpose of this was to show that the 3D models and aerial photogtaphs conducted by OFP do not always correspond with the old drawings and plans. This is, however, explained by the fact that most drawings and plans were made by hand, and to do precise drawings of large areas by hand can be difficult. Furthermore, not everything in a hand-drawn plan was measured, but inserted stilistically, which explains the deviations.
Normally, we have a meeting every two weeks, but since we are all working intensively at the moment, we decided to have a meeting already three days after last meeting, because Jesper Vestergaard Jensen and Daniel Damgaard, Themes 5 and 6 respectively, had some results that they wanted to share.
Jesper presented some fragments, which could have been part of a clipeus. The following discussion was about the original context of these fragments. This is indeed a difficult task, since the fragments were found in a marble deposit comprising more than 8 tons of marble fragments, and due to the fact that many Imperial structures in and around Forum are not existing anymore. Furthermore, a certain part of the marble fragments from the deposit has original contexts throughout the city, which thus could indicate the this specific clipeus does not have an original context in the Forum.
The second and last presentation was about the development of the southern Forum's plaza up until the first Forum of Ostia. All the walls preserved under the plaza were put into phases and relations to each other. This was followed by a discussion on possible strata in relations to the vast amount of walls, and it was suggested to create a section of the walls where this would be possible.
As usual, the meeting was initiated with a short discussion in plneum about the individual projects and their processes. This discussion involved discussions on themes such as stratigraphy, archive photos and coins.
In continuations to this, Sophie Menge and Trine Bak Pedersen - respectively Themes 2 and 4 - presented a finds list containing different objects excavated by Dante Vaglieri, the first director of Ostia Antica, in 1913, where they conducted deep excavations in the northeastern portico, MFE. This was followed by long discussion about the siginficance of these finds and their context. The struggle working with the excavation diaries (Giornale degli Scavi) is that the finds are accompanied by a short discription and the contexts are defined as strata, being layers on top of each other, but no further context description is unfortunately provided. However, it is possible to obtain an overview of the relative chronology, but since it is evident that there is more than 300 years of building activity in that portico and in the rooms behind (TFR 1-3), it is difficult to insert them into more specific contexts. This led to a talk about temple terracottas, sanctuaries, altars and temenoi.
This was followed by a short presentation by Prof. Dr. Axel Gering regarding his newest research on the stratigraphy directly in front of and south of the portico MFE. His discoveries and observations were held up against the different strata from both the portico MFE and the rooms TFR 1 and 2.
The last item on the agenda was a presentation by Niccolò Daviddi, Theme 3, in which he presented his newest research concerning the late antique room TDV. The development of the room was presented as well as the different destruction layers with defining coin contexts. Due to the strata of finds inside the room, a conversation of the sequence of the collapsed ceilings were held.
The meeting was ended with some final remarks on the agenda for the next meeting.
The meeting was initiated with a discussion in plenum regarding metal objects from the excavations conducted by the Ostia-Forum-Project. Due to their importance for our research, it was decided that a complete list was to be made (A little section regarding the significance of these objects can be found here). This discussion led to a discussion of the stratigraphy and the stratigraphical outcome of rooms TFR_1 and TFR_2. The last room, TFR_3, located just east of TFR_2, was also discussed. An introduction to the excavations, which were initiated in 2016, can be found here.
The next item on the agenda was a presentation by Prof. Dr. Axel Gering. He presented some new ideas concerning the grid of the Castrum and the following Late Republican period of Ostia, where Osta no longer served as a military fort, but instead was a colony and city. Since the focus of Prof. Dr. Axel Gering is the northern half of the Forums's area, it was decided that all doctoral students would gather all the information on levels, they could find within their respective projects and thus bring all levels together to gain a complete overview of the levels of the monumental centre of Ostia.
Since most of the projects of the Ostia Graduiertenkolleg are dealing with archaeological finds from the excavations conducted by the Ostia-Forum-Project, these finds are not officially recorded anywhere except within the Ostia-Forum-Project. This is also one of the reasons for creating the Graduiertenkolleg - to be able to publish the vast amount of interesting objects. Since we are working within the Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica, we are also working closely with the officials working there, which is why it was decided to send a list with the most important finds to the responsible director.
The meeting was initiated with a discussion in plenum regarding the process of the different topics. Questions could be asked and most of them were answered successfully from other doctoral candidates as well as Prof. Dr. Axel Gering.
After the discussion, Prof. Dr. Axel Gering held a presentation regarding his own research on the northern half of the Forum of Ostia. The doctoral candidates were introduced to the status quo of his research enabling the students to gain an overview and enabling them to incoporate it into their own research if necessary.
Another short presentation was held by Sophie Menge regarding Theme 2. She presented parts of her new research, in which the Giornale degli Scavi were incorporated in connection with the excavation results from the Ostia Forum Project.
The first meeting in 2021 was held January 26. Not much was planned for this meeting, except listening and responding to each others questions regarding the individual processes. Since the presentations in December 2020, the doctoral candidates have worked with the feedback received after the presentations and incorporated this into the research.
Additional items on the agenda involved the working on the Giornale degli Scavi and how to relate the information from the earlier excavations with our excavations. It was encouraged that all six doctoral candidates made use of the Giornale degli Scavi.
The Graduate College decided to have three meetings in December 2020, where the six ph.d. candidates would present the present status of their projects. Due to the ungoing pandemic, the meetings were still conducted via Zoom.
The meetings were held on December 2, 9 and 16. In the first meeting, December 2, themes 2 and 3 were presented. In the second meeting, December 9, themes 1 and 5 were presented along with a third presentation regarding a 3D model of a temple. The last meeting, December 16, three presentations were held. Themes 4 and 6 were presented together with a presentation from Prof. Dr. Axel Gering.
In December, we also published our first interim reports, in which you will find the preliminary results and preliminary theories and hypotheses. They can be found under each Theme.
Our third Skype meeting had two main points on the agenda. Firstly, we discussed the situation in regards to the possibility of a forthcoming campaign in Ostia. It is vital for the different projects to be able to analyse and photograph the material as soon as possible, since our first planned campaign was cut short in March due to the Covid-19 crisis. Secondly, we talked about the policies from the different countries regarding foreign travels and how and when it would be possible to gather the research group in Berlin. We decided that it could be a possibilty in early July, but we did not settle on a date.
The possible forthcoming campaign will then be discussed in Berlin.
Our second meeting during this crisis period was on Thursday May 7. The main prupose of this meeting was to discuss how a database should be laid out and to find out what kind of information we need in the database. We settled on different possibilities, since we, as a group, are dealing with pottery, coins, marble fragments and buildings, which require different types of information. The database therefore require a wide range of different information, which also has to be cross-referenced and contextualised. We all came up with our ideas and settled on some specific types of information. We have now tasked an affiliated professional with the purpose of producing the database and are awaiting the result.
Other topics, such as the current situation, were also discussed, and the situation in the four countries, Germany, France, Italy and Denmark was compared, since we are all dependent on the borders opening and making it possible to travel again.
Due to the current health crisis, the members of the Graduiertenkolleg is spread out in four different countries with two in Germany, one in France, one in Italy and three in Denmark. This has entailed that the first official meeting of the College had to be organised through Skype. Thus, we had our first meeting Wednesday April 15.
The meeting was not prepared beforehand as such, but the members prepared some questions, which could be discussed in plenum. The discussions involved ideas of an online database as well as exchanging literature. Next to the project-relevant discussions, the entire situation was discussed and the situation in the four countries was compared.
Another Skype meeting has been planned in two weeks without being settled on a specific date. The six doctoral students were tasked with coming up with ideas for the database as well as providing literature in the common Dropbox folder. Next to these tasks, it was recommended to advance the individual reading processes. It is indeed a bit difficult without access to libraries, but websites such as Jstor has opened up for a lot of their literature. It was thus recommended to browse through that website along with other literature based websites.
