2.6 Conclusion
A huge number of theories dealing with the phenomenon of literary characters can be found in literature studies. Early approaches treat literary characters like human beings, but even researchers like Forster already state differences between fictional persons and living ones.99 Another problem arises by classifying characters according to their features. Therefore, differ-ent views are proposed like a classification according to character constellations or the quality of features. Often, these theories transport a special comprehension of the world like the structuralism.
At present, the reading process and the role of a reader are put in focus. These approaches are often influenced by cognitive science and reveal the subjectiveness included in the com-prehension of characters. Previously, it seemed that a general method for classification was searched, but newer approaches, which stress subjectiveness and complexity of literature show that there is more than a single viewpoint on characters. Furthermore, different levels of liter-ary communication can be discovered. Jannidis and Nieragden present important hints for the description of characters. Schneider also focus on the side of readers, but in contrast to Jan-nidis, he analyses activities of readers. Both approaches can complement each other regarding readers and reading processes.
In summary, characters are analysed from different viewpoints and more general approaches miss a detailed and nearly complete description. In this thesis, it is aimed at shedding light on these problems and tasks. As mentioned in section 1, the intention is neither to perform complete empirical applications, nor to stress a strict classification of characters but to realise a combination of several theories to reach a more detailed but at the same time also a flexible description of literary characters. Furthermore, it is aimed at a formal description according to a clear classification of aspects of characters. This classification should also be verified on literary material. Thereto, the approaches of Jannidis, Lotman and Nieragden are bundled together to achieve detailed description options. By using Jannidis’s approach, one can con-centrate on the complex reception process. But Jannidis does not define enough categories to granulate the phenomenon of a character. Lotman’s definition of characters as a bunch of features might be helpful. But his approach is too restricted and general categories, which also take the different levels of narration into account, are missing. For comparisons of characters and their receptions, the categories of Nieragden, which divide the features of characters and pay attention to the narration levels, are useful. By arranging these theories, the goal of this approach is to use them to develop an ontology for a formal description and representation of literary characters. The approach can be seen as an example for using the method of an ontology.
The research on literary characters is not complete and more detailed reflections and analyses of this phenomenon are required. But it is important to prove theories and to enhance them by working closely to literature. The approach should be seen as an example for modelling theories by using an ontology. In addition, different possible directions for further research should be shown. But it is not claimed to fulfil them completely.
99Forster 1974, pp.38-43
24 Chapter 2 Theories for the Description and Analysis of Literary Characters
Chapter 3
Information Modelling and Representation
In the last chapter, theories for the description of literary characters were outlined to explore theories for this thesis. The theories consist of different kinds of information that are related to each other. For this reason, methods in the context of information representation should be used to represent these theories. In the following, an overview of information modelling and representation is given.
Information can hold a huge potential for all kinds of human activities. One can even say that most activities can only be initialised or performed by using information. Classifying and describing things and ideas of the world can provide information in a structured and more detailed way. Research in particular can benefit from structured information to develop further and to solve tasks. Categorisation or description systems are not a new development of the modern world. Information systems have been used maybe since the first civilisations were formed and they are essential to classify all kinds of information. Since the invention of machines and computer systems, human beings are able to transfer information to new digital media, apart from paper, and to store it there. This development contains a lot of advantages, but also disadvantages arise: because of the growing mass of data, it is difficult to handle and retrieve contained information in the data. For this reason, data and information have to be represented and modelled. Special methods of information modelling are developed to gain a fast retrieval and efficient representation. Thereby, advantages of computer systems, like holding a massive quantity of data, conserving information and fast processing, can be exploited. For the presented approach, information modelling and representation is important because literature, which can be nested in several media, like books, films, or the Internet, also consists of information. The previously stated theories about literary characters already give some hints about which kind of information is given and how it is processed. The idea is to model this kind of information by using information modelling in computer systems.
3.1 “Information” in Different Contexts
Information can be defined in many ways. In order to model it, one has to be aware of the modelled objects and their nature. In addition, one should know how they could be represented.
The definitions of information can differ from discipline to discipline depending on what it is focused on. Especially, the term of information is discussed in information and cognitive science, computer science, and philosophy. In the context of information, the terms of data and
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knowledge are also appended. Furthermore, the comprehension of a communication process should be regarded because information has to be communicated. A complete explanation of the nature of information is not yet possible and varies from approach to approach. For this reason, in the following, a brief summary of definitions of information in different disciplines is outlined to give an impression.
Most researchers, especially in computer science, determine data as the basis of all other concepts, like information or knowledge. A definition is that data simply exists and does not have any meaning of it.100 Information differs from data because it can be used and it is already related to other objects. On the top of information, a concept is defined as knowledge.
Knowledge has to be useful because it is part of an active process. By adding an understanding process to the other concepts, wisdom can be gained.101 Wisdom belongs to an exclusively human feature.
Another theory of information is given in the philosophy. There, data and information are grouped in different kinds. Information is seen as “semantic content” if it consists of data which is well-formed and meaningful.102 Information can be classified as factual or epistemically-oriented, instructional, pragmatic, etc. It seems that information is separated according to its function and context. Thereby, a specific usage of information is already integrated in the definition. Data can be classified for example in “Primary Data” (array, number), “Meta data”
(data of primary data) and “Operational Data” (data for performance).103 In contrast to the first definition, semantic information seems to be more complex and enriched with meaning.
Knowledge can be built on the top of semantic information.
One should note that information is a value, which only works by communicating it. For this reason, communication and intermediation also have to be regarded. A communication model based on Shannon’s theory integrates information as a part of a communication process.104 This model consists of a sender, a receiver, media, and information. The media or channel is used to transmit a signal.105 The signal is a coded message that can lead to information if the receiver correctly translates it. Using Shannon’s definition, all kind of media, like TV, telephone, or the Internet can be regarded as channels and one can also include spoken lan-guage. His approach is often reviewed and rejected, and it is still discussed. Shannon’s theory is developed for a general intermediation of signals. It is difficult to use this model for hu-man communication processes, also literary communication because it cannot capture all the involved aspects.
These theories might hint at important aspects. However, the different definitions of data and information do not always clarify objects of research and one can feel confused. Theoretical approaches might take all kind of aspects into account. But in order to model data and information, it seems to be essential to restrict the scope and to work with clearer definitions.
Otherwise it is difficult to capture and represent objects like information.
100Ackoff 1989
101Ackoff 1989
102Floridi 2004
103Floridi 2004
104Shannon 1948
105Shannon 1948
3.1 “Information” in Different Contexts 27
More practical definitions are given in a discipline, the artificial intelligence (AI), that models information by using computational methods. The AI covers a wide range in computer science, linguistics, and cognitive science, and thereto, approaches in the field of robotics, information processing, and information representation. Eugene Charniak and Drew McDermott define the discipline as follows: “Artificial intelligence is the study of mental faculties through the use of computational models.”106 It consists of a development of an understanding of information and knowledge structures as well as their acquisition. Thereby, it is tried to prepare them in a machine-readable format and for a usage in computer systems. But the authors also point out: “It turns out that for a computer to do the simplest act of vision requires several million multiplications.”107 For this reason, modelling human actions is a sophisticated work and still far away from replacing human intelligence. In this thesis, one aspect of AI, the information representation, is put in focus. Before going on, a short excursus is given to define the terms of information and knowledge in the AI.
In AI, especially knowledge engineering, the term knowledge appears frequently. One should be aware that in this discipline information and knowledge might be mingled together. The authors Puppe, Stoyan, and Studer define knowledge as “ein Potential des Menschen, das ihn zu rationalen Aktionen bef¨ahigt”.108 By acquiring knowledge, concepts and classifications of objects of the world are created in the human mind to construct an image of the world. Thus, one can state that human knowledge consists of systematisations which structure objects like information. It seems that information and data is equated and seen as one part of the content of these conceptions.
The qualification of human knowledge cannot easily be transferred to and simulated by tech-nical systems, but using options of knowledge/ information representation, structures can be generated that are interpreted as models of the real world. Normally, during this process, descriptions of natural language of the world or a part of it are transformed into a formal description.109 By creating systematic models, information or knowledge of humans can be transferred to a computer. Thereby, a further processing is possible by using a machine in which human actions can be simulated. But it is important to model knowledge or informa-tion in a useful way and to prepare it for a special purpose. A machine cannot replace the human knowledge. But by introducing information representation, working processes can be supported and structured. Modelled information can be applied in various ways. For example, special information and knowledge is prepared in so-called expert systems to provide diagnosis and problem solving strategies.110 Furthermore, produced information can be integrated in Knowledge Maps so that human beings can navigate through large fields and retrieve results more easily. Because of the importance of modelling information, more methods are presented and discussed in the sections 3.2.2 and 3.2.3.
The comprehension of information and knowledge in knowledge engineering is a rather prag-matic approach because tasks are mostly application-driven. This means that in knowledge
106Charniak and McDermott 1985, p.6
107Charniak and McDermott 1985, p.6
108Puppe, Stoyan, and Studer 2000, p.599
109Puppe, Stoyan and Studer 2000, p.600
110Charniak and McDermott 1985, pp.455/456
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engineering often restricted scenarios and problems are given, e.g. expert systems or informa-tion models in a special context. The term knowledge is defined in a limited way according to mostly formal operations, which can be performed by a machine. One should note that the basis of computer systems is calculation processes. Although humans can perform many operations by using machines, these systems do not have the complex structure of a human brain. By transferring thinking processes to machines, these processes have still to be simpli-fied and limited. In addition, other human actions, for example emotions or creative processes, are mostly excluded because they are too complex for modelling yet.111 In AI and knowledge engineering, information and data seems not to be ranked or grouped in the same manner as in some other disciplines. As mentioned, the terms information and knowledge are often mingled together without a clear distinction.
This presentation of theories and approaches does not claim to be complete, but it shows how complex and difficult definitions of information can be. For this reason, it is not yet possible to give a general definition. It depends on the perspective how data, information and knowledge can be regarded. Being aware of this discussion, it might be helpful to understand methods described in the next sections. In this thesis, a computer-aided approach is presented which models a special kind of information, information that is given in literature. Therefore, more restricted definitions have to be used.
In this thesis, information is defined as something that is nested in a (literary) text or other media. The text or other media themselves are treated as data. In a communication process, information has to be extracted by a human. Then, according to Schneider’s approach (see section 2.5), information from literary texts can be processed in different ways depending on the background of a recipient and on the guidance for example by a narrator.