Instructions
Copyright and reference instruction
The images and transcripts of the letters published in the collection can be freely downloaded and edited using the licence CC BY 4.0.
When referring to an online publication, the following details should be stated: the sender and receiver of the letter, the date and the address in the online publication; the name of the online publication, author, year of publication, address and access date. For example:
Poavo Räisäinen to Gottlund on 14 December 1821, http://editiot.finlit.fi/exist/apps/gottlund/Raisainen.P/120_P.Raisainen.xml. Forest Finns’ Letters to Gottlund online publication The Finnish Literature Society (SKS), 2020 (referred to on 15 January 2021). Available at: http://editiot.finlit.fi/exist/apps/gottlund
Browsing the letters
On the list page, it is possible to browse all the letters in the collection. The standard order of the list follows the dates of the letters. It is possible to sort the list according to the author in the 'Sort' drop-down list at the top.
The list can be narrowed using the facets on the left-hand side of the page based on the author (primary name form), place written (croft or farm, 19th century parish, modern parish) and language. For example, if an author is selected, only the letters written by the author in question will be listed. In addition to the facets or instead of them, it is possible to narrow the listing using certain metadata fields: the author’s name (primary and alternative forms), date, croft or farm, 19th century parish, modern parish and the signum of the letter. A field is selected in the 'Filter' drop-down list at the top, a search term is written in the 'Filter' field and the Enter button is pressed. The listing will then be narrowed to the letters that include the search term in the chosen metadata field. The filter function supports wildcard searches (character *), fuzzy searches (character ~) as well as Boolean searches (AND, OR). More information about the search functions is available below.
At the upper right corner in the letter listing view, there is the link 'Download all letters (TEI)'. There, it is possible to download the XML/TEI 5 files of all the letters in the collection. The files contain the metadata and transcriptions of the letters. There is also the 'Download TEI' link next to each letter to download the XML/TEI 5 file of the letter in question.
Letter view
The letter view can be accessed by clicking the headers of the listed letters. There are two columns in the view that opens: facsimile images on the left and the transcription on the right. The letter’s metadata can be accessed above the facsimile view in the drop-down menu. The buttons that appear in the facsimile view can be used to make the image bigger or smaller (it can also be done with the scroll wheel of the mouse). In addition, it is possible to restore the initial size, open the image in the size of the entire screen and rotate the image. The text size of the transcription can be adjusted with the magnifier icons on the right. If a letter includes many pages, it is possible to go to another image or page using the arrow keys on the sides of the letter view.
The details that show on the facsimile images have been marked in the transcriptions in the following way:
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Underlining
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Underlined parts
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Blue colour, superscript
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added parts
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Red colour strikethrough
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strikethrough parts
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Green colour
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unclear parts
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empty parts in the facsimile or the writing cannot be transcribed (e.g. unclear text, torn paper, fold).
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Some features found in the original letters have been marked in the transcriptions with notes. The part in question has been highlighted with a colour, and the note appears when the mouse is hovered over the part. An example of such a note is the common habit found in the letters to mark double consonants with a consonant and a line over it.
Text search
It is possible to run a search concerning the texts in the letters in the 'Search letters' field at the upper right corner. The function is a keyword search, and it also supports wildcard, fuzzy and Boolean searches.
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string*
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the search result starts with the string
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*string
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the search result ends with the string
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string*string
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the search result starts and ends with the string
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string~
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fuzzy search; the search result differs from the string by 0–* characters
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string~x
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the search result differs from the string by up to x characters
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str?ng
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one letter in the search result can be anything
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"string string"
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accurate expression
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string OR string
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one of the strings is included in the search result
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string AND string
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all the strings are included in the search result
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Different searches can be combined, for example fuzzy searches and AND searches. It is possible to combine AND and OR searches with brackets. For example,
(string AND string) OR string
will return results that include at least the first and the second string or only the third string.
In keyword searches, the following are special characters: + - && || ! ( ) { } [ ] ^ " ~ * ? : \ /. /. In these cases, the search must be performed using a specific expression or a backslash (\) must be added in front of the character. For example, "Gottlund!" and Gottlund\! are valid searches, but Gottlund! will result in an error message.
The results are listed in the result view with the searched strings and a certain number of surrounding characters highlighted. By clicking a highlighted string, a letter is opened and the results found are highlighted in yellow. Search results can be narrowed using the facets on the right-hand side of the result page. The facets function the same way as in the list of letters.
