Ferdinand Tönnies-Letters: A digital edition

费迪南德Tönnies（1855-1936）的通信为社会学作为一门独立学科的建立和形成提供了一个重要的窗口，也为学者们就发展中的领域进行交流提供了一个跨国界和跨学科的背景。这也揭示了书信交流在进入20世纪后对学术网络和知识形成的重要性。这表明书信体风格和惯例对认知规范和社会规范以及新兴学科的指导原则产生了至关重要的影响。然而，对这一原始背景的研究面临着一个关键障碍：Tönnies的字母分散在世界各地，大部分是用德语草书Kurrentschrift书写的，这是一种难以阅读的德语草书形式。该项目旨在通过建立一个属于Tönnies的所有非家庭信件的在线版本来促进对这些信件的研究。1700多封信将被收集、数字化、转录、编辑，配备分析工具，并在一个前瞻性的互联网平台上以自由访问的格式呈现。我们所说的前瞻性，是指新的发现和研究成果将能够在未来引入本版本。最后，在这个过程中获得的能力和所提供的分析工具应该能够使用开发的各种工具来研究上文提到的被忽视的认识论-书信背景：这些信件的写作方式、社会网络的形状和社会学知识结构之间的联系是什么？这项解释工作还将用于测试和改进电子版。四个机构正在共同努力实现这个项目：1)埃森文化研究所（KWI），它将进行编辑和研究工作；2)位于基尔的石勒苏益格-荷尔斯泰因州图书馆（SHLB），藏有Tönnies-Papers；3) Universität特里尔大学的特里尔数字人文中心（TCDH），该中心将提供项目的IT和监督；4)康斯坦茨大学的通讯、信息、媒体中心（KIM），它将一方面提供服务器基础设施，另一方面，它将与康斯坦茨社会信息档案馆（SAK）一起协助编辑工作。项目完成后，KIM将保证该版本在技术和内容上的持续可用性。

Ferdinand Tönnies‘s (1855–1936) correspondence provides an important window into the establishment and formation of sociology as an independent discipline, as well as the transna-tional and trans-disciplinary context in which scholars communicated about the developing field. It also reveals the significance that epistolary exchange continued to have on academic networking and knowledge formation well into the 20th century. This suggests the crucial in-fluence of epistolary styles and conventions on both epistemic and social norms, and on the guiding principles of the emergent discipline.Research into this originary context, however, faces a key obstacle: Tönniesʼs letters are scattered worldwide and mostly written in Kurrentschrift, a difficult-to-read form of german cursive. This project aims to facilitate research into these letters by building an online edition of all non-family letters belonging to Tönnies. Over 1,700 letters are to be collected, digitized, transcribed, edited, equipped with analytical tools, and presented in a freely accessible format on a forward-looking internet platform. By forward-looking, we mean that new findings and research results will be able to be imported into this edition in the future.Lastly, the competencies gained in this process and the analytical tools furnished should enable research into the overlooked epistemic-epistolary context mentioned above using the various tools developed: What is the link between the way these letters were written, the sha-pe of this social network and the structure of sociological knowledge? This interpretive work will additionally serve to test and improve the electronic edition.Four institutions are working together to realize this project: 1) the Kulturwissenschaftliche Institut Essen (KWI), which will conduct the editorial and research work; 2) the Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesbibliothek (SHLB) in Kiel, which holds the Tönnies-Papers; 3) the Trierer Center for Digital Humanities (TCDH) of the Universität Trier, which will provide the project’s IT and supervision; 4) the Kommunikations-, Informations-, Medienzentrum (KIM) of the uni-versity of Konstanz, which will provide, on the one hand, the server infrastructure and, on the other hand, will, with the Sozialwissenschaftliche Archive Konstanz (SAK), assist with editorial work. After the project is completed the KIM will guarantee the continuing availability of the edition in its technology and its content.