Frans Wiering TMEuro is an information system for Western music history that contains digitised and enriched source materials dating from before c. 1750. The aim of TMEuro is to provide effective and user-friendly access to these materials, to connect these to related materials outside the system, to store knowledge acquired by users and to communicate it to others, by means of suitable and innovative technology. TMEuro is destined for and supported by a broad group of academic and professional users. TMEuro consists of:
TMEuro is also an infrastructure into which existing systems may be integrated. There must thus be room for a variety of technical and scholarly approaches. TMEuro is intended in the first place for education, research, and other non-commerical uses in the study of music and cultural history. In the second place, it acts as an 'experimenting ground' for the development of methods and techniques of information science, such as distributed systems, information retrieval, and standards of representation. In addition to the consultation of existing materials, users are stimulated to enrich existing materials, to prepare new materials and to add their knowledge. Such contributions must meet appropriate quality norms, but these must be such that pluralism and discussion are encouraged and the expression of personal views is not restricted. Costs may be charged to users, but only at a level that does not impede the access to the system. Payment is required for commercial use. The receipts will be used for maintenance and further development of TMEuro. TMEuro is managed by a consortium with the following tasks:
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Written in 1999, and revised 3-3-2000, this ambitious plan has never been realised or even put forward as a project application. As a conceptual piece of work, it may still be interesting as an attempt at formulating one of the aims of 'computational musicology'.
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