eHammurabi.com: A case study on developing user-friendly digital tools for complex ancient languages like Akkadian

 "If a man has destroyed the eye[sight] of another man, they shall destroy his eye[sight]," so reads provision §196 of the Law Code of Hammurabi, dated c. 1750 BCE, one of the oldest and most important legal texts in recorded human history. Many probably recognize this provision as the principle of "an eye for an eye." However, the original source materials from which it is derived from are less known. To unpack the inscription's linguistic contents, one must negotiate the complexities of the Akkadian language alongside other challenges unique to the study of ancient languages in general. Existing digital humanities projects have assisted researchers via the distribution of relevant scholarly materials. Notwithstanding, there is no authoritative, widely-available resource that consolidates multiple publications into a single resource. The eHammurabi.com project sought to remedy this state of affairs by means of building a simple-to-use digital tool. The present case study outlines how this new tool was built by describing its development from start to finish. A systematic review of existing digital tools was conducted before development began. Three arguments were posited: (1) digital tools like eHammurabi.com must be both an aggregator and redactor of data from authoritative publications; (2) the user interface is most important; and (3) the user interface must be designed in accordance with a singular, pre-determined user goal that can be measured objectively. The goal of eHammurabi.com was to enable users to find relevant linguistic contents for a given statute as quickly as possible. Certain features of the user interface seemed to satisfy this goal: a single-page website for all 282 statutes; a vertical multi-panel display that contains all required contents for each statute; and a persistent left-side navigation menu. Following the website's launch, a user study was conducted. Our data suggest that eHammurabi.com enables users to find a statute's contents roughly ten times faster in comparison to print books and PDF files. These results support our arguments. Website traffic data suggest that external reception has been positive. Further research is likely required. Implications for practitioners of digital humanities are discussed. Interdisciplinary cooperation amongst language experts and computer scientists is recommended.