Elena Pierazzo, Digital Scholarly Editing : Theories, Models and Methods

What textual scholarship needs now are practical reports “from the editorial trenches”, concludes Paul Eggert in his review of David Greetham’s Theories of the Text (Eggert 2005, 90). Elena ­Pierazzo’s Digital Scholarly Editing: Theories, Models and Methods, the first comprehensive analysis of the field as it has developed in the past decades, can be considered an answer to that call. However, ­Pierazzo has much more to report than intelligence from the battlefield. She places numerous accoun..

Putting the Text back into Context: A Codicological Approach to Manuscript Transcription

Textual scholars have tended to produce editions which present the text without its manuscript context. Even though digital editions now often present single-witness editions with facsimiles of the manuscripts, nevertheless the text itself is still transcribed and represented as a linguistic object rather than a physical one. Indeed, this is explicitly stated as the theoretical basis for the de facto standard of markup for digital texts: the Guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). These explicitly treat texts as semantic units such as paragraphs, sentences, verses and so on, rather than physical elements such as pages, openings, or surfaces, and some scholars have argued that this is the only viable model for representing texts. In contrast, this chapter presents arguments for considering the document as a physical object in the markup of texts. The theoretical arguments of what constitutes a text are first reviewed, with emphasis on those used by the TEI and other theoreticians of digital markup. A series of cases is then given in which a document-centric approach may be desirable, with both modern and medieval examples. Finally a step forward in this direction is raised, namely the results of the Genetic Edition Working Group in the Manuscript Special Interest Group of the TEI: this includes a proposed standard for documentary markup, whereby aspects of codicology and mise en page can be included in digital editions, putting the text back into its manuscript context

The Critical Apparatus Ontology (CAO): Modelling the TEI Critical Apparatus as a Knowledge Graph

This paper seeks to explore the use of semantic web technologies to enhance the re- /presentation of the critical apparatus that accompanies a TEI digital scholarly edition. The apparatus is a key instrument for critical editions. Its encoding poses a challenge for researchers, who strive to achieve highly expressive digital representations of their scholarly views. So far, no comprehensive ontology has been developed for the representation of the critical apparatus. This study makes a first step towards filling this gap by proposing the Critical Apparatus Ontology, an OWL ontology for representing the critical apparatus as a knowledge graph

Discussing Interfaces in Digital Scholarly Editing

Interfaces define how research material is presented. They shape the view recipients acquire from historical sources. Since the digital medium is more open to variations than the once traditional form of presenting Scholarly Editions in printed book form, discussions on how to deal with the new possibilities started at a very early stage after the emergence of digital scholarly editions. In the beginning these were strongly influenced by traditional presentation practices but have shifted to aspects more associated with the digital paradigm. Theoretical approaches towards interfaces, however, were only sporadically published and have been continuously demanded by the scholarly community. This introduction attempts to summarize the scholarly discussions on interfaces and provides an overview of the papers presented in these proceedings: they offer both theoretical approaches and discussions of practical implementations together with studies evaluating interfaces

Ediciones digitales académicas: concepto, estándares de calidad y software de publicación

[ES] Se revisa y discute el concepto de edición digital académica (EDA), así como las diversas denominaciones empleadas para hacer referencia a la misma. El estudio indaga en el alcance de los estándares de calidad planteados para este tipo de edición y explora los softwares para la publicación. Se completa el trabajo con un análisis evaluativo de una muestra de aplicaciones, profundizando en sus características, en los condicionantes sobre las interfaces de usuario a las que dan acceso y en su adecuación a los estándares. Las conclusiones insisten en la urgencia de evaluar de forma crítica y sistemática el software de edición. Se destaca positivamente el desarrollo paulatino de software abierto e interoperable, asentado en la codificación de los textos siguiendo la Text encoding initiative (TEI), que optimizan la reutilización y preservación de los datos. Sin embargo, la perdurabilidad de las interfaces web y la sostenibilidad de estos proyectos digitales requieren infraestructuras de investigación adecuadas, para lo que se propone promover sinergias con bibliotecas y editoriales tradicionales, entre otros mediadores. Por último, para avanzar en la adecuación de los modelos de edición al paradigma digital, se subraya la necesidad de consensuar patrones de visualización de EDAs, por parte de la comunidad académica, así como de emprender estudios de usuarios que garanticen la adaptación de las EDAs al público objetivo al que se dirigen.[EN] The digital scholarly edition (DSE) concept is reviewed and discussed, as well as the various denominations used to refer to it. The study investigates the scope of the quality standards set for this type of edition and explores the software available for its publication. The work is completed with an evaluative analysis of a sample of applications, delving into their characteristics, the constraints on the user interfaces to which they give access, and how well they meet the standards. The conclusions confirm the urgent need to critically and systematically evaluate edition software. The gradual development of open and interoperable software stands out as a positive result, based on the coding of texts following the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), which optimizes data reuse and preservation. However, the durability of web interfaces and the sustainability of these digital projects require adequate research infrastructures, for which it is proposed to promote synergies with libraries and traditional publishers, among other mediators. Finally, to advance with the adaptation of publishing models to the digital paradigm, the need for the academic community to agree on DSE display formats is underlined, as well as to undertake user studies that guarantee the adaptation of DSEs to the target audience they address.S

The born-digital in future digital scholarly editing and publishing

Editorial scholarship is once again in a state of upheaval. Digital scholarly editing, for all it has achieved, has not accommodated the increasingly digital nature of cultural production and consumption. The theories and practices of digital scholarly editing need to better account for born-digital cultural materials like social media content, digital fiction, and video games. This paper discusses the state-of-the-art in digital scholarly editing, and advocates for future forms of digital scholarly editing and publishing suited to the born-digital

“Don’t Worry, We’re also Doing a Book!” — A Hybrid Edition of the Correspondence of Bernhard and Hieronymus Pez OSB

Although digital methods have become an undeniable requisite for scholarly editing, only few projects attempt to standardize data and to envision reusable modules. The learned correspondence of the Austrian Benedictine historians Bernhard and Hieronymus Pez has been object of scholarly efforts for more than fifteen years, transitioning from a traditional print edition to a digital paradigm. The article outlines in detail the features of a hybrid solution for the Pez correspondence edition: a pilot workflow that allows for print and digital publication in the series Quelleneditionen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, while envisioning long-time data storage in the ARCHE repository of the Austrian Academy of Sciences

Ediciones digitales académicas: concepto, estándares de calidad y software de publicación

Se revisa y discute el concepto de edición digital académica (EDA), así como las diversas denominaciones empleadas para hacer referencia a la misma. El estudio indaga en el alcance de los estándares de calidad planteados para este tipo de edición y explora los softwares para la publicación. Se completa el trabajo con un análisis evaluativo de una muestra de aplicaciones, profundizando en sus características, en los condicionantes sobre las interfaces de usuario a las que dan acceso y en su adecuación a los estándares. Las conclusiones insisten en la urgencia de evaluar de forma crítica y sistemática el software de edición. Se destaca positivamente el desarrollo paulatino de software abierto e interoperable, asentado en la codificación de los textos siguiendo la Text encoding initiative (TEI), que optimizan la reutilización y preservación de los datos. Sin embargo, la perdurabilidad de las interfaces web y la sostenibilidad de estos proyectos digitales requieren infraestructuras de investigación adecuadas, para lo que se propone promover sinergias con bibliotecas y editoriales tradicionales, entre otros mediadores. Por último, para avanzar en la adecuación de los modelos de edición al paradigma digital, se subraya la necesidad de consensuar patrones de visualización de EDAs, por parte de la comunidad académica, así como de emprender estudios de usuarios que garanticen la adaptación de las EDAs al público objetivo al que se dirigen

Digital scholarly editions: concept, quality standards, and publication tools

The digital scholarly edition (DSE) concept is reviewed and discussed, as well as the various denominations used to refer to it. The study investigates the scope of the quality standards set for this type of edition and explores the software available for its publication. The work is completed with an evaluative analysis of a sample of applications, delving into their characteristics, the constraints on the user interfaces to which they give access, and how well they meet the standards. The conclusions confirm the urgent need to critically and systematically evaluate edition software. The gradual development of open and interoperable software stands out as a positive result, based on the coding of texts following the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), which optimizes data reuse and preservation. However, the durability of web interfaces and the sustainability of these digital projects require adequate research infrastructures, for which it is proposed to promote synergies with libraries and traditional publishers, among other mediators. Finally, to advance with the adaptation of publishing models to the digital paradigm, the need for the academic community to agree on DSE display formats is underlined, as well as to undertake user studies that guarantee the adaptation of DSEs to the target audience they address