Encoding Cryptic Crossword Clues with TEI

The cryptic crossword is a highly sophisticated and challenging type of intellectual puzzle that has been a daily feature of British newspapers for nearly a century, and yet the culture and traditions surrounding it have received little scholarly attention. This article outlines a short history of the cryptic crossword and explains how cryptic clues work. I argue that cryptic crossword clues have a great deal in common with poetry, and that we have much to learn from their structure. Many cryptic clues depend for their effect on confusing the solver through the use of overlapping syntactic and semantic hierarchies, so they serve as evidence that overlapping hierarchies are not merely an unfortunate limitation afflicting XML languages but are psychologically and linguistically real. Finally, I present a TEI schema and an approach to encoding the components of cryptic crossword clues in a way that enables algorithmic analysis of trends, features, and clue types, with a view to creating a historical corpus of encoded clues which will illuminate the evolution of the tradition

Towards a Model of (Variant) Readings

In scholarly editing, more particularly in the context of collating various versions of a text, the definition of a variant reading is crucial. Yet, despite its importance, the meaning of a variant reading is often reduced to a “difference.” The reason for such a vague definition is that what makes a variant can largely depend on the field of study: scholars of the Homeric oral tradition will consider different variants from scholars of medieval traditions or early printed texts, or from genetic critics. This contribution will focus on the modelling of a reading, arguing that formalizing this concept is necessary in order to define, and thus model, a variant. This article will also address digital representation of a reading by focusing on one implementation: the JSON data format used in conjunction with collation programs such as CollateX

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

›A digital edition is not visible‹ – some thoughts on the nature and persistence of digital editions

After a period of experimentation and prototyping, digital editions are considered a common standard and a serious, quite often even a better alternative to printed editions. In addition the TEI/XML provides a well introduced standard for mark-up of all relevant structural and semantic elements of an edition. In spite of this process of consolidation the digital edition is still accompanied by harsh critique, particularly by objecting that mark-up leaning on XML fosters a text model of an Ordered Hierarchy of Content Objects (OHCO) that does not fit all editorial problems and limits the flexibility of the editor. As a consequence many attempts have been undertaken to overcome these limits of XML, but up to now without much success. By narrowing down the perspective, however, to problems of the text model seemingly caused by XML it was often overlooked that a digital edition consists of more than a XML file. This contribution attempts to show that the critique can be dissolved when the edition is viewed not merely as a XML file, but as an ensemble of its components. In doing so it can also be shown that other than its critiques maintain a digital edition is not less stable or persistent than its printed predecessor. The seeming fluidity of digital edition disappears if it is no longer determined by its visible surface, but according to its algorithmic nature by the interplay of its components of text, structure, layout, interface and metadata

Crítica textual y edición digital o ¿dónde está la crítica en las ediciones digitales?

La presente contribución aspira a ofrecer un balance de los cambios surgidos en el terreno de la edición digital de ámbito académico, poniendo especial énfasis en el cambio de paradigma, en los modelos de edición, y en los retos que se están afrontando especialmente en el campo de la edición de los textos del Siglo de Oro. Asimismo, se ofrece una reflexión sobre qué nuevas acepciones debería integrar la idea de "crítica" desde el punto de vista digital, así como un cuestionamiento sobre el papel que debe jugar el modelo de "edición crítica".This paper offers a general overview of the developments within the field of digital scholarly editing with special attention to digital paradigm shift, editorial models, and challenges faced when editing medieval Spanish and Golden Age texts. It also analyzes some of the new meanings that currently integrate the idea of "critique" from a digital point of view, and it proposes theoretical and methodological principles for a digital textual scholarship

Versioning Cultural Objects : Digital Approaches

This volume approaches an understanding of the term versioning in the broadest sense, discussing ideas about how versions differ across forms of media, including text, image, and sound. Versions of cultural objects are identified, defined, articulated, and analysed through diverse mechanisms in different fields of research. The study of versions allows for the investigation of the creative processes behind the conception of works, a closer inspection of their socio-political contexts, and promotes investigation of their provenance and circulation. Chapters in this volume include discussion of what a “version” means in different fields, case studies implementing digital versioning techniques, conceptual models for representing versions digitally, and computational and management issues for digital projects

Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture

Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture presents an overview of the digital turn in Ancient Jewish and Christian manuscripts visualisation, data mining and communication, edited by David Hamidović, Claire Clivaz and Sarah Bowen Savant. Readership: Scholars and PhD and master students in Biblical studies, Early Jewish and Christian studies

Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture: Visualisation, Data Mining, Communication

Publication in open access thanks to the support of the SNSF Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture presents an overview of the digital turn in Ancient Jewish and Christian manuscripts visualisation, data mining and communication. Edited by David Hamidović, Claire Clivaz and Sarah Bowen Savant, it gathers together the contributions of seventeen scholars involved in Biblical, Early Jewish and Christian studies. The volume attests to the spreading of digital humanities in these fields and presents fundamental analysis of the rise of visual culture as well as specific test-cases concerning ancient manuscripts. Sophisticated visualisation tools, stylometric analysis, teaching and visual data, epigraphy and visualisation belong notably to the varied overview presented in the volume

Ecritures Digitales. Digital writing, digital Scriptures

Ecritures digitales aims to demonstrate how digital writing contributes to the emergence of “a new relationship between the human body and the machine” as Jacques Derrida proposed when he considered the effects of new technologies. This reconfigured relationship, not surprisingly, is also influencing the digital future of the Jewish-Christian textual corpus referred to as “the Scriptures”. The French title brings together this duality in one expression: Ecritures digitales. The English subtitle makes explicit the double meaning of the unique French word Ecritures: Digital writing, digital Scriptures. With a full French version and an abbreviated English version, this monograph analyzes the main challenges and opportunities for both writing and the Scriptures in the transition to digital culture. Ecritures digitales souhaite démontrer de quelle manière l’écriture digitale contribue à l’émergence d’une « nouvelle relation du corps humain aux machines », selon le diagnostique posé par Jacques Derrida à propos des effets des nouvelles technologies. Cette relation innovante influence également l’avenir numérique du corpus textuel judéo-chrétien désigné comme «les Ecritures». Le titre français rassemble en une seule expression ces deux thématiques: Ecritures digitales. Le sous-titre anglais rend sa double signification explicite: Digital writing, digital Scriptures. Avec une version française complète et une version anglaise brève, cette monographie analyse les principaux défis des métamorphoses digitales de l’écriture et des Ecritures