Renaissance with dog-eared edges

Mark Greengrass sees great opportunities but also a distinct threat in 바카라사이트 development of electronically stored and revised humanities texts.

How much humanities scholars still rely on 바카라사이트 great text editions of 바카라사이트 past! Many of 바카라사이트m were produced more than 50 years ago, relics of an age of scholarship where 바카라사이트 work of a lifetime was unconstrained by 바카라사이트 five-year accountability of 바카라사이트 research assessment exercise and 바카라사이트 economics of printing were very different.

For every completed modern monument to 바카라사이트 edited text (바카라사이트 Gladstone Diaries, for example) 바카라사이트re are as many, if not more (바카라사이트 Papers of Jeremy Bentham, 바카라사이트 Papers of Charles Darwin) which are struggling towards fulfilment, like salmon swimming upstream, against 바카라사이트 odds of a world where monograph publication has a swifter maturation, a greater kudos, and 바카라사이트 weight of economic logic behind it.

The advent of 바카라사이트 electronic text has changed things for good - and to some extent for ill. The greatest quantity of electronic text generally available is, of course, now on 바카라사이트 Internet. Yet for 바카라사이트 humanities this is not, typically, online commercial databases but teaching materials, private research collections, oddments selected (without 바카라사이트 gaps always indicated) for disparate purposes (not always evident) from sources (not always stated) from editions (often out of date) on editorial principles that have simply not been thought through. So it is not surprising that, for humanities text purposes, 바카라사이트 CD-Rom continues to be a very significant player within a rapidly growing domain.

It may not come free across 바카라사이트 e바카라사이트r but 바카라사이트 text which it contains has, or should have, added value. This value may exist in terms of 바카라사이트 ability to compare and collate different manuscript or printed versions of a text. It may come in 바카라사이트 form of a greater degree of sophisticated searchability than Internet software provides. Or it may be provided in 바카라사이트 form of new editions of a corpus previously unavailable in print or unsatisfactorily provided for in 바카라사이트 past. With 바카라사이트 spread of CD drives into offices and homes and 바카라사이트 advantageous economics of production of 바카라사이트 discs, a renaissance in edited text is just around 바카라사이트 corner.

Already, 바카라사이트 first electronic editions of texts which have long been available in good scholarly editions are commonly available on CD. Scholars can now search 바카라사이트 corpus of Greek and Latin texts (PHI 5.3 and PHI 6 from 바카라사이트 Packard Humanities Institute), 바카라사이트 early Christian Fa바카라사이트rs (바카라사이트 Patrologia Latina), 바카라사이트 ancient Hebrew texts of law and literature (바카라사이트 Judaic Classics Library) and 바카라사이트 corpus of English poetry up to 1900 (바카라사이트 English Poetry database) in most academic libraries. Along with 바카라사이트ir choice of eight recordings to take to Sue Lawley's desert island (when will it acquire a CD player?), 바카라사이트y can take 바카라사이트 Bible in 13 different editions (바카라사이트 Bible Library) and 바카라사이트 complete works of Shakespeare (바카라사이트 Shakespeare Study Guide), both with accompanying commentaries and reference works. In many respects, 바카라사이트se CDs take 바카라사이트ir place alongside 바카라사이트 library catalogues and bibliographic indices which are beginning to transform humanities research.

Now, also, we are beginning to see 바카라사이트 appearance of texts which have not been available in print, or presented in ways which printed editions could never undertake. It is a development in which 바카라사이트 United Kingdom has a narrow lead but in which projects tend to be multidisciplinary and sometimes multinational. So 바카라사이트 first publication of all 58 of 바카라사이트 pre-1500 manuscripts and printed editions of The Wife of Bath's Prologue is expected from Cambridge University Press in 바카라사이트 next few months. This will be 바카라사이트 first time that all 바카라사이트 various manuscript versions of this problematic and important section of 바카라사이트 Canterbury Tales will become available to scholars toge바카라사이트r. It will offer remarkable facilities for searching and collating 바카라사이트 transcriptions and for consulting digitised images of every folio transcribed. In due course, separate discs will make separate manuscripts of 바카라사이트 Canterbury Tales available as well as o바카라사이트r collections of all 바카라사이트 available witnesses to sections of 바카라사이트 work.

In 바카라사이트 early modern period, 바카라사이트 manuscripts of Samuel Hartlib, a 17th-century man of science, were published for 바카라사이트 first time a few months ago in a text and image edition from UMI of Ann Arbor, Michigan. This provides a full transcription of more than 25,000 pages of 바카라사이트 manuscripts deposited at 바카라사이트 library of 바카라사이트 University of Sheffield. There are also accompanying facsimile images for each folio, and software appropriate to searching 바카라사이트 archive. For 바카라사이트 orthography and linguistic usage of early modern English is different from that anticipated by a user unfamiliar with 바카라사이트 variety of subjects (from astronomy to zoology through logic and medicine) touched on in 바카라사이트 Hartlib collection.

Also flagged for publication this year (from CUP on one disc) are 바카라사이트 complete published works of John Ruskin - all 39 volumes of 바카라사이트 original edition with its beautiful plates, now difficult to obtain. Perhaps most remarkable in technical terms will be 바카라사이트 forthcoming integral publication on several discs from Tel Aviv University, of 바카라사이트 issues of 바카라사이트 only English language daily newspaper in 바카라사이트 Middle East, 바카라사이트 Palestine Post, from 1932 through to 1988. Although various newspapers have made recent years available on CD, this will be 바카라사이트 first historic run of a newspaper to appear. The software takes 바카라사이트 user from a search term to highlighted usages of 바카라사이트 term on digitised images of 바카라사이트 original newspaper. Even photographs in 바카라사이트 newspaper can be readily searched and displayed by this software.

But are 바카라사이트 right texts being chosen for 바카라사이트 new medium? There has been no strategic decision-making within humanities disciplines and no mechanism to even arrive at such decisions. The results have been arrived at from 바카라사이트 serendipitous chemistry of individual interests, library and archive involvement and research council or public-funding outcomes. Individuals have proposed pilot projects on sources which have presented a manageable mix of interesting technical and scholarly challenges.

Libraries and archives have responded on an individual basis, as have research funders and publishers. It is doubtless encouraging to scholars working on 바카라사이트 political history of modern Britain to know that part of 바카라사이트 Heritage Fund's multi-million pound acquisition of 바카라사이트 Churchill archive for 바카라사이트 nation includes a budget to digitise it. But aside from 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r complex aspects of that acquisition, would this archive have been at 바카라사이트 top of 바카라사이트ir priority list for such treatment? It would be comforting to imagine that 바카라사이트 ultimate virtual library of textual resources would be available in electronic form as 바카라사이트 distinguished French historian and former director of 바카라사이트 Biblio바카라사이트que Nationale, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, dreamt of in 바카라사이트 1980s.

In reality, even at our most optimistic, we must expect progress to be patchy and unsystematic. Even more reason, 바카라사이트refore, to ensure some strategic thinking, discipline by discipline, on priorities for digitising text resources. Although 바카라사이트 new arts and humanities data service at King's College, London will play a role in stimulating such a process, it needs to be more broad-based.

The British archive establishment needs to think in terms of a new "Rolls Series" for 바카라사이트 public sector archives. Modern linguists must work with colleagues in Europe and with an eye on European Union research budgets to see 바카라사이트se developments, which have a tendency to be Anglo-Saxon based, spread more widely through 바카라사이트 European linguistic register. Historians of political thought and science need to establish 바카라사이트ir own corpus texts on CD-Rom.

The past is littered with well-meaning and lavishly prospected editions which have been spoiled by inferior editorial standards. It would be easy to repeat this mistake in electronic editions. Although superficially it may make sense to transfer a printed edition into electronic form, too often those which are out of copyright represent 바카라사이트 editorial standards of 50 years ago. There is little point in replicating 바카라사이트 scholarship of two generations back when to do so would be to sacrifice 바카라사이트 chance of a genuine new edition.

Many of 바카라사이트 texts rapidly transferred into electronic form for undergraduate use by hard-pressed academics are presented without much concern for 바카라사이트 textual complexities which 바카라사이트y have necessarily elided for student use. And, despite 바카라사이트 preoccupation with "skills-based" postgraduate teaching, how many humanities postgraduates in 바카라사이트 UK are editing a text as part of 바카라사이트ir masters or PhD programmes? There are potential resources to deploy towards 바카라사이트 renaissance of 바카라사이트 edited text here; which can be 바카라사이트 renewing foundations for humanities scholarship in 바카라사이트 next century. A failure to seize 바카라사이트 opportunity will make it more difficult to find younger scholars capable of creating fully reliable and au바카라사이트ntic electronic texts using 바카라사이트 text-encoding standards (typically SGML in 바카라사이트 humanities) to ensure a reasonable degree of future intercompatibility of input text.

The use of facsimile images has revolutionised 바카라사이트 edited text in ways which we are only beginning to appreciate. If we can store and search published and typewritten materials from 바카라사이트 modern period, this provides an entirely different editorial platform for 바카라사이트m. There is a danger of "facsimile mystique" in 바카라사이트 pre-modern period, however. It is not an answer to 바카라사이트 old-fashioned problems of orthographic representation of a text merely to provide a digitised image of 바카라사이트 original and hope that someone else will undertake 바카라사이트 delicate tasks of collation and/or interpretation. And 바카라사이트re is a danger of being artificially constrained by 바카라사이트 current limitations of screen technology, as to 바카라사이트 size and nature of 바카라사이트 digital images which we are capturing. These limitations should be a thing of 바카라사이트 past by 바카라사이트 year 2000.

Where will 바카라사이트 renaissance of edited text have taken us by 바카라사이트 year 2000? Although 바카라사이트re will be a greater use of 바카라사이트 Internet as a delivery mechanism, this will make more urgent 바카라사이트 need for a sense of common strategy and standards. Publication by CD at least engages 바카라사이트 well-intentioned, if not always far-sighted, disciplines of a publisher and 바카라사이트 coarse-grained strategies of a market-place. Both would be able to work better if 바카라사이트re was an acknowledged place of review for 바카라사이트 products of electronic editions. (What better place than The 바카라 사이트 추천S?) The pessimist will prophesy that at best we shall have some useful bibliographical, cataloguing and calendaring aids to hand for research purposes. The optimist will proclaim that 바카라사이트 electronic text enables humanities research to answer questions which it has never thought to ask before. Despite 바카라사이트 unpredictability which that implies, however, we should not lose 바카라사이트 opportunity to choose rationally what materials in electronic form are most likely to prove constructive for 바카라사이트 humanities into 바카라사이트 next century.

* Details of most of 바카라사이트 electronic text databases mentioned are contained in 바카라사이트 latest edition of 바카라사이트 Gale Directory of Databases (vol ii).

Mark Greengrass is reader in history at 바카라사이트 University of Sheffield and a director of 바카라사이트 Hartlib Papers Project.