Session idea: Small-Scale Digital Editions and Collections

I would be interested in discussing issues related to the creation, dissemination, preservation, and use of small-scale digital editions and collections. Last Spring, I attended ThatCamp South Jersey, which inspired me to begin creating a digital collection of Catharine Sedgwick’s previously uncollected tales and sketches, a project I developed further at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute at the University of Victoria, in June. I am still working on this project, and welcome the opportunity to discuss my progress, including the problems I’ve solved (a few) and the challenges I am currently facing (a lot), and to gain new ideas and insights from others who have worked on or are planning similar projects. I’d be glad to talk about both practical ideas and theoretical issues. I am both excited and intimidated by Peter Shillingsburg’s vision of the
“scholarly electronic edition of the future”:

— the one that will actually be used and therefore influence literary study and criticism — will be convenient: it will be as cheap as a paperback book, with a user-friendly interface (adaptable by the user to suit his or her condition, whether the user is a scholar, a student, or a tourist), and will be treated as the user’s own, with bookmarks, highlighting, space for marginal notes, and the ability to annotate or even change the materials that appear on the screen in what must truly feel like the user’s very own private copy. It will be convenient both for the editors that build them and the scholars who augment them. It will be maintainable, with component parts that are replaceable and amenable to being supplemented as new data and new uses for textual data develop. It will be convenient, moreover for technicians — both now and in the future — adhering to standards except where the standards impose intolerable limitations. (DHQ, Summer 2009, V3, N3 http://digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/3/3/000054/000054.html#N100D4)

This leads to some questions:

  • What is the best platform/environment (right now) for a small-scale project?
  • What kinds of collaborations would enhance the project in terms of production, publication, dissemination, access?
  • How do we plan for the preservation of a small-scale project?
  • How do we plan for a user experience that is substantive and meaningful?

3 thoughts on “Session idea: Small-Scale Digital Editions and Collections

  1. This one might be good for people who are thinking about such a project but also do not have a whole lot of experience — starting small is less intimidating and might be a good way to learn. (This would be me — I’d love to start learning by doing something small and manageable that would achieve the kinds of things Deborah is talking about.)

  2. Pingback: Some thoughts on THATCamp Philadelphia | Messiah College Digital Humanities

  3. Pingback: Small Scale Digital Editions and Collections | THATCamp Philly

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