Editors Notes A Casestudy of Collaboration and Convergence
Editors’ Notes: A Case-study of Collaboration and Convergence in the Humanities Michael Buckland Patrick Golden Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative, and School of Information, University of California, Berkeley. ecai. org/mellon 2010/ Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 1
Documentary Editions The Humanities depend on access to historically important documents. Documentary editors prepare ‘editions’ of documents such as letters, diaries, official statements, speeches, etc. , that have value as evidence for political, intellectual, or social history. Editors’ notes explain the people, places, ideas, and events involved. ‘Documentary editions’ provide a transcription of texts and add explanatory notes – and often chronologies, images, and explanatory essays Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 2
Example: Lecture Tours of Emma Goldman http: //metadata. berkeley. edu/emma/ Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 3
A Case Study: Documentary Editions Berkeley: Papers of Emma Goldman, 18691940, Anarchist. New York: Papers of Margaret Sanger, 1879 -1966, birth control activist Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 4
Problems of Documentary Editions Requires specialized expertise for many years. Funding is difficult. Much of the editors’ research not included because inconclusive or marginally relevant to the publication. Limitations of the printed edition: Costly. Limit on number of pages, so editors’ notes reduced. Small editions bought by libraries. Not widely available. Relatively isolated work. Working notes and unpublished notes discarded. The return on investment far less that it could be. Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 5
A Collaborative Project How might the Web be used to help? “Editorial Practices and the Web” – started summer 2010. Focus on evolving editorial work practices rather than on technology. Supported by the A. W. Mellon Foundation. Notes on web Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 6
Participants Emma Goldman Papers, Berkeley. Feminist and anarchist, 1869 -1940. Margaret Sanger Papers, New York University, Feminist and birth control advocate, 1879 -1966. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Papers, Rutgers University: 19 th century reformers, votes for women. Labadie Collection, University of Michigan Library: Collection of Radical literature. Why a library collection? Led by the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative, Berkeley. Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 7
Why include a library collection? Not only editors who make notes. So do – or could – the curators of library special collections. Agnes Inglis, an admirer of Emma Goldman, curated the Labadie Collection and made 20, 000 notes on filing cards. Close overlap in subject matter with the three editing projects. More important: Many different people make notes (archivists, curators, editors, historians, translators, etc. ). All should share with all and with the public. Expand the idea of ‘publication. ’ Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 8
A Case Study: A Digital Remedy Save as. html ! Make editors’ notes available in full as early as possible on a webpage regardless of what happens in the eventual published edition. Immediately available. Indexed by Google, etc. Ideas Notes in memory or handwritten Notes keyed or scanned Working notes Notes, clippings, images. in folders, boxes, Brief notes in published volume Files in digital repositories Published Detailed notes rapidly web accessible Published on the Web More a change in work practice than a technical challenge. Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 9
Architecture Topic assigned to Note has Document cites Footnote has Citation Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 10
Technology • • Django, the Python web framework Postgres, using native support for XML fields Xapian, for full-text search South, for database migrations Disqus, for discussion threads Zoom. it, for high resolution scans Zotero, for input and editing of bibliographical data Design by Ryan B. Shaw, Univ. of North Carolina Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 11
A Case Study: editorsnotes. org Documents --- Topics --- Notes Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 12
Topic: Bisbee Deportations – Note (Initial notes) Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 13
Topic: Bisbee Deportations – Article-style note Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 14
Topic: Bisbee Deportations – Note (Related documents) Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 15
Topic: Bisbee Deportations – Note (Citation) Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 16
Topic: Bisbee Deportations – Note (Related documents) Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 17
Topic: Bisbee Deportations – Linked source Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 18
Agenda ecai. org/mellon 2010 ecai. org/Knowledge. Unix • Liberate the notes! • Expand ‘publication’ to notes • Notes as a primary resource • Expand ‘library’ • Published volumes as derivative • Modernize bibliography • Preserve the ‘workshop’ • Make work environment closer to a shared office (convergence), enable collaboration, and support creativity. beta. editorsnotes. org ID: teldap Password: teldap 2012 We thank the A. W. Mellon Foundation and of the Coleman Fung Foundation for support and the project collaborators. Feb 24, 2012 Teldap 2012, Taipei 19
- Slides: 19