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ReScript – collaborative online editing of historical texts
Bruce TateBritish History OnlineInstitute of Historical ResearchUniversity of London© Bruce Tate
Key facts
• Pilot VRE project• Launched Nov 2010, lasts 12 months • Concerned with:– What form will editing take in the digital sphere?– How can online tools be successfully built in?
The bigger picture
• Historians collaborate by subject not location• Little guidance or training for advanced
research tools• Existing Web 2.0 tools cannot accommodate
complex editing project
The present situation
• British History Online– High accuracy transcriptions (99.995%) TRUST– Google search hardware FIDELITY– Static display and permanent URLs CITABLE
Picture of an iceberg
What is the IHR interested in
• People– Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion– Aubrey’s Brief Lives
• System– Foster’s Alumni Oxonienses– Parish Clerk Memoranda (St Botolph’s Aldgate)
Complexity of editing
• High – technical literacy, digital experience• Medium – connecting external sources• Low – reading for sense
Driving forces
• Social – will the adoption of digital tools in the profession be evenly distributed …
• Organisational – can we convince contributors to join in across a range of (unrelated) content …
Scenario 1
• Each project requires substantial support• However, new projects are attracted due to
the specialised academic research focus of the editing environment
Scenario 2
• A mood of conservativism in research makes it difficult to orchestrate widespread adoption of the project
• Small teams of contributors work well together and the product becomes a central part of future funding bids
Scenario 3
• Severe cuts to research funding mean that the attributes of speed and web enablement of outcomes become more attractive to research projects
• Work gets published before it makes a coherent whole
The model must facilitate…
• Editing in a bespoke environment• Publication for analysis• Accessibility for inexperienced users
Workspace
• Editing• Workflow• Discussion• Interpretation• Preservation
Editing
• Transcription• Mark-up vectors• Folksonomies• Taxonomies• Consistency e.g. references
People
• Roles (editing, interpreting)• Core … invitation … application … open• Create a register of expertise• Cross discipline
Picture of skeleton Picture of computer monitor.
Gets bigger
Publication
• Search results with facets• Visualisation via timeline or map• …or both • …at the same time• Aggregate query = thematic inquiry• Managed external links: CCED, ODNB, BHO…
Parallax: multiple, concurrent views
Aggregate queriesIndividual records
TimelineMap
TaxonomiesSearch result
facets
Folksonomy
Tag clouds using
source
Stuff from any other site(s)
The audience
• Consume• Discuss• Feedback• Review• Collaborate by marking up or tagging• Sign up for training – narrow the ‘Skills gap’
Sustainability
• No central funding, so…– Pay per view (i.e. advertising)– Register to configure interface– Collaborate and earn advertising-free version– Fee-based citation service– Training, online and offline– Fee for new projects’ set up and data ingest
A quote (so it must be the end)
[EDIT: Quote about the history we made today]
Henry Ford
Further info
‘ReScript – collaborative online editing of historical texts’Digital Editing WorkshopInstitute of Historical Research, University of LondonThursday 18 November 2010
