Manuscripts in the Digital Age: XML-Based Catalogues and Editions

This course provides a hands-on approach to working with medieval and early modern manuscripts in the digital context. The course consists of two main aspects: (1) creating XML-based manuscript descriptions and (2) preparing XML-based editions of texts, with or without an apparatus criticus, according to the Guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). Participants will be expected to make an oral group presentation at the end of each week.

The course is aimed at humanities researchers who are newcomers to digital methods and may be of interest to both graduate students and more advanced scholars as well as librarians and archivists. The course requires no familiarity with encoding. Previous experience in working with manuscripts is desirable (basic training in codicology, paleography, and bibliography) but not essential.

Week 1 will focus on cataloging manuscripts in the digital age. Participants will learn about different approaches to cataloging and critically engage with examples from various repositories in Europe and the US. The workshops will provide an introduction to the XML environment and train participants in applications of the TEI manuscript description module.

Week 2 will focus on editing medieval and/or early modern texts in a digital age. Participants will learn about different approaches to scholarly editing and critically engage with examples of various digital editions. The central aim is to train participants in the practices of transcription and mark-up of various texts both in prose and verse as well as creating a critical apparatus.

The Workshop in week 2 will be based on knowledge developed during week 1, therefore participants who want to attend exclusively the second part should demonstrate knowledge of the basics of XML and TEI as well as cataloging of manuscripts.