Well-Behaved Variants Seldom Make the Apparatus: Stemmata and Apparatus in Digital Research

This article describes computer-assisted methods for the analysis of textual variation within large textual traditions. It focuses on the conversion of the XML apparatus into NEXUS, a file type commonly used in bioinformatics. Phylogenetics methods are described with particular emphasis on maximum parsimony, the preferred approach for our research. The article provides details on the reasons for favouring maximum parsimony, as well as explaining our choice of settings for PAUP. It gives examples of how to use VBase, our variant database, to query the data and gain a better understanding of the phylogenetic trees. The relationship between the apparatus and the stemma explained. After demonstrating the vast number of decisions taken during the analysis, the article concludes that as much as computers facilitate our work and help us expand our understanding, the role of the editor continues to be fundamental in the making of editions.

Medieval manuscripts and their migrations: Using SPARQL to investigate the research potential of an aggregated Knowledge Graph

Although the RDF query language SPARQL has a reputation for being opaque and difficult for traditional humanists to learn, it holds great potential for opening up vast amounts of Linked Open Data to researchers willing to take on its challenges. This is especially true in the field of premodern manuscripts studies as more and more datasets relating to the study of manuscript culture are made available online. This paper explores the results of a two-year long process of collaborative learning and knowledge transfer between the computer scientists and humanities researchers from the Mapping Manuscript Migrations (MMM) project to learn and apply SPARQL to the MMM dataset. The process developed into a wider investigation of the use of SPARQL to analyse the data, refine research questions, and assess the research potential of the MMM aggregated dataset and its Knowledge Graph. Through an examination of a series of six SPARQL query case studies, this paper will demonstrate how the process of learning and applying SPARQL to query the MMM dataset returned three important and unexpected results: 1) a better understanding of a complex and imperfect dataset in a Linked Open Data environment, 2) a better understanding of how manuscript description and associated data involving the people and institutions involved in the production, reception, and trade of premodern manuscripts needs to be presented to better facilitate computational research, and 3) an awareness of need to further develop data literacy skills among researchers in order to take full advantage of the wealth of unexplored data now available to them in the Semantic Web.

A Macron Signifying Nothing: Revisiting The Canterbury Tales Project Transcription Guidelines

The original transcription guidelines of The Canterbury Tales Project (CTP) were first developed by Peter Robinson and Elizabeth Solopova and were published in 1993. Since then, the project has evolved, bringing about numerous changes of varying degrees to the process of transcription. In this article, we revisit those original guidelines and the principles and aims that informed them and offer a rationale for changes in our transcription practice. We build upon Robinson and Solopova’s assertion that transcription is a fundamentally interpretive act of translation from one semiotic system to another and explore the implications and biases of our own position (e.g. how our interest in the text of The Canterbury Tales prioritizes the minutiae of that text over certain features of the document). We reevaluate the original transcription guidelines in relation to the changes in the project’s practices as a means of clarifying its position. Changes in the project’s practice illustrate how it has adapted to accommodate both necessary compromises and more efficient practices that better reflect the original principles and aims first laid down by Robinson and Solopova. This article provides practical examples that demonstrate those same principles in action as part of the transcription guidelines followed by transcribers working on The Canterbury Tales Project. Rather than perceiving this project as producing a definitive transcription of The Canterbury Tales, the CTP team conceptualizes its work as an open access resource that will aid others in producing their own editions as it has done the heavy lifting of providing a base text.

“Pacience is an Heigh Vertu”: Managing the Canterbury Tales Project Via Textual Communities

This article functions as both a reflective essay and a pedagogical account of the second phase of the Canterbury Tales Project and the various successes and challenges that unfolded throughout that process. Our focus is how the project both managed the transcription team working locally at the University of Saskatchewan and facilitated transcription workshops abroad. We detail our training process and the transcription workflow as facilitated via the Textual Communities environment. We also examine and evaluate the causes of the project’s challenges—often the result of institutional pressures or technological changes—and our reactions to those challenges, emphasizing successful strategies. Finally, we proffer future changes for the project that we believe would have made considerable positive impact if implemented from the outset of phase two and still have potential as helpful resources now. It is our hope that in detailing our process we can help other large DH projects mimic our successes and, perhaps even more importantly, avoid any pitfalls that challenged us.

Making an Edition in an App

The massive increase in the use of mobile devices over the last years, with over half of all accesses to the internet now coming from mobile devices, presents a challenge and an opportunity to textual scholars. It has long been suggested that digital technologies may help scholarly editors find new audiences for their work: work which has traditionally lain on library shelves with only the occasional visitor. In this paper we describe an attempt to plan, make and distribute an edition -- the CantApp, presenting in its first iteration the General Prologue of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales -- designed specifically for mobile device use (Chaucer 2020). We reflect on the difficulties we faced, the initial reception of the app, and draw conclusions which might be useful for other scholarly projects.

Canterbury Tales Project Special Issue: Introduction

The introduction to the special volume recounts Bordalejo's 23 years of involvement with the project and offers an overview of the articles included.

You’re Collating Just Fine and Other Lies You’ve Been Telling Yourself

Although textual scholars agree that collation is a crucial component of the editing process, it often goes undefined and only briefly explained. This article defines the term, explains different kinds of collation, and explores some of its applications. We emphasize stemmatology and medieval textual traditions. By drawing from editorial examples and the theoretical frameworks of projects centred on works such as the Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, Dante’s Commedia and the Greek New Testament, the article seeks to compare manual and computer-assisted approaches to collation methods. We delineate the scope of this activity and argue that computer-assisted collation minimizes the risk of missing out on relevant data. We examine the advantages of full-text collation over sample collation and conclude that no decisions about stemmatically significant variation can be made a priory and that variant distribution is the major factor weighing on significance.