Digital Tools for Philology

Timetable

Module aim (aims)

1. The objective of this module is to provide students with an introduction to fundamental digital tools for undertaking a critical edition. The module will mainly have a hands-on approach. The initial section will examine the differences between a scholarly digital edition and a traditional printed critical edition, as well as briefly introducing softwares and markup languages. The second part will provide an overview of the principal repositories of digitized manuscripts. The advantages and disadvantages of working with digitized manuscripts will be considered. In the third section, the module will examine some useful tools for preparing the loci paralleli apparatus. Finally, it will present a brief introduction to stylometry and text analysis, two useful methodologies for identifying the author of a text of uncertain attribution. Upon completion the student will:

        Know fundamental digital tools for working on a critical edition

        Know the main repositories of digitized manuscripts

        Be acquainted with stylometry and text analysis methodologies

        Be able to work autonomously on a critical edition.

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

Basic computer skills and an awareness of the fundamental principles of textual criticism are taken for granted.

Syllabus

Week 1: Class introduction.                   

 

Week 2:            Printed world vs. Digital world.

 

Week 3:            Scholarly digital editions and printed critical editions: differences and features.

 

Week 4:            Softwares and markup languages for critical editions: an overview.

 

Week 5:            Main European repositories of digitized manuscripts.

 

Week 6: Other repositories around the world.

 

Week 7:            Working on digitized manuscripts: some tools.

 

Week 8:            Working on digitized manuscripts: adavantages and disadvantages.        

 

Week 9:            What a loci paralleli apparatus is?         

 

Week 10: Working on the loci paralleli apparatus: useful tools.    

 

Week 11: Text analysis: an introduction.

 

Week 12: Stylometry: an introduction.   

 

Week 13: Case studies of authorship attribution with stylometry and text analysis.           

 

Week 14: Hands-on: your own first crital edition.

 

Week 15: Wrapping up: what we learnt and future perspectives.

Reading list

L.W.C. van Lit, Among Digitized Manuscripts. Philology, Codicology, Paleography in a Digital World, Leiden – Boston 2020. https://brill.com/display/title/56196

 

Digital Scholarly Editing. Theories and Practices, ed. by M.J. Driscoll – E. Pierazzo, Cambridge 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0095

 

In addition, other materials will be made available during the class.