93232 - Seminar on Digital Scholarly Edition (LM)

Learning outcomes

The seminar aims at providing students with the basic tools for understanding and creating digital texts (TEI-XML and HTML format). We will focus on the digital writing systems currently available and will analyze digital transcriptions of literary texts.

Course contents

The seminar will be led by Dr. Roberta Priore (roberta.priore2@unibo.it), whom interested students can contact for any information.

Given the seminar nature of the course, attendance is strongly recommended.

The laboratory introduces the key concepts of the philological method within the digital ecosystem, including digital texts, textual errors in networked environments, different models of digital scholarly editions, and new ways of representing textual tradition and transmission through digital critical apparatuses. It also explores born-digital texts, that is, texts conceived, written, and published entirely online. The main theoretical concepts are complemented by examples of digital scholarly editions and practical exercises.

The workshop aims to provide basic tools for understanding the mechanisms of digital text production, focusing on standard markup languages for text encoding, especially XML/TEI, with attention to the various possible levels of markup, particularly the philological level.

The first part of the course will be dedicated to this latter aspect. Philological tools will provide a necessary foundation for delving into the analysis and construction of digital editions.

The state of the art in digital critical editions (Digital Scholarly Editions) will then be presented, reflecting on the ways in which literary texts are created, maintained, and accessed in a digital environment. This will include an analysis of the most prevalent editorial paradigms currently in use and the future prospects for digital textuality, with particular attention to philological and critical aspects.

The concept of digital edition versus digitization will be explored, exploring encoding and markup languages, with a specific focus on the XML standard and the TEI vocabulary.

Given the seminar nature of the course, the XML/TEI encoding of a literary or critical text will be explored through group exercises and independent work supervised by the tutor. Finally, students will be asked to independently design a simple theoretical encoding model, either complementary or alternative to the one presented in class.

As part of the course will be conducted in a seminar format, regular attendance and active participation are strongly encouraged and will constitute an integral part of the overall assessment.

TOPICS

- Philology of the Copy and Authorial Philology: An Overview; What do you look at when you look at a manuscript? How is a critical edition created? Differences between diplomatic editions and critical editions; authorial philology and genetic critique.

- The digital text, from text to hypertext, an overview of digital editions and archives, critical issues and potential of digital scholarly editions (questions of durability, sustainability, scientific validity, evaluation criteria)

- The concept of encoding, markup languages (HTML, SGML, XML), DTD, and XML schema

- The TEI vocabulary and the different possible encoding levels (with particular attention to the philological aspect)

- Designing an encoding model

Readings/Bibliography

READING LIST:

The exam will focus on the topics covered in class (all necessary materials for which will be provided on Virtuale, for the benefit of non-attending students) and on the assessment of the coding work completed.

Recommended readings:

P. Italia, Editing Duemila, Salerno, Roma, 2020.

T. Mancinelli-E. Pierazzo, Che cosa è l’edizione scientifica digitale, Carocci, Roma, 2019.

Priore, R., Nava, B. (2026). Digital Editions in the Practice of Authorial Philology. Proposals for the Case of Giacomo Leopardi’s Canti. Umanistica Digitale, 10 (24), 67–98. https://doi.org/10.60923/issn.2532-8816/24241

ONLINE RESOURCES:

Two MOOCs are recommended, particularly for students who do not attend classes regularly:

1. Scholarly Editing [https://book.unibo.it/courses/course-v1:UNIBO+DEH16+aa_24-25/about] which provides an overview of the history and methods of textual scholarship and philology.

1. Filologia digitale [https://book.unibo.it/courses/course-v1:UNIBO+DEH19+aa_24-25/about], which focuses on the paradigm shift of philological methods within the digital ecosystem.

TEI Guidelines http://www.tei-c.org/Guidelines/P5/, TEI by Examples (TEI tutorials and exercises)

https://teibyexample.org/TBE.htm

Teaching methods

Seminar lessons

Assessment methods

Seminar lessons

Assessment methods

Oral exam to assess:

1 - knowledge and understanding of the topics covered during the course.

2 - XML/TEI file of the text encoded according to the scheme proposed during the lectures.

3 - Based on an independently developed encoding model, propose the marking of a text of the students' choice.

NB: Items 2 and 3 must be submitted in the same email at least 4 days before the exam date and will be discussed and evaluated during the oral exam.

Students with SLDs or temporary or permanent disabilities: we suggest that you contact the relevant university office ( https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en ) and your teacher immediately to work together to find the most effective strategies for attending classes and/or preparing for exams.
Any requests for exam accommodations must be made at least 15 days before the date of the exam, by sending an email to the teacher and copying (Cc) the email address disabilita@unibo.it (in case of disability) or dsa@unibo.it (for students with Specific Learning Difficulties).

 

Teaching tools

Materials available on Virtuale.

Digital tools presented during the course.

Link to further information:

https://tei-c.org/

Office hours

See the website of Eugenio Maggi