Michael Buckland and Patrick Golden

1. Editors’ Notes: A Case-study of Collaboration and Convergence in the Humanities Michael Buckland and Patrick Golden Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative, and School of Information, University of California, Berkeley. ecai.org/mellon2010/ Teldap 2012, Taipei

2. Documentary Editions The Humanities depend on access to historically important documents. Documentary editors prepare ‘editions’ of documents such as letters, diaries, official statements, speeches, etc., that have value as evidence for political, intellectual, or social history. Editors’ notes explain the people, places, ideas, and events involved. ‘Documentary editions’ provide a transcription of texts and add explanatory notes – and often chronologies, images, and explanatory essays Teldap 2012, Taipei

3. Example: Lecture Tours of Emma Goldman http://metadata.berkeley.edu/emma/ Teldap 2012, Taipei

4. A Case Study: Documentary Editions Berkeley: Papers of Emma Goldman, 1869-1940, Anarchist. New York: Papers of Margaret Sanger, 1879-1966, birth control activist Teldap 2012, Taipei

5. Problems of Documentary Editions Requires specialized expertise for many years. Funding is difficult. Much of the editors’ research not included because inconclusive or marginally relevant to the publication. Limitations of the printed edition: Costly. Limit on number of pages, so editors’ notes reduced. Small editions bought by libraries. Not widely available. Relatively isolated work. Working notes and unpublished notes discarded. The return on investment far less that it could be. Teldap 2012, Taipei

6. A Collaborative Project How might the Web be used to help? “Editorial Practices and the Web” – started summer 2010. Focus on evolving editorial work practices rather than on technology. Supported by the A. W. Mellon Foundation. Notes on web Teldap 2012, Taipei

7. Participants Emma Goldman Papers, Berkeley. Feminist and anarchist, 1869-1940. Margaret Sanger Papers, New York University, Feminist and birth control advocate, 1879-1966. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Papers, Rutgers University: 19th century reformers, votes for women. Labadie Collection, University of Michigan Library: Collection of Radical literature. Why a library collection? Led by the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative, Berkeley. Teldap 2012, Taipei

8. Why include a library collection? Not only editors who make notes. So do – or could – the curators of library special collections. Agnes Inglis, an admirer of Emma Goldman, curated the Labadie Collection and made 20,000 notes on filing cards. Close overlap in subject matter with the three editing projects. More important: Many different people make notes (archivists, curators, editors, historians, translators, etc.). All should share with all and with the public. Expand the idea of ‘publication.’ Teldap 2012, Taipei

9. A Case Study: A Digital Remedy Save as .html ! Make editors’ notes available in full as early as possible on a webpage regardless of what happens in the eventual published edition. Immediately available. Indexed by Google, etc. Ideas Working notes Notes Notes in memory or handwritten Notes, clippings, images. in folders, boxes, Brief notes in published volume Published Detailed notes rapidly web accessible Notes keyed or scanned Files in digital repositories Published on the Web More a change in work practice than a technical challenge. Teldap 2012, Taipei

10. Architecture Topic assigned to Note Document Footnote has cites has Citation Teldap 2012, Taipei

11. Technology • Django, the Python web framework • Postgres, using native support for XML fields • Xapian, for full-text search • South, for database migrations • Disqus, for discussion threads • Zoom.it, for high resolution scans • Zotero, for input and editing of bibliographical data Design by Ryan B. Shaw, Univ. of North Carolina Teldap 2012, Taipei

12. A Case Study: editorsnotes.org Documents --- Topics --- Notes Teldap 2012, Taipei

13. Topic: Bisbee Deportations – Note (Initial notes) Teldap 2012, Taipei

14. Topic: Bisbee Deportations – Article-style note Teldap 2012, Taipei

15. Topic: Bisbee Deportations – Note (Related documents) Teldap 2012, Taipei

16. Topic: Bisbee Deportations – Note (Citation) Teldap 2012, Taipei

17. Topic: Bisbee Deportations – Note (Related documents) Teldap 2012, Taipei

18. Topic: Bisbee Deportations – Linked source Teldap 2012, Taipei

19. Agenda • Liberate the notes! • Expand ‘publication’ to notes • Notes as a primary resource • Expand ‘library’ • Published volumes as derivative • Modernize bibliography • Preserve the ‘workshop’ • Make work environment closer to a shared office (convergence), enable collaboration, and support creativity. ecai.org/mellon2010 ecai.org/KnowledgeUnix beta.editorsnotes.org ID: teldap Password: teldap2012 We thank the A. W. Mellon Foundation and of the Coleman Fung Foundation for support and the project collaborators. Teldap 2012, Taipei