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Bachelor (3rd year) and Master students, PhDs and postdocs, Professionals in the fields of textual scholarship, genetic criticism, library science, archiving practices.

Participants should have at least completed 2 full years of university education in a relevant field of study. 

No prior knowledge of Digital Humanities is required to successfully complete the programme.

​This summer school takes place at Stadscampus (Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerp) of the University of Antwerp. This campus is located in the city centre.

• ​09:30-11:00: Session 1
• 11:00-11:30: Coffee break A
• 11:30-12:30: Session 2
• 12:30-13:30: Lunch
• 13:30-15:30: Session 3
• 15:30-16:00: Coffee break B
• 16:00-17:00: Session 4 / Keynote slot
  

MONDAY | Digital Scholarly Editing and Medieval Manuscripts

Digital Scholarly Editing, Theory and Practice, XML

We will start the week with the theoretical background of digital scholarly editing. After this introduction to digital scholarly editing, we will specifically focus on digital editing projects of Medieval manuscripts. After lunch, we will focus on the basics of XML and practice with transcribing Medieval manuscripts.

TUESDAY | Keystroke Logging and Born-Digital Manuscripts

GGXLog, keystroke logging, TEI-XML, Keystroke Procera, Keystroke Loxensis

On the second day, we will explore how we can create digital editions of born-digital manuscripts, specifically through the use of keystroke logging. As an exercise, we will write a poem on the computer and log the writing process using a keystroke logger (GGXLog). We will then use these keystroke logging files to learn the basic technologies involved in making a (genetic) digital edition. As a first step, we will produce a TEI-XML base layer with Keystroke Procera, consisting of all writing operations (e.g. additions, deletions) in TEI-XML together with the timestamp. We will then correct this base layer and enrich the encoding with additional information. These XML files will be used to visualise the reconstructions of the digital writing processes with Keystroke Loxensis. .

WEDNESDAY | Handwritten Text Recognition and Modern Manuscripts

Transkribus, eScriptorium, Axolotl

On the third day, we will dive into the world of handwritten text recognition (HTR) by looking into the workflows in Transkribus and eScriptorium. After a short introduction to HTR, we will use Transkribus to transcribe a couple of pages of Arthur Conan Doyle’s manuscript of one of the Sherlock Holmes stories: “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder”. However, the resulting transcription is not outputted in an ideal format for digital scholarly editions, making post-processing and validation a necessary next step. For the post-processing tasks of HTR results, we will work with the Collaborative XML Editor Axolotl. After importing HTR output from platforms such as eScriptorium and Transkribus, Axolotl allows for post-processing, including correcting and validating transcriptions, linking additions and metamarks, adding additional markup, and modifying annotations and zones.

THURSDAY | Towards a Digital Edition Light

GitHub, HTML, CSS, XPath, XSLT

On the fourth day we will learn the basic steps needed to create a digital edition (light). We will start the day with a brief introduction to GitHub. We will then discuss the Digital Edition Template that we will use to make our own digital edition with GitHub Pages. By using this template, we will be able to gain knowledge of the technologies needed to create a digital edition: HTML, CSS, XPath and XSLT – which will be individually discussed as well. We will conclude the day with a keynote presentation given by Wout Dillen.

FRIDAY | Visualising Manuscripts and Born-Digital Writing Processes

GitHub, TEI-XML, XPath, XSLT, HTML, CSS

On the last day, we will use the skills acquired in the previous days to create a light digital edition hosted on GitHub. We will use a template (provided by the teachers) for a mini-Sherlock Holmes digital edition and modify and personalise it accordingly. This will give us plenty of time to practise HTML, CSS, XPath and XSLT. This mini digital edition can then be published online on GitHub and Zenodo. We will conclude the summer school with a final discussion and an overview of other useful tools and software.

Successful completion of the summer school can be awarded with 3-6 credits according to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Credits will be awarded by the University of Antwerp.

• 3 ECTS credits can be earned by actively participating during the course and group work. 
• 6 ECTS credits can be earned by successfully completing an extra assignment (paper) after the summer school.
  

To include the credits in the curriculum at the home institution, participants need an agreement with the responsible person at their university. University of Antwerp students eligible to include the ECTS credits as part of their study programme must register via Mobility Online and SisA.

All certificates of completion are issued as a micro-credential. 

• The main goal of the course is to furnish students with a set of tools in order for them to be able to edit analogue and born-digital documents (mostly literary and historical texts). Upon completion of the course, students will know the following on the basic to intermediary level:
  • the basic syntactic rules of the descriptive meta-markup language XML;
  • what the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) is, and how its XML-based vocabulary is used to transcribe source material;
  • what IIIF is and how it is used for making digital objects available online;
  • how Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) works and how to use the Transkribus platform for the (automatic) transcription of source documents;
  • how the Axolotl XML editor can be used for HTR postprocessing (i.e. to encode the revision process as recorded in the documents) and to collaborate in a digital editing project;
  • how to use XPath to query and navigate through XML documents;
  • how to use XSLT to transform XML documents into another data format, such as HTML;
  • how to use HTML and CSS for creating web pages as part of a digital edition;
  • how keystroke logging software can be deployed for editing digital writing processes;
• As an outcome, students get the chance to make their own mini-edition, hosted as a GitHub-page, either using their own material or using the material provided by our team.
• In addition to these transferrable skills, students acquire theoretical knowledge of modern editing methods as practised in the field of Digital Humanities and Digital (Genetic/Scholarly) Editing.