Content description

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

preliminary programme

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 | Handwritten Text Recognition and Modern Manuscripts

Transkribus, eScriptorium

On the second 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. We will touch upon HTR post-processing on Wednesday, since we will visit the Plantin-Moretus Museum on Tuesday afternoon. The museum visit will be followed by the summer school dinner.

WEDNESDAY | Keystroke Logging and Born-Digital Manuscripts

Axolotl, Inputlog, keystroke logging, TEI-XML

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. On the third day, we will also 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 (Inputlog or 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 encode all writing operations (e.g. new text production, additions, deletions) in TEI-XML together with the timestamp. These XML files will be used the next day to visualise the reconstructions of the digital writing processes.

THURSDAY | Towards a Digital Edition Light

Github, Keystroke Loxensis, 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 also familiarize ourselves with Keystroke Loxensis - a tool for visualising the transcriptions of keystroke logging data. By looking at how this tool works, we will be able to gain knowledge of the technologies needed to create a digital edition: HTML, CSS, XPath and XSLT. We will conclude the day with a keynote presentation given by Wouter Haverals.

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. We will conclude the summer school with a final discussion and an overview of other useful tools and software.

AFTER THE SUMMER SCHOOL

Upon successful completion of the summer school course (including the preparatory assignment), students will be credited 3 ECTS — the certificates of which they can present to their home institutions. Students who wish to earn 6 ECTS instead, will receive an additional assignment that will be completed individually over the summer. In this assignment, students will be asked to apply what they learned to their own materials, and develop their own small-scale demo edition.

To include the credits in the curriculum at the home institution, participants need an agreement with the responsible person at the home institution.

A certificate will be awarded at the end of the programme.

• Lamyk Bekius
• ​Wouter Haverals​
• ​Sofie Moors​
• Nooshin Shahidzadeh Asadi
• ​Caroline Vandyck​

UnEditions: Sha(r)p(en)ing the Future of Digital Scholarly Editing
This presentation explores the intersection between traditional textual scholarship and cutting-edge digital technologies. We examine expectations for modern text editions in an era marked by rapid technological advancements and global phenomena like the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors have collectively accelerated the shift towards what can be called ‘UnEditions’—highly accessible, imperfect, yet flexible and ever-evolving texts that stand in contrast to the immutable, printed editions of the past. The focus will be on how major digitization projects, automatic text recognition, and tools like IIIF viewers are the driving forces behind this evolution. We will discuss two specific projects, one on handwritten sources and another on printed materials, that exemplify the transition to collaborative, dynamic digital formats. As we explore this shift, several questions arise: How do we balance accuracy with accessibility in digital editions? What role will Large Language Models play in the creation and improvement of these editions? How will the scholarly community navigate the trade-offs between textual quality and the convenience and serendipity offered by vast digital collections? This presentation will examine these questions through the lens of recent developments and ongoing projects, considering how technological advancements continue to redefine the landscape of textual scholarship.

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Wouter Haverals is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Center for Digital Humanities and a Perkins Fellow at the Humanities Council at Princeton University. His research integrates computational methods with literary studies, covering topics such as rhythm and prosody in medieval and early modern contexts, computational stylometry, digital scholarly editing, and children’s literature. Currently, Wouter is working on a project using distant reading techniques on the Princeton Prosody Archive to analyze the canonization of literary authors and the influence of poetry manuals on prosodic and rhythmic concepts. He earned his Ph.D. in Literature and Linguistics from the University of Antwerp.