HBCE Psalms Call for Transcribers

The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition (HBCE) Psalms 1-50 project aims to produce the first born-digital critical edition of the Hebrew text of Psalms 1-50 (including ancient translations), as well as the first eclectic critical edition of these Hebrew poems. The digital edition will also be used to produce the standard printed HBCE volume. The online workflow and output include:

1. digital images of included manuscripts where permissible; 
2. full electronic transcriptions of included manuscripts and versions;
3. semi-automatic collation of manuscripts and versions in multiple languages;
4. eclectic critical text and extensive textual apparatus.

A preliminary sample of what the edition would like from Psalm 22 can be seen at:

https://hbcepsalms.manuscriptroom.com/edition.

In order to accomplish this milestone in Hebrew Bible textual scholarship, we are calling for volunteer transcribers with an interest in the texts and manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament to help record the data from the most important ancient and medieval witnesses. No previous experience working with manuscripts is required, but some knowledge of one or more of the relevant languages is essential (specifically Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, and/or Latin). We will provide volunteers with the necessary introductory training in manuscript studies, paleography, and digital text encoding.

In return, we ask volunteers for a 25-hour commitment spread flexibly over 2 months (an average of 3–4 hours per week) from May through June 2024, including group training sessions. During this time, volunteers will take responsibility for transcribing several Psalms according to an assigned manuscript, which will then be incorporated into the critical edition. Transcribers will gain valuable expertise and experience working with manuscripts and cutting-edge methods of digital editing while contributing meaningfully to a major scholarly enterprise in the field. Transcribers will also be recognized for their contributions by name in the edition.

To sign up, fill out this Google form. 

ChrysoCollate by Sébastien Moureau

Sébastien Moureau has developed and uploaded for free download and use a new computer program for collation and critical editing called ChrysoCollate. I haven't tried it out yet, but it looks like a useful tool for those editing on a budget.

Elisha Qimron's "The Qumran Texts: Composite Edition"

Elisha Qimron has uploaded his three-volume The Qumran Texts: Composite Edition on Zenodo. Qimron has done much important work on giving his own readings of these texts, and this is no doubt a valuable contribution.

Symposium on Digital Scholarly Editions as Interfaces (23.-24.9.2016)

The Centre for Information Modelling – Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities at the University of Graz is hosting a symposium on Digital Scholarly Editions as Interfaces from 23-24 September 2016. The program and abstracts have been posted online. The lineup sounds very interesting for anyone working in the digital humanities, and some of the abstracts are substantial enough to get a good idea about what the speakers will be discussing.

Textual Communities Workshop, KU Leuven 11 and 12 June 2015

I received the following announcement from Peter Robinson, which may be of interest to some. For Old Testament scholars who may not know, Peter Robinson has a long-standing project editing the Canterbury Tales and is one of the leaders of the use of the digital humanities for the creation of critical editions. For those interested in learning the platform he has created for making critical editions, this would be a great opportunity.



Textual Communities Workshop, KU Leuven 11 and 12 June 2015 

Museumzaal (MSI 02.08, Erasmusplein 2, 3000 Leuven)

This workshop will serve three overlapping purposes. 

First, it will introduce the Textual Communities system for creating scholarly editions in digital form. Textual Communities allows scholars and scholarly groups to make highest-quality editions in digital form, with minimal specialist computing knowledge and support.  It is particularly suited to the making of editions which do not fit the pattern of “digital documentary editions”: that is, editions of works in many manuscripts or versions, or editions of non-authorial manuscripts. Accordingly, Textual Communities includes tools for handling images, page-by-page transcription, collation of multiple versions, project management, and more. See the draft article describing Textual Communities at https://www.academia.edu/12297061/Some_principles_for_the_making_of_collaborative_scholarly_editions_in_digital_form.

Second, it will offer training to transcribers joining the Canterbury Tales project, and to scholars leading transcription teams within the project.  The project is undertaking the transcription of all 30,000 pages of the 88 pre-1500 witnesses of the Tales (18000 pages already transcribed but requiring checking; 12000 needing new transcription). Participants will be given accounts within the Textual Communities implementation of the Canterbury Tales project, introduced to the transcription system, and undertake their first transcriptions of pages from the Tales.  See http://www.textualcommunities.usask.ca/web/canterbury-tales/wiki/-/wiki/Main/Becoming+a+transcriber.

Third, it will offer an introduction to the principles of manuscript transcription for digital editions to any scholars or students considering undertaking a digital edition project based on a manuscript. The materials of the Canterbury Tales project will be used as a starting point for discussion of transcription, supplemented by reference to other textual traditions on which the workshop leaders have worked (including Dante, medieval Spanish and New Testament Greek).

This workshop will be useful to scholars undertaking a wide range of digital edition projects, especially of works existing in multiple witnesses.  Because both the architect of Textual Communities (Robinson) and its chief programmer (Xiaohan Zhang) will be present, it will be useful also for technical consultants who plan to work with the Textual Communities API. And, of course, it will be useful for transcribers joining the Canterbury Tales project.

There is no charge for this workshop, but places will be limited.  Please contact Barbara Bordalejo barbara.bordalejo@kuleuven.be or Peter Robinson peter.robinson@usask.ca to confirm attendance. For accommodation, see http://www.leuven.be/en/tourism/staying/index.jsp.

This page is also at http://www.textualcommunities.usask.ca/web/textual-community/blog/-/blogs/first-textual-communities-workshop-11-12-june-2015 and at www.arts.kuleuven.be/digitalhumanities/activiteiten.