SCHOLARLY EDITIONS SURVEY
This survey addresses the publication of electronic editions of existing
literary works. The survey calls on your experience as a scholarly editor
to attempt to determine the user requirements for a computerised system
for authoring and publishing such editions. Experience in this field is
not required, but some sections of the survey are only relevant to people
that have experience with electronic publications.
The survey is broken into three sections: the first contains questions
pertinent to all scholarly editors, the second concerns electronic publishing
and the third concerns the use of SGML in the creation of electronic
editions.
Please answer the questions to the level of your current involvement with
electronic publishing. Type your answers in the space provided underneath
the questions and return this message to ‘p-berrie@adfa.oz.au’.
Your help with this survey is appreciated. Anyone interested in the results
of this survey should indicate this interest on their returned survey and
they will be sent the summarised results after compilation.
QUESTIONS FOR ALL EDITORS OF SCHOLARLY EDITIONS
This section of questions concerns the preparation and maintenance of
scholarly editions.
1. What percentage of the preparation time for an edition would be spent
on ensuring the accuracy of transcription from the original source
material?
2. How many times should an edition be thoroughly proof read during the
course of preparation?
3. Have you ever published an edition and then found extra material that
you would have liked to include in the edition?
3a. If the answer to question 3 is "yes". Did you publish the extra material?
3b. If the answer to question 3a is "no". Why didn’t you publish the extra
material?
4. Are you aware of any scholars from other fields of interest using
your published edition as source material for their own research?
4a. If the answer to question 4 is "yes". Did they approach you for access
to the source files used for creating your edition?
4b. If the answer to question 4a is "no". Do you have concerns over the
accuracy of their work?
QUESTIONS FOR CREATORS OF ELECTRONIC SCHOLARLY EDITIONS
This section concerns aspects of the creation of a computer-based version
of a scholarly edition. Since this is a relatively new form of scholarly
edition any level of experience in this area is considered relevant to the
survey.
1. Is the computer-based version of the edition based on a printed
publication?
1a. If the answer to question 1 is ‘yes’. Please describe the process
of conversion from printed to electronic form.
2. Please give details of the presentation software used for your
edition (eg. specialised software, HTML Browser, SGML browser).
3. Have you, or do you plan to implement any mechanism in your edition
to prevent accidental or deliberate manipulation of the contents of
copies of your edition?
3a. If the answer to question 3 is "yes". Please give details (ex. publication
on CD ROM).
4. Have you considered or developed any means by which your edition can
be enhanced after publication?
4a. If the answer to question 4 is "yes". Please give details.
5. Do you plan to make your electronic edition available for access on
the World Wide Web?
6. Do you have concerns about the accuracy and authenticity of editions
published in the digital media?
6a. If the answer to question 5 is "yes". Please detail your misgivings.
QUESTIONS FOR USERS OF SGML
This section relates to electronic editions created using SGML DTDs other
than that of HTML. Once again any and all experience is considered relevant
to this survey.
1. Do you use the Text Encoding Initiatives DTD?
1a. If the answer to question 1 is "no". Which DTD do you use and why?
2. Do you find the hierarchical nature of SGML inhibiting?
2a. If the answer to question 2 is "yes". How do you get around this
limitation?
3. Would you be interested in an SGML-based system for creating
electronic editions which had the following characteristics:
Available on multiple platforms
Reduced edition preparation times
Compliance with the TEI DTD
Guaranteed accuracy of textual content of the reading text
Ability to add extra ancillary material after publication.
4. Would you like to be kept informed of further developments of the
system proposed in question 3.
DEMONSTRATION SOFTWARE
I am interested in finding people who would like to look at some demonstration
software for a system as described above. The demonstration software is only
available for the Macintosh platform at the moment
1. Are you interested in looking at the demonstration software?
2. Are you interested in being kept informed about the development
of this software?
Thank you for participating in this survey.
Phillip Berrie
17th October, 1997.
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