Are Electronic Editions Inherently Obsolete?

Abstract

This paper looks at some of the theoretical background behind technologies being developed at the Australian Scholarly Editions Centre for a new form of resource for the study of historical works of literature. Some of the unique features of these technologies are that they support conflicting points of view (including conflicting structural markup) and also allow simultaneous, parallel development by multiple researchers on the same parts of the work. Archivists talk about maintaining digital assets through use rather than preservation so that demand for the asset will ensure its propagation long-term. To achieve this end a digital asset must be as versatile as possible so as to meet all requirements for those who might want to use it. If it does not do this it will be superseded by something that does meet those needs creating new witness states in the record and confusion for future literary researchers. The word "edition" is a term from the print paradigm and implies a fixed publication with features proscribed by the medium. Technical and feature obsolescence will eventually cause these "electronic editions" to be either superseded or lost from the human record. A better type of resource is one that can be continually developed by its multiple users, while maintaining its textual authenticity, thereby ensuring its continued maintenance long after its original creator is gone. This paper looks at the reasoning behind the need for a new paradigm for creating and maintaining text-based digital assets and provides examples of a work in progress that solves some of the inherent limitations of the print-based "edition" paradigm.