From Print Collections to Digital Corpus:
Re-envisioning
Records of Early English Drama Online
Routes & Routes Summer Institute 2014
Jason Boyd / jason.boyd@ryerson.ca / @jasonaboyd
Assistant Professor, Department of English
Acting Co-Director, Centre for Digital Humanities
Ryerson University, Toronto
Roots & Routes 2014: Sociability and Materiality

Pertinent RRSI2014 questions:
 What
new ways of envisioning archives [or more
generally, collections] (as processes as well as products)
are being facilitated by digital technologies?
 How do digital media and methodologies change the
ways in which we identify, access, and interpret
historical records?
 What might "collaborative research" in digital
environments have to learn from (and teach) the history
of earlier forms of scholarly sociability?
Overview



I. REED in Print to REED Online: Need, Challenges,
From Collections to Corpus
II. The Fortune Theatre Records Prototype Digital
Edition
III. Reediting REED: Social Editing
REED (Records of Early English Drama) series
REED series (published collections in red)
REED’s semi-diplomatic transcription

Lincolnshire, p.48
Divisions of a REED collection
Perseus Project 4.0 (1995-)
British History Online (2003-)
History of Parliament (1936-; Online 2011)
OED (1884-; Online 2000)
DNB (1884-; Online 2004)
REED on Internet Archive
REED Dorset/Cornwall on IA
From Collections to Corpus
Proposed REED Online Structure
Proposed Architecture of REED Corpus
REED Editorial Procedures
COLLECTION INTRODUCTIONS
Collection 1
Editorial Team
Acknowledgements
Historical Background
Drama, Music, and Popular Customs
Collection 2
Etc.
Collection 3
Etc.
CORPUS of RECORDS
Search/Advanced Search
CUMULATIVE APPARATUS
Saint’s Days and Festivals
Bibliography
Glossaries
Latin
English
Index
II.
FORTUNE THEATRE RECORDS
PROTOTYPE DIGITAL EDITION
Fortune Theatre Records Prototype Digital
Edition (FTR): http://ereed.cch.kcl.ac.uk/
http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/FortuneWhitePaper.pdf
Text Encoding Initiative (www.tei-c.org)
Example REED at-codes
@a\...@a \
Encloses text written above the line

@b\...@b \
Encloses text written below the line

@l\...@l \
Encloses marginalia in the left margin

Presentational to Descriptive Markup
REED at-code
{…} (render in italic)
TEI P5 equivalent
{(signed)} John Smith
<seg type=“signature”>John
Smith</seg>
<title type=“record_head”>
Finsbury Manor Records</title>
l<ex>ett</ex>es
patent<ex>es</ex>
{Finsbury Manor Records}
l{ett}res patent{es}
Document damaged, missing text
Dittography
Dating note
Overwriting
Editorial correction
Conjectural editorial correction
III.
REEDITING REED
REED Anglo-Latin Wordbook
Anglo-Latin Wordbook: ‘histrio’
‘Patrons and Travelling Companies’
Patrons and Performances Web Site (2003-)
William Stanley, Earl of Derby
Gawthorpe Hall, Lancashire
Cumulative Performance Itinerary
EMLoT faceted browser
Henry III Fine Rolls: Subject index
REED Lincolnshire 239
St James' Churchwardens' Accounts LA: LOUTH ST JAMES
PAR/7/2
f 124v* (21 April—12 April) (Payments)
...
Item paid to ye queens maiesties seruantes whenas they
plaied in ye church xij s.
...
REED Lincolnshire, index entries
churches
Accounts
playing in
churchwardens
accounts
Elizabeth I, queen of England
players
entertainers and entertainment
players
patronized
playing places
chapels, churches, and churchyards
plays and playing
queens
patronized performers
of England
see also players; plays and playing
see also Elizabeth I
Louth
St James, Louth, church of
locations in
St James
records
St James' Churchwardens'
servants
see also players
‘beer’
York (1979)
Coventry (1981)
Newcastle Upon Tyne (1982)
Norwich 1540-1642 (1984)
Cumb/Westmld/Glouc (1986)
Devon (1986)
Cambridge (1989)
Heref/Worc (1990)
Lancashire (1991)
Shropshire (1994)
Somerset (1996)
Bristol (1997)
Dorset/Cornwall (1999)
Sussex (2000)
no entry
no entry (but entry for ale)
drink, for <group>
drink, at <occasion>, for <group>
beer, see under drink
drink, at <place>
beer
beer, see under drink and drinking
drink and drinking
beer
no entry
beer, see under drink and drinking
drink and drinking
beer
drink and drinking
ale and beer
drink and drinking, at <place>, prohibited
beer, see under drink and drinking
drink and drinking
ale and beer
beer
drinks (kinds of)
beer
beer, see under drinks (kinds of)
beer
drink and drinking
see also ale; beer; wine
The Papers of George Washington (1976-)
Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody (2008)
Wikipedia
Shirky, Chapter 11
Promise
 Tool
 Bargain

Why does Wikipedia Work?
 Unmanaged distribution of labour (power law
distribution)
 Publish, then filter
 Multiple motivations of contributors
 Community
Wikipedia, “Asphalt concrete” stats
Ray Siemens, et al.
Crowdsourced scholarship

Transcribe Bentham
Transcribe Bentham Top Contributors
Transcribe Bentham FAQ
Transcribe Bentham Subjects
WikiProjects
“Parish ale,” Wikipedia
Thank you!
Jason Boyd
Department of English &
Centre for Digital Humanities
Ryerson University, Toronto
jason.boyd@ryerson.ca
@jasonaboyd