The seminar, the fourth in the core series for the Textual Studies Program, examines the capabilities of computer and network technology and their applications in the creation, reproduction, transmission, and study of literary texts.
The seminar will take up a number of theoretical and practical issues and problems, such as: electronic archives and editions, textual mark-up systems, the “authenticity” of e-texts and their stability, digital rhetoric and the multiplicity of audiences, research sites, digital presentation/delivery of texts, text and image/graphics, and some legal (e.g., copyright) and ethical issues.

We will consider how hypertexts may impact pedagogy and definitions of literacy. And we will become familiar with various existing hypertext sites and projects, and initiate (or develop) our own digital editions/archives/sites.

Participants will deliver reports on one or more of these topics and will develop a (small) editing project as a site for testing theoretical and practical issues associated with development and presentation of electronic texts.
Completion of (at least one of) the earlier three seminars in the series is highly recommended.

Texts:

• Greetham, David. Textual Scholarship: An Introduction. Routledge, 2007 2nd revised ed. [0-415-97028-8]
• Landow, George. Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization. Johns Hopkins, 2006. [0-8018-8257-5]
• Shillingsburg, Peter. From Gutenberg to Google: Electronic Representations of Literary Texts. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. [0-521-68347-5]