GeneticEditionDraf1Comments
The proposal suggests that multiple drafts of the same work be modeled as separate digital copies, interrelated by means of links. This representation introduces a massive redundancy that only serves to increase the work of editors and software in maintaining copies of text that are supposed to be linked or identical. It would be much more efficient and simpler to represent each instance of a piece of text that occurs exactly once in a work by a unique piece of text.
The section on "grouping changes" implies that manuscript texts have a structure that can be broken down into a hierarchy of changes that can be conveniently grouped and nested arbitrarily. Similarly in section 4.1 a strict hierarchy is imposed consisting of document->writing surface->zone->line. Since Barnard's paper in 1988 where he pointed out the inherent failure of markup to adequately represent a simple case of nested speeches and lines in Shakespeare - sometimes a line was spread over two speeches - the problem of overlap has become the dominant issue in the digital encoding of historical texts. This representation, which seeks to reassert the OHCO thesis, which has been withdrawn by its own authors, will fail to adequately represent these genetic texts until it is recognised that they are fundamentally non-hierarchical.
I am also curious as to how they propose to "collate" XML documents arranged in this structure, especially when the variants are distributed via two mechanisms: as markup in individual files and also as links between documentary versions. Collation programs work by comparing basically plain text files, containing only light markup for references in COCOA or empty XML elements (as in the case of Juxta). The virtual absence of collation programs able to process arbitrary XML renders this proposal at least very difficult to achieve. It would be better if a purely digital representation of the text were the objective, since in this case, an apparatus would not be needed.
The mechanism for transposition as described also sounds infeasible. It is unclear what is meant by the proposed standoff mechanism. However, if this allows chunks of transposed text to be moved around this will fail if the chunks contain non-well-formed markup or if the destination location does not permit that markup in the schema at that point. Also if transpositions between physical versions are allowed - and this actually comprises the majority of cases - how is such a mechanism to work, especially when transposed chunks may well overlap?
The main advantages touted for HNML and 'GML' (=Genetic Markup Language) are that they are more succinct than straight TEI encoding. If the proposed markup encoding standard is incorporated into TEI, however, this advantage will be lost, since the proposed codes will simply become part of the more generic, and hence more verbose, TEI language. There seems very little in the sketched proposals here that cannot already be encoded in the TEI Guidelines as they currently stand. The authors should spell out which elements and attributes in their view need to be added, and what functional advantage they expect to derive from the proposed modifications.
I realise these statements are strongly critical of other people's work, and I'm sorry if that gives offense. But this proposal is being put forward to the Digital Humanities community as a general model for encoding genetic texts, and its authors have openly requested peer review. People considering the proposal need to be informed about the weaknesses in it.
