Hope's Electronic Text Wish List:
I want:
- to see a reasonable facsimile of the original as the author created
it
- to see a reasonable facsimile of the published version, including all
the original technologies applied to that version--things like line
numbers and page numbers
- to see a transcription of it in a manipulatable form, by which I mean
something I can reformat, take apart, reassemble, read comfortably on
screen, and otherwise muck about with
- to toss it into my "text stewpot" with all the other texts and analyse
it in a variety of ways (rather more than just plain "machine readable"),
including ways of searching the contents of images ("Find all images
from 1340-1350 that include musical instruments")
- to hear and/or see a reading of the work by the author, especially if
it is poetry, or, if the author is no longer living, to hear a
historically informed rendition.
- to follow up on a text in a variety of ways, by connecting with
information about the author(s), the historical/cultural setting, the
critical setting
- and I want all of this from wherever I am: at the office, in the
classroom, in the library, out of town, or curled up in my favorite
rocking chair with a very large cup of tea nearby.
Meanwhile, back at the Scriptorium. . .