the big picture: conceiving a digital edition of jane

Bryn Mawr CollegeScholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn MawrCollege

Women's History in the Digital World Women's History in the Digital World 2017

Jul 7th, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

The Big Picture: Conceiving a Digital Edition ofJane Addams' PapersCathy Moran HajoRamapo College of New Jersey

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Hajo, Cathy Moran, "The Big Picture: Conceiving a Digital Edition of Jane Addams' Papers" (2017). Women's History in the DigitalWorld. 8.http://repository.brynmawr.edu/greenfield_conference/2017/Friday/8

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Women'sHistoryintheDigitalWorld,July6,2017.

Earlyin2014,whenIwasworkingattheMargaretSangerPapers,Iwasapproachedbyone

ofourfederalfunders--theNationalHistoricalPublicationsandRecordsCommission,or

NHPRC.TheSangerPapershadalmostfinisheditsworkonourfour-volumebookedition

andtheJaneAddamsPapersneededaneweditor.WasIinterestedintakingiton?

TheJaneAddamsPaperswas,liketheSangerProject,oneofahandfulofwomen’seditions

startedinthe1970sand1980sasmicrofilmeditions.

2

JaneAddams,bornin1860,wasanAmericansocialworker,Progressivephilosopherand

activistforpeace,womansuffrage,childlaborreform,andsocialwelfare.Addamsisbest

knownforco-foundingChicago’sHull-House,asocialsettlementin1889.Theauthorof

elevenbooks,hundredsofarticlesandspeeches,AddamswontheNobelPeacePrizein

1931.Atherdeathin1935,theNewYorkTimescalledher"perhaps,theworld'sbest-

knownandbest-lovedwoman."1

TheAddamsPaperswasoneofthefirstwomen’seditions,begunin1976byMaryLynn,

almosttenyearsbeforetheSangerProject.

1"JaneAddams,AFoeofWarandNeed,"NewYorkTimes,May22,1935.

3

Afterpublishingan83-reelmicrofilmandadetailedsubjectindexby1995,Bryanandher

editorialteamwereworkingonasix-volumeprinteditionofJaneAddams'papers.They

publishedtwovolumesandwereworkingonathirdvolume,coveringtheyears1899-

1900.BryanwasreadytoretireaftercompletingVolume3,buthadnotbeenabletofinda

successor.

TheNHPRCwasprimarilyinterestedinensuringthatthebookeditionwouldbecompleted,

butfromthefirst,Iwantedtocreateadigitaledition.Backin2009,whenIgavethe

presidentialaddresstotheAssociationforDocumentaryEditing,2Ichallengedtheediting

2CathyMoranHajo,"ScholarlyEditinginaWeb2.0World,"October16,2009.

4

communitytoreachforbroaderaudiencesthroughdigitaltechnology.Ibelievedthen,and

evenmorestronglynow,thatprovidingfreeaccesstoasmanydocumentsaswecould

mustbeourprimarygoal.Thatmeantrevisitingthemicrofilmratherthandigitizingthe

existingbooks,whichonlyrepresentabout3%ofthepapers.AndIwantedthose

documentstoreachthebroadestaudiencepossible,includingstudentsbothyoungand

old.Inmanyways,asIthoughtaboutwhethertotakeonthisproject,Ithoughtaboutthat

speechandrealizedthatitwastimetoputmymoneywheremymouthwas.

Wherewouldwehostit?Howwouldwebuildit?Andhowshouldbeenvisionit?

InstitutionalHostIcontactedRamapoCollegeofNewJersey,asmallstateliberalartscollege,abouthosting

theAddamsPapers.ItwasmyalmamaterandIhadworkedcloselywiththemwhileI

workedattheSangerPapers,supervisingRamapointernsandjoiningtheiralumniboard.

WhentheAddamsopportunityarose,IworkedwithDeanStephenRiceoftheSalameno

SchoolofHumanitiesandGlobalStudiestodevelopaprojectthatworkedtomeetoneof

theCollege'sfundamentalgoals--providingstudentswithhands-onworkindigital

humanities,providingthemwithexperienceworkingwithprimarysources,andworkingin

publichistory.Addams'workinsocialwelfarewasalsoofinteresttotheCollege'sschool

ofsocialwork,andherinternationalconnectionsofferedanopportunitytoexplorethe

historyoftheearly20thcenturyinglobalterms.

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CopyrightAswithallprojects,oneofthefirststepswastothinkthroughpermissionsand

copyright.Nothingcouldproceedwithoutthat.JaneAddams'unpublishedwritingsarein

publicdomain.Check!Themajorrepositoriesofherpapers,theSwarthmorePeace

CollectionandtheUniversityofIllinoisatChicagowereenthusiastic.Check!Andperhaps

mostsurprisingly,themicrofilmpublisher,Proquest,agreedaswell.Check!Wewould

havetocleartherestofthepermissionsandcopyright,butitwasdo-able.

LegacyDataOneimportantquestionwaswhethertheAddamsPapershadcreatedadatabaseto

controlinformationonthedocuments,becausethatwouldhelpdeterminehowwewould

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approachcreatingadigitaledition.Theyhadnot.Insomeways,thismadethingseasier

forus,ifabitmoretime-consuming.Wedidnothavetoworkwithlegacydataortryto

wrestleitintosomemoremodernsystem.Itmeantthatwecouldthinkcreativelyabout

whattheAddamsdigitaleditionshouldbeandwhatitshoulddo.

Whatwehadtoworkwithwasthemicrofilmitselfandtheguideandindex.

TheJaneAddamsMicrofilmandGuideTheAddamsPaperscontainscorrespondence,legaldocuments,financialrecords,diaries

andcalendars,writings,andAddams'referencefiles.Italsoincludestherecordsofthe

Hull-HouseAssociation,boardminutes,realestatesandfinancialrecords,recordsofthe

manyactivitiesandgroupsthatmetthere,scrapbooksandreportsofactivitiesand

researchconductedthere.Italsoincludesafileofnewspaperclippings.

TheAddamsPapersconductedasearchfordocumentsfrom1975-1983,queryingover

1,000archives,libraries,andmajornewspapers.Iknewthatwewouldneedtorevisitthe

search,asmorearchivalcollectionshavebeendepositedanddescribedsince1983,and

becausetheInternetnowallowsustolocatecollectionsinfar-flungarchivesfromour

desks.Aquicksearchofarchivalandnewspaperdatabasespointedtosome75collections

thatneededtobesearched.

TheAddamsmicrofilmguideisunique,Ithink,inthatittriedtoindexsubjects.Itseditors

indexeddocumentsbyauthorandrecipient,butalsoindexedmentionsofpeople.Forlarge

topics,likeJaneAddams,Hull-House,andtheWomen'sInternationalLeagueforPeaceand

Freedom,theyprovidedsomesubjectaccess.Itwasn'tasdetailedasabookindex,butit

certainlyofferedsomeguidance.Strangely,though,theindexdidnotindicatedocument

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dates,whichmadeitabitmoredifficulttouse.Theguidealsoincludedalistingofall

correspondencebydate,organizedby"lettersfrom"and"lettersto"JaneAddams.Thislist

doesnotincludeanynames.Thisallowedmeto,slowly,countthenumbersofdocuments

ineachyear,whichhelpedmegetabettersenseoftheextentoftheproject.

Idecidedtofocusfirstoncorrespondenceandwritingsfirst.Iwantedtoworkwith

Addams'diariesaswell--which,sadly,aremorelikeappointmentbooksthanreflective

notesonherlife--butImovedthemtothesecondtierafterseeinghowdifficulttheyareto

read.Theymaybemoreusefultoresearchersasaspreadsheetandmappedchronology

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thanastexts.Lookingonlyatcorrespondenceandwritings,Icountedabout21,000

documents.

Butthentherewasthehandwriting!

OnelookatAddams'hastyscrawlandIknewthatsimplyprovidingdigitalimagesofthese

documents,evenifrichwithdescription,wouldnotmakethemaccessibletoabroad

audience.Students,thegeneralpublic,youngerpeopleingeneral,heck,evenIhadtrouble

readingsomeofthem!Whileafairpercentageofthedocumentsonthemicrofilmwere

typed,thehandwritingwouldserveasarealbarriertowideuse.Whileitwasonethingto

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createmetadataandimagesfor21,000documents,itwasanothertoalsoprovide

transcriptions.

Transcribingdocumentsisanessentialeditorialtask.Itmakesdifficulttextslegible,andin

adigitalmedium,alsomakesthemsearchable.Adding21,000transcriptionstoourdigital

editionwouldaddanewdimensiontotheprojectandmanymorehoursofwork.Butit

wouldmaketheeditionmuchmoreusefultoouraudience.Wehadtothinkthrough:

• Howwewantedtorepresentdifficulttext--wordsthatwecan'tread,orwordsthat

werecrossedoutoroverwritten.

• Howwewantedtodealwithmisspelledorabbreviatedwords.

• Howwewanteduserstosearchtranscriptions.

Anditwasatthispointthatweneededtogivesomehardthoughttothetechnological

platformwewoulduse.

PlatformsForagoodtwentyfiveyearswehavebeentoldthatscholarlyeditionshadtouseXML

becauseitwasplatformindependentandallowedrichcontentencodingofdocuments.I

hadworkedonasmalldigitaleditionofMargaretSanger'sspeechesandarticles,which

wasbuiltusingtheTextEncodingInitiativeandXML.3Inthateditionweusedencoding

totrackpeople,organizations,andtitlesofworksmentioned.Weusedmetadatastoredin

theTEIheadertoidentifytheauthor,date,publicationsource,anddevelopedadetailedlist

3"JaneAddams,AFoeofWarandNeed,"NewYorkTimes,May22,1935.

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ofsubjects.WhileTEIandXMLarepowerfultools,itseemedtomethattheywereoverkill

forthebasickindsofencodingwewanted.

WorkingwithTEIwithanever-changingstaffofstudentinternsandworkerswasa

challenge.Whilestudentstooktoencoding,theirworkwasdifficulttoproofreadatthe

levelwewereaccustomedto.Wehadtoensurethatthetagswereappliedcorrectly,that

theTEIfileswerevalid,andthatthemetadatawasproperlyconstructed.Andwehadto

proofreadthetranscriptionsonthepublicsiteinordertocorrectanyerrorsthatcreptin

afterencoding.Wedidnotincludeimagesinouredition,asmostofthedocumentswere

publishedandnotterriblyinterestingtolookat.Butthemainproblemswehadwithour

TEIsitewerepublishingittotheweb,aswellasupgradingitasguidelineschanged.The

sitelookedgoodin2003,butby2015itlookedtiredandwedidnothavetheprogramming

skillsorfundingtoimproveitsappearance.WhentheTEIreleasedP5,itsnewest

guidelines,wewerestillstuckinavariantofP4,whichmeantthatnoneofthenewweb

publishingtoolsworkedwithouredition.

LookingatotherTEI-basedprojects,availableasdigitaleditions,Ifoundthatfewofthem

offeredthekindofsearchabilityandflexibilityIhopedtooffertoreadersoftheAddams

Papers.Infact,sincestartingtheSangerdigitaleditionin2003,itdidnotseemTEI-based

editionshadadvancedveryfarinhowtheylookedoroperated.Iwasalsoreluctanttotake

onaTEI-basedprojectatacollegethatdidnothavesupportfordigitalhumanitieswork.

TEIisaremarkabletoolforworkingwithcomplicatedtext,butIdidn'tthinkthatitwasthe

bestfitforus.

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Iwantedtoincludetheimagesandbuildrichdescriptivemetadata,andwantedsomething

thatwouldbestablebuteasiertoworkwith.IhadusedOmekatobuildadigitalarchivefor

teaching,anddecidedtoadoptitforthedigitaledition.

Omeka,ifyouhavenotheardofit,isanopen-sourcedigitalcontentmanagementsystem

createdbytheRoyRosenzweigCenterforHistoryandNewMedia4anddesignedforsmall

archives,museums,andotherculturalheritagesites.ItusestheDublinCoremetadatato

storedatainaMySQLdatabase.ItcanexportthemetadatarecordsinXMLandother

formats.Omekawasdesignedtobeeasytoworkwith.Itusesentryformstobuildrich

4FormoreonOmeka,seehttps://omeka.org/.

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metadataandallowsprojectstocustomizetheentryscreenstohelpinsurethatdatagoes

incleanly.Omekashinesinotherways--chieflyitseaseinpublishingyourdigitalcontent

ontheweb.AfterthedifficultiesoftransformingXMLforpublicationontheweb,Omeka's

simplecheckboxtopublishanitemseemeawonderfulfeature.Anotherwastheabilityto

extendOmekabyusinganddevelopingplugins.Thesearesmallmodulesthatcanbe

addedtocustomizeyourcontent,adding,forexample,theabilitytomapyourdataby

addingtheGeolocationplugin,oraddtextpagestoyoursitebyusingtheSimplePages.

plugin.

IspenttimelookingatotherOmeka-builtsitesandotherdigitaleditionstothinkabout

whatwewanted.5Seeingthekindsofresourcesthatotherprojectsprovidedhelpedus

thinkaboutwhatwewantedoureditiontodo.Butworkingwiththedocuments

themselveswasequallyasimportant.

OnethingwelostbyselectingOmekawastheabilitytoencodeourtranscriptions.Rather

thanusebracketsaroundaniffyword,wecouldhaveencodeditas<unclear>and

indicatedwhyinthetag.OrwecouldhavetrackedtheeditorialchangesAddamsmadetoa

document,indicatingwheretextwasdeletedandwhereitwasadded.Iwaswillingtogive

upthatsmalladvantage.Mostofourdocumentsdidnothavealotofcomplexity,andit

seemedthatwecouldstillshowthosecomplexitiesintellectuallyusingtypography.

5ForlinkstoOmeka-basedsiteseehttps://omeka.org/showcase/andhttp://omeka.org/codex/Sites_Using_Omeka.

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AccessOneofthethingsthatIandothereditorsofwomen’spapershavedevotedourlivestois

makingtheseprimarysourcesavailable.Wehadalwaysbeenlimitedbythetechnologies

thatwereavailableandtheperceptionsofwhatwas“important”enough.Whenprojects

basedontheFoundingErawerepublishingcomprehensivebookeditionsofeverything

theirgreatwhitemanevertouched,women’sprojectswererelegatedtothe“microfilm

ghetto.”Weweretoldthatwecouldn’tgetfundingforbookeditionsthatincludedmore

thanatightselectionofbetween1and5percentofwhatwehadputonmicrofilm.Andjust

aswestartedcompletingour4or6volumesets,welearnedthatthebookwas“dead.”

Thenoncedigitalpublicationofeditionsbegan,itwastheFoundingFathers’volumesthat

wentupfirst,leavingwomen’sprojectsalsoinatechnologicalghetto.

GoingfirstmeantthattheFounders’editionshadtofigurethingsoutontheirown,and

theychosetoworkwithpublishers—andthusdevelopedadigitaleditionmodelthattried

toreplicatetheirbooksinadigitalformat,employingapaywalltotrytorecoupcosts.

Demandforfreeaccessresultedinmorefundingthatmadetranscriptions,butnot

annotationsavailableforfreethroughtheFoundersOnlineversionoftheRotunda

FoundingEra.Butasthebarfordigitalpublicationhasbeenlowered,projectslikethe

AddamsPapersareactuallyinagoodplace.Wehavemoreoptionsforpublishingdigital

editions,wecanincludeimagesaswellastranscriptions,andwecandesignoureditions

forthepublicandprovidefreeaccess.

This,formeisthemostexcitingpartofworkingwiththeAddamsPapersdigitaledition.

Women’spapers,hiddeninarchivesoronmicrofilmforsolong,canfinallybetruly

accessibletothepublic.Ifwedoourjobsright,theywillbemoreaccessiblethansomeof

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the“greatmen.”Andthisaccessibilitycomesnotjustfromthefactthatthesiteisopen

access,itisalsointhewaythatwearedesigningit—tomakethedocumentsboth

accessibleandunderstandablebyabroadaudience.

AdministeringtheProjectOneofbenefitsofdesigningadigitaleditionsystemfromscratchisthatyoucanbuildatool

thatcanalsohelpruntheproject.Whenyouareaddingfeaturestoanexistingorlong-

termproject,youoftenendupworkinginseveralsystems.MygoalinusingOmekawasto

trackasmanythingsaspossiblewithinthesystem.

• Copyrightandpermissionmanagement--Weneededtobeabletoidentify

documentsthatneedpermissions,andtohaveaneasywaytoupdatethemas

permissionsweresecured.Aswecompleteasetofdocuments,wecangenerate

listsofpeoplethatneedtobeclearedandstarttheprocess.

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•

• Workflowmanagement--Weneedtoknowwhatstepsarecompletedforeach

documentintheprocessofwritingdescriptivemetadata,transcribingthetext,

translatingthetext,andresearchingidentifications.Wewanttobeabletoaccess

documentsthatneedtobeproofread,researchthatneedstobedone,and

documentsthatarereadytobepublished.Wealsowanttotrackthehistoryof

changestothedigitalrecord.

• Counts--Wecangetuptotheminuteinformationonthenumberofdocuments,

people,organizationsandevents.Wecanseehowmanyareineachstageofwork.

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WefoundthatoneofOmeka'sadvantages--itssimpleoneclickpublicationprocess--

quicklybecametoosimpleforourneeds.Ourdocumentswerecomplex,madeupofthree

parts--images,metadata,andtranscriptions(andinsomecasestranslations).

Inaddition,wehadtotrackrepositorypermissionsandcopyright.Andweneededto

insurethataneditorhadreviewedthestudentwork,proofreadingmetadataand

transcriptions.Whenwasadocumentreadytopublish?

• Wecouldhavewaiteduntileverythingwasclearedandproofread,likewewouldin

abookedition.

• Wecanpublishdocumentsorpartsofdocumentsinstagesasworkiscompleted.

o Topublishanimage,weneedbothrepositorypermissionandcopyright.

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o Topublishatranscriptionwejustneedcopyright.

o Topublishmetadataonly,wedon'tneedanypermission.

• Weholdbackdocumentsthatneedmorework.

• Wecanusethevaryingstatusfieldstoorganizeourwork.

Themorefine-grainedpublicationprocessavailableindigitalpublicationalsoopenednew

questionsforus.Editorsdon’tliketoadmititwhenwecan’treadsomething,andwhenit

comestobookpublication,wemightreviewadocumentoverandoveruntilpublication,

tryingtoresolveanillegibleword.Withdigitalpublicationwehaveanopportunityto

publishpartsoftheeditionassoonastheyareready,andwealsohavetheopportunityto

correctproblemsseamlessly.Thisopensupthequestionofwhenatranscriptionisready

tobepublished.Shouldwepublishwhenthereareafewillegiblewords,ontheassumption

thatproviding95%ofatranscriptionisbetterthannone,orshouldwewaituntilwehave

goneoveritoverandover?Ithinkthatweshouldprovidethe95%nowandcontinue

improvingthetranscriptionaswego.Wewelcomehelpfromourreaders—wewantto

allowreaderstocomment,suggestreadingsofwordsorinterpretwhatadocumentis

sayinginthecommentsection.

AnnotationandContextualization

Oneofthethingsthateditionsdothatseparatethemfromdigitalarchivesisthatthey

providecontextforthetexts,usuallyinsomeformofannotation.Whileweareworkingon

traditionalprintvolumesthatwillhighlightaveryselectgroupofdocuments,wehadto

thinkcarefullyabouthowwewouldprovidecontextforreadersofthedigitaledition.With

over21,000documents,itwasnotfeasibletoprovidethesamekindofintensive

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annotationthatwewillcreateforthebookedition.Wedon'thavethestaffortimeforthat,

anditwouldreplicatetheworkdoneforprint.

Inmanyways,themetadatathatwegatheraroundeachdocumentservesasannotation.

Whenweidentifydates,authors,andassignsubjects,mappoints,andtagswearehelping

contextualizethedocumentsandarehelpingusersfinddocumentsthatarerelatedtotheir

interests.

Partoftheprocessofdecidinguponwhatmetadatawewanttogatheristryingtothink

aboutwhatourdifferentaudiencesmightbelookingfor.Howmightastudentresearcher

wanttoaccessdocumentsasopposedtoascholarorgraduatestudent?Howmightour

contributingarchiveswanttoseethedocumentstheyown?

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Wealsoneededthecapabilitytoaddcommentstoaspecificdocument,explainingissues

thatonlyrelatetothattext.Wemightnotethattheenclosuresmentionedinaletterwere

notfound,thatpage3ismissing,orclarifythedatingofadocument.Alloftheother

annotationswecreatearestand-alone,amainentryonthetopicthatislinkedtoevery

mention.

Whenwethoughtaboutwhatkindofinformationwecouldaddconsistently,weturnedto

thekindsofthingsthatmosthistorianslookfor--people,places,events,organizations,

andpublications.Aswewerealreadyhighlightingthoserelationshipsinthedocuments,

itseemedwellworthittoprovideashortidentificationofeachone.Weenvisioned

buildingasort-ofweb-basedencyclopediaofresourcesaboutJaneAddams'worldwhich

wouldserveasaresourceonitsown,aswellasawaytonavigatethedocuments.

20

Wegathermetadataaboutthesepeople,creatingarichnetworkoftheProgressiveEra,

includingpoliticiansandlaborers,womensuffrageleaders,peaceactivists,andChicago's

moversandshakers.Andasweentermoreandmoredocuments,ournetworkexpandsand

growsasAddamsbroadenedherreach.Manyofthesepeoplearenotreadilyfindableon

theweb,andourentriesprovidecitationsthatallowreaderstofindoutmore.Addams

beganherworklocallyinherneighborhood,thenexpandedtoChicago,tostate-level

activism,andthentothenationalstage.WearejustbeginningtoexploreAddams'

internationalconnections.Isitalotofwork?Yes,nodoubt,butitisworkthathelps

researcherswhethertheyareinterestedinJaneAddamsornot,anditprovidescontextfor

21

ourtexts.Readersdecidewhetherornottheywanttofollowthelinkstolearnmoreabout

thosedescribedinthedocuments.

Onethingthatmanydigitaleditionslackissubjectaccess.Manypeoplethinkthatifyou

cansearchthedocumenttextthatyoudon'tneedsubjects.Whiletextsearchingprovides

impressiveresults,itisnotthesameasaninterpretivesubjectindex.Anexamplemightbe

thecategory"JaneAddams,andfamily."Addamsrarelyusestheword"family"inthe

lettersshewrites,shemightuse"sister,""brother,"or"nephew,"butmoreoftennot.

EditorsgroupdocumentsinwhichAddamsdiscussesherfamilyorcorrespondswiththem

inawaythatexploresherrelationswiththem.

Subjectindexingisanintellectualprocessbywhichweanalyzedocumentcontentand

createasystemofknowledgetoorganizeit.Weexpecttoseeitinabook,butnot

necessarilyinadigitaledition.Withtheincreasednumbersofdocumentswecanfitintoa

digitaledition,subjectsearchingbecomesessential--ithelpsreaderscutthroughtheforest

tothetreesthattheyareinterestedin.Webuiltalistofsubjecttermstobeusedinthe

editionbyconsultingothereditions,historiesoftheProgressiveEra,andAddams

biographies.Wedooccasionallyaddnewsubjects,butusuallydoasearchtolocateany

previouslyentereddocumentsthatmighthavefitit.

Weonlytracksubjectsforthedocumenttexts,notforthebiographies,organizations,

eventsandpublications.Butwethinkthatsomereadersmightwantsubjectaccessto

thoseentries.Wedecidedtousetagsasabroaderlevelofsubjectaccess,butonethat

appliedbothtodocumentsandidentifications.Soifyousearchfor"Medicine"youwillget

documentsthatdiscussmedicine,healthcare,sicknesses,andmedicationaswellasentries

22

aboutdoctors,medicalconferences,andevents.Wethinkthatthisquicksortingofdigital

itemswillappealtopeoplewhoareexploringthemescoveredintheedition.

ReachingNewAudiences

Thepurposeofpreparingallthismetadata,digitizingimages,transcribing,andresearchis

toreachabroadaudience.Manyeditorsseetheirprimaryaudienceasasmallcommunity

ofscholars,butIthinkthatoneofthegreatestadvantagesofdigitalpublicationisthatwe

canreachmany,manymorepeople.SotheJaneAddamsPapersisgearedtowardsserving

thatbroadaudience,consistingofschoolkidsworkingonHistoryDayprojects,teachers

whowanttocreateprimary-sourceteachingmaterials,highschoolandcollegestudents

23

workingonpapers,genealogistsandindividualstryingtotracetheirfamilyhistory,and

thoseworkingforsocialchangewhoareinterestedintheirhistory.Scholarsanddigital

humaniststoo,ofcourse!Butifwearehonest,weknowthatscholarswillfindusand

knowhowtoreadthesedocuments--itisourmoregeneralaudiencewhoneedsaneasyto

navigateandflexiblewebsite.

Wewanttoexploreusingdigitaltoolstoanalyze,study,andpresentAddams'lifeandwork,

andtoenableotherstocreatetheirowndigitalworkbasedonourproject.Wewanttobe

abletoexportthedatawearegatheringonAddams'networks--trackingparticipationin

events,organizations,anddocuments--sothatinterestedscholarscanbuildsocialnetwork

diagramsandconductresearchonthechangesinAddams'networkovertime.How

interestingwoulditbetoseewhathappenedtoAddams'contactsduringWorldWarI,

whenshewasconsideredapariahforopposingthewar?Dothosewhocutheroffthen

returnby1931whenshewasawardedtheNobelPrize?Wecanlookatthehistorical

figuresthatAddamsdiscussesinherwritings,oranalyzethegenderofherassociatesto

seewhethersheworkedlargelyinacommunityofwomen.Wecanmaphercomingsand

goingsanddeterminehowmuch(orlittle)timeshewasspendingatHull-Houseinherlater

years.

ScholarsmaywanttorunAddams'writingsthroughtextanalysissoftwaretolookfor

changesinrhetoric,orcompareherwritingstomaleProgressivestoseedifferencesin

approachonsimilartopics.Toenablethesekindsofcollaborationweneedtoprovidean

easywaytoexportourdataforscholarlyuseinotherplatforms.

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Wealsowanttoreachouttothepublicandinvitethemtojoinoursite,andaskquestions

ormakecommentsonthedigitaledition.Wewanttobuildacrowdsourcingportalwhere

peoplecantranscribedocumentsorcreatemetadata.Wearethinkingaboutexperimenting

withallowingourreaderstoratedocuments,toenableanewsortingoption–highlighting

the"best"documentsonJaneAddams'viewsonpeace--whichmighthelpyoungerand

morecasualuserstofindthemostrelevantdocumentsquickly.Relyingoncrowdsourcing

toreplacestudentoreditorialworkisn'tourgoal,andIdon'tthinkthatthereisanywayto

guaranteeparticipation,buttherearesitesthathaveattractedgreatinterest.Ifwecan

buildacommittedgroupofvolunteers,wemaybeabletostartdigitizingothersectionsof

themicrofilm,likeAddams'searlyletters,theHull-Houserecords,orherdiaries.

Weareexploringtheideaofcreatingspacesforscholars,students,andteachersfortheir

ownresearchonAddams.Theycouldsavesearchesofdocuments,commentonthem,and

repurposethemfordigitalexhibits.Ateachermightpresentaseriesofdocumentswith

questionsforstudentstoanswer;ahighschoolstudentmightcreateanexhibitonanevent

ortopic,bringingintheirownillustrationsandwritingtheiranalysis.Ascholarmight

createanexhibitcomparingAddamstoanotherfigure,orembeddingdigitalmaps,

timelines,andvisualizationsthattheycreatedusingthedigitaledition.Wewouldwant

thesekindsofresearchtobeapartofthedigitaleditioninaseparatenavigationalspace,

butthinkthatseeinghowothersuseandinterpretthedocumentswillbeagreathelpto

ourreaders.Hostingtheircreationswillmakeoureditionaricherplace.

JustlastweekwereceivedfundingfromtheNewJerseyCouncilfortheHumanitiesto

exploreadditionaloutreachoptions.Wewillworkwithteacher'seducationstudentsat

25

RamapoCollegetocreateprimarysource-basedlessonplans,andwriteguidestohelp

middle-andhighschoolstudentsdevelopNationalHistoryDayprojects.Thisnational

programencouragesstudentstouseprimarysourcesfortheirinterpretations,andthe

competitionincludespresentationsattheregional,stateandnationallevelincategories

rangingfromindividualandgrouppapers,exhibits,websites,andperformances.Eachyear

theyfocusonbroadthemeslikethisyear's"TakingaStandinHistory."

ANewKindofEdition

WiththeJaneAddamsDigitalEdition,wearerethinkingourrolesasscholarlyeditors.

Publishingindigitalmediahadchangedwhateditionscanbeandwhousesthem.Free

digitalpublicationofhistoricaldocumentshasalreadyexpandedouraudienceinwaysthat

wecouldnotalwaysanticipate.WearenowoneGooglesearchawayfromthe3.6billion

peoplewithaccesstotheWorldWideWebandthatisaheadyresponsibility.6Ratherthan

continuedownanarrowpathdesignedforscholarlybookpublication,weneedtoopenup

theeditionandsharewhatwedowiththeworld.

Thankyou!

6InternetLiveStats(http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/)accessedonJune28,2017.