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Collatex

CollateX is a software to

  1. read multiple (≥ 2) versions of a text, splitting each version into parts (tokens) to be compared,
  2. identify similarities of and differences between the versions (including moved/transposed segments) by aligning tokens, and
  3. output the alignment results in a variety of formats for further processing, for instance
  4. to support the production of a critical apparatusor the stemmatical analysis of a text’s genesis.

Footprints: Jewish Books through Time and Place

The Footprints projects is a growing database of records that aim to track the circulation of printed “Jewish books” across time and space. Though the great majority of records come from the early modern period and beyond, there are currently over 200 entries from the invention of the printing press to the end of the 16th century.

The database tracks interactions with printed books through what it calls “footprints,” which is the project’s terminology for users’ interactions with books through marginalia, ownership marks, and numerous other qualities. The project features advanced search functionality that allows a user to search by time, place, and various textual and physical properties of the printed books. There is also visualization capability to show the path of books and holdings in various repositories around the world.

Additionally, an active community of users exists on the site as well as a blog that is updated regularly.

Glossarial Concordance to Middle English

Housed at Johns Hopkins University, the Glossarial Concordance to Middle English is a database of words and their locations in texts derived from the Chaucer and Gower’s poetic works. The creators hope to expand the platform to other Middle English authors in the future. Drawing primarily from Larry Benson’s Riverside Chaucer in addition to the compiled works of Gower, the database allows a user to make complex searches for terms and phrases in those authors’ works. For an entry, the Concordance presents the text’s title and the line number at which it appears.

The site also interacts with the Middle English Dictionary to allow a user to search by dictionary headword. Searching is made simpler through the use of predictive text, so that as a user begins typing, the Concordance offers possible matches in the search box. The site invites users to contact the creators if they would like to add a text. Additionally, the source code for the project is made available on GitHub.

Measuring Polyphony

Measuring Polyphony is an ongoing project by researchers at Brandeis University and McGill University to digitally transcribe and notate polyphonic musical texts from manuscripts of the 13th and 14th centuries. As of 2020, the project presents around fifty musical pieces and has plans for growth. Currently, most of the transcribed musical texts are in Latin or French. Each entry presents musical texts in medieval mensural and modern notations. For some entries, the project presents manuscript images in IIIF format to compare against the marked-up scores. Pieces also include audio recordings of their performance in addition to downloadable data for each piece in MEI and PDF format.

Measuring Polyphony is committed to open-source data and has made the encoding process clear. The project also makes available all of its data in XML and MEI format and also provides access to its software apparatus on GitHub.