ANNULÉ/CANCELED: Introduction to automatic collation

This two-day course offers an introduction to the theory and the practice of automatic collation.

Collation is the practice of comparing texts in order to identify their variant forms. It is used in the preparation of critical editions, as well in genetic criticism and in the study of textual transmissions. More in general, the alignment of two or more texts, which is the basis of collation, can be useful for analysing text reuse and intertextuality. Computers have been used to automatize collation since the 60’s, but even though several examples of stable software are available nowadays, this tedious task is still often done by hand. This workshop will show participants how to take advantage of automatic collation tools in the field of textual and genetic criticism. A brief history of collation together with a reflection about the practices of the research community in Humanities and Social Sciences when working on the digital ecosystem will contextualise the analysis of the tools.

During the course, we will address the basic principles of the theory of automatic collation and briefly present a number of programs. In the hands-on part of the course, we will use CollateX, a collation software, to put into practice what the participants have learned. Eventually, the last part of the course can be devoted to find the right software and parameters for the use cases brought by the participants.

For whom

The course is open to students and researchers working with texts in any discipline.

Requirements. No prior knowledge of automatic collation nor programming is required.

Your materials. Participants will have the opportunity to send their texts in advance, so they can benefit from a personalised support during the course.

Installation. There is no need to install software to follow the course, because we will be using virtual machines. If, nevertheless, participants want to have their own installation, they may follow the instructions that they will receive after registration.

Invited Speaker

Elli Bleeker (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) : "What has been left out: The perks and pitfalls of multi-layered manuscripts." 26.03.2020, 17:15, Géopolis 2215

Elli Bleeker works as postdoctoral researcher in the Research and Development Team at the Humanities Cluster, part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. She specializes in digital scholarly editing and computational philology, with a focus on modern manuscripts, genetic criticism and semi-automated collation. As a Research Fellow in the Marie Sklodowska-Curie funded network DiXiT (2013 – 2017), she received advanced training in manuscript studies, text modeling, and XML technologies. She also enjoys spending time in archives looking for the forgotten writers from the 20th century.

Inscription: Alexandre.Camus@unil.ch