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Chapter 1 THE INTERNET MEDIEVAL SOURCEBOOK

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Digital Medieval Studies—Experimentation and Innovation
This chapter is in the book Digital Medieval Studies—Experimentation and Innovation
Chapter 1THEINTERNETMEDIEVALSOURCEBOOKPAULHALSALLandMARYANNEKOWALESKIthis chapter exaMines the development of a pioneering digital humanities project called the Internet Medieval Sourcebook (IMS) by outlining the original goals of the Sourcebook, noting the factors that shaped its subsequent expansion, addressing the challenges that the project’s digital format posed, and drawing on usage data to ana-lyze how the Sourcebook’s audience interacts with the site. The IMS originally consisted of two major parts. The first was made up of short classroom­sized extracts, derived from public domain sources or copy­permitted translations, while the second was com-posed of the full documents, or links to the full documents elsewhere on the web. It rap-idly evolved, however, to become part of a much broader Internet History Sourcebooks Project (IHSP) that guided users to sources through a series of focused indexes.The choice to present a wide range of medieval primary sources on a digital platform offered significant advantages over the traditional print reader of sources assigned in most medieval history courses. The audience for IMS, for example, widened to include students, teachers, and the general public. Because the Internet Medieval Sourcebook can curate and provide thousands of translated primary sources from the Middle Ages, it also offers teachers and students far more choices since the digital medium does not have the limits on length imposed by print publications. Indeed, the flexibility of the digital format has facilitated the addition of sources beyond those dealing with west-ern European political and institutional history that predominate in print readers—not only more texts on Byzantium and Islam, but also ones focusing upon gender, sexuality, and the non­elite. Finally, the digital format provides four other major benefits. First, the translated primary sources are available free of charge, which considerably reduces costs for students. Second, the varied subject categories and digital navigation afford users multiple paths to enter and explore the available sources. Third, the digital format permits easy searching, both internal and through search engines, and fourth, it allows educators to embed links to sources in syllabuses and to custom organize such sources for each course they teach.Paul Halsall, Internet History Sourcebook Project.Maryanne Kowaleski, Department of History and Center for Medieval Studies, Fordham University.
© 2024 Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam

Chapter 1THEINTERNETMEDIEVALSOURCEBOOKPAULHALSALLandMARYANNEKOWALESKIthis chapter exaMines the development of a pioneering digital humanities project called the Internet Medieval Sourcebook (IMS) by outlining the original goals of the Sourcebook, noting the factors that shaped its subsequent expansion, addressing the challenges that the project’s digital format posed, and drawing on usage data to ana-lyze how the Sourcebook’s audience interacts with the site. The IMS originally consisted of two major parts. The first was made up of short classroom­sized extracts, derived from public domain sources or copy­permitted translations, while the second was com-posed of the full documents, or links to the full documents elsewhere on the web. It rap-idly evolved, however, to become part of a much broader Internet History Sourcebooks Project (IHSP) that guided users to sources through a series of focused indexes.The choice to present a wide range of medieval primary sources on a digital platform offered significant advantages over the traditional print reader of sources assigned in most medieval history courses. The audience for IMS, for example, widened to include students, teachers, and the general public. Because the Internet Medieval Sourcebook can curate and provide thousands of translated primary sources from the Middle Ages, it also offers teachers and students far more choices since the digital medium does not have the limits on length imposed by print publications. Indeed, the flexibility of the digital format has facilitated the addition of sources beyond those dealing with west-ern European political and institutional history that predominate in print readers—not only more texts on Byzantium and Islam, but also ones focusing upon gender, sexuality, and the non­elite. Finally, the digital format provides four other major benefits. First, the translated primary sources are available free of charge, which considerably reduces costs for students. Second, the varied subject categories and digital navigation afford users multiple paths to enter and explore the available sources. Third, the digital format permits easy searching, both internal and through search engines, and fourth, it allows educators to embed links to sources in syllabuses and to custom organize such sources for each course they teach.Paul Halsall, Internet History Sourcebook Project.Maryanne Kowaleski, Department of History and Center for Medieval Studies, Fordham University.
© 2024 Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. CONTENTS iv
  3. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vi
  4. Introduction DIGITAL MEDIEVAL STUDIES PASTS, PRESENTS, FUTURES 1
  5. Chapter 1 THE INTERNET MEDIEVAL SOURCEBOOK 17
  6. Chapter 2 MEDART: IMAGES OF MEDIEVAL ART AND ARCHITECTURE AND THE CREATION OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB 41
  7. Chapter 3 THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW 69
  8. Chapter 4 MAPPING GOTHIC AN ESSAY 83
  9. Chapter 5 A HISTORY OF THE ELECTRONIC CANTERBURY TALES 99
  10. Chapter 6 MEDIEVALISTS.NET: A PERSONAL HISTORY 119
  11. Chapter 7 DIGITAL SCRIPTORIUM: KEEPING UP WITH THE TIMES 133
  12. Chapter 8 WHEN NEW PHILOLOGY MET THE INTERNET: A RECOLLECTION 157
  13. INDEX 173
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9781802702330-003

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. CONTENTS iv
  3. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vi
  4. Introduction DIGITAL MEDIEVAL STUDIES PASTS, PRESENTS, FUTURES 1
  5. Chapter 1 THE INTERNET MEDIEVAL SOURCEBOOK 17
  6. Chapter 2 MEDART: IMAGES OF MEDIEVAL ART AND ARCHITECTURE AND THE CREATION OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB 41
  7. Chapter 3 THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW 69
  8. Chapter 4 MAPPING GOTHIC AN ESSAY 83
  9. Chapter 5 A HISTORY OF THE ELECTRONIC CANTERBURY TALES 99
  10. Chapter 6 MEDIEVALISTS.NET: A PERSONAL HISTORY 119
  11. Chapter 7 DIGITAL SCRIPTORIUM: KEEPING UP WITH THE TIMES 133
  12. Chapter 8 WHEN NEW PHILOLOGY MET THE INTERNET: A RECOLLECTION 157
  13. INDEX 173
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