Notes from the Front: Resisting Maximalism in Your Minimal Edition
Minimal editions have become popular because they address the problem of curating texts under a set of constraints—practical, conceptual, technical, and editorial. But the encoding and publication workflows, even for minimal editions, run the risk of becoming bloated if the editor loses sight of the...
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| Pubblicato in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/jtei, |
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| Autore principale: | |
| Natura: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lingua: | Anglais |
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Journal of the Text Encoding Initiative
2026
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| Soggetti: | |
| Accesso online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Riassunto: | Minimal editions have become popular because they address the problem of curating texts under a set of constraints—practical, conceptual, technical, and editorial. But the encoding and publication workflows, even for minimal editions, run the risk of becoming bloated if the editor loses sight of the project’s priorities. Over a project’s life cycle, it is normal that these priorities will shift under the pressure of this or that constraint or challenge. Several authors have noted that minimal computing stacks displace complexity away from users and onto the editor or technical partner (Dombrowski 2022; Giannetti 2019; Hughes 2016). Identifying the necessary technical complexity is rarely easy. The author focuses on the latter two of Risam and Gil’s four-question heuristic for minimal computing—“what must we prioritize?” and “what are we willing to give up?”—to demonstrate the importance of reengaging with these questions as new challenges come to light (Risam and Gil 2022). This project paper explores the encounter of initial modeling and workflow plans with the shifting ground of project execution, providing substance for the hard decisions editors face amid evolving priorities and the need to curtail some plans. Documentation of best practices in this area will serve other editors who must make pragmatic choices in the service of local knowledge production. |
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