This talk was given at the Textual Digital Humanities and Social Sciences: Data > Interpretation > Understanding workshop, 21–21 September 2015, at the University of Aberdeen: http://www.dotrural.ac.uk/digitalhumanitiesworkshop/.

1. Historical Text at Scale:
"grand designes of good learning"?
Pip Willcox
Co-ordinator, Centre for Digital Scholarship
Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
@pipwillcox
DIGITAL HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES WORKSHOP
21–22 SEPTEMBER 2015
UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN

2. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
JOHN GAUDEN, A SERMON PREACHED IN ST. PAULS CHURCH LONDON … FEBRUARY 28, 1659 BEING A DAY OF
SOLEMN THANKSGIVING UNTO GOD FOR RESTORING OF THE EXCLUDED MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT TO THE HOUSE
OF COMMONS (1660). VIA EEBO — HTTP://GATEWAY.PROQUEST.COM/OPENURL?
CTX_VER=Z39.88-2003&RES_ID=XRI:EEBO&RFT_ID=XRI:EEBO:IMAGE:40619:55
Revolutionized research?
"as an Oke / cometh of a lytel spyre"
EEBO-TCP: a case study
A future: curated, collaborative, augmented,
connected, social, open?
GEOFFREY CHAUCER, TROILUS AND CRISEYDE (1483). VIA EEBO — HTTP://GATEWAY.PROQUEST.COM/OPENURL?
CTX_VER=Z39.88-2003&RES_ID=XRI:EEBO&RFT_ID=XRI:EEBO:IMAGE:9311:35

3. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Revolutionized research?
"as an Oke / cometh of a lytel spyre"
EEBO-TCP: a case study
A future: curated, collaborative, augmented,
connected, social, open?
ANON. A TRUE AND PERFECT DESCRIPTION OF THE STRANGE AND WONDERFUL SHE-ELEPHANT, SENT FROM THE
INDIES, WHICH ARRIVED AT LONDON, AUGUST 1. 1683. WITH THE TRUE PORTRAICTURE OF THAT WONDER IN NATURE
(LONDON: 1683). ASHM. H 24 [42]. IMAGE: BODLEIAN LIBRARIES.
FUNDING:
THE ELEPHANT
IN THE ROOM

4. Early English Books Online
Subscription resource
Metadata and images
HTTP://EEBO.CHADWYCK.COM Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

5. Early English Books Online
HTTP://EEBO.CHADWYCK.COM Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

6. Text Creation Partnership
Not-for-profit subscription resource
Led by the Universities of Oxford and Michigan
Discoverable, searchable, reusable, augmentable,
sustainable, digital, full texts
HTTP://WWW.TEXTCREATIONPARTNERSHIP.ORG/ Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

7. Text Creation Partnership
HTTP://WWW.TEXTCREATIONPARTNERSHIP.ORG/ Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

8. EEBO-TCP at a glance
Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
ANON, THOMAS JEMMY RETURN'D, OR, THE NATIONS JOY A PLEASANT NEW BALLAD : TO THE TUNE OF LET
TRAYTORS PLOT ON (1682). VIA EEBO — HTTP://GATEWAY.PROQUEST.COM/OPENURL?
CTX_VER=Z39.88-2003&RES_ID=XRI:EEBO&RFT_ID=XRI:EEBO:CITATION:27158482

9. EEBO-TCP at a glance
Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
ANON, THOMAS JEMMY RETURN'D, OR, THE NATIONS JOY A PLEASANT NEW BALLAD : TO THE TUNE OF LET
TRAYTORS PLOT ON (1682). VIA EEBO — HTTP://GATEWAY.PROQUEST.COM/OPENURL?
CTX_VER=Z39.88-2003&RES_ID=XRI:EEBO&RFT_ID=XRI:EEBO:CITATION:27158482

10. EEBO-TCP at a glance
Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
ANON, THOMAS JEMMY RETURN'D, OR, THE NATIONS JOY A PLEASANT NEW BALLAD : TO THE TUNE OF LET
TRAYTORS PLOT ON (1682). VIA EEBO — HTTP://GATEWAY.PROQUEST.COM/OPENURL?
CTX_VER=Z39.88-2003&RES_ID=XRI:EEBO&RFT_ID=XRI:EEBO:CITATION:27158482

11. EEBO-TCP at a glance
Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
ANON, THOMAS JEMMY RETURN'D, OR, THE NATIONS JOY A PLEASANT NEW BALLAD : TO THE TUNE OF LET
TRAYTORS PLOT ON (1682). VIA EEBO — HTTP://GATEWAY.PROQUEST.COM/OPENURL?
CTX_VER=Z39.88-2003&RES_ID=XRI:EEBO&RFT_ID=XRI:EEBO:CITATION:27158482

12. Reusable, recyclable, repurposable...*
Distant reading — VARD, Morph Adorner, DocuScope, Duhaime and Zimmer,
Linguistic DNA
HTTP://UCREL.LANCS.AC.UK/VARD/ABOUT/
HTTP://MORPHADORNER.NORTHWESTERN.EDU/
HTTPS://WWW.CMU.EDU/HSS/ENGLISH/RESEARCH/DOCUSCOPE.HTML
HTTP://DOUGLASDUHAIME.COM/BLOG/CO-CITATION-NETWORKS-IN-THE-EEBO-TCP-CORPUS
HTTP://HRIDIGITAL.SHEF.AC.UK/LINGUISTIC-DNA
HTTP://VERSEMISCELLANIESONLINE.BODLEIAN.OX.AC.UK/
HTTP://WWW.FOLGER.EDU/
HTTPS://WWW.KCL.AC.UK/ARTSHUMS/CENTRES/LSC/PEOPLE/STAFF/ACADEMIC/LIZSCOTTB.ASPX
Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Close reading — Verse Miscellanies Online, F21, FORM: (Forms Online:
Renaissance to Modern)

13. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Early English Print in the HathiTrust
CORYATE, THOMAS, THOMAS CORIATE TRAUELLER FOR THE ENGLISH VVITS: GREETING FROM THE COURT OF THE GREAT MOGUL, RESIDENT AT THE TOWNE OF ASMERE, IN EASTERNE INDIA (LONDON:
1616). VIA EEBO — HTTP://GATEWAY.PROQUEST.COM/OPENURL?CTX_VER=Z39.88-2003&RES_ID=XRI:EEBO&RFT_ID=XRI:EEBO:IMAGE:9182
ANON, A FULL AND TRUE RELATION OF THE ELEPHANT THAT IS BROUGHT OVER INTO ENGLAND FROM THE INDIES, AND LANDED AT LONDON, AUGUST 3D. 1675. GIVING LIKEWISE A TRUE ACCOUNT OF
THE WONDERFUL NATURE, UNDERSTANDING, BREEDING, TAKING AND TAMING OF ELEPHANTS (LONDON, 1675). VIA EEBO: HTTP://GATEWAY.PROQUEST.COM/OPENURL?
CTX_VER=Z39.88-2003&RES_ID=XRI:EEBO&RFT_ID=XRI:EEBO:IMAGE:184581.
KevinPageandPipWillcox

14. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Genesis of EEBO
PipWillcox

15. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Genesis of EEBO
PipWillcox
BodleianLibraries
A.R., TRUE AND WONDERFULL… (1614). 4° R 21(5) ART. SELD., TITLE PAGE:
HTTP://SOLO.BODLEIAN.OX.AC.UK/OXVU1:OXFALEPH014672096
IMAGE: BODLEIAN LIBRARIES

16. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Genesis of EEBO
PipWillcox
A.R., TRUE AND WONDERFULL… (1614). 4° R 21(5) ART. SELD., TITLE PAGE:
HTTP://SOLO.BODLEIAN.OX.AC.UK/OXVU1:OXFALEPH014672096
IMAGE: BODLEIAN LIBRARIES

17. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Genesis of EEBO
PipWillcox
A.R., TRUE AND WONDERFULL… (1614). 4° R 21(5) ART. SELD., TITLE PAGE:
HTTP://SOLO.BODLEIAN.OX.AC.UK/OXVU1:OXFALEPH014672096
IMAGE: BODLEIAN LIBRARIES

18. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Genesis of EEBO
PipWillcox
A.R., TRUE AND WONDERFULL… (1614). 4° R 21(5) ART. SELD., TITLE PAGE:
HTTP://SOLO.BODLEIAN.OX.AC.UK/OXVU1:OXFALEPH014672096
IMAGE: BODLEIAN LIBRARIES
PipWillcox

19. ‘MICROFILM READER, NEW ZEALAND ROOM’, FROM FLICKR PHOTOGRAPHER BY CHRISTCHURCH CITY LIBRARIES.
HTTPS://WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/CHRISTCHURCHCITYLIBRARIES/3299220887/ CC-NC-ND
‘MICROFILM REELS’, FROM FLICKR PHOTOGRAPHER UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY
HTTPS://WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/ILLINOISLIBRARY/13434414483/ CC-BY
‘MICROFILM BOX AND REEL’, FROM FLICKR PHOTOGRAPHER SCARC.
HTTPS://WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/OSUARCHIVES/2709973933/ CC-NC-SA
Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Genesis of EEBO
PipWillcox

20. Remediation
HTTP://WWW.TEXTCREATIONPARTNERSHIP.ORG/ Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print Microfilm
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access

21. Print, 1473–1700
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Printed material from 200 major libraries, led by:
British Library (48,312)
Henry E. Huntington Library (19,405)
Bodleian Library (12,980)
Harvard University Library (7,695)
Corpus enriched by small and single-item libraries:
Colleges from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge
Royal College of Music
Patent Office Library
American Antiquarian Society
Cambridge University Library (5,699)
Folger Shakespeare Library (4,531)
University of Illinois (3,329)
National Library of Scotland (2,439)
Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

22. Microfilm
Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
University Microfilm International (UMI), later ProQuest
Early English Books 1
Short Title Catalogue I (Pollard and Redgrave), 1473–1640
30,890 titles
Early English Books 2
Short Title Catalogue II (Wing), 1641–1700
64,343 titles
Thomason Tracts
>44,000 items
The Early English Books Tract Supplement
Ongoing filming

23. Digital images
Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Early English Books Online
Chadwyck Healey, later ProQuest
>131,000 titles
>22,000,000 pages
MARC Records
Monochrome (recent additions scanned directly in
greyscale)
HTTP://EEBO.CHADWYCK.COM

24. Digital editions
HTTP://WWW.TEXTCREATIONPARTNERSHIP.ORG/ Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership
Subscription resource
>150 consortium members
Led by the Universities of Oxford and Michigan
Vendor-transcribed, partially proofed, encoded full-text
digital editions
25,363 text in Phase I
53,718 texts currently available
~70,000 texts will be available

25. Manual keying
HTTP://WWW.TEXTCREATIONPARTNERSHIP.ORG/ Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Variety in early modern typefaces
Text obscured by smudging, blurring, bookworms,
etc.
Eyes better than computers at irregular shape
recognition
Humans have a sense of ‘nonsense’
Guessing discouraged to avoid introduction of
errors
“Non-expert” keyers

26. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Manual keying

27. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Manual keying
RAPHAEL HOLINSHED, THE FIRSTE VOLUME OF THE CHRONICLES OF ENGLAND, SCOTLANDE, AND IRELANDE…
(1577), STC13568A. IMAGE FROM EARLY ENGLISH BOOKS ONLINE:
HTTP://GATEWAY.PROQUEST.COM/OPENURL?CTX_VER=Z39.88-2003&RES_ID=XRI:EEBO&RFT_ID=XRI:EEBO:IMAGE:
20076

28. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Manual tagging
Some things we tag:
Opening material: salutes, arguments
Closing material: signatures, dates, datelines, postscripts
Letters
Speakers & stage directions
Quotations, bibliographic references, epigraphs
Notes, milestones
Lists, tables

29. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Manual tagging
…and some things we don’t:
Non-Roman alphabets: Greek, Hebrew, Ethiopic…
Complex mathematical material
Music
Illegible characters
Handwritten material
Damaged or missing material

30. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Manual review
Proof-reading 5% or 5 pages of each text
99.995% accuracy, or 1 error in 20,000 characters
“Illegible” characters supplied
Where texts have <100
If not correctable, left as illegible

31. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Manual review
Assess encoded structure of text
Edit existing encoding to reflect structure
Assign <div> “type” attributes, e.g. title page, preface
Add additional tagging
Validate XML
Check against TCP guidelines
HTTP://WWW.TEXTCREATIONPARTNERSHIP.ORG/DOCS/DOX/
CHEAT.HTML

32. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Structure can be simple
Textual structure

33. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
…or complex and regular
Textual structure

34. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
…or complex and extraordinary
Textual structure

35. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Semantic structure

36. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Access
Early English Books Online:
http://eebo.chadwyck.com/
Text Creation Partnership:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebogroup/
University of Chicago Philologic:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/EEBO/
JISC Historical Texts:
http://historicaltexts.jisc.ac.uk/

37. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Open access
Phase I texts available as HTML, ePUB, and TEI P5 XML via
the Oxford Text Archive:
http://ota.ox.ac.uk/tcp/
Retrieving Phase I texts via GitHub:
https://github.com/textcreationpartnership/
Email: eebotcp@bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Download the full corpus of EEBO-TCP Phase I:
https://umich.box.com/s/nfdp6hz228qtbl2hwhhb
HTTP://WWW.BODLEIAN.OX.AC.UK/EEBOTCP/

38. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
GEORGE WITHER, THE GREAT ASSISES HOLDEN IN PARNASSUS BY APOLLO AND HIS ASSESOURS: AT WHICH SESSION
ARE ARRAIGNED MERCURIUS BRITANICUS. MERCURIUS AULICUS. MERCURIUS CIVICUS. THE SCOUT. THE WRITER
OF DIURNALLS. THE INTELLIGENCER. THE WRITER OF OCCURRENCES. THE WRITER OF PASSAGES. THE POST.
THE SPYE. THE WRITER OF WEEKLY ACCOUNTS. THE SCOTTISH DOVE, &C. (1645).. VIA EEBO — HTTP://
GATEWAY.PROQUEST.COM/OPENURL?CTX_VER=Z39.88-2003&RES_ID=XRI:EEBO&RFT_ID=XRI:EEBO:CITATION:
99871002
Destination

39. HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/DDER/STATUS/455707549593919490/PHOTO/1
Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
DavidDeRoure Research Objects

40. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Provenance
Analogue and digital
Conditions for re-use
Editorial principles
HTTP://WWW.BODLEIAN.OX.AC.UK/EEBOTCP/

41. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Access means more than availability
International Standards
Separate data and interface
“Future-proof”
HTTP://WWW.BODLEIAN.OX.AC.UK/EEBOTCP/
Access

42. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
International Standards
Separate data and interface
“Future-proof”
HTTP://HQDESKTOP.NET/WALLPAPERS/L/1440X900/44/TWITTER_ADVERTISEMENT_WEBSITE_PORTUGUESE_SKYPE_OLD_FASHION_1440X900_43938.JPG
Access

43. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Re-use: data
Presentation, resource discovery, transmission, re-use
Collective, citizen effort
Social data
Sustainable resources
HTTP://WWW.BODLEIAN.OX.AC.UK/EEBOTCP/

44. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Print
Microfil
m
Digitized
image
Digital
edition
Digital
access
Re-use: people
Partnerships of respect
construction of knowledge
Credit
creating, curating, enhancing, funding
Sustainable expertise
Sustainable careers
HTTP://WWW.BODLEIAN.OX.AC.UK/EEBOTCP/

45. Bodleian Libraries
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Acknowledgements
David De Roure’s The R Dimensions: https://twitter.com/dder/status/
455707549593919490/photo/1
EEBO: http://eebo.chadwyck.com
TCP: http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/
The University of Michigan EEBO-TCP team, led by Paul Schaffner and
Rebecca Welzenbach
The University of Oxford EEBO-TCP team: Jonathan Blaney, Simon
Charles, Amanda Flynn, Emma Huber, Colm MacCrossan, Judith
Siefring, David Tomkins, Pip Willcox
Early English Print in the HathiTrust: Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller, Kevin Page,
David Weigl, Pip Willcox