Hi everyone,
My name is Gabrielle, but please call me Gaby! I’m a
first-year MI student in the Library and Information Science concentration. I
have an Honours B.A. from the University of Toronto with a Specialist in
English.
During my undergraduate studies, I became captivated by the
language, literature, and imagery of the Early Modern period. I was fascinated
by its tumultuous politics, and the seeming contradiction between the
technological progress of the period and the renewed interest in the Classics. Some
of my favourite poets, including Sir Thomas Wyatt, Shakespeare, and Spenser
wrote during this time. And it spawned some of the quirkiest texts I’ve ever
read (case in point, William Baldwin’s “Beware the Cat”)!
It was also during this time that I was introduced to the
field of information studies and, more specifically, the digital humanities.
One of my assignments entailed using an electronic archive of primary source texts to create a critical edition of a poem. After completing the assignment,
I realized how crucial digital libraries and archives are in facilitating access
to primary sources. I think it was at this point that I decided to pursue librarianship, and I wound up here at the iSchool.
My interests include critical and editorial theory, and the
digitization of historical texts. I’m particularly interested in exploring how
historical texts and print material can be digitized, presented and experienced
in new and interactive ways. Another area of interest includes the convergence
of the visual and the textual, especially how images can inform (or detract
from!) text and vice versa.
I’m looking forward to exploring the concepts in this course
with all of you!
Gaby
Sounds like this is definitely the right course for you, Gaby!
ReplyDeleteThat assignment sounds really fascinating! It also seems a bit similar to what we are doing in the encoding project for this class. What poem did you look at? What was the process like? It's so wonderful when assignments for classes end up being personally meaningful like that!
ReplyDeleteYes, it was a really interesting project! I created an edition of an obscure, untitled poem from the 1593 edition of The Phoenix Nest (most likely composed by Sir Edward Dyer, but even that is debated!). The first line began "Alas my hart, mine eie hath wronged thee..."
ReplyDeleteThe editorial process was really engaging; it involved collating different versions of the printed text, selecting a copy text, choosing words to gloss, and writing a final essay outlining (and in some cases justifying) editorial decisions.
I agree with you that it was very similar to our encoding challenge. Although it didn't involve XML, I think the encoding and editorial principles underpinning the assignment were the same!