Bryn Mawr CollegeScholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn MawrCollege
Women's History in the Digital World Women's History in the Digital World 2017
Jul 7th, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
The Big Picture: Conceiving a Digital Edition ofJane Addams' PapersCathy Moran HajoRamapo College of New Jersey
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Hajo, Cathy Moran, "The Big Picture: Conceiving a Digital Edition of Jane Addams' Papers" (2017). Women's History in the DigitalWorld. 8.http://repository.brynmawr.edu/greenfield_conference/2017/Friday/8
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Women'sHistoryintheDigitalWorld,July6,2017.
Earlyin2014,whenIwasworkingattheMargaretSangerPapers,Iwasapproachedbyone
ofourfederalfunders--theNationalHistoricalPublicationsandRecordsCommission,or
NHPRC.TheSangerPapershadalmostfinisheditsworkonourfour-volumebookedition
andtheJaneAddamsPapersneededaneweditor.WasIinterestedintakingiton?
TheJaneAddamsPaperswas,liketheSangerProject,oneofahandfulofwomen’seditions
startedinthe1970sand1980sasmicrofilmeditions.
2
JaneAddams,bornin1860,wasanAmericansocialworker,Progressivephilosopherand
activistforpeace,womansuffrage,childlaborreform,andsocialwelfare.Addamsisbest
knownforco-foundingChicago’sHull-House,asocialsettlementin1889.Theauthorof
elevenbooks,hundredsofarticlesandspeeches,AddamswontheNobelPeacePrizein
1931.Atherdeathin1935,theNewYorkTimescalledher"perhaps,theworld'sbest-
knownandbest-lovedwoman."1
TheAddamsPaperswasoneofthefirstwomen’seditions,begunin1976byMaryLynn,
almosttenyearsbeforetheSangerProject.
1"JaneAddams,AFoeofWarandNeed,"NewYorkTimes,May22,1935.
3
Afterpublishingan83-reelmicrofilmandadetailedsubjectindexby1995,Bryanandher
editorialteamwereworkingonasix-volumeprinteditionofJaneAddams'papers.They
publishedtwovolumesandwereworkingonathirdvolume,coveringtheyears1899-
1900.BryanwasreadytoretireaftercompletingVolume3,buthadnotbeenabletofinda
successor.
TheNHPRCwasprimarilyinterestedinensuringthatthebookeditionwouldbecompleted,
butfromthefirst,Iwantedtocreateadigitaledition.Backin2009,whenIgavethe
presidentialaddresstotheAssociationforDocumentaryEditing,2Ichallengedtheediting
2CathyMoranHajo,"ScholarlyEditinginaWeb2.0World,"October16,2009.
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communitytoreachforbroaderaudiencesthroughdigitaltechnology.Ibelievedthen,and
evenmorestronglynow,thatprovidingfreeaccesstoasmanydocumentsaswecould
mustbeourprimarygoal.Thatmeantrevisitingthemicrofilmratherthandigitizingthe
existingbooks,whichonlyrepresentabout3%ofthepapers.AndIwantedthose
documentstoreachthebroadestaudiencepossible,includingstudentsbothyoungand
old.Inmanyways,asIthoughtaboutwhethertotakeonthisproject,Ithoughtaboutthat
speechandrealizedthatitwastimetoputmymoneywheremymouthwas.
Wherewouldwehostit?Howwouldwebuildit?Andhowshouldbeenvisionit?
InstitutionalHostIcontactedRamapoCollegeofNewJersey,asmallstateliberalartscollege,abouthosting
theAddamsPapers.ItwasmyalmamaterandIhadworkedcloselywiththemwhileI
workedattheSangerPapers,supervisingRamapointernsandjoiningtheiralumniboard.
WhentheAddamsopportunityarose,IworkedwithDeanStephenRiceoftheSalameno
SchoolofHumanitiesandGlobalStudiestodevelopaprojectthatworkedtomeetoneof
theCollege'sfundamentalgoals--providingstudentswithhands-onworkindigital
humanities,providingthemwithexperienceworkingwithprimarysources,andworkingin
publichistory.Addams'workinsocialwelfarewasalsoofinteresttotheCollege'sschool
ofsocialwork,andherinternationalconnectionsofferedanopportunitytoexplorethe
historyoftheearly20thcenturyinglobalterms.
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CopyrightAswithallprojects,oneofthefirststepswastothinkthroughpermissionsand
copyright.Nothingcouldproceedwithoutthat.JaneAddams'unpublishedwritingsarein
publicdomain.Check!Themajorrepositoriesofherpapers,theSwarthmorePeace
CollectionandtheUniversityofIllinoisatChicagowereenthusiastic.Check!Andperhaps
mostsurprisingly,themicrofilmpublisher,Proquest,agreedaswell.Check!Wewould
havetocleartherestofthepermissionsandcopyright,butitwasdo-able.
LegacyDataOneimportantquestionwaswhethertheAddamsPapershadcreatedadatabaseto
controlinformationonthedocuments,becausethatwouldhelpdeterminehowwewould
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approachcreatingadigitaledition.Theyhadnot.Insomeways,thismadethingseasier
forus,ifabitmoretime-consuming.Wedidnothavetoworkwithlegacydataortryto
wrestleitintosomemoremodernsystem.Itmeantthatwecouldthinkcreativelyabout
whattheAddamsdigitaleditionshouldbeandwhatitshoulddo.
Whatwehadtoworkwithwasthemicrofilmitselfandtheguideandindex.
TheJaneAddamsMicrofilmandGuideTheAddamsPaperscontainscorrespondence,legaldocuments,financialrecords,diaries
andcalendars,writings,andAddams'referencefiles.Italsoincludestherecordsofthe
Hull-HouseAssociation,boardminutes,realestatesandfinancialrecords,recordsofthe
manyactivitiesandgroupsthatmetthere,scrapbooksandreportsofactivitiesand
researchconductedthere.Italsoincludesafileofnewspaperclippings.
TheAddamsPapersconductedasearchfordocumentsfrom1975-1983,queryingover
1,000archives,libraries,andmajornewspapers.Iknewthatwewouldneedtorevisitthe
search,asmorearchivalcollectionshavebeendepositedanddescribedsince1983,and
becausetheInternetnowallowsustolocatecollectionsinfar-flungarchivesfromour
desks.Aquicksearchofarchivalandnewspaperdatabasespointedtosome75collections
thatneededtobesearched.
TheAddamsmicrofilmguideisunique,Ithink,inthatittriedtoindexsubjects.Itseditors
indexeddocumentsbyauthorandrecipient,butalsoindexedmentionsofpeople.Forlarge
topics,likeJaneAddams,Hull-House,andtheWomen'sInternationalLeagueforPeaceand
Freedom,theyprovidedsomesubjectaccess.Itwasn'tasdetailedasabookindex,butit
certainlyofferedsomeguidance.Strangely,though,theindexdidnotindicatedocument
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dates,whichmadeitabitmoredifficulttouse.Theguidealsoincludedalistingofall
correspondencebydate,organizedby"lettersfrom"and"lettersto"JaneAddams.Thislist
doesnotincludeanynames.Thisallowedmeto,slowly,countthenumbersofdocuments
ineachyear,whichhelpedmegetabettersenseoftheextentoftheproject.
Idecidedtofocusfirstoncorrespondenceandwritingsfirst.Iwantedtoworkwith
Addams'diariesaswell--which,sadly,aremorelikeappointmentbooksthanreflective
notesonherlife--butImovedthemtothesecondtierafterseeinghowdifficulttheyareto
read.Theymaybemoreusefultoresearchersasaspreadsheetandmappedchronology
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thanastexts.Lookingonlyatcorrespondenceandwritings,Icountedabout21,000
documents.
Butthentherewasthehandwriting!
OnelookatAddams'hastyscrawlandIknewthatsimplyprovidingdigitalimagesofthese
documents,evenifrichwithdescription,wouldnotmakethemaccessibletoabroad
audience.Students,thegeneralpublic,youngerpeopleingeneral,heck,evenIhadtrouble
readingsomeofthem!Whileafairpercentageofthedocumentsonthemicrofilmwere
typed,thehandwritingwouldserveasarealbarriertowideuse.Whileitwasonethingto
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createmetadataandimagesfor21,000documents,itwasanothertoalsoprovide
transcriptions.
Transcribingdocumentsisanessentialeditorialtask.Itmakesdifficulttextslegible,andin
adigitalmedium,alsomakesthemsearchable.Adding21,000transcriptionstoourdigital
editionwouldaddanewdimensiontotheprojectandmanymorehoursofwork.Butit
wouldmaketheeditionmuchmoreusefultoouraudience.Wehadtothinkthrough:
• Howwewantedtorepresentdifficulttext--wordsthatwecan'tread,orwordsthat
werecrossedoutoroverwritten.
• Howwewantedtodealwithmisspelledorabbreviatedwords.
• Howwewanteduserstosearchtranscriptions.
Anditwasatthispointthatweneededtogivesomehardthoughttothetechnological
platformwewoulduse.
PlatformsForagoodtwentyfiveyearswehavebeentoldthatscholarlyeditionshadtouseXML
becauseitwasplatformindependentandallowedrichcontentencodingofdocuments.I
hadworkedonasmalldigitaleditionofMargaretSanger'sspeechesandarticles,which
wasbuiltusingtheTextEncodingInitiativeandXML.3Inthateditionweusedencoding
totrackpeople,organizations,andtitlesofworksmentioned.Weusedmetadatastoredin
theTEIheadertoidentifytheauthor,date,publicationsource,anddevelopedadetailedlist
3"JaneAddams,AFoeofWarandNeed,"NewYorkTimes,May22,1935.
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ofsubjects.WhileTEIandXMLarepowerfultools,itseemedtomethattheywereoverkill
forthebasickindsofencodingwewanted.
WorkingwithTEIwithanever-changingstaffofstudentinternsandworkerswasa
challenge.Whilestudentstooktoencoding,theirworkwasdifficulttoproofreadatthe
levelwewereaccustomedto.Wehadtoensurethatthetagswereappliedcorrectly,that
theTEIfileswerevalid,andthatthemetadatawasproperlyconstructed.Andwehadto
proofreadthetranscriptionsonthepublicsiteinordertocorrectanyerrorsthatcreptin
afterencoding.Wedidnotincludeimagesinouredition,asmostofthedocumentswere
publishedandnotterriblyinterestingtolookat.Butthemainproblemswehadwithour
TEIsitewerepublishingittotheweb,aswellasupgradingitasguidelineschanged.The
sitelookedgoodin2003,butby2015itlookedtiredandwedidnothavetheprogramming
skillsorfundingtoimproveitsappearance.WhentheTEIreleasedP5,itsnewest
guidelines,wewerestillstuckinavariantofP4,whichmeantthatnoneofthenewweb
publishingtoolsworkedwithouredition.
LookingatotherTEI-basedprojects,availableasdigitaleditions,Ifoundthatfewofthem
offeredthekindofsearchabilityandflexibilityIhopedtooffertoreadersoftheAddams
Papers.Infact,sincestartingtheSangerdigitaleditionin2003,itdidnotseemTEI-based
editionshadadvancedveryfarinhowtheylookedoroperated.Iwasalsoreluctanttotake
onaTEI-basedprojectatacollegethatdidnothavesupportfordigitalhumanitieswork.
TEIisaremarkabletoolforworkingwithcomplicatedtext,butIdidn'tthinkthatitwasthe
bestfitforus.
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Iwantedtoincludetheimagesandbuildrichdescriptivemetadata,andwantedsomething
thatwouldbestablebuteasiertoworkwith.IhadusedOmekatobuildadigitalarchivefor
teaching,anddecidedtoadoptitforthedigitaledition.
Omeka,ifyouhavenotheardofit,isanopen-sourcedigitalcontentmanagementsystem
createdbytheRoyRosenzweigCenterforHistoryandNewMedia4anddesignedforsmall
archives,museums,andotherculturalheritagesites.ItusestheDublinCoremetadatato
storedatainaMySQLdatabase.ItcanexportthemetadatarecordsinXMLandother
formats.Omekawasdesignedtobeeasytoworkwith.Itusesentryformstobuildrich
4FormoreonOmeka,seehttps://omeka.org/.
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metadataandallowsprojectstocustomizetheentryscreenstohelpinsurethatdatagoes
incleanly.Omekashinesinotherways--chieflyitseaseinpublishingyourdigitalcontent
ontheweb.AfterthedifficultiesoftransformingXMLforpublicationontheweb,Omeka's
simplecheckboxtopublishanitemseemeawonderfulfeature.Anotherwastheabilityto
extendOmekabyusinganddevelopingplugins.Thesearesmallmodulesthatcanbe
addedtocustomizeyourcontent,adding,forexample,theabilitytomapyourdataby
addingtheGeolocationplugin,oraddtextpagestoyoursitebyusingtheSimplePages.
plugin.
IspenttimelookingatotherOmeka-builtsitesandotherdigitaleditionstothinkabout
whatwewanted.5Seeingthekindsofresourcesthatotherprojectsprovidedhelpedus
thinkaboutwhatwewantedoureditiontodo.Butworkingwiththedocuments
themselveswasequallyasimportant.
OnethingwelostbyselectingOmekawastheabilitytoencodeourtranscriptions.Rather
thanusebracketsaroundaniffyword,wecouldhaveencodeditas<unclear>and
indicatedwhyinthetag.OrwecouldhavetrackedtheeditorialchangesAddamsmadetoa
document,indicatingwheretextwasdeletedandwhereitwasadded.Iwaswillingtogive
upthatsmalladvantage.Mostofourdocumentsdidnothavealotofcomplexity,andit
seemedthatwecouldstillshowthosecomplexitiesintellectuallyusingtypography.
5ForlinkstoOmeka-basedsiteseehttps://omeka.org/showcase/andhttp://omeka.org/codex/Sites_Using_Omeka.
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AccessOneofthethingsthatIandothereditorsofwomen’spapershavedevotedourlivestois
makingtheseprimarysourcesavailable.Wehadalwaysbeenlimitedbythetechnologies
thatwereavailableandtheperceptionsofwhatwas“important”enough.Whenprojects
basedontheFoundingErawerepublishingcomprehensivebookeditionsofeverything
theirgreatwhitemanevertouched,women’sprojectswererelegatedtothe“microfilm
ghetto.”Weweretoldthatwecouldn’tgetfundingforbookeditionsthatincludedmore
thanatightselectionofbetween1and5percentofwhatwehadputonmicrofilm.Andjust
aswestartedcompletingour4or6volumesets,welearnedthatthebookwas“dead.”
Thenoncedigitalpublicationofeditionsbegan,itwastheFoundingFathers’volumesthat
wentupfirst,leavingwomen’sprojectsalsoinatechnologicalghetto.
GoingfirstmeantthattheFounders’editionshadtofigurethingsoutontheirown,and
theychosetoworkwithpublishers—andthusdevelopedadigitaleditionmodelthattried
toreplicatetheirbooksinadigitalformat,employingapaywalltotrytorecoupcosts.
Demandforfreeaccessresultedinmorefundingthatmadetranscriptions,butnot
annotationsavailableforfreethroughtheFoundersOnlineversionoftheRotunda
FoundingEra.Butasthebarfordigitalpublicationhasbeenlowered,projectslikethe
AddamsPapersareactuallyinagoodplace.Wehavemoreoptionsforpublishingdigital
editions,wecanincludeimagesaswellastranscriptions,andwecandesignoureditions
forthepublicandprovidefreeaccess.
This,formeisthemostexcitingpartofworkingwiththeAddamsPapersdigitaledition.
Women’spapers,hiddeninarchivesoronmicrofilmforsolong,canfinallybetruly
accessibletothepublic.Ifwedoourjobsright,theywillbemoreaccessiblethansomeof
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the“greatmen.”Andthisaccessibilitycomesnotjustfromthefactthatthesiteisopen
access,itisalsointhewaythatwearedesigningit—tomakethedocumentsboth
accessibleandunderstandablebyabroadaudience.
AdministeringtheProjectOneofbenefitsofdesigningadigitaleditionsystemfromscratchisthatyoucanbuildatool
thatcanalsohelpruntheproject.Whenyouareaddingfeaturestoanexistingorlong-
termproject,youoftenendupworkinginseveralsystems.MygoalinusingOmekawasto
trackasmanythingsaspossiblewithinthesystem.
• Copyrightandpermissionmanagement--Weneededtobeabletoidentify
documentsthatneedpermissions,andtohaveaneasywaytoupdatethemas
permissionsweresecured.Aswecompleteasetofdocuments,wecangenerate
listsofpeoplethatneedtobeclearedandstarttheprocess.
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•
• Workflowmanagement--Weneedtoknowwhatstepsarecompletedforeach
documentintheprocessofwritingdescriptivemetadata,transcribingthetext,
translatingthetext,andresearchingidentifications.Wewanttobeabletoaccess
documentsthatneedtobeproofread,researchthatneedstobedone,and
documentsthatarereadytobepublished.Wealsowanttotrackthehistoryof
changestothedigitalrecord.
• Counts--Wecangetuptotheminuteinformationonthenumberofdocuments,
people,organizationsandevents.Wecanseehowmanyareineachstageofwork.
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WefoundthatoneofOmeka'sadvantages--itssimpleoneclickpublicationprocess--
quicklybecametoosimpleforourneeds.Ourdocumentswerecomplex,madeupofthree
parts--images,metadata,andtranscriptions(andinsomecasestranslations).
Inaddition,wehadtotrackrepositorypermissionsandcopyright.Andweneededto
insurethataneditorhadreviewedthestudentwork,proofreadingmetadataand
transcriptions.Whenwasadocumentreadytopublish?
• Wecouldhavewaiteduntileverythingwasclearedandproofread,likewewouldin
abookedition.
• Wecanpublishdocumentsorpartsofdocumentsinstagesasworkiscompleted.
o Topublishanimage,weneedbothrepositorypermissionandcopyright.
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o Topublishatranscriptionwejustneedcopyright.
o Topublishmetadataonly,wedon'tneedanypermission.
• Weholdbackdocumentsthatneedmorework.
• Wecanusethevaryingstatusfieldstoorganizeourwork.
Themorefine-grainedpublicationprocessavailableindigitalpublicationalsoopenednew
questionsforus.Editorsdon’tliketoadmititwhenwecan’treadsomething,andwhenit
comestobookpublication,wemightreviewadocumentoverandoveruntilpublication,
tryingtoresolveanillegibleword.Withdigitalpublicationwehaveanopportunityto
publishpartsoftheeditionassoonastheyareready,andwealsohavetheopportunityto
correctproblemsseamlessly.Thisopensupthequestionofwhenatranscriptionisready
tobepublished.Shouldwepublishwhenthereareafewillegiblewords,ontheassumption
thatproviding95%ofatranscriptionisbetterthannone,orshouldwewaituntilwehave
goneoveritoverandover?Ithinkthatweshouldprovidethe95%nowandcontinue
improvingthetranscriptionaswego.Wewelcomehelpfromourreaders—wewantto
allowreaderstocomment,suggestreadingsofwordsorinterpretwhatadocumentis
sayinginthecommentsection.
AnnotationandContextualization
Oneofthethingsthateditionsdothatseparatethemfromdigitalarchivesisthatthey
providecontextforthetexts,usuallyinsomeformofannotation.Whileweareworkingon
traditionalprintvolumesthatwillhighlightaveryselectgroupofdocuments,wehadto
thinkcarefullyabouthowwewouldprovidecontextforreadersofthedigitaledition.With
over21,000documents,itwasnotfeasibletoprovidethesamekindofintensive
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annotationthatwewillcreateforthebookedition.Wedon'thavethestaffortimeforthat,
anditwouldreplicatetheworkdoneforprint.
Inmanyways,themetadatathatwegatheraroundeachdocumentservesasannotation.
Whenweidentifydates,authors,andassignsubjects,mappoints,andtagswearehelping
contextualizethedocumentsandarehelpingusersfinddocumentsthatarerelatedtotheir
interests.
Partoftheprocessofdecidinguponwhatmetadatawewanttogatheristryingtothink
aboutwhatourdifferentaudiencesmightbelookingfor.Howmightastudentresearcher
wanttoaccessdocumentsasopposedtoascholarorgraduatestudent?Howmightour
contributingarchiveswanttoseethedocumentstheyown?
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Wealsoneededthecapabilitytoaddcommentstoaspecificdocument,explainingissues
thatonlyrelatetothattext.Wemightnotethattheenclosuresmentionedinaletterwere
notfound,thatpage3ismissing,orclarifythedatingofadocument.Alloftheother
annotationswecreatearestand-alone,amainentryonthetopicthatislinkedtoevery
mention.
Whenwethoughtaboutwhatkindofinformationwecouldaddconsistently,weturnedto
thekindsofthingsthatmosthistorianslookfor--people,places,events,organizations,
andpublications.Aswewerealreadyhighlightingthoserelationshipsinthedocuments,
itseemedwellworthittoprovideashortidentificationofeachone.Weenvisioned
buildingasort-ofweb-basedencyclopediaofresourcesaboutJaneAddams'worldwhich
wouldserveasaresourceonitsown,aswellasawaytonavigatethedocuments.
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Wegathermetadataaboutthesepeople,creatingarichnetworkoftheProgressiveEra,
includingpoliticiansandlaborers,womensuffrageleaders,peaceactivists,andChicago's
moversandshakers.Andasweentermoreandmoredocuments,ournetworkexpandsand
growsasAddamsbroadenedherreach.Manyofthesepeoplearenotreadilyfindableon
theweb,andourentriesprovidecitationsthatallowreaderstofindoutmore.Addams
beganherworklocallyinherneighborhood,thenexpandedtoChicago,tostate-level
activism,andthentothenationalstage.WearejustbeginningtoexploreAddams'
internationalconnections.Isitalotofwork?Yes,nodoubt,butitisworkthathelps
researcherswhethertheyareinterestedinJaneAddamsornot,anditprovidescontextfor
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ourtexts.Readersdecidewhetherornottheywanttofollowthelinkstolearnmoreabout
thosedescribedinthedocuments.
Onethingthatmanydigitaleditionslackissubjectaccess.Manypeoplethinkthatifyou
cansearchthedocumenttextthatyoudon'tneedsubjects.Whiletextsearchingprovides
impressiveresults,itisnotthesameasaninterpretivesubjectindex.Anexamplemightbe
thecategory"JaneAddams,andfamily."Addamsrarelyusestheword"family"inthe
lettersshewrites,shemightuse"sister,""brother,"or"nephew,"butmoreoftennot.
EditorsgroupdocumentsinwhichAddamsdiscussesherfamilyorcorrespondswiththem
inawaythatexploresherrelationswiththem.
Subjectindexingisanintellectualprocessbywhichweanalyzedocumentcontentand
createasystemofknowledgetoorganizeit.Weexpecttoseeitinabook,butnot
necessarilyinadigitaledition.Withtheincreasednumbersofdocumentswecanfitintoa
digitaledition,subjectsearchingbecomesessential--ithelpsreaderscutthroughtheforest
tothetreesthattheyareinterestedin.Webuiltalistofsubjecttermstobeusedinthe
editionbyconsultingothereditions,historiesoftheProgressiveEra,andAddams
biographies.Wedooccasionallyaddnewsubjects,butusuallydoasearchtolocateany
previouslyentereddocumentsthatmighthavefitit.
Weonlytracksubjectsforthedocumenttexts,notforthebiographies,organizations,
eventsandpublications.Butwethinkthatsomereadersmightwantsubjectaccessto
thoseentries.Wedecidedtousetagsasabroaderlevelofsubjectaccess,butonethat
appliedbothtodocumentsandidentifications.Soifyousearchfor"Medicine"youwillget
documentsthatdiscussmedicine,healthcare,sicknesses,andmedicationaswellasentries
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aboutdoctors,medicalconferences,andevents.Wethinkthatthisquicksortingofdigital
itemswillappealtopeoplewhoareexploringthemescoveredintheedition.
ReachingNewAudiences
Thepurposeofpreparingallthismetadata,digitizingimages,transcribing,andresearchis
toreachabroadaudience.Manyeditorsseetheirprimaryaudienceasasmallcommunity
ofscholars,butIthinkthatoneofthegreatestadvantagesofdigitalpublicationisthatwe
canreachmany,manymorepeople.SotheJaneAddamsPapersisgearedtowardsserving
thatbroadaudience,consistingofschoolkidsworkingonHistoryDayprojects,teachers
whowanttocreateprimary-sourceteachingmaterials,highschoolandcollegestudents
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workingonpapers,genealogistsandindividualstryingtotracetheirfamilyhistory,and
thoseworkingforsocialchangewhoareinterestedintheirhistory.Scholarsanddigital
humaniststoo,ofcourse!Butifwearehonest,weknowthatscholarswillfindusand
knowhowtoreadthesedocuments--itisourmoregeneralaudiencewhoneedsaneasyto
navigateandflexiblewebsite.
Wewanttoexploreusingdigitaltoolstoanalyze,study,andpresentAddams'lifeandwork,
andtoenableotherstocreatetheirowndigitalworkbasedonourproject.Wewanttobe
abletoexportthedatawearegatheringonAddams'networks--trackingparticipationin
events,organizations,anddocuments--sothatinterestedscholarscanbuildsocialnetwork
diagramsandconductresearchonthechangesinAddams'networkovertime.How
interestingwoulditbetoseewhathappenedtoAddams'contactsduringWorldWarI,
whenshewasconsideredapariahforopposingthewar?Dothosewhocutheroffthen
returnby1931whenshewasawardedtheNobelPrize?Wecanlookatthehistorical
figuresthatAddamsdiscussesinherwritings,oranalyzethegenderofherassociatesto
seewhethersheworkedlargelyinacommunityofwomen.Wecanmaphercomingsand
goingsanddeterminehowmuch(orlittle)timeshewasspendingatHull-Houseinherlater
years.
ScholarsmaywanttorunAddams'writingsthroughtextanalysissoftwaretolookfor
changesinrhetoric,orcompareherwritingstomaleProgressivestoseedifferencesin
approachonsimilartopics.Toenablethesekindsofcollaborationweneedtoprovidean
easywaytoexportourdataforscholarlyuseinotherplatforms.
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Wealsowanttoreachouttothepublicandinvitethemtojoinoursite,andaskquestions
ormakecommentsonthedigitaledition.Wewanttobuildacrowdsourcingportalwhere
peoplecantranscribedocumentsorcreatemetadata.Wearethinkingaboutexperimenting
withallowingourreaderstoratedocuments,toenableanewsortingoption–highlighting
the"best"documentsonJaneAddams'viewsonpeace--whichmighthelpyoungerand
morecasualuserstofindthemostrelevantdocumentsquickly.Relyingoncrowdsourcing
toreplacestudentoreditorialworkisn'tourgoal,andIdon'tthinkthatthereisanywayto
guaranteeparticipation,buttherearesitesthathaveattractedgreatinterest.Ifwecan
buildacommittedgroupofvolunteers,wemaybeabletostartdigitizingothersectionsof
themicrofilm,likeAddams'searlyletters,theHull-Houserecords,orherdiaries.
Weareexploringtheideaofcreatingspacesforscholars,students,andteachersfortheir
ownresearchonAddams.Theycouldsavesearchesofdocuments,commentonthem,and
repurposethemfordigitalexhibits.Ateachermightpresentaseriesofdocumentswith
questionsforstudentstoanswer;ahighschoolstudentmightcreateanexhibitonanevent
ortopic,bringingintheirownillustrationsandwritingtheiranalysis.Ascholarmight
createanexhibitcomparingAddamstoanotherfigure,orembeddingdigitalmaps,
timelines,andvisualizationsthattheycreatedusingthedigitaledition.Wewouldwant
thesekindsofresearchtobeapartofthedigitaleditioninaseparatenavigationalspace,
butthinkthatseeinghowothersuseandinterpretthedocumentswillbeagreathelpto
ourreaders.Hostingtheircreationswillmakeoureditionaricherplace.
JustlastweekwereceivedfundingfromtheNewJerseyCouncilfortheHumanitiesto
exploreadditionaloutreachoptions.Wewillworkwithteacher'seducationstudentsat
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RamapoCollegetocreateprimarysource-basedlessonplans,andwriteguidestohelp
middle-andhighschoolstudentsdevelopNationalHistoryDayprojects.Thisnational
programencouragesstudentstouseprimarysourcesfortheirinterpretations,andthe
competitionincludespresentationsattheregional,stateandnationallevelincategories
rangingfromindividualandgrouppapers,exhibits,websites,andperformances.Eachyear
theyfocusonbroadthemeslikethisyear's"TakingaStandinHistory."
ANewKindofEdition
WiththeJaneAddamsDigitalEdition,wearerethinkingourrolesasscholarlyeditors.
Publishingindigitalmediahadchangedwhateditionscanbeandwhousesthem.Free
digitalpublicationofhistoricaldocumentshasalreadyexpandedouraudienceinwaysthat
wecouldnotalwaysanticipate.WearenowoneGooglesearchawayfromthe3.6billion
peoplewithaccesstotheWorldWideWebandthatisaheadyresponsibility.6Ratherthan
continuedownanarrowpathdesignedforscholarlybookpublication,weneedtoopenup
theeditionandsharewhatwedowiththeworld.
Thankyou!
6InternetLiveStats(http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/)accessedonJune28,2017.