The Frankenstein Variorum Challenge:
Finding a Clearer View of Change Over Time
Elisa Beshero-Bondar | Rikk Mulligan | Raffaele Viglianti:
@epyllia | @CritRikk | @raffazizzi
DH2019: Utrecht University, Fri. 12 July @ 2pm, panel LP-38: Location: Schele Maagd
Link to these slides: http://bit.ly/fv-change

Variorum - Change over time
Most immediate context: Darwin Online (ed. Barbara Bordalejo), except...
- Frankenstein Variorum only compares five witnesses
- Frankenstein Variorum incorporates MS witnesses
- Frankenstein Variorum integrates earlier digital editions made by others

James Rieger, ed., first new edition of 1818 in 141
years : inline collation of "Thomas" w/ 1818,
1831 variants in endnotes
Legend:
Stuart Curran and Jack Lynch: PA Electronic Edition (PAEE) , collation of 1818 and 1831: HTML
Nora Crook crit. ed of 1818, variants of "Thomas", 1823, and 1831 in endnotes (P&C MWS collected works)
Romantic Circles TEI conversion of PAEE ; separates the texts of 1818 and 1831; collation via Juxta
1974
~mid-1990s
1996
Charles Robinson, The Frankenstein Notebooks (Garland): print facsimile of 1816 ms drafts
2007
Shelley-Godwin Archive publishes diplomatic edition of 1816 ms drafts
print edition
digital edition
Legend:
2013
2017
Critical and Diplomatic Editions Leading to the Frankenstein Variorum Project
Frankenstein Variorum Project :
assembly/proof-correcting of PAEE files; OCR/proof-correcting 1823; "bridge" TEI edition of S-GA notebook files; automated collation; incorporating "Thomas" copy text
PA Electronic Edition (mid 1990s): 1818 vs 1831

- started from base HTML 1.0 files
-
up-converted to clean, simple XML
- ”on its way” to TEI (structural elements in text)
- prepared for machine-assisted collation (via collateX): including element tags
- deep hierarchy of novel ”flattened” to milestones: <div type="volume"/>, <p/>, etc.
- corrected against photofacsimiles of 1818 and 1831 print publications
Prepared from OCR new XML of 1823 edition

- prepared by William Godwin, the first edition bearing the name ”Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley” on the title page
- XML syntax matches that of 1818 and 1831 editions
Working with MS versions
- S-GA diplomatic edition of the 1816 Notebooks,
- encoded surface-by-surface, line-by-line
-
required resequencing to collate
- Thomas copy marginalia
- prepared new XML from 1818 edition, with <add>, <del>, <note> elements

Shelley-Godwin Archive: sample page surface:


Shelley-Godwin Archive
sample surface encoding from S-GA
<surface xmlns:mith="http://mith.umd.edu/sc/ns1#" lrx="3847" lry="5342"
partOf="#ox-frankenstein_volume_i" ulx="0" uly="0"
mith:folio="21r" mith:shelfmark="MS. Abinger c. 56"
xml:base="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/
umd-mith/sga/master/data/tei/ox/ox-ms_abinger_c56/ox-ms_abinger_c56-0045.xml"
xml:id="ox-ms_abinger_c56-0045">
<graphic url="http://shelleygodwinarchive.org/images/ox/ms_abinger_c56/ms_abinger_c56-0045.jp2"/>
<zone rend="bordered" type="pagination"><line>75</line></zone>
<zone type="library"><line>21</line></zone>
<!-- lines of text elided here -->
<line>to form. His limbs were in proportion</line>
<line>and I had selected his features <del rend="strikethrough">h</del> as</line>
<line><mod>
<del rend="strikethrough">handsome</del>
<del rend="unmarked">.</del>
<anchor xml:id="c56-0045.01"/>
</mod>
<mod>
<del rend="strikethrough">Handsome</del>
<add hand="#pbs" place="superlinear">Beautiful</add>
</mod>; Great God! His</line>
<!-- at the end of the surface encoding, encoding material in a left-margin zone: --->
<zone corresp="#c56-0045.01" type="left_margin">
<line><add><mod>
<del rend="strikethrough">handsome</del>
<add hand="#pbs" place="superlinear">beautiful.</add>
</mod></add></line>
</zone>
<!-- other marginal insertions encoded -->
</surface>
S-GA: resequenced / compressed for collation
<surface lrx="3847" lry="5342"
partOf="#ox-frankenstein_volume_i"
ulx="0" uly="0" folio="21r" shelfmark="MS. Abinger c. 56" base="ox-ms_abinger_c56/ox-ms_abinger_c56-0045.xml"
id="ox-ms_abinger_c56-0045" sID="ox-ms_abinger_c56-0045"/>
<graphic url="http://shelleygodwinarchive.org/images/ox/ms_abinger_c56/ms_abinger_c56-0045.jp2"/>
<zone type="main" sID="c56-0045__main"/>
<lb n="c56-0045__main__17"/>
<del rend="strikethrough" sID="c56-0045__main__d2e9811"/>But how<del eID="c56-0045__main__d2e9811"/> How can I describe
my <lb n="c56-0045__main__18"/> emotion at this catastrophe; or how
<w ana="start"/>deli<lb n="c56-0045__main__19"/>neate<w ana="end"/>
the wretch whom with such <lb n="c56-0045__main__20"/> infinite pains and care I had endeavoured <lb n="c56-0045__main__21"/> to form. His limbs were in proportion <lb n="c56-0045__main__22"/> and I had selected his features <del rend="strikethrough" sID="c56-0045__main__d2e9830"/>h<del eID="c56-0045__main__d2e9830"/> as <lb n="c56-0045__main__23"/>
<mod sID="c56-0045__main__d2e9835"/>
<del rend="strikethrough" sID="c56-0045__main__d2e9837"/>handsome<del eID="c56-0045__main__d2e9837"/>
<mdel>.</mdel>
<anchor xml:id="c56-0045.01"/>
<zone corresp="#c56-0045.01" type="left_margin" sID="c56-0045__left_margin"/>
<lb n="c56-0045__left_margin__1"/>
<add sID="c56-0045__left_margin__d2e9849"/>
<mod sID="c56-0045__left_margin__d2e9851"/>
<del rend="strikethrough" sID="c56-0045__left_margin__d2e9853"/>handsome<del eID="c56-0045__left_margin__d2e9853"/>
<add hand="#pbs" place="superlinear" sID="c56-0045__left_margin__d2e9856"/>beautiful.<add eID="c56-0045__left_margin__d2e9856"/>
<mod eID="c56-0045__left_margin__d2e9851"/>
<add eID="c56-0045__left_margin__d2e9849"/>
<zone eID="c56-0045__left_margin"/>
<mod eID="c56-0045__main__d2e9835"/>
<mod sID="c56-0045__main__d2e9863"/>
<del rend="strikethrough" sID="c56-0045__main__d2e9865"/>Handsome<del eID="c56-0045__main__d2e9865"/>
<add hand="#pbs" place="superlinear" sID="c56-0045__main__d2e9868"/>Beautiful<add eID="c56-0045__main__d2e9868"/>
<mod eID="c56-0045__main__d2e9863"/>; Great God! His <lb n="c56-0045__main__24"/>
- added word boundary markup to indicate whole words spanning lines
- resequenced margin zone content: (followed S-GA's pointers to represent semantic reading order for collation)
Added new XML: Thomas Copy

- Added insertions, deletions, + margin-notes to 1818 edition
- checked against and respond to/update Nora Crook and James Reiger editions
Variorum challenge
1. Make visible and accessible a nonlinear, divergent edition history
- 1816 notebooks to 1818: uneven (gaps in notebooks)
- Thomas divergence:
- copy with margin notes was left in Italy before 1823, apparently not consulted later
- 1823 edits: largely retained in 1831
- 1831 major revisions:
- alteration of character relationships, added chapter and several lengthened passages
2. Introduce textual scholarship to students, fans of Frankenstein
as well as text scholars, 19c specialists:
- Recruit next generation of text scholars
- Not marginalizing variants in print model of endnotes/footnotes
- Tell the story of Frankenstein’s ”hot” or ”cool” alterations inline
Gothenburg model : algorithm for computer-assisted collation, developed in 2009 workshop of collateX and Juxta developers.
-
Tokenization :
-
Break down the smallest unit of comparison: (words--with punctuation, or character-by-character): FV tokenizes words and includes punctuation
-
-
Normalization
-
('&' = 'and')
-
-
Alignment
-
Identify comparable divergence: what makes text sequences comparable units?
-
“Chunking” text into comparable passages (chapters/paragraphs that line up with identifiable start and end points). Collation proceeds chunk by chunk.
-
-
Analysis
-
(study output, correct, and re-align after machine process, AND refine automated processing)
-
-
Visualization
-
critical edition apparatus, graph displays
-
Computer-aided collation: Gothenburg Model
Preparing marked-up texts for collation
-
Markup of text structure compared across Variorum:
- Volume (print editions only), letter, chapter
- Paragraph, poetry line-groups and lines
- Notes
- Markup of manuscript events included in Variorum comparison: deletion, insertion, gap
-
Normalizing algorithm:
- Decide what marks are equivalent)
- Ignore but preserve other markup in collation process, also abbreviations, capitalization.
-
”Chunking” algorithm: (limit possibility of major misalignments)
- Locate ”seams” where all editions align
- Divide into ”chunks” at the seams
- Prep each edition as 33 collation ”chunks”, C01 - C33
- Edition files of the same chunk are collated together


<app xml:id="C10_app44">
<rdgGrp xml:id="C10_app44_rg1"
n="['<del>handsome<del>
<del>handsome<
del>beautiful.<del>handsome<del>beautiful;', 'great']"
<rdg wit="fMS"><lb n="c56-0045__main__23"/>
<del rend="strikethrough" sID="c56-0045__main__d2e9837"/>
handsome<del eID="c56-0045__main__d2e9837"/>
<mdel>.
</mdel><lb n="c56-0045__left_margin__1"/>
<del rend="strikethrough" sID="c56-0045__left_margin__d2e9853"/>handsome<
del eID="c56-0045__left_margin__d2e9853"/>beautiful.
<del rend="strikethrough" sID="c56-0045__main__d2e9865"/>
Handsome<del eID="c56-0045__main__d2e9865"/>
Beautiful; Great </rdg>
</rdgGrp>
<rdgGrp xml:id="C10_app44_rg2" n="['beautiful.', 'beautiful!—great']">
<rdg wit="f1818">beautiful. Beautiful!—Great </rdg>
<rdg wit="f1823">beautiful. Beautiful!—Great </rdg>
<rdg wit="fThomas">beautiful. Beautiful!—Great </rdg>
<rdg wit="f1831">beautiful. Beautiful!—Great </rdg>
</rdgGrp>
</app>
Collating with markup
From collation data to spine
-
“Spine” = data model (dynamic nerve plexus?) holding the variorum together
- standoff use of TEI critical apparatus
- coordinates data on variance, including normalized tokens and maximum edit-distance values
- points to specific locations in the variorum edition files
- standoff use of TEI critical apparatus


How do the five editions “stack up” by collation chunk?
Legend
MS
1818
Thm
1823
1831
gaps, alignments, relative string-length for each ”chunk”
For more on our document data modeling, see
Beshero-Bondar, Elisa E., and Raffaele Viglianti. “Stand-off Bridges in the Frankenstein Variorum Project: Interchange and Interoperability within TEI Markup Ecosystems.” Balisage Series on Markup Technologies, vol. 21 (2018). https://doi.org/10.4242/BalisageVol21.Beshero-Bondar01.
”Preparing diversely encoded documents for collation challenges us to consider inconsistent and overlapping hierarchies as a tractable matter for computational alignment—where alignment becomes an organizing principle that fractures hierarchies, chunking if not atomizing them at the level of the smallest meaningfully sharable semantic features.”
”We have negotiated interchangeability by cutting across individual text hierarchies to emphasize lateral connections and commonalities—making a new TEI whose hierarchy serves as a stand-off ”spine” or ”switchboard” permitting comparison and sharing of common data. Our goal of pointing to aligned data required us to locate the interchangeable structural markers in our source documents.”

Live-Wireframing
HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap Javascript Library

Active Prototyping
HTML, CSS, XML rendered using CETEIcean Javascript Library
https://github.com/TEIC/CETEIcean 🐳
Accessibility & Universal Design
7 principles:
- Equitable Use,
- Flexibility in use,
- Simple and Intuitive use,
- Perceptible Information,
- Tolerance for Error,
- Low Physical Effort
- Size and Space for Approach and Use.
- http://universaldesign.ie/What-is-Universal-Design/The-7-Principles/ .
- Rick Godden and Jonathan Hsy. “Universal Design and Its Discontents.” January 6, 2016. 2016 MLA Position Paper as part of Disrupting the Digital Humanities. http://www.disruptingdh.com/universal-design-and-its-discontents/
Considerations
- Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,
- the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

Design Goals
- Serve TEI with encoding intact
- design for mobile-first: tablets and laptops
- this is not a digital facsimile: it does not simulate the manuscript or print experience
Interactive Design:
Agile Humanities Agency
Design Team
- Bill Kennedy, Creative Director
- Matthew Milner, Developer/Designer
- Shaindel Barkats, Front End Developer/UX Designer
Developer Team
- Talya Shraga, Front End Developer
- Itay Zandbank, Developer and Project Manager
Project Manager and Consultant
Dean Irvine
Accessible Design Elements

Design: Navigation Elements

Version (Source: Edition, Witness)
Section (Pagination: Collation Unit)
Display (Text only, Text with Variants, Variants Only)
Design: Variant Mapping

Variance (Degree: 3-levels, light, med, dark gray)
Dots (color match and clustering)
Design: Variant Signaling

Variance (Degree: 3-levels, light, med, dark gray)
Dots (color match and clustering)
Design: Source Annotations
Additions: ^
Deletions: Strikethrough
Google Edit "style"

Future website: http://frankensteinvariorum.org
GitHub organization: https://github.com/PghFrankenstein;
GitHub pages (intro/methods/slides): : https://pghfrankenstein.github.io/Pittsburgh_Frankenstein/
https://pghfrankenstein.github.io/Pittsburgh_Frankenstein/

Conclusion: Future Steps
- Annotations
- Marginalia
- Macroscopic Views
- Fine-tuning Edit Distance
- User Testing
Macroscopic View
Legend
MS
1818
Thm
1823
1831
The Frankenstein Variorum
Textual Editing, TEI, Variorum Interface
-
Elisa Beshero-Bondar (Pitt-Greensburg)
-
Raffaele Viglianti (MITH, Univ Maryland)
-
Rikk Mulligan (Carnegie Mellon)
Contextual Annotations
-
Jon Klancher (Carnegie Mellon)
-
Steven Gotzler (Carnegie Mellon)
-
Jack Quirk (Carnegie Mellon)
-
Avery Wiscomb (Carnegie Mellon)
GIS and Data Visualization
-
Emma Slayton (Carnegie Mellon)
-
Jack Quirk (Carnegie Mellon)
-
Avery Wiscomb (Carnegie Mellon)
-
Matthew Lincoln (Carnegie Mellon)
Project Interface
-
Rikk Mulligan (Carnegie Mellon)
-
Elisa Beshero-Bondar (Pitt-Greensburg)
-
Raffaele Viglianti (MITH, Univ Maryland)
-
Scott Weingart (Carnegie Mellon)
Agile Humanities Agency
Dean Irvine, Itay Zandbank, Talya Shraga, Shaindel Barkats, Bill Kennedy, Matthew Milner
The Frankenstein Variorum Challenge: Finding a Clearer View of Change Over Time
By Elisa Beshero-Bondar
The Frankenstein Variorum Challenge: Finding a Clearer View of Change Over Time
slide presentation for the DH2019 conference, July 9-12 2019 at Utrecht University.
- 7,580