Reading Between the Lines: A Discussion on Digitization

Over the past few years, the popularity of digital books has greatly increased. Who has not at one point read all or part of a book on a tablet or e-reader? As a history student I have relied on Google Books multiple times during my undergraduate career. According to the graph below, the ownership of E-readers in the U.S. has jumped from 4% in May of 2010 to 24% in September of 2013. With books being increasingly consumed in digital format it is important to examine how digital tools and resources alter how we approach books.

Graph provided by Pew Research

In her article, "Where Material Book Culture Meets Digital Humanities", Sarah Werner examines how the use of digital tools and the digitization of old manuscripts has the potential for new historical interpretation.

One of the most obvious benefits of digitizing a text is remote access. As Werner puts it in her article "if I can sit in my study outside of Washington D.C. and study Erasmus's 1516 translation of the New Testament by looking at a copy currently held in Basel, that's a win". No longer are historians required to make long, and sometimes expensive, trips to visit a library/archive that houses a manuscript that they wish to read. While digitization does allow for greater access, Werner also points out that digital tools can contribute to new interpretations of these artifacts beyond what is written within them.

A densitometer is a tool that is used to measure the levels of dirt on manuscript pages. This has a range of potentials, such as revealing which pages received more use than others. Werner also notes that modern digitization has improved with time, pointing out that the EEBO (Early English Books Online) had created digital facsimiles of not the early books themselves but from microfilm copies of the books. This created unclear digital copies, whereas new digitizing methods provide clearer digital facsimiles.

Opening from a 1557 Primer, as in EBBO.
Image taken from "Where Material Book Culture Meets Digital Humanities"

Same Opening as above, but in a High-Resolution Image from the Folger.
Image taken from "Where Material Book Culture Meets Digital Humanities"

I believe that Werner's article provides great insight into the potentials of digital tools to create better interpretations of these old manuscripts. With that said, I believe that it is also important to preserve the original, physical copies.

In the article, "Why Preserve Books? The New Physical Archive of the Internet Archive"   author Brewster Kahle stresses the importance of keeping the original texts. He states that "a reason to preserve the physical book that has been digitized is that it is the authentic and original version that can be used as a reference in the future [...] if there is ever a controversy about the digital version, the original can be examined". I think Kahle indirectly brings up an important concern regarding digitization which is the possibility of a digital text being doctored either intentionally or unintentionally.

For example, if a historian was digitizing a collection of maps by running them through a scanner it is possible that sections of the map may get cut off and therefore exempt from the digital copy. It is also possible that these maps include markings or text on the back of the document. If the individual scanning them does not recognize these markings or deems them of little significance, they may also be left out of the digital copy. It is therefore important to ensure that the original manuscript is preserved.

After reading both Kahle and Werner's articles I can see both the great potential and the great risks of digitization. Most of these risks though, I believe, can be negated by ensuring that the original copies remain well preserved and accessible. While digitization has the upside of accessibility and the potential to reveal new information, the original copies retain authenticity and accuracy.