Open Source Critical Editions: A Rationale

Bibliographical reference

 * Gabriel Bodard and Juan Garcés (2009) "Open Source Critical Editions: A Rationale." In Marilyn Deegan and Kathryn Sutherland (Eds.), Text Editing, Print, and the Digital World (Ashgate Press), pp. 84-98. Self-archived at: http://www.stoa.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Bodard-Garces_2009_Open-source-digital-editions.pdf

Description
This article by Bodard and Garcés in the Ashgate Digital Research in the Arts and Humanities series arises from the OSCE meeting in London in September 2006, and sets out in theoretical terms the basic principles of the Open Source Critical Editions manifesto, under the headings:

Open Source
Analogous to the Open Source Software movement, OSCE publications should be licensed for reuse, including derivative use, and all sources, data, methods and software must be reusable or reproducible by readers.

Critical
The OSCE follow all major principles of the post-enlightenment academic publication: use of evidence rather than authority, citation of all sources and arguments, transparency and openness to cricism, refutation and refinement. (But then so do all academic editions.)

Edition
The above holds true for both "Diplomatic" (e.g. papyrological and epigraphic; single manuscript) editions, and eclectic, Lachmannian or Quellenforschung editions.