Explanatory Annotation A Research Project in Digital Literary Annotation

On Annotation

Good readers should be curious. Good writers certainly have been, and I think the best writers seek to develop the curiosity of the best readers. But there are so many good writers, and only so much time. And we all benefit from specialization, from the human ability to spread the load of effort and expertise. Annotated editions allow good readers to satisfy their curiosity without consuming all their time—and to discover, in gaps in the annotation, where the knowledge or curiosity of the annotators has not been enough, and where they can contribute something new.

Brian Boyd, University of Auckland

Research Agenda

The project has three aims: (1) to define explanatory annotation, establish its theory, and develop best practice models; (2) to investigate the use of explanatory annotations and their influence on reading comprehension; and (3) to develop explanatory annotation as a new field in the digital humanities. We think that the project furthers scholarly practice in the humanities through empirical research and advances the digital humanities by including hermeneutic theory and practice.