Facsimiles and Transcription: EEBO-TCP and Narratives of Textual Production
Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP), a searchable database of XML-encoded transcriptions of over 60,000 early English books, has transformed how scholars research and teach early modern texts. This immense archive of digital facsimiles was transcribed and encoded by keyer...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Firenze University Press
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of Early Modern Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/16516 |
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| author | Margaret C. Maurer |
| author_facet | Margaret C. Maurer |
| author_sort | Margaret C. Maurer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP), a searchable database of XML-encoded transcriptions of over 60,000 early English books, has transformed how scholars research and teach early modern texts. This immense archive of digital facsimiles was transcribed and encoded by keyers in India and the Philippines. Despite the keyers’ centrality to the project, EEBO-TCP and its vendors do not disclose the keyers’ wages, labor conditions, or precarity. Examining absences, omissions, and rhetorical maneuvers on the Text Creation Partnership (TCP) website, the article argues that its rhetoric reinforces colonial epistemologies by situating its knowledge production in the United Kingdom and United States while decentering the keyers’ expertise, scholarly labor, and essential role. Ultimately, the labor of digitization must be brought to the forefront in order to understand how digital texts are material and political; otherwise, digital archives will reproduce colonial epistemologies and cultural imperialism in the production of the digital cultural record. Finally, highlighting the work of scholars of critical digital humanities and critical archival studies, the article concludes by considering alternative approaches to digital creation and collaboration that center people, relationships, and process. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fea5e01b106b406bb1ba3be910a05560 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2279-7149 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Firenze University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Early Modern Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-fea5e01b106b406bb1ba3be910a055602025-08-20T03:15:26ZengFirenze University PressJournal of Early Modern Studies2279-71492025-07-0114173110.36253/jems-2279-7149-1651615353Facsimiles and Transcription: EEBO-TCP and Narratives of Textual ProductionMargaret C. MaurerEarly English Books Online Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP), a searchable database of XML-encoded transcriptions of over 60,000 early English books, has transformed how scholars research and teach early modern texts. This immense archive of digital facsimiles was transcribed and encoded by keyers in India and the Philippines. Despite the keyers’ centrality to the project, EEBO-TCP and its vendors do not disclose the keyers’ wages, labor conditions, or precarity. Examining absences, omissions, and rhetorical maneuvers on the Text Creation Partnership (TCP) website, the article argues that its rhetoric reinforces colonial epistemologies by situating its knowledge production in the United Kingdom and United States while decentering the keyers’ expertise, scholarly labor, and essential role. Ultimately, the labor of digitization must be brought to the forefront in order to understand how digital texts are material and political; otherwise, digital archives will reproduce colonial epistemologies and cultural imperialism in the production of the digital cultural record. Finally, highlighting the work of scholars of critical digital humanities and critical archival studies, the article concludes by considering alternative approaches to digital creation and collaboration that center people, relationships, and process.https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/16516archivesbibliographydigital humanitiesdigitizationlabor |
| spellingShingle | Margaret C. Maurer Facsimiles and Transcription: EEBO-TCP and Narratives of Textual Production Journal of Early Modern Studies archives bibliography digital humanities digitization labor |
| title | Facsimiles and Transcription: EEBO-TCP and Narratives of Textual Production |
| title_full | Facsimiles and Transcription: EEBO-TCP and Narratives of Textual Production |
| title_fullStr | Facsimiles and Transcription: EEBO-TCP and Narratives of Textual Production |
| title_full_unstemmed | Facsimiles and Transcription: EEBO-TCP and Narratives of Textual Production |
| title_short | Facsimiles and Transcription: EEBO-TCP and Narratives of Textual Production |
| title_sort | facsimiles and transcription eebo tcp and narratives of textual production |
| topic | archives bibliography digital humanities digitization labor |
| url | https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/16516 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT margaretcmaurer facsimilesandtranscriptioneebotcpandnarrativesoftextualproduction |