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Types of digitized text files

This section discusses a number of different types of text files, with special attention to how they can be used in humanities research. Each type is accompanied by one or more examples.

Basic types

Digital facsimile
A facsimile is a replica of a manuscript or (old) print. A digital facsimile is an image file, not a text file.

E-text
An e-text is a digital representation of a manuscript or text in the form of a text file. This workbench distinguishes between three subtypes: 'plain' e-text, annotated e-text and formatted e-text.

Special types

Enhanced e-text
In this workbench, the term enhanced e-text refers to a digitized text containing additional features for the purpose of presentation or analysis. This is a kind of e-text plus.

Critical edition
A critical edition is a scholarly edition of a text, that is often (but not necessarily) based on a comparison between existing textual variants of that text. In a digital critical edition, multiple views of a text can be combined and additional information (the critical apparatus) can be added to the text by means of hyperlinks. These texts are actually a special type of enhanced e-text.

E-books and audiobooks
E-books and audiobooks are two particular forms of digitized literature.

Note: For any text to be usable in an academic context, the provenance of the work must be known, as well as which edition of the original text it is.

Other topics in this section: Introduction   Digital facsimile   E-text   Enhanced e-text   Critical edition   E-books and audiobooks