The implications of e-text resource development for Southern African literary studies in terms of analysis and methodology.
Loading...
Date
1999
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This study was aimed at investigating established electronic text and information projects
and resources to inform the design and implementation of a South African electronic text
resource. Literature was surveyed on a wide variety of electronic text projects and virtual
libraries in the humanities, bibliographic databases, electronic encyclopaedias, literature
webs, on-line learning, corcordancing and textual analysis, and computer application
programs for searching and displaying electronic texts .The SALIT Web CD-ROM which is
a supplementary outcome of the research - including the database, relational table structure,
keyword search criteria, search screens, and hypertext linking of title entries to the
electronic full-texts in the virtual library section - was based on this research. Other
outcomes of the project include encoded electronic texts and an Internet web site.
The research was undertaken to investigate the benefits of designing and developing an etext
database (hypertext web) that could be used effectively as a learning/teaching and
research resource in South African literary studies. The backbone of the resource would be
an indexed ''virtual library" containing electronic texts (books and other documents in
digital form), conforming to international standards for interchange and for sharing with
others. Working on the assumption that hypertext is an essentially democratic and anti canonical
environment where the learner/users are free to construct meaning for themselves,
it seemed an ideal medium in which to conduct learning, teaching and research in South
African literature.
By undertaking this project I hoped to start a process, based on international standards, that
would provide a framework for a virtual library of South African literature, especially those
works considered "marginal" or which had gone out of print, or were difficult to access for
a variety of reasons. Internationally, the TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) and other, literature based
hypertext projects, promised the emergence of networked information resources that
could absorb and then share texts essential for contemporary South African literary
research.
Investigation of the current status of on-line reference sources revealed that the digital
frameworks underlying bibliographic databases, electronic encyclopaedias and literature
webs are now very similar. Specially designed displays allow the SALIT Web to be used as
a digital library, providing an opportunity to read books that may not be available from any
other library. The on-line learning potential of the SALIT Web is extensive. Asynchronous
Learning Network (ALN) programmes in use were assessed and found to offer a high
degree of learner-tutor and learner-learner interaction.
The Text Analysis Computing Tools (TACT) program was used to investigate the
possibility of detailed text analysis of the full texts included in the SALIT library on the CDROM.
Features such as Keyword-in-context and word-frequency generators, offer valuable
methods to automate the more time-consuming aspects of both thematic and formal text
analysis.
In the light of current hypertext theory that emphasises hypertext's lack of fixity and
closure, the SALIT Web can be seen to transfer authority from the author/teacher/librarian,
to the user, by offering free access to information and so weakening the established power
relations of education and access to education. The resource has the capacity to allow the
user to examine previously unnoticed, but significant contradictions, inconsistencies and
patterns and construct meaning from them. Yet the resource may still also contain
interventions by the author/teacher consisting of pathways to promote the construction of
meaning, but not dictate it.
A hypertext web resource harnesses the cheap and powerful benefits of Information
Technology for the purpose of literary research, especially in the under-resourced area of
South African literary studies. By making a large amount of information readily available
and easily accessible, it saves time and reduces frustration for both learners and teachers.
An electronic text resource provides users with a virtual library at their fingertips. Its
resources can be standardised so that others can add to it, thus compounding the benefits
over time. It can place scarce works (books, articles and papers) within easy access for
student use. Students may then be able to use its resources for independent discovery, or via
guided sets of exercises or assignments. Electronic texts break the tyranny of inadequate
library resources, restricted access to rare documents and the unavailability of
comprehensive bibliographical information in the area of South African literary studies.
The publication of the CD-ROM enables the launch of new, related projects, with the
emphasis on building a collection of South African texts in all languages and in translation.
Training in electronic text preparation, and Internet access to the resource will also be
addressed to take these projects forward.
Description
Thesis (Ph.D)-University of Durban-Westville, Durban,1999.
Keywords
South African literature--Data processing., Digital libraries., Theses--English.