To: All contributors to the Blackwell Companion to Digital Humanities
From: Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens, and John Unsworth
Hello,
It seems as though we've only just begun our initial correspondence
surrounding contributions to the Blackwell Companion to Digital Humanities,
and yet we'll soon be marking the half-way point between the time of our
initial contact, in what we were then still calling the new year, and the 1
November 2002 submission date for drafts of the collection's chapters.
While some of our group have been in touch regarding matters related to the
Companion, we write now, to the entire group, to touch base, to offer our
services in answering any questions and addressing any concerns that may
have arisen since our earlier correspondence, to invite further discussion
about the content of the chapters and, should you wish it, to comment on
preliminary drafts of outlines.
Should the particulars of the project -- the length of various chapters, the
submission guidelines and formatting, and so forth -- not be at hand, we
attach them to this note for ease of reference. As you'll recall, Section I
is a
general overview of the Companion, Section II consists of Format guidelines,
Section III has Blackwell's general guidelines for contributors, and Section
IV (now available at
http://www.glue.umd.edu/~sschreib/companion/invite_list.html) contains a
list of articles, contributor names and their e-mail addresses.
Please don't hesitate to be in touch with us, individually or collectively,
if we can be of service in any way. And please, also, do consider being in
touch with one another about matters relating your contributions; those
writing on complementary or slightly overlapping topics may especially wish
to be in touch with one another before the 1 November 2002 submission date
for drafts.
With all best wishes,
Susan Schreibman (ss423@umail.umd.edu)
Ray Siemens (siemensr@mala.bc.ca)
John Unsworth (jmu2m@virginia.edu)
* Mailing list archive:
http://lists.village.virginia.edu/lists_archive/hcbook/
(currently no password required)
* Volume outline:
http://www.glue.umd.edu/~sschreib/companion/invite_list.html
-----------------------------------------------------
Section I: Guidelines for Contributors
The purpose of this volume is to survey the field of humanities computing,
to introduce the field's concerns and to serve its curricular needs. We
envision the audience for the Companion to be:
1) students and instructors in upper level undergraduate courses;
2) students at the graduate level;
3) interested readers both within and outside academe.
The Companion is made up of nearly 40 articles, grouped in topical sections
sensible both to those new to the area and to those who have shaped it, and
it is aimed at providing a thorough, concise overview of the field.
The first section, History, consists of one longer article (8,000 words)
giving a general overview, and a number of 4,000 word articles which should
briefly survey the history and current state of computer applications within
a particular discipline.
Sections II (Principles), III (Applications) and IV (Production,
Dissemination and Archiving) each consist of articles 8,000 words in length,
focusing on specific problems, tasks, initiatives, etc.. The exact approach
taken in these articles will depend on the subject being addressed, but a
good
rule of thumb would be to bear in mind the needs of both a novice audience
and more expert readers
Although some of the articles may begin with a brief historical and/or
disciplinary context(s), writers should be careful not to duplicate content
from the History section. To this end, we encourage you to communicate
directly with one another if you have concerns about overlap, or if you
would simply like to share ideas or drafts of particular sections.
Each chapter should be accompanied by a list of works cited or consulted
that includes the seminal works in the field, so that those consulting our
volume can use it as a quick reference/ jumping-off point for further work.
In addition, to increase the potential utility of the collection, the
Companion will also be accompanied by a website for related materials and
drafts of material for future editions.
Section II: Format
All essays should be submitted electronically, either on disk or
(preferably) as attachments to email. Submissions may be in TEI-conformant
SGML or XML, or in a common word-processing format (Microsoft Word,
WordPerfect).
Contributors should note that the formatting of any word processed
submissions cannot be reliably preserved, and should therefore avoid
relying excessively on it. The unnecessary use of figures and tables in
particular should be avoided.
Section III: Notes for Contributors (From Blackwell)
Length:
Please do not exceed the contracted length, but note that the lengths quoted
are exclusive of bibliographies. For guidance on the length of
bibliographies, see Bibliography below.
Stylistic and Presentation Points:
Please submit your paper double-spaced throughout, including bibliographies,
to allow room for the copy editor's marks, and leave generous margins on
either side for the same reason.
For longer sections within chapters, you may consider the possibility of
adding a single level of unnumbered subheading that will help the
readability and reference function of the text.
Quotations:
Quotations shorter than thirty words should be run on in the text; longer
quotations should be broken off from the text and indented. [See also
Permissions section below].
Endnotes:
Endnotes should be used in preference to footnotes. These should be kept to
a minimum (see Bibliography).
Signature:
Please add your name in capitals at the end of the article, in the form in
which you wish it to appear in the text and the list of contributors.
Spelling:
This Companion will follow American spelling conventions. However, there is
no need to alter your own practice, as the copy-editor will make the
necessary changes later.
Cross-references:
If you think that another chapter or section is likely to contain related or
further material on some point, please feel free to signal this in the
following form at the end of your chapter: 'see [EXACT TITLE IN CAPITALS]'.
Separate cross-references at the end of an entry should be in the form: 'see
also [EXACT TITLE IN CAPITALS]'. The editor will check all suggested
cross-references against the copy finally submitted and may add some further
cross-references of her own.
Bibliography:
Bibliographic information at the end of each chapter takes the form of
References for Further Reading; 25 items including all works cited in the
chapter itself. Items of further reading should cover material which will
enable the reader to pursue the topic in greater depth.
The word count specified for your chapter is exclusive of bibliography.
The bibliography should be arranged in alphabetical order of author.
Bibliographical items should be cited in the following form:
Books:
Name, A. B. (1991). Title with All Major Words Initial Caps. Place:
Publisher.
Articles in books:
Name, A. B. (1991). Article title with capital letters for first main word
and proper Nouns only. In A. B. & C. D. Name (Eds). Book Title (pp. 00-00).
Place: Publisher.
For foreign titles:
(no English translation)
Name, A. B. (1991). Title following rules of capitalization for given
language. [literal translation]. Place: Publisher.
(with English translation)
Name, A. B. (1991). English language title with capital letters for first
main word, Proper Nouns, or the first word of a sub-title. (A. B. Name,
Trans.). Place: Publisher (Original work published 1930).
Articles in journals:
Name, A. B. (1991). Article in which only first word and Proper Nouns are
capitalized. Journal Name all Initial Capital Letters on Main Words, 35,
00-00.
Web sites:
[The editors have asked Blackwell for an example of their preferred form
for citing web-based materials, and we will send that example along to
this email list when we have it]
Permissions:
It is assumed that quotation will be made for critical purposes and that
permissions will not be required in the majority of instances. Where in
doubt on this point, please supply publication details (author, title,
publisher, date and page number) for all material taken from previously
published sources. It is the contributors' responsibility to seek permission
from their publisher to use passages from their own work in this
publication, and also to seek permission for other material taken from
previously published sources. Note that quotations in excess of 400 words in
copyright, unless demonstrably used for purposes of criticism, require
permission to reproduce.
Editorial Practice:
There are obvious problems in making a large volume of this sort internally
coherent and non-repetitive, and the editor may need to make minor
adjustments to your text without referring the matter to you at the time.
More substantial alteration will, of course, be discussed with you at an
early stage.
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