Shared Vocabulary of Textual Variation

Textual scholars work with many kinds of material, from ancient manuscripts and printed books to born-digital documents. Terms such as document, version, revision, variant, and modification can therefore carry different meanings across disciplines and traditions.

The Shared Vocabulary subgroup works toward precise, human-readable definitions for concepts used to describe textual variation. Our aim is not to remove useful disciplinary differences, but to make them explicit and connect them in ways that support discussion, comparison, and machine-readable data.

What we are working on

  • Gathering terminology and use cases from different textual traditions;
  • Defining key concepts and documenting their scope;
  • Describing relationships between concepts;
  • Exploring machine-readable representations of the vocabulary;
  • Testing the vocabulary against real scholarly materials and workflows.

Why it matters

A shared conceptual foundation makes it easier to compare research, evaluate tools, exchange data, and build interoperable systems. It also helps developers and designers understand the distinctions that matter to scholars when textual change is modelled or visualized.

Get involved

The subgroup welcomes textual scholars, editors, developers, data modellers, designers, and anyone interested in the language of textual variation. It is coordinated by Brett Barney, Elena Spadini, and Bernhard Oberreither.

You can also learn more about VIDIT and how to contribute.