Wikisource:Annotations
From Wikisource
 |
This page is a proposed Wikisource policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. References or links to this page should not describe it as "policy". |
| ←Style guide | Style guide (Annotations) |
| This page deals with the policy and procedures for annotating original source texts on Wikisource. Note that it parallels the Wikibooks guidelines on annotated texts
|
Contents |
[edit] Definitions
What are annotations, what kinds of annotations are there, and what is an annotated text? The following definitions deal with some important related terms, all of which are important for understanding this policy page.
- Critical edition – This is a version of a text accompanied by a technical "apparatus" that provides textual variants from manuscripts and other technical data of use to scholars. Such editions often include technical or historical introductions, indices, etc. (all of which are tightly related to the text itself and not appropriate for a separate article or essay). A critical edition is of clear importance to the source text itself, but has absolutely no place on Wikibooks. It could provide exceptional "added value" to texts at Wikisource.
- Annotated text – This contains references and explanations that can be on a variety of levels, whether meant for academic scholars or for high school/college students preparing for literature exams. If the former, they have no place at Wikibooks (even a critical apparatus is a form of annotation). If the latter, Wikibooks also makes very good sense. But all of these include the source text itself, which must be duplicated from Wikisource if placed on a separate project. An annotated text can also be based upon a critical edition. I.e. a single work can combine both elements harmoniously, being a critical edition and an annotated text at once. But if annotated texts are confined to Wikibooks, then the two elements will have to be divided across two projects, and the texts duplicated. In some cases this may not matter, but in others it may be a major disadvantage.
- Study guides – like How to Read Shakespeare's Sonnets, which do not include the whole source text itself. I don't think anyone disagrees that this belongs on Wikibooks, not here.
Examples of fully annotated texts online at other projects:
Examples of fully annotated texts in printed form:
- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, annotated by Franklin Baker in 1909. Online version of a 1909 annotated text.
- Dracula (Norton Critical Edition), by Bram Stoker, annotated by Nina Auerbach 1997 (click on "Look Inside" for examples of what annotations look like).
- The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (community wiki annotation of a print book)
Examples of Study Guides:
[edit] Policy
- 1. All matter, whether professional or didactic or both, which includes a source text within it and whose sole purpose is to add value to that text, is encouraged at Wikisource.
- 1a. Clarification: This does not include matter that can stand alone as a study guide (at Wikibooks) or as an encyclopedia article (at Wikipedia).
- 1b. Exception: Annotated works designed for classroom use or test preparation are welcome at Wikibooks. In fact, this is the only kind of "annotated text" that Wikibooks ever expected or wanted, as discussion there makes clear.
- 2. It is the responsibility of the contributor to provide a "clean" text unencumbered by additional matter. See below for how to accomplish this.
[edit] Rationale
Rationale for hosting annotated texts on Wikisource:
- All literature – whether plain, annotated, or critical – benefits from being together on the same project in all languages:
- Texts should not normally have to be duplicated on separate projects for annotations.
- Language links should work for annotated and non-annotated texts alike. This is especially true of large literary areas in multiple languages, where some texts may have annotation, others not.
- Templates should be shared across literature in the same language, whether annotated or not.
- It is impossible to draw a clear line for all texts between "sources" and various other elements. It may even be asked whether the "true" source text is a plain text that was copied to Wikisource, or the data in its critical apparatus?
- It is often difficult or impossible to draw a clear line between scholarly, professional, and didactic annotations.
- Though there is some unavoidable overlap with Wikibooks regarding annotated texts, this can be minizimed to the those that are clearly designed for classroom instruction or test preparation. For all other source texts (with or without annotations), the only clear home is Wikisource.
[edit] Clean texts and objectivity
There are two major policies about content:
- Even if supplementary materials are added to Wikisource texts, the future reader must always be given the option to view a "clean" version of the text. This means an objective version of a previously published edition without the possibly subjective additions of Wikisource contributors (see below for methods).
- Any supplementary materials must be kept NPOV.
The number of annotations, type of annotations, and other content issues related to a particular text are worked out through the normal means of editing and talk page discussions.
[edit] Methods of annotating
The exact method of annotating the text is up to the editors involved.
In all cases, it is the responsibility of the contributor to provide Wikisource with a "clean" text unencumbered by additional matter. This may be accomplished in several ways:
- By providing a separate stand-alone copy of the source text.
- Through a technical solution that optionally "hides" the annotations.
- Through the transclusion of individual passages into two separate versions (one annotated and one not).
Current examples include:
- The Annotated Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde – using footnotes.
- Mishnah Tractate Berakhot – using transclusion.
- Copyright Law Revision (House Report No. 94-1476) — using transclusion and conditional text
Methods are not limited to these examples, and editors are encouraged to experiment and try new methods.
[edit] Multiple annotated versions
It is possible to have multiple annotated versions of a text. For example, one kind of annotation may be aimed at children or young students, while another may annotate the same text text for adult readers.
However, once an annotated project already exists, a new annotation project should not normally be forked. Multiple annotated versions of the same source text should be decided upon with clear, justified objectives.
[edit] Annotation library
Library of works that have been annotated on Wikisource.
