At the inception of INKE, 4 foundational research areas were established to examine and explore electronic textuality: Information Management (IM), Interface Design (ID), Textual Studies (TS), and User Experience (UX). These areas were later joined by Modelling & Prototyping (M&P).
Information Management (IM)’s objective was: To create a series of dynamic and functional reading interfaces and prototypes for new knowledge environments.Ideally, these prototypes and interfaces would promote active reading patterns and draw on dynamically-integrated collections of supporting reading materials.
IM asked, “How can we better design the data that underlies digital information environments?” This team focused on the interdisciplinary paradigm of how to effectively store, retrieve, and navigate information. IM identified a gap in traditional and contemporary approaches to indexing and retrieving information, as these practices were insufficient for the instability and volume of electronic information and the proliferation of different data formats.
Leads
Ray Siemens (current Director of INKE, U Victoria) and Susan Schreibman (Trinity College Dublin)
Members & Research-active Partner Representatives
James Cummings (U Oxford), Lynn Copeland, Michael Eberle-Sinatra (U Montréal), Julia Flanders (Northeastern U), Dominic Forest (U Montréal), Matthew Kirschenbaum (U Maryland), Shawn Martin (U Pennsylvania), Marc Plamandon (Nipissing U), Goeffrey Rockwell (U Alberta, current Interface Design member), Susan Schreibman (Trinity College Dublin), Ray Siemens (current Director of INKE, U Victoria), Stéfan Sinclair (McGill U, current Interface Design member), and Matthew Zimmerman.
Key Publications
- Gainor, Rhiannon, Stéfan Sinclair, Stan Ruecker, Matt Patey, and Sandra Gabriele. “A Mandala Browser User Study: Visualizing XML Versions of Shakespeare’s Plays.” Visible Language 43.1 (2009): 60-85. http://visiblelanguagejournal.com/web/abstracts/abstract/a_mandala_browser_user_study_visualizing_xml_versions_of_shakespeares_plays
- Rockwell, Geoffrey. “Interrupting Digitization and Thinking about Text.” Informatica Umanistica 2 (2009): 65-86. http://www.ledonline.it/informatica-umanistica/Allegati/IU-02-09-Rockwell.pdf
- Sinclair, Stéfan, and Geoffrey Rockwell. “Between Language and Literature: Digital Text Exploration.” Teaching Literature and Language Online. Ed. Ian Lancashire. New York: MLA, 2009. 104-17.
Partners & Affiliates
Canadian Association of Research Libraries, Canadian Research Knowledge Network, Ebrary, Early English Books Online–Text Creation Partnership, Electronic Literature Organization, Internet Shakespeare Editions, Oxford Text Archives, Proquest, Public Knowledge Project, Synergies, Text Encoding Initiative, Transliteracies, the Versioning Machine, Service BC, and the Canadian Century Research Infrastructure Project.