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Research Environment for Ancient Documents (READ) is an open source platform for epigraphic and manuscript research. READ supports the transcription, research, understanding, analysis and publication of scholarly editions and studies of texts.
The defining innovation is an atomized data structure that represents a text using orthographic subunits (as opposed to lines or words). This structure elminates data duplication while supporting standard layers of textual analysis from the factual to the interpretive
READ provides facilities for linking images of an inscribed object with transcriptions, for handling multiple transcriptions of the same object in parallel, for linking original-language texts with translations, and for producing glossaries and paleographic charts. The initial focus of READ development has been on supporting documents in South Asian writing systems, but the software is intended to be general and useable for documents from other scribal traditions. READ can be used offline on a scholar’s personal computer, or it can be installed on a server in a multi‐user setup. It uses PostgreSQL for storage, HTML/PHP/JavaScript for display and interaction and TEI P5 XML for export and import, allowing for integration of READ with existing TEI-based workflows. Semi-automated workflows are designed to accelerate the preparation of text editions.
The following diagram shows the primary workflow for editing with READ:
The following diagram shows the core linking model for READ:
The following screenshots illustrate some of the functionality of READ.
Linking images to texts:
(image by Andrea Schlosser)
Linking texts to translations:
(image by Andrea Schlosser)
Creating glossaries for texts:
(image by Andrea Schlosser)
Creating paleography tables:
(image by Andrea Schlosser)
Linking multiple editions to a baseline:
Linking multiple baselines to an edition:
READ is being developed by a core team consisting of Stefan Baums (Munich), Andrew Glass (Seattle), Ian McCrabb (Sydney) and Stephen White (Venice) with contribution from Andrea Schlosser (Munich). READ development has received generous funding from the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Prakaś Foundation, the University of Lausanne, the University of Washington and the University of Sydney. READ is open‐source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3.