Articles by Barbara Bordalejo
DHQ: Digital Humanities Quarterly, 2025
This article examines the pedagogical adaptation of Textual Communities, a digital tool originall... more This article examines the pedagogical adaptation of Textual Communities, a digital tool originally developed for collaborative research in textual scholarship, to teach paleography at the undergraduate level within a liberal arts context. Prompted by the exigencies of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and the broader framework of critical digital pedagogy, the course-design reimagined the tool's primary research-focused function-edition-makingas a dynamic teaching and learning environment emphasizing transcription, engagement, and student autonomy. The article presents a specific example of the use of a digital tool in teaching paleography, detailing its purpose and impact on student learning and engagement. The article offers a concrete case study of hybrid-and flexible-by-design pedagogy, showing the value of using scholarly digital tools in undergraduate settings.
International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education , 2025
This paper explores the growing complexity of detecting and differentiating generative AI from ot... more This paper explores the growing complexity of detecting and differentiating generative AI from other AI interventions. Initially prompted by noticing how tools like Grammarly were being flagged by AI detection software, it examines how these popular tools such as Grammarly, EditPad, Writefull, and AI models such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Bing Copilot affect human-generated texts and how accurately current AI-detection systems, including Turnitin and GPTZero, can assess texts for use of these tools. The results highlight that widely used writing aids, even those not primarily generative, can trigger false positives in AI detection tools. In order to provide a dataset, the authors applied different AI-enhanced tools to a number of texts of different styles that were written prior to the development of consumer AI tools, and evaluated their impact through key metrics such as readability, perplexity, and burstiness. The findings reveal that tools like Grammarly that subtly enhance readability also trigger detection and increase false positives, especially for non-native speakers. In general, paraphrasing tools score low values in AI detection software, allowing the changes to go mostly unnoticed by the software. However, the use of Microsoft Bing Copilot and Writefull on our selected texts were able to eschew AI detection fairly consistently. To exacerbate this problem, traditional AI detectors like Turnitin and GPTZero struggle to reliably differentiate between legitimate paraphrasing and AI generation, undermining their utility for enforcing academic integrity. The study concludes by urging educators to focus on managing interactions with AI in academic settings rather than outright banning its use. It calls for the creation of policies and guidelines that acknowledge the evolving role of AI in writing, emphasizing the need to interpret detection scores cautiously to avoid penalizing students unfairly. In addition, encouraging openness on how AI is used in writing could alleviate concerns in the research and writing process for both students and academics. The paper recommends a shift toward teaching responsible AI usage rather than pursuing rigid bans or relying on detection metrics that may not accurately capture misconduct.
2012: 10), and process codes to gain a sense of the actions users are completing with Trankribus ... more 2012: 10), and process codes to gain a sense of the actions users are completing with Trankribus (Corbin and Strauss, 2015: 283). Through this method, this research will apply a set of procedures to make valid inferences from freeprocessing requests, presenting replicable and valid results (Krippendorff, 1980: 71) as to whether current schemes are weakening the financial barriers being faced by users of Transkribus. The information gained from reviewing the free processing requests will sit alongside information from interviews of READ staff, ascertaining what influenced the decision to supply free processing to these groups and what the aims were. Conclusion This paper explores the extent to which Transkribus supports early career and marginalised scholars in accessing the platform, using content analysis of free processing requests and interviews with members of the Transkribus staff. As the first study to systematically analysis these requests, it provides important insights into how the transition to a paid-for model has impacted Transkribus's users. It provides insights into the demographics of users requiring free processing, the types of projects which are being supported, and how successful the READ-COOP has been in supporting research. These findings allow us to develop recommendations for improving access to Transkribus, as well as begin to draw parallels to other HTR providers in making these platforms more equitable.
Digital Medievalist, 2021
Digital Medievalist, 2021
Although textual scholars agree that collation is a crucial component of the editing process, it ... more Although textual scholars agree that collation is a crucial component of the editing process, it often goes undefined and only briefly explained. This article defines the term, explains different kinds of collation, and explores some of its applications. We emphasize stemmatology and medieval textual traditions. By drawing from editorial examples and the theoretical frameworks of projects centred on works such as the Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, Dante’s Commedia and the Greek New Testament, the article seeks to compare manual and computer-assisted approaches to collation methods. We delineate the scope of this activity and argue that computer-assisted collation minimizes the risk of missing out on relevant data. We examine the advantages of full-text collation over sample collation and conclude that no decisions about stemmatically significant variation can be made a priory and that variant distribution is the major factor weighing on significance.
Digital Medievalist, 2021
This article describes computer-assisted methods for the analysis of textual variation within lar... more This article describes computer-assisted methods for the analysis of textual variation within large textual traditions. It focuses on the conversion of the XML apparatus into NEXUS, a file type commonly used in bioinformatics. Phylogenetics methods are described with particular emphasis on maximum parsimony, the preferred approach for our research. The article provides details on the reasons for favouring maximum parsimony, as well as explaining our choice of settings for PAUP. It gives examples of how to use VBase, our variant database, to query the data and gain a better understanding of the phylogenetic trees. The relationship between the apparatus and the stemma explained. After demonstrating the vast number of decisions taken during the analysis, the article concludes that as much as computers facilitate our work and help us expand our understanding, the role of the editor continues to be fundamental in the making of editions.
Digital Medievalist, 2021
The massive increase in the use of mobile devices over the last years, with over half of all acce... more The massive increase in the use of mobile devices over the last years, with over half of all accesses to the internet now coming from mobile devices, presents a challenge and an opportunity to textual scholars. It has long been suggested that digital technologies may help scholarly editors find new audiences for their work: work which has traditionally lain on library shelves with only the occasional visitor. In this paper we describe an attempt to plan, make and distribute an edition – the CantApp, presenting in its first iteration the General Prologue of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales – designed specifically for mobile device use. We reflect on the difficulties we faced, the initial reception of the app, and draw conclusions which might be useful for other scholarly projects.
Endeavour, 2001
Frequently, letters, words and sentences are used in undergraduate textbooks and the popular pres... more Frequently, letters, words and sentences are used in undergraduate textbooks and the popular press as an analogy for the coding, transfer and corruption of information in DNA. We discuss here how the converse can be exploited, by using programs designed for biological analysis of sequence evolution to uncover the relationships between different manuscript versions of a text. We point out similarities between the evolution of DNA and the evolution of texts.
Bodies of Information: Intersectional Feminism and Digital Humanities, 2018
The pervasive belief in gender balance in digital humanities prompts the question of how the fiel... more The pervasive belief in gender balance in digital humanities prompts the question of how the field might appear if it could be analyzed across a broader set of perspectives. This chapter considers data gathered through a survey of self-described “digital humanists” to understand the current situation of the field. It concludes with some suggestions that might improve the position of women and minorities within digital humanities.
Ecdotica, 2018
This article describes four textual traditions in which we find this phenomenon,
and reflects on ... more This article describes four textual traditions in which we find this phenomenon,
and reflects on how editors have responded to it. Although it
appears that no previous scholar has isolated the case of manuscripts
with few significant shared introduced variants as a problem, our identification
of this as a cause of editorial difficulty in four unrelated manuscript
traditions (not to mention the exceptional importance of three of
those four) leads us to posit that this phenomenon, though previously
unacknowledged, may be widespread. Indeed, it is likely to be present in
every large manuscript tradition.
This article discusses the targeting of women and minorities on the internet, specifically focusi... more This article discusses the targeting of women and minorities on the internet, specifically focusing on matters which have arisen within the Digital Humanities community in the Global North. I explore the connection between Milo Yiannopoulos’s key role in GamerGate, the online harassment of female journalists, and the targeted attacks against female academics working in the Digital Humanities. The link between these phenomena is organic, with Yiannopoulos playing a critical role in both attempts to terrorize female-identifying individuals into silence and compliance. The article also elucidates the reasons why an online mob mentality can overrule social boundaries and shows how hatred is directed mostly at individuals who stand at the intersection of several marginalized groups. I explore how the rise of the far right, currently referred to as the alt-right, is directly linked to the type of harassment female academics experience and conclude that despite the internet’s potential as an egalitarian space, the virtual plane is so profoundly tainted by the hetero-patriarchal reality as to allow figures which should have been marginal to take center stage and orchestrate coordinated assaults against what have become easy targets. I conclude that the threats of seemingly fringe individuals cannot be taken lightly in a world in which so many individuals can be manipulated through the smoke and mirrors of the internet.
Several recent works have addressed the question of the extent to which recent advances in digita... more Several recent works have addressed the question of the extent to which recent advances in digital scholarship imply a revolution in scholarly editing practice. The current article addresses claims of a qualitative leap in the scholarly editing and suggests that while digital means present many advantages, digital editing practice is less far removed from print scholarly editing than might otherwise be thought.
For some time, scholars have been using computer-assisted methods to produce graphic representati... more For some time, scholars have been using computer-assisted methods to produce graphic representations of the relationships between witnesses within a textual tradition.1 The use of methods originally developed by evolutionary biologists has been called into question on account of the perceived lack of identity between two different disciplines. This view arises from a misunderstanding about how the methods work in relation to texts and how the resulting stemmata should be interpreted. This article refines textual critical terminology, particularly the distinction between textual traditions and manuscript traditions, in the context of the use of computer-assisted stemmatological methods to further our understanding of how these fit within the wider theoretical framework of textual criticism and scholarly editing, and makes explicit the way in which stemmata produced by using evolutionary biology software should be read.
first published the Origin of Species in 1859. The book was immediately revised and a second edit... more first published the Origin of Species in 1859. The book was immediately revised and a second edition was released in 1860. These two editions were followed by four others, in 1861, 1866, 1869 and 1872. Each of them was revised by Darwin, some more heavily than others. These revisions make the textual history of the Origin complex and intriguing. This article describes the new Online Variorum, presents the types of changes that Darwin introduced in his text and offers hypotheses about the reasons for the changes.
Este artículo define el libro en el contexto del siglo XXI, cuando el
códice ya no es necesariam... more Este artículo define el libro en el contexto del siglo XXI, cuando el
códice ya no es necesariamente la forma más común para la distribución de textos, y considera la materialidad de los libros electrónicos; comienza discutiendo las ideas expuestas en «What is a Book?» para explorar los conceptos implícitos en nuestro sistema cultural. Concluye con una revisión de la idea tradicional del libro para expandir el concepto de modo que pueda incluir no solo las formas del códice y otros modelos, sino también los libros electrónicos y los cibercódices, y utiliza como ejemplo el desarrollo de la nueva edición electrónica de los Cuentos de Canterbury para tabletas y otros aparatos móviles.
Trends in Genetics, Jan 1, 2001
Frequently, letters, words and sentences are used in undergraduate textbooks and the popular pres... more Frequently, letters, words and sentences are used in undergraduate textbooks and the popular press as an analogy for the coding, transfer and corruption of information in DNA. We discuss here how the converse can be exploited, by using programs designed for biological analysis of sequence evolution to uncover the relationships between different manuscript versions of a text. We point out similarities between the evolution of DNA and the evolution of texts.
This chapter considers how one may use Genette's concepts of paratext and hypertext within transm... more This chapter considers how one may use Genette's concepts of paratext and hypertext within transmedia narratives and born-digital texts and explores how Web publication problematizes standard ideas of authorship and copyright. This challenges our concepts of originality and our understanding of what constitutes the text and what stands outside it. This chapter explores Nick Montfort's “Taroko Gorge,” a born-digital poem, and Jasper Fforde's “The Eyre Affair,” analyzed as a transmedia narrative, within the framework of Genette's theories of “paratext” and “hypertext.” This chapter highlights the difficulty of reconciling the intellectual and political necessity of a world in which data is freely shared with the practical concern of how the producers of creative work can make a living.
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Articles by Barbara Bordalejo
and reflects on how editors have responded to it. Although it
appears that no previous scholar has isolated the case of manuscripts
with few significant shared introduced variants as a problem, our identification
of this as a cause of editorial difficulty in four unrelated manuscript
traditions (not to mention the exceptional importance of three of
those four) leads us to posit that this phenomenon, though previously
unacknowledged, may be widespread. Indeed, it is likely to be present in
every large manuscript tradition.
códice ya no es necesariamente la forma más común para la distribución de textos, y considera la materialidad de los libros electrónicos; comienza discutiendo las ideas expuestas en «What is a Book?» para explorar los conceptos implícitos en nuestro sistema cultural. Concluye con una revisión de la idea tradicional del libro para expandir el concepto de modo que pueda incluir no solo las formas del códice y otros modelos, sino también los libros electrónicos y los cibercódices, y utiliza como ejemplo el desarrollo de la nueva edición electrónica de los Cuentos de Canterbury para tabletas y otros aparatos móviles.