Formation of digital databases of manuscripts: problems and textological perspectives, article 1

This article is the first part of a two-part study of the key problems and possible prospects for the formation of digital archives of the manuscript heritage of writers. The work analyzes the existing approaches to the creation of electronic databases and highlights a number of problem areas of digitization of handwritten texts and their presentation in electronic form. Difficulties in forming digital archives are connected, firstly, with the choice of equipment and software for obtaining electronic copies of manuscripts, secondly, with the search for optimal methods of image recognition and its final digital representation, and thirdly, with the need to place the digital archive of the writer in the information-analytical system that provides a wide range of possibilities of its use. Modern practice shows that most of the projects of collection of electronic databases of literary sources are aimed at expanding the potential of search and analytical work with digital documents. In this case, the question of the principles of designing input forms and editing objects describing handwritten materials becomes of particular importance. It is concluded that it is necessary to build a digital database of handwritten heritage of writers, which will not only provide the user-philologist with digitized text material, but also contribute to the solution of specific research problems in the field of source studies, textology and literary criticism.