Team Members
- Axel Murillo
- David Wise
- Andrew Bates
Project Abstract
Melville’s Marginalia Online (MMO) catalogs Herman Melville’s personal library, converting his handwritten notes and markings into a machine-readable digital format. This project continues to build on the work which began in Spring 2023 that will replace MMO’s outdated Adobe Flash/Flex markup editor with a more modern React-based editor. By integrating contemporary technologies and incorporating the user's needs, the updated markup editor aims to streamline the editorial process and contribute to the long-term preservation of Melville’s literary annotations in a sustainable digital format.
Project Description
MMO is a digital archive that preserves the handwritten notes and marginalia found in Herman Melville's personal collection of books. The platform serves as a resource for scholars, researchers, and literary enthusiasts interested in understanding Melville’s annotations and creative process. However, MMO’s current image markup editor, developed in Adobe Flash/Flex, has become outdated and is no longer supported by browsers, necessitating the development of a modern markup editor.
In response to these issues, the proposed solution for the outdated Flash-based editor will be a modernized image markup editor using React, a flexible JavaScript library to build web applications. The new editor will not only be replicating the core functionalities of the Flash/Flex system but also introduce new necessary features and improvements to the existing editor from the Spring 2023 team. Our solution will include an enhanced user interface with a local application that will edit XML files.
The impact of this project extends beyond just technical functionality and updating an existing system. Improving the tool’s usage and accessibility, we aim to provide a better user experience for researchers and enthusiasts of Melville’s work. Incorporating the React library to improve the user interface will create a more modern and functional Markup editor. The continuation and completion of this project will ensure that MMO remains a sustainable, valuable, and accessible resource for years to come.
How This App Works
The Melville’s Marginalia Online (MMO) app is designed to provide an intuitive and efficient way to encode and edit literary marginalia. Here’s a brief overview of how it works:
- Loading Documents: Users can load documents from the MMO database. The app fetches all available documents and displays them in a dropdown menu for easy selection.
- Selecting Pages: Once a document is selected, users can navigate through its pages using the page selection dropdown or navigation buttons. The app fetches and displays the selected page along with its existing annotations.
- Editing Annotations: Users can add, edit, or delete annotations directly on the page. The app provides tools to create bounding boxes around text or images, allowing users to highlight specific areas of interest.
- Saving Changes: After making edits, users can save their changes. The app updates the XML representation of the page and sends it to the server for storage, ensuring that all annotations are preserved.
- Downloading XML: Users can download the XML files of the annotated pages for offline use or further analysis. This feature ensures that the data is accessible and can be used in other applications or research projects.
By leveraging modern web technologies like React, the MMO app offers a seamless and user-friendly experience for encoding and editing literary marginalia, making it a valuable tool for researchers and enthusiasts alike.
Screenshots
