SGER: Light and Enlightenment, A Digital Variorum Edition of Newton's Opticks -- Workshop, June 15-16, 2001

SGERKargon和Anderson，光与启蒙，牛顿光学的数字变种版[s01 -14452]该项目支持一个为期两天的研讨会，将不同学科的代表聚集在一起。目标是为多年的努力奠定一个安全的基础，使牛顿光学的数字变体版本成为现实。这样一个版本的目的是为了清楚地反映牛顿著作随时间的变化，因为在牛顿的一生中，《光学》出现了三个英文版本，两个拉丁文版本和两个法文版本。这篇文章的演变是牛顿对以太和力等重要概念的思考变化的关键指标，并为牛顿对化学和电学快速变化的实验科学的看法提供了重要线索，在他生命的最后四分之一世纪。变体版本的影响是出了名的困难。试图整理多个版本的更改的打印版本很复杂，有时令人困惑，而且总是难以使用。本次研讨会旨在讨论解决其中一些问题的途径，以便开发出一种学术工具。这台仪器将利用数字技术，使科学技术史上的研究人员能够对迄今为止不可能的牛顿光学进行分析。在我们所关注的领域，大多数数字化工作要么(1)将现有的研究模式转移到屏幕上，并允许文本搜索，要么(2)使有用的材料在远处可用。这项工作是有用和有价值的，但没有利用数字环境的力量和范围。pi希望开发一种软件工具，使我们能够通过数字化，使我们的研究超越纸面世界，提出和回答现在不可能的问题。这个项目需要科学历史学家、语言专家、出版历史学家和软件设计师的努力。组建这样一个多元化的团队，提出正确的问题，设计一种对目标受众有用的工具，并管理产品的传播，这是一项非常复杂的任务，需要承担很大的风险：我们的时间和精力的风险，以及开发目前尚不存在的技术工具的大量资金。

ABSTRACT SGERKargon and Anderson, Light and Enlightenment, A Digital Variorum Edition of Newton's OpticksSES 01-14452This project supports a two-day workshop to bring together representatives of various disciplines. The goal is to lay a secure foundation for a multi-year effort to bring into existence a digital variorum edition of Newton's Opticks. Such an edition is intended to clearly represent the changes over time in Newton's work, for during Newton's lifetime, the Opticks appeared in three English, two Latin and two French editions. The evolution of this text is a key indicator of changes in Newton's thinking about important concepts such as the aether and force, and provides important clues to Newton's views on the rapidly changing experimental sciences of chemistry and electricity over the last quarter century of his life. Variorum editions are notoriously difficult to effect. Print versions that attempt to collate changes over several versions are complicated, sometimes confusing and always difficult to use.This workshop is intended to discuss avenues for solving some of these problems, so that a scholarly instrument can be developed. This instrument will make of use of digital techniques to enable researchers in the history of science and technology to perform analyses of Newton's Opticks hitherto not possible. Most digitization work in our area of concern either (1) transfers existing patterns of research to the screen and allows text searching, or (2) makes useful materials available at a distance. This work has been useful and worthy but does not tap the power and range of digital environments. The PIs wish to develop a software tool that will enable us, though digitization, to allow our research to go beyond the paper world and to ask and answer questions not now possible. This project will require the efforts of historians of science, language specialists, historians of publishing, and software designers. Putting together such a diverse team, asking the right questions, designing an instrument useful to its intended audience, and managing the dissemination of the product is a very complex task and entails large risks: risks of our time and effort, and substantial funds for the development of technical tools that do not now exist.