About

What is TEXTUS?

In a nutshell it is an open source platform for working with collections of texts. It harnesses the power of semantic web technologies and delivers them in a simple and intuitive interface so that students, researchers and teachers can share and collaborate around collections of texts. TEXTUS is a project of the Open Knowledge Foundation.

What does TEXTUS do?

TEXTUS enables users to:

  • Collaboratively annotate texts and view the annotations of others
  • Reliably cite electronic versions of texts
  • Transcribe texts from scanned images and upload new scans of texts
  • Search for texts and authors
  • Create bibliographies with stable URLs to online versions of those texts
  • Export annotated versions of texts

Where has TEXTUS been deployed?

The first instance of TEXTUS will be deployed as OpenPhilosophy.org. We are working closely with students from Goldsmiths University, the University of Oxford and a distinguished advisory board of philosophy academics to make sure that OpenPhilosophy.org meets the needs of the philosophical community. More information can be found on the project page.

What tools will TEXTUS use?

TEXTUS builds on and utilises existing best of breed open source components and software packages such as:

  • Annotator – an open-source Javascript tool to enable annotations to be added to any webpage
  • Bibserver – which includes numerous tools, services and standards for working with bibliographic metadata
  • Open Literature – which powers OpenShakespeare, OpenMilton and other sites

How do I get involved with TEXTUS?

TEXTUS is an open source platform developed by the Open Knowledge Foundation, which is a volunteer organisation. As such, there are a huge number of ways to get involved.