But What Has Really Changed?

Frederick W. Schwink, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


Notker der Deutsche von St. Gallen. Lateinischer Text und althochdeutsche Übersetzung der Tröstung der Philosophie (De consolatione Philosophiae) von Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius. Herausgegeben von Evelyn Scherabon Firchow unter Mitarbeit von Richard Hotchkiss und Rick Treece. 2003. 3 Volumes. Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 2003. Pp. LV + 1773. €408.

Katrin Woesner. Begriffsglossar und Index zu Albrechts JÜNGEREM TITUREL. 4 Volumes. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2003. Pp. XI + 2221. €452.

Heinrich von Veldeke. Eneas Roman. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Ms. germ. fol. 282). CD-Rom. Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert, 2003. €19.90.

The practice of doing Germanic studies has changed dramatically over the last few decades, although many of the materials we study have remained the same. Gone are the typewritten and handwritten scholarly manuscripts of the past, gone the boxes of slips and file cards; our new tools are digital—and as anyone who has had to use a manual typewriter will attest, much of what has come is progress. However, in this period of transition, questions must be raised as to production and presentation of our work, to what extent we should embrace the new technologies, and where we should be more reserved. This question raised itself for me a year or so ago when I had the honor to appear as a guest on Chicago's WGN Radio's Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg for a two-hour conversation about language and its origin. The first hour another guest (Alan Metcalf) and I conversed with Mr. Rosenberg about language in various ways, and during the second hour listeners called in with questions. One caller asked how the advent of new technologies has affected what is done with historical linguistics. The question stumped me at the time, for while it is hard for me to imagine doing my work without computers and the like, the real question was whether the new technologies allow qualitative as well as quantitative changes in how our work proceeds. Even the structure of computer interfaces reflects a retention of traditional ways of working. I type my materials in as a document that I store in a folder. The folder is stored with many other folders in larger folders, analogous to paper files in a drawer, and some files are scattered across my desktop, both literally and digitally. Is there a real difference between my jotting notes in notebooks or on file cards to be stored against their eventual need and my jotting thoughts and ideas down in hierarchically arranged computer files, again, to be used when needed?