The Research Project

The first concept for the Edirom-software was created in 2004 by Ralf Schnieders. This prototype was able to display all the relevant sources in the context of the edition. While the software was built with Macromedia Director it suffered all the drawbacks of proprietary code.
In 2005 an application was filed to rewrite the software from scratch and develop open programming interfaces while dealing with diverse editorial problems.

Since 2006 the project is funded by the DFG and aims at enduring, platform-independent, digital standards in musical editions. New forms of historical-critical editions are in the center of interest while specific problems will be engaged in cooperation with already existing editions. It is necessary for the Edirom-software that it is developed as an open software for demonstrating the results of editorial work. But it is also important for the Edirom to be developed as a modular editor-tool, for allowing an efficient use of new techniques and not at least for a better demonstration of new scientific results in musical practice.

The central questions are:

1. What do editors demand from an software for editorial purposes?
2. Which formats and structures are able to guarantee an endurance of the created editions and how can these be made usable for electronic editions?
3. Which are the technical and ergonomical problems to solve?
4. Do the issues of a scholarly edition shift by changing to another medium?