Episode 14: Book Structures and Fan Cultures

Recorded 22 April 2026. Edited by Autumn Yun-Ting Tsai.In the second part of the introduction to Season Two of Coding Codices, Barbara Denicolò, Sebastian Gensicke, and Cihan Şimşek share insights into their projects, ranging from medieval charters and court records to Renaissance medical correspondence, and discuss the opportunities and challenges of digital research. Their conversation explores computational methods, network analysis, research data management, and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, while reflecting on what Digital Humanities means beyond the mere application of digital tools.Music:Intro/Outro music by TeknoAXE, “Lowly Tavern Bard- Fall is Upon Us Again” (CC BY 4.0).Graphics:Featured Image: München, Staatsbibl., Cgm 51, f. 37v, ed. by Sebastian Gensicke.For more details see: https://codingcodices.wordpress.com/2026/11/09/series-2-episode-3-introduction-to-the-new-committee-part-2/

Recorded 29 December 2025. Edited by Cihan Şimşek.This episode contains an introduction to Season Two of the Coding Codices Podcast and a chat with Digital Medievalist Postgraduate Committee members Giulia D’Agostino, Sebastian Dows-Miller and Davide Pafumi, who discuss their career paths and relationship to the field of Digital Medieval Studies.Music:Intro/outro music by  Kevin MacLeod, “RetroFuture Nasty” (CC BY 4.0).Graphics:Featured Image: München, Staatsbibl., Cgm 51, f. 15v, image and text ed. by Giulia D’Agostino.

After a hiatus, Coding Codices is back with a new series!In this first episode, Julia Pelosi-Thorpe and Suzette van Haaren speak to Cosette Bruhns Alonso about digital editing and publishing, and visual art and media.Since the recording of this episode in May 2024, Cosette Bruhns Alonso has been appointed Assistant Editor of Brown University Digital Publications. In this role, she guides the creation of born-digital scholarship that presents research in ways not achievable in conventional print format, intended for publication with university presses.Cosette has published several articles and lectured widely on born-digital publishing, and has significant teaching, curatorial, and digital humanities experience. She received her Ph.D. in Italian Studies from the University of Chicago, and served as BUDP's inaugural Diversity in Digital Publishing Postdoctoral Research Associate. She previously held the position of Contemporary Publishing Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Press and Penn Libraries, and as Assistant Editor of Book and Style Publications at the Modern Language Association. She is the Managing Editor of Dante Studies, the annual journal of the Dante Society of America.Music credits: Intro/outro music by TeknoAXE, "Chiptune Nobility" (CC BY 4.0).Image credits: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds français, 24432, fol. 86r, image and text ed. by Sebastian Dows-Miller.

In this episode, Aylin and Caitlin speak with Dot Porter on book structures, manuscript studies, and transformative works in fandom. Dot Porter is Curator of Digital Research Services at the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies. Music credits: Intro/outro music by TeknoAXE, "Chiptune Nobility" (CC BY 4.0), interludes by Aaron Kenny, "Yonder Hill and Dale" (CC0) Transcript and more information at https://codingcodices.wordpress.com/2023/03/02/episode-14-book-structures-and-fan-cultures/. Recorded 21 November 2022. Edited by Aylin Malcolm.

In this episode, Aylin, Hannah, James, and Seb discuss a recent article by Emily C. Francomano and Heather Bamford and the questions it raises about the accessibility of digital resources for medieval studies. Music credits: Intro/outro music by TeknoAXE, "Chiptune Nobility" (CC by 4.0), interludes by Random Mind, "The Bard's Tale" (CC0) Transcript and more information at https://codingcodices.wordpress.com/2023/01/13/episode-13-accessibility/. Recorded 12 December 2022. Edited by Aylin Malcolm.

Dr. Margaret Smith from the IRIS Center (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) speaks about her projects focused on bridging gaps between DH studies and the St. Louis community. Her digital medieval work, Submission Strategies, maps, the spatial and social networks captured in the Irish submissions to Richard II, using these and contemporary materials to create a rich and nuanced depiction of the alliances, hostilities, and spheres of influence that shaped the interconnected social networks of England and Ireland. Music credits: Intro/outro music by TeknoAXE, "Chiptune Nobility" (CC by 4.0), interludes by Random Mind, "Market Day" (CC0) Transcript and more information at https://codingcodices.wordpress.com/2022/05/06/episode-12-public-digital-humanities/. Recorded 12 April 2022. Edited by James Harr.

In this episode Katie Albers-Morris, Helen Davies, and Alex Zawacki talk about recovering palimpsests and erased texts with multispectral imaging. All three are, or have been, PhD candidates at the Lazarus project at the University of Rochester, an initiative that was designed with the educational purpose of training students in the field of multispectral imaging and image processing techniques for cultural heritage objects. During the episode we discuss MSI in general, their experiences as (grad) students and program coordinators at the Lazarus project, MSI in the classroom, and the challenges of dissertation projects in the digital humanities. Transcript and more information at https://codingcodices.wordpress.com/2022/03/04/episode-11-multispectral-imaging/. Music credits: theme music: TeknoAXE, “Chiptune Nobility” (CC BY 4.0); interludes: Random Mind, King’s Feast” (CC0). Recorded 2 August 2021. Produced and edited by Hannah Busch (@cesare_blanc).

Caitlin Postal and Bridget Whearty discuss labor ethics in digital medieval studies, manuscript digitization processes, and Bridget's forthcoming book, Digital Codicology. Bridget Whearty is an Assistant Professor at Binghamton University. She is the creator of the Caswell Test, named after and inspired by the work of Michelle Caswell (#CaswellTest) and co-editor for the special issue of Archive Journal dedicated to Digital Medieval Manuscript Cultures. Her first book, Digital Codicology: Medieval Books and Modern Labor, is forthcoming from Stanford University Press's Text Technologies series. Find Bridget on Twitter @BridgetWhearty. Transcript and more information at https://codingcodices.wordpress.com/2022/02/04/episode-10-medieval-books-and-modern-labor/. Music credits: theme music: TeknoAXE, “Chiptune Nobility” (CC BY 4.0); interludes: Curran Son, "The Red Fox Tavern." Recorded 21 October 2021. Produced and edited by Caitlin Postal (@goingpostale).

James and Aylin talk to Sarah Fiddyment and Timothy Stinson about their work in the emerging field of biocodicology, the study of the biomolecular information found in manuscripts. Sarah Fiddyment received her PhD from the University of Zaragoza in 2011, working in the field of proteomics in cardiovascular research. She moved to the University of York in 2012, where she developed a non-invasive sampling technique that has enabled her to establish the emerging field of biocodicology. In 2019, Sarah joined the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge as part of the ERC funded Beasts to Craft project. Timothy Stinson is Associate Professor of English at North Carolina State University. He is co-director of the Medieval Electronic Scholarly Alliance, director of the Society for Early English and Norse Electronic Texts, co-director of the Piers Plowman Electronic Archive, associate director of the Advanced Research Consortium, and editor of the Siege of Jerusalem Electronic Archive. He has also collaborated with colleagues in the biological sciences to analyze the DNA found in medieval manuscripts. Music credits: Intro / outro: TeknoAXE, “Chiptune Nobility” (CC BY 4.0), interludes: Random Mind, “Rejoicing” (CC0). Transcript and more information at https://codingcodices.wordpress.com/2021/12/02/episode-9-biocodicology-from-dust-to-data/. Recorded 17 September 2021. Edited by James Harr.

Dr. Johanna Green speaks with Aylin Malcolm and Caitlin Postal about manuscript materiality, digitization projects, and increased access to physical objects. Dr. Green is a lecturer in Information Studies at the University of Glasgow and co-director of the University of Glasgow Digital Cultural Heritage lab. In addition to her work on manuscript studies via social media and in light of the COVID-19 remote learning circumstances, she has been thinking about how to interact with the medieval book during lockdown. In this episode, she shares her experiences with sensory cues and digital manuscript studies. Music credits: Intro: TeknoAXE, “Chiptune Nobility” (CC BY 4.0), interludes: Shane Ivers, “The Medieval Banquet” (CC BY 4.0) and Alexander Nakarada, “Marked” (CC BY 4.0). Transcript and more information at https://codingcodices.wordpress.com/2021/11/05/episode-8-material-manuscripts-in-a-digital-world/. Recorded 12 November 2020. Produced and edited by Aylin Malcolm.