Below, we describe use and access to eLaborate for users of the editions and for users of the work environment. Both published editions and the work environment are taylored for the latest versions of Mozilla Firefox. We expect users of the work environment to always use this browser. This is because Mozilla Firefox from all existing browsers most adequately conforms to the international technical standards. For this reason the eLaborate developers always write their code to work optimally in Mozilla Firefox.
For users of the editions
Editions published in eLaborate 4 are freely accessible. The list of published editions can be found on Editions, Published. A link will lead to the online publication. Manuals for the use of published editions are part of each separate edition. Work in progress, described on the page Ongoing projects, is still locked for public access. However, if a scholar would like to participate in a project or to be able to view the progress, (s)he can send a mail to the leader of the project, whose name and e-mail address are mentioned in the short description of the project.
For users of the work environment
There are two ways to get access to the work environment to prepare an edition in eLaborate 4. For universities and other scholarly institutes with the need to publishes more than one or two editions in the near future, the best option is to install the software on their own institutional server. More information about this can be found on the page For programmers.
Individual scholars wanting to prepare an edition in eLaborate are requested to send an e-mail to eLaborate helpdesk with a short description of the project they are planning and why they would like to make use of the software, sketching the mutual benefits for their own project and for Huygens ING. The eLaborate team at Huygens ING will then plan a personal meeting with the scholar to explore the possibilities to give the project leader access to the work environment of eLaborate. If permission is granted, a contract between Huygens ING and the project leader will be drawn up describing the mutual conditions of working in eLaborate. An instruction session will be organized at Huygens ING. The project leader will get permission to add users to her or his project. This website contains a manual for project leaders. Each project leader will have to derive a manual for the users of his of her own project, which can be made available through a webpage that is restricted to the users of that specific project.
When NOT to use the eLaborate work environment
In some cases, eLaborate is not the best tool for the creation of a text edition. For instance, eLaborate is not suited if one wants to make a aligned synoptic text edition (but if alignment is not needed, eLaborate can be a serious option). When a text or text collection is very complex as to the genetic background and would need very complex layers of annotations, Huygens ING advises the use of XML. If a scholar has sufficient XML expertise and the planned edition is related to the Huygens ING research programme, Huygens ING may be interested in publishing the final XML files through the eLaborate publishing system.