ABSTRACT
When one thinks about the uses of manuscripts in a digital setting, the need for greater accessibility is often considered a primary benefit of the online object. Digitized manuscripts undoubtedly democratize and aid in the disassembly of power structures related to the privilege of institutional access; only “bonafide” scholars can see most manuscripts, and only a tiny number of curators have access to the ‘treasures’ in a collection. Rather than mimicking the way that scholars work in libraries and archives and the tools that they employ when working with objects in situ, the functionality of digital manuscripts is entirely based on the way that scholars aspire to work with manuscripts insofar as technology allows. Modern readers of physical and digital medieval manuscripts, and their utilization of technology to improve the usability of manuscripts, mirror the ways that medieval scribes developed systems of technology.
