Introduction

Scholarly editorial practices are undergoing deep structural and theoretical changes. Such changes are connected to the adoption of computers, both for supporting editorial work and for disseminating it. In spite of what was believed by earlier adopters, computers are proving to be far more than just electronic research assistants able to offer relief from ‘idiot’ work; in fact they are leading us to question the hermeneutics and heuristics of textual scholarship. Traditional editorial practices and theories have been developed and shaped by print culture, but, after the first stage of digital editing where the assumption was that it was possible to simply transfer such practices to the new medium, new editorial models have emerged, along with new workflows. New research goals have become pursuable, with the result that even the basic assumptions that were taken for granted are open for scrutiny.