Towards Hermeneutic Markup: An architectural outline

By "hermeneutic" markup I mean markup that is deliberately interpretive. It is not limited to describing aspects or features of a text that can be formally defined and objectively verified. Instead, it is devoted to recording a scholar's or analyst's observations and conjectures in an open-ended way. As markup, it is capable of automated and semi-automated processing, so that it can be processed at scale and transformed into different representations. By means of a markup regimen perhaps peculiar to itself, a text would be exposed to further processing such as text analysis, visualization or rendition. Texts subjected to consistent interpretive methodologies, or different interpretive methodologies applied to the same text, can be compared. Rather than being devoted primarily to supporting data interchange and reuse – although these benefits would not be excluded – hermeneutic markup is focused on the presentation and explication of the interpretation it expresses.