Current issues in making digital editions of medieval texts—or, do electronic scholarly editions have a future?

It has been more than ten years since the first digital editions began to see the light of day. This article examines the current state of and future possibilities for the digital critical edition. Despite great promise, the article argues, digital editions have not been as successful with the general scholarly community as was expected by early digital theorists. The author attributes this failure to two main problems: a lack of easy-to-use tools and a lack of support from major publishing houses. The result is that it currently remains far easier to make a print than electronic edition. This situation will not improve until the tools and distribution of electronic projects is such that any scholar with the disciplinary skills to make an edition in print can be assured he or she will have access to the tools and distribution necessary to make it in the electronic medium.