4. Conclusions

The lesson to be learned from our original project is that one cannot foresee the wide range of uses for which scholars might some day want to explore the documents we are producing. Even as I have tried to elaborate some of the types of information that I think must be captured in a representation of Baret's dictionary, we can all be sure that this list fails to include many features more imaginative scholars will discover. My research is a collaboration between my ideas and the ideas of the scholars who have preceded me: Sledd, Starnes, and Stein. We need to insure that the research tools we develop will not only permit but encourage greater collaboration in the future. Therefore we need the most flexible and openly available systems that current technology can provide. With the help of such tools, perhaps one day we can determine if Baret really did know what he was doing.

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