Report on the TLG (73)
Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@VM.EPAS.UTORONTO.CA)
Tue, 31 Jan 89 20:40:39 EST
Humanist Mailing List, Vol. 2, No. 549. Tuesday, 31 Jan 1989.
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 89 12:01:23 -0800
From: Ted Brunner <LBERKOWI@UCI>
Subject: Sign of Life from TLG
[The following has been taken from the IBYCUS-L discussion group, with
thanks but without permission. My apologies to those who have seen it
before. --WM]
A recent contributor to the Ibycus Scholarly Discussion asked the
question "TLG-are you there?". Yes, we're there, and we try to keep
up with what's happening on the Ibycus bulletin board as much as
possible (sometimes it's difficult because regular mail delivery
brings an average of 25 letters twice a day, and all of them require
attention of one sort or another). Anyway, and to comment at least
on a couple of issues which have cropped up as of late:
1. All texts in the TLG data bank have been dated by now (or at least
all of the texts that can be dated with a reasonable degree of certainty).
2. Allof the texts (texts -- not authors!) in the TLG data bank have,
by now, been classified (i.e., tagged with generic or other similar
identifiers).
3. None of item #2, of ourse, is currently reflected on TLG CD ROM "C#,
the most recent TLG CD ROM version.
4. When will the next CD ROM version be issued? I can't give a specific
date yet. Tentatively, we're thinking of mid- or late 1989 (in any event,
there is by now enough newly verified and corrected material to warrant
issuing a revised disk version before too long).
5. Mark Riley: you've expressed disappointment over the absence of
Ptolemy and Archimedes from CD ROM "C". Sorry about that - we'll try
to do the best we can. The problem is that both of these texts are
bears in terms of verification and correction problems, and we've been
trying to focus upon some easier stuff lately in order to catch up
with our overall v&c schedule (Jacoby FGrH) really set us back as
far as that schedule is concrned.
6. We're having major problems with some publishers who claim that
we have violated their copyright in converting their texts intoelectronic form.
Those of you who read our Newsletter know about this. The issue still
has not been resolved yet.
7. Directly related to the previous item: I want to issue yet another
reminder that the TLG license agreement forbids downloading of TLG texts
from the CD ROM for purposes other than those directly related to licensee's
temporary research activities, and that the license agreement (particularly
Section V) has a lot to say about other kinds of permitted or non-permitted
CD ROM and text use. I don't want to seem to be nagging about this, but
it is the text downloading and/or transfer that the aforementioned publishers
are most acrimonious about. There are major proprietary, legal, and economic
issues involved here, and I (=the Regents of the University of California)
don't want to run the risk of a major law suit from a publishing house
(particularly since UC would simply turn around and sue the text or CD ROM
licensee in turn).
So much for now. I will try my best to keep up with my e-mail, but
can't guarantee that I can retrieve it every day. In fact, TLG
communication is shifting ever more rapidly toward FAX (this will
assure the quickest response). Our number is (714) 856-8434.
Theodore F. Brunner, Director
Thesaurus Linguae Graecae