3.301 e-texts (65)

Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@VM.EPAS.UTORONTO.CA)
Fri, 28 Jul 89 21:15:02 EDT


Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 301. Friday, 28 Jul 1989.


(1) Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 10:45:39 PLT (22 lines)
From: "Guy L. Pace" <PACE@WSUVM1>
Subject: e-texts

(2) Date: Friday, 28 July 1989 1715-EST (23 lines)
From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS
Subject: M.S.Hart on e-texts

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 10:45:39 PLT
From: "Guy L. Pace" <PACE@WSUVM1>
Subject: e-texts

Machine readable texts should be increasingly available as technology
leaves the hard-copy print world behind. I'm not suggesting that
there is no longer a place for hard-copy printed material, but that
the value and usefulness of printed matter is decreasing as society becomes
dependent on the immediacy and direct access of electronic materials.

The main issues in electronic texts is the control of distribution and
the protection of the original form of the documents. Keyboarding, scanning
and proofreading for errors should be conducted by organizations set up
for that purpose. A certain level of accuracy and quality (not to mention
standardization in markup) needs to be established (International Standards
for Text Conversion and Markup?).

Again, somehow publishers need to be involved in capturing electronic versions
of published materials, and setting up standards may help smooth this process.

Michael Hart's suggestion for discussion of machine readable texts at all
educational levels requires that the above needs to be addressed.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------26----
Date: Friday, 28 July 1989 1715-EST
From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS
Subject: M.S.Hart on e-texts

Please, Michael Hart, for those on HUMANIST who been through
various earlier discussions of electronic text archives,
inventories, storage and delivery mechanisms (e.g. CD-ROM),
quality control, computer assited instruction, and ideal
search and browse software --
(1) what is the "National Clearinghouse for Machine Readable Texts,"
how does it relate to existing centers and projects such as
those at Oxford, Bergen, Pisa, Toronto, Penn, and the emerging
Princeton/Rutgers Center (to mention only a few), and
(2) what specific aims/interests lie behind your very general
sort of query?
We have already, perhaps before you (and other interested members)
joined, gone over much of this ground, so it would be useful to
have some specific foci in mind to address in any renewed discussion.
And it would also help you to know what has already been treated
on HUMANIST, so that you can consult those discussions on the
ListServer, and thus your new queries can build on that foundation.

Bob Kraft (CCAT)