Fwd: Some ideas on evaluation and TEI Certification

[John Unsworth]

>From: alex.bia at ua.es
>Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 14:37:03 +0100
>To: jmu2m at virginia.edu
>Reply-To: alex.bia at ua.es
>Subject: Some ideas on evaluation and TEI Certification
>
>Dear John,
>
>Your message to Charles Faulhaber and David Chestnutt sounds very
>reasonable and follows the spirit of what was said during the
>conference call, ... or at least what I managed to hear from Portugal
>that day.  :-)

Thanks--sorry you had such a difficult time with the call...

<p>>Point 4 made me think a little on what "TEI certified" should imply,
>so here are some ideas.
>
>Perhaps, there should be an "evaluation & benchmarking comittee" (or
>workgroup) in charge of testing and issuing reports on the quality
>and usability of TEI-related tools and methods. As usual in these
>cases, criteria and procedures must be first established and then
>followed for these evaluations (maybe a new task for a workgroup).

Or maybe a task force, if we agree to continue the distinction drawn in our 
last conversation.

<p>>The resulting reports should finally go to the Council for final
>approval, and perhaps a statement from the TEI-Editors would help to
>determine the lifespan of the tested products concerning how the
>tested objects are expected to comply with future developments and
>trends of the TEI.

Sure.

<p>>The result in a favorable case should be a certification stating the
>levels of TEI compliance (P3, P4, P5), XML/SGML compliance also, the
>scope and possible applications of the tool, recommended usage, and
>warnings or limitations if apply.

Yes, that sounds right.

<p>>After that, user comments and suggestions could also be collected on
>a web page, so that the result would be what we all need when looking
>for a new tool: some assurance on the benefits of adopting it as well
>as warnings on drawbacks and liminations.

Almost sounds like a service to members, by gosh.

<p>>Examples and FAQs would also be desirable, but documentation should
>be mandatory. I think some documentation (above a certain level of
>quality) should be requested from the providers at the time of
>applying for TEI certification.

I agree, on all of the above.  Thanks for thinking it through and sending 
those thoughts along.

John

<p>>All the best,
>Alex.-