[tei-council] Von Braun toc with some content

[Dot Porter]

I like this. Immediately, I'd like to see a bit more about the history
of the TEI (it's been around for over 20 years, used in X number of
projects) and perhaps point to scientific projects that have used or
are using TEI (the Newton projects spring to mind but there must be
more). I'm just a bit concerned that the NASA folks will naturally ask
themselves why they should use a system designed for the humanities?
We need to make that argument up front, given the body of the proposal
I think a few sentences will do.

I would be nice to have this in a google doc or something so we can
all make comments on it. Any objections if I do that?

Dot

On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 10:33 PM, Peter Boot<pboot at xs4all.nl> wrote:
>
> This is what I imagine the body of the response might look like. Your
> thoughts are welcome.
>
> Peter
>
>
> 1. Introduction
>
> TEI is a standard that has been successfully and widely used in the
> digital transcription of texts from many periods. It has been used both
> for mass digitisation in digital libraries and for digitisation of
> literary manuscripts.
> It is successful for a number of reasons:
> * it contains modules for both very regularly occurring textual
> features, such as lists or tables, and for specialised features such as
> linguistic analysis. Recently a module for technical documentation was
> developed for ISO. Where new features are necessary, the system can be
> easily extended;
> * it focuses on the creation of an application-independent digital
> representation of the source document. Because the representation does
> not depend on the capabilities of specific software, the representation
> will outlast the capabilities of today's software and can be used for
> many different purposes
> * [more bragging]
> The basic idea is that each document is encoded as an XML file. (There
> is a glossary in the back of this document that explains technical
> terms). This XML file contains the full text (typed and hand-written)
> and describes the structure of this text: it defines the hierarchical
> structure that groups the individual notes, specifies features like
> underlining, and identifies e.g. the person who wrote a particular piece
> of text. The XML file also contains pointers to the files that contain
> the page images. A document header contains (among else) the
> meta-information that is necessary for cataloguing: author, date,
> information about attachments, etc.
>        A phase of document preparation will thus result in a collection of XML
> files. We describe the workflow of this process in section 2 of this
> response. A number of possible components of these files is presented in
> section 3. How a working system can be created on the basis of the XML
> files is discussed in section 4. Based on these discussions, in section
> 5 we address the specific questions formulated in the Request for
> Information. Section 6 contains pointers to a number of web sites that
> present different sorts of documents based on the technologies we
> advocate here. Section 7 finally is a glossary that explains technical
> terminology.
>        [Do we need to say why we are interested in this? If so, I'd say our
> main interest is seeing that they use the proper technology and we want
> that, apart from the fact that we believe it's best for everyone,
> because of the publicitary value this would have for us]
>
>
> 2. Workflow for document preparation
>
> Might consist of the following phases
> (1)high quality digital photography (the samples on the web show some
> scans where part of the page is missing)
> (2)creation of an inventory of all pages: what pages are there, what are
> their dates and authors, to what sets of notes do they belong, are they
> notes proper or attachment to notes, are they possibly duplicates of
> other pages,  etc.
> [To me this seems to call for a simple database; from that database, the
> outline of the TEI documents (basic headers, facsimile section, pb
> elements) can then be generated]
> (3)Creation of guidelines for the desired encoding
> This will involve a consideration of the desirables that emerge from
> study of the material, technical possibilities, available funding and
> time
> (4)Transcribing typed content, presumably by sending this overseas
> (5)Transcribing hand-written notes
> (6)extending the encoding with more complex phenomena, such as internal
> references, indexing, identifying persons and projects
>
>
> 3. TEI components
>
> Will explain that a TEI schema can be created that contains just those
> components that NASA has decided they will want to use. Explain some of
> the available components, but only very briefly. Relate this to what the
> different encodings mean in terms of enhanced access. Explain ODD in
> qualitative terms.
>
> 4. Possible technical architecture of a working system
>
> [This section would discuss what to do once the XML has been created.
> I'd stress there are multiple options, eg. Cocoon + stylesheets + Lucene
> (or eXist). Mention some of the options from Lou's presentation at
> http://tei.oucs.ox.ac.uk/Oxford/2007-02-13-oucs/talk-publishing.xml]
>
> 5. Approach to concepts
>
> This would answer NASA's specific questions, in so far as we have answers
> [1. How should NASA catalogue the Weekly Notes? Do you have specific
> ideas on how to implement the approach or strategy?
> 2. What format(s) should the Weekly Notes be available in?
> 3. How should the Weekly Notes be indexed?
> 4. What timeframe do you expect this work to require?
> 5. What other strategies or approaches do you recommend that NASA pursue
> that would contribute to successful cooperation between NASA and other
> entities to create a successful and useful product from the Weekly
> Notes? Could these notes form the basis for understanding management
> best practices? Could engineering design and operational considerations
> be derived from these notes? Could these notes form the basis for formal
> classroom training? ]
>
> 6. Links
>
> Links to sample projects to the Guidelines and to some introductory
> material.
>
>
> 7. Glossary
>
>
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>



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Dot Porter (MA, MSLS)          Metadata Manager
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