[tei-council] Von Braun toc with some content

[Lou Burnard]

The Archimedes Palimpsest might be a prohect that would appeal to these 
dudes too.

Dot Porter wrote:
> 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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