[tei-council] Content for <pb/> etc. [was: soft hyphens (again)]

[Elena Pierazzo]

Sorry if I intervene only now, but I have a case for which a content 
(even a textual content!!) for <pb/> might be very important.

When you transcribe manuscripts you want to be able to record 
paginations and foliation for which you normally would use <pb n="my 
page number"/>.
But what happens when there is a correction on a page number? I have 
found this case and many others while working on Austen manuscripts. 
Here is the cases we found:

- page number missing (in a manuscript that normally has page numbers): 
it would be good to be able to use <pb><supplied>45</supplied></pb> (or 
similar)
- page number corrected: Austen write 78 the correct the 8 into 7: 
<pb>7<subst><del>8</del><add>7</add></subst></pb/>
- page number is wrong: Austen write 56 per 57: 
<pb>5<choice><sic>6</sic><corr>7</corr></choice></pb>

One of the leading idea behind P5 was to move any textual content from 
attributes to element, I think the <pb> has escaped this revision. While 
<lb/> have numbers that are rarely written on the page, page numbers are 
often actual symbols on the page and therefore an editor would like to 
be able to transcribe them with all the possible features they may have 
(correction. alteration, underlining, etc.), in the same way one can 
transcribe other words written by the author.

Elena


Gabriel Bodard wrote:
> On 21/06/2010 16:02, Kevin Hawkins wrote:
>   
>> I'm afraid I still don't understand.  Are these elements no longer empty
>> elements?  They still appear that way even in Sebastian's test release.
>>    When did this change happen?
>>     
>
> Which elements? <gap/> (always an "empty"--i.e. permitting no 
> text-content--element), has taken a child <desc> ever since P5 first 
> release; <space/> for some reason did not, although it does now. Both 
> also take <certainty/>, <precision/> etc. It makes sense to me that a 
> so-called empty element could contain another non-text-bearing element 
> such as <certainty/>, which in this case serves as a much richer 
> analogue to a cert attribute.
>
> At the moment, of course, <lb/> and the other milestoneLike elements are 
> still literally empty, but I am arguing (lightly, as I don't have a 
> specific use-case for them) that they could just as rationally be 
> allowed to take a child from the certainty class, although still no text 
> content, of course.
>
> Sorry if this was confusing.
>
> G
>
>   

-- 

Dr Elena Pierazzo

Research Associate

Centre for Computing in the Humanities

King's College London

26-29 Drury Lane

London WC2B 5RL


Phone: 0207-848-1949

Fax: 0207-848-2980

elena.pierazzo[at]kcl.ac.uk

www.kcl.ac.uk/cch