TEI May 2021

Introduction to TEI for scholarly texts

May 17–21, 2021

Tutors: Gabriel Bodard & Christopher Ohge

This workshop introduces the use of TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) XML for marking up literary and historical texts and critical editions. Delivered via a mix of asynchronous video tutorials and brief live sessions on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we will offer basic instruction in encoding text editions in TEI using a standard XML editor. Participants will be able to choose between a couple of models of TEI usage (including EpiDoc for ancient texts, and modern multi-genre manuscripts), and have the opportunity practice the skills learned on their own texts (or some sample texts provided) and ask for help and feedback throughout the workshop as required. No prior experience in XML or coding is expected.

By the end of the workshop, students will have a working familiarity with TEI structures and vocabularies, and be able to articulate what models might be appropriate for specific editions.

Software

You will need at least a basic text editor to do the exercises. We suggest that you download the oXygen (https://www.oxygenxml.com/xml_editor/download_oxygenxml_editor.html) XML editor, which is an integrated development environment for XML editing and publishing. You will need to request a 30-day free trial at https://www.oxygenxml.com/xml_editor/register.html.

If you'd rather use a free text editor, Atom or Visual Studio Code would also suffice.

If you would rather not download software, there is also a web-based text editor for TEI XML: https://tei-web-editor.herokuapp.com/

Schedule

Day 1 (Mon 17th), 14:00–15:00 UK time (BST): Welcome and introductions

Day 2 (Weds 19th): Check-in and introduction to TEI customisations streams. Two smaller groups (unrelated to streams):

• Group 1 (with CO): 14.00–15.00 BST
• Group 2 (with GB): 16.00–17.00 BST

Thursday May 20th, 13:00 BST: Public seminar: Christopher Ohge, Editorial Transformations and Minimal Computing at the Melville Electronic Library (free but booking required)

Day 3 (Fri 21st), 14:00–15:00 BST: review.

Tutorials and exercises

Introduction to TEI (Monday & Tuesday)

• Rules of XML (slides) (Gabriel Bodard) [19 min]
• Introduction to TEI (slides) (Christopher Ohge) [19 min]
• Introduction to Oxygen (Gabriel Bodard) [19 min]
• TEI CoreModules (slides) (Christopher Ohge) [12 min]
• Walkthrough: tagging structure of text (Gabriel Bodard) [22 min]
• Walkthrough: tagging verse (Click here for the poem) (Christopher Ohge) [12 min]
• Walkthrough: Tagging text-critical features (Gabriel Bodard) [25 min]
• Tagging names (slides) (Christopher Ohge) [15 min]
• Walkthrough: History and description of object (msDesc slides) (Gabriel Bodard and Christopher Ohge) [20 min]

Exercise:

Practice encoding basic features in either a text you are interested in, or choose some from the following list of examples and copy-paste into Oxygen:

• The first page of the Iliad in Samuel Butler's English translation
• The first page of the Iliad in ancient Greek
• The start of the Aeneid in John Dryden's English translation
• The start of the Aeneid in Latin

Stream 1: EpiDoc (Wednesday & Thursday)

Tutorials:

• Introduction to EpiDoc Guidelines (Irene Vagionakis) [13 min]
• Structure of an EpiDoc Edition (slides) (Irene Vagionakis) [18 min]
• EpiDoc Transcription Quick-Reference (QuickRef) (Gabriel Bodard) [10 min]
• Latin inscription example in Oxygen (Irene Vagionakis) [17 min]
• Abbreviations (slides) (Irene Vagionakis) [8 min]
• Complex lacunae (slides) (Gabriel Bodard) [14 min]
• Edition metadata (slides) (Gabriel Bodard) [16 min]
• Description of Object (slides) (Irene Vagionakis) [9 min]
• Origin and locations of object (slides) (Irene Vagionakis) [12 min]

Exercise:

Try to encode some inscriptions of papyri, either texts that you know already, or copy/paste into Oxygen a few from the following examples:

• Latin funerary monument from Orolaunum
• Latin funerary monument from Celeia
• Latin honorific text from Lepcis Magna
• Latin legal inscription from Emporiae
• Greek building inscription from Cherson
• Greek funerary inscription from Tyras
• Greek honorific inscription from Aphrodisias
• Greek civic decree from Cyrene
• Fragmentary Latin letter from Roman Egypt
• Greek papyrus from Herakleopolites
• Greek tax invoice from Hermopolites
• Proclamation from Oxyrhynchus

Stream 2: Bow in the Cloud Anti-slavery Archive (Wednesday & Thursday)

Tutorials:

• Overview of anti-slavery ms collection (slides) [15 min]

• Walkthrough: Encoding correspondence [9 min]

• Prose extract transcription with revisions [7 min]

Exercise:

These exercises have you practicing on three different kinds of texts from the Bow in the Cloud archive, but you are free to practice on your own projects if that suits you.

• Correspondence: Letter from Lord Morpeth to Mary Anne Rawson (1834)

• Poem with revisions: Elizabeth Walker, 'The Triumph of Freedom' (English MS 415/131)

• Rawson's Notes to the Preface, with revisions