ICS02: 1. Epigraphic Markup
Thursday January 10, 16:00 UK = 18:00 EET
Convenors: Gabriel Bodard (University of London) and Elli Mylonas (Brown University)
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/pkYiM-mHKHo
Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1V5XyERBHnzLiY5M6ziRkqPzniTZpVTjZEIZy21dBpE8/present
This session will introduce the concept of markup languages, through two encoding schemes in use by the community of classical epigraphy. The Leiden conventions were codified in 1931, heavily based on existing practice, and have widely (if not universally) used in epigraphy and papyrology ever since. EpiDoc XML has been in use since 2000, closely tied to Leiden, but aligning it with digital standards and semantic technologies on the Internet. We shall work through the process of parsing and encoding an inscription following both markup schemes, and give practical demonstration of XML editing software, in preparation for the assigned exercise.
- Examine an inscription and try to describe it.
- Leiden notation: a codified markup system for printed editions of inscriptions
- Epidoc: a digital epigraphic markup system
- introduction to XML and Epidoc
- Working with Epidoc
- The Structure of an Digital Epigraphic Edition
- Information about an inscription: dimensions, material, location, object type, genre
- Encoding the text of an inscription: supplied text, gaps, abbreviations, line breaks.
- Indexable features: names, places, epithets, words, lemmata
- Publishing your Inscriptions
- Suggested exercise
- G. Bodard & S. Stoyanova (2016). "Epigraphers and Encoders: Strategies for Teaching and Learning Digital Epigraphy." In Bodard/Romanello (eds.) Digital Classics Outside the Echo-Chamber: Teaching, Knowledge Exchange & Public Engagement. (London: Ubiquity Press). Pp. 51–68. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/bat.d
- Laura Löser (2014), “Meeting the Needs of Today’s Audiences of Epigraphy with Digital Editions.” In Orlandi, Santucci et al., Information Technologies for Epigraphy and Cultural Heritage. Proceedings of the First EAGLE International Conference. Rome. Pp. 231–254. Available: http://www.eagle-network.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Paris-Conference-Proceedings.pdf#5f
- H. Cayless, C. Roueché et al., "Epigraphy in 2017." Digital Humanities Quarterly 3.1 (2009). Available: http://digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/3/1/000030/000030.html
- Alison Babeu (2011), 'Epigraphy', “Rome Wasn’t Digitized in a Day”: Building a Cyberinfrastructure for Digital Classicists Draft Version 1.3—11/18/10, pp. 96–115. CLIR: Washington. Available: http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub150
- There is a good further bibliography on EpiDoc at the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EpiDoc#Bibliography
- tba
- Install the Oxygen XML editor and request a 30-day free demo.
- Make a copy of the EpiDoc Template, and open it using Oxygen. (You may need to change your view from Author to Text so you can see the tags and angle brackets.)
- In addition to the examples in this session, you may consult the Epidoc Quick Reference sheets, and the full EpiDoc Guidelines to look up Leiden and equivalent Epidoc markup, descriptive and historical features, etc.
- Take one inscription, of your choice (Latin, Greek and English examples linked here), and encode as much information about (a) the physical description and publication history of the object, and (b) the text transcription, as you can in EpiDoc XML. Keep notes of any difficulties you have with the Oxygen XML Editor, the EpiDoc schema, or the tagging of features you are interested in, for discussion in class.
- More example inscriptions for class exercise.