Encoding of ancient texts

Date: Thursday, February 2, 2017, 17h00-18h15 (CET time)

Session coordinators: Gabriel Bodard (Institute of Classical Studies, London) and Simona Stoyanova (King's College London)

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtXXtzPVAt4

Slides: https://goo.gl/71T3dr

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Summary

This class will introduce students to some methods, standards and best practices in the encoding of ancient text. We will discuss the principles of XML markup and the mapping between the Leiden conventions and the TEI/EpiDoc standard. The discussions will be followed by a short introduction to tools and guidelines, and a tutorial including a live demonstration.

Outline

• Introduction to markup (10)
• Leiden, TEI and XML tools (15)
• Technical intro to XML (10)
• Oxygen exercise demo (15)
• Papyrological Editor demo (10)

Required Reading:

• H. Cayless, C.M. Roueché, et al. (2009), "Epigraphy in 2017." Digital Humanities Quarterly 3.1. Available: http://digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/3/1/000030/000030.html
• Bodard, G and Stoyanova, S. (2016), “Epigraphers and Encoders: Strategies for Teaching and Learning Digital Epigraphy.” In: Bodard, G & Romanello, M (eds.) Digital Classics Outside the Echo-Chamber: Teaching, Knowledge Exchange & Public Engagement, Pp. 51–68. London: Ubiquity Press. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/bat.d

Further Reading:

• 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. 73–89. CLIR: Washington. Available: http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub150
• Julia Flanders and Charlotte Roueché (2003), 'Introduction for Epigraphers', online at http://www.stoa.org/epidoc/gl/latest/intro-eps.html
• 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. Available: http://www.eagle-network.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Paris-Conference-Proceedings.pdf#5f
• Joshua D. Sosin, 'Digital Papyrology', Congress of the International Association of Papyrologists, 19 August 2010, Geneva. Available: http://www.stoa.org/archives/1263

Guidelines:

• EpiDoc Guidelines
• EpiDoc Leiden Cheatsheet
• TEI Guidelines
• Papyri.info help

Essay title:

Discuss the importance of the use of open, community standards (such as TEI XML or EpiDoc) for the encoding of digital editions of ancient texts. You may consider issues such as dissemination, accessibility, re-use and analysis of the editions.

Practical exercise:

Before the class, you will need to register for a 30-day demo license for the Oxygen XML editor, download and install the software on your computer. Please also download a copy of the EpiDoc template and the EpiDoc Schema into a new folder on your computer.

Two options:

1. EITHER: mark up three texts of your choice (some sample inscriptions or papyri or English inscriptions ) in EpiDoc using Oxygen. Encode (i) the transcribed text according to Leiden/EpiDoc correspondence; (ii) any personal or place names in the text, disambiguating to SNAP/Pelagios where possible.
2. OR: with your tutor’s guidance, use the Papyri.info tags-free editor to markup the transcribed text of your three examples according to EpiDoc principles, then download the XML to your computer, and tag place and personal names in Oxygen;