TEI Exercise 1: Introducing the Text Encoding Initiative

[ebeshero]

Begin by reading these slides: "Overview of Text Encoding and the TEI"

Then contribute a post to this conversation about learning the TEI. Please respond in your post to at least two of the following prompts:

• From what you're reading, how is writing TEI code similar to or different from what you've been doing with XML so far?

• What new things are you learning about representing documents in markup from these slides?

• On one of the slides the authors make an interesting statement about what TEI does:
  "So although it looks as if what we’re doing here is reproducing a text, we are, in fact, selectively and strategically modelling it. We’re creating a surrogate or proxy, which functions sort of like a different projections of a map: each with selective and useful omissions and distortions. "
  What do you think is the difference between reproducing and modeling in this statement and why might it be important to help us understand what we are doing when we describe documents using TEI and XML?

• Think about the documents or objects we looked at together in the library, and pick one that you remember really interested you. How do you think TEI could help you model something interesting about that document or object ?

** Fun fact: one of the people who helped develop this slide deck is a member of our newtfire GitHub organization, @sydb . Other friends from the markup community who may be interested in our discussion include @djbpitt and @haggis78 .

[ebeshero]

@sydb Hi! Syd! My class is about to read your slides on the TEI. Feel free to chime in if you like! The discussion will probably start sometime on Thursday... and their posts on the discussion prompts are due on Friday. :-)

[tylerakam]

I think that TEI is very similar to how I've been using xml, as our class has mainly used it to markup documents for the humanities. Whether it is categorizing poems, letters from WW1, or even recipes, they are all pieces that relate to the humanities and have been our primary focus. This is likely because documenting important documents typically involves history, art, or literature, but it just physically makes sense to categorize the information the way we do. To separate information, refer back to it, all in a way that has a purpose to inform.

The newer things that I am learning about representing documents in markup are that there are many different ways that I have not considered before. TEI takes the idea that we are documenting humanities-related information, and runs with it to demonstrate how specific a piece, such as a play can be documented. When comparing it to html, like the slides showed, it demonstrates that html is purely trying to design a web page, whereas TEI and XML form organized documents for others to learn from.

[jms9354]

TEI and XML have alot more common features than originally thought. While also going hand in hand with one another. For instance, they both deal with markup in one way or another. XML uses a method to distinguish our markup from the content that we are marking up. To where TEI translates our concepts into XML, while providing us with a more controlled vocabulary that we use in marking up text. TEI has a more formal approach when it comes to the research aspect which in turn makes it more sustainable and analytically rich because it provides a much larger vocabulary. Making things easier to categorize and allude to when need be.

[MinWu859]

TEL is an XML schema specialized for the markup of literary and linguistic texts. TEI can be useful for abstracting the layout features of source documents, but can be effective for searching, indexing, comparing and printing publications. The different between TEL and XML is that the XML define a syntax for text coding and TEL provide the specific of the actual encoding language. They also have different function. The XML distinguish the markup from the content and the TEL translate the concept into XML.

[julianjmg]

Based on my understanding of TEI, it is very similar to XML. I would say that in XML you can as broad or thorough as you would like, but what really distinguishes TEI from XML is how specialized it is. From the examples that I saw in the slides, I saw that the elements in TEI were about things like dimensions of the page or deletions, or maybe a line was crossed out. Both XML and TEI are about structure, but TEI is just more specific to Encoding Texts and Digitizing tangible texts.

Although we havent been to the library yet, the slides gave me a good idea of things to look out for that i wouldnt have even thought to do. This would include: obtaining the dimension, looking at the color used to write/type, is the text written or typed, are there errors, is there anything written in margins, etc.

[gak5275]

XML and TEI seem pretty similar at a glance. On slide 4, it says the following:

"XML defines a syntax for text encoding. It is a method for distinguishing our markup from the content that we are marking up."
"The TEI provides the specifics of the actual encoding language. It translates our concepts into XML, and provides a controlled vocabulary that we use in marking up the text."

So XML defines the syntax, and the TEI defines the coding language. What I am confused about is what their actual purpose is in relation to each other. Is the XML in service of the TEI? Or does the TEI serve the XML? Or do they both supplement something else? Other slides imply that the TEI is the end goal and is what everything else has been leading up to, but it is ultimately unclear.

For reproducing and modeling as discussed in slide 8, I think that reproducing a text is just presenting it in a new form, perhaps organized in a way unlike before. An example of this would be using only general elements like h1 and p in HTML in order to organize the text on a webpage. This is done so that we might look at the text in a new light or from a different perspective. Modeling text is marking it up in such a way that more clearly conveys a new meaning or adds new context. An example of this would be identifying individual ingredients in a recipe using more specific elements and attributes like xsd:ID.

[epp5198]

TEI and XML work together well in the markup of documents. Where XML is used to define the syntax TEI more or less translates concepts to XML. TEI uses a broader vocabulary than XML leading to the format being more useful in describing information. Both TEI and XML are related through humanities making what is encountered with TEI will have some sort of familiarity to the XML content.

From these slides I learned how in depth TEI is. The vast vocabulary used in the markup for documents can be very useful in the way of gathering information as well as describing it. I have learned that the TEI format is a very useful descriptive tool to use during markup.

[spookybeetle]

The pictures really helped me wrap my brain around the concepts talked about here. For a second I did not know what was going on, but once there were images that showed the difference between the languages I was able to understand. TEI seems to just be a more complex and in depth version of XML. I initially though TEI was just an organization, but it is both a community and markup language. From what I am gathering TEI already has schemas built into it, however they have loose rules and strict rules that can vary depending on the document?

[ztd5049]

The TEI seams to be similar to XML. They are used in conjunction to relay a deeper overall meaning. The main use of the TEI is to allow for a more in-depth description or analysis of a source document. Whereas HTML may have one tag per paragraph or description, TEI may have three. From my understanding, the TEI is a digital language that is meant to build upon the base of XML to allow for deeper markup, notation, and exploration.

[JiayuanWen]

The syntax of TEI is very similar to XML, which make sense as TEI is build on XML, with XML defining the syntax and TEI defines the markup specifics on top. Since XML only provide the syntax, we can go as broad as we want with the tag naming, the disadvantage is that it can only present facts about a document's appearance. To go in-depth on a document's structure and content, we need to mark it with special/controlled vocabularies, which TEI provides.

In the author's quote in "The DH Universe", I think the term reproducing means presenting a document in different forms with no new information added or conveyed, like presenting the same map but with different color scheme; The term modeling means to show new context, ideas, or other unconsidered assumptions/information via markings, like reproducing the map, then add more useful marks and symbols on it. The author basically said there is more to markup—such as marking useful information—than simply presenting how a document is or should be shown.

[kzp308]

XML and TEI is very alike in the way they analyze text. However, I did realize that TEI does go more in depth than normal XML. I think that TEI seems to be more of a extended branch of XML. TEI builds on XML essentially. Also, in XML we're able to go as far as we want with tagging, but with TEI it's a more controlled in depth way to code.

[abbeyypalmer]

From my understanding, TEI is a bit more complex than XML and is more used for more descriptive markup while XML defines syntax. TEI has a more in depth and controlled vocabulary for the markup. Both XML and TEI aim to organize and categorize humanities related documents for us to examine and decode.

[JaxAbele]

From what I read, it seems that XML and TEI are both valuable markup languages, but TEI seems like it is almost the building blocks for xml. On the presentation it was mentioned that "provides specifics for the actual coding language".

[gzc5211]

TEI is XML, and XML is a standard general Markup Language, which means that xml is a markup language and its syntax can be customized. For example, you can define syntax where tags (or elements) are like [v id:id1] instead of <v id="id1">``</v>. In XML (and HTML), elements are separated by angle brackets: <body>. Every tag in XML must be paired with an explicit closing tag: </body>. So far we haven't talked about the structure of the document (document type or schema). XML itself does not impose restrictions on document structure.

[Stach13]

One aspect that I learned about TEI when it comes to it's main functionality, is that acts and behaves a lot like XML. Both languages are the foundations for all external document outputs. Those outputs being Websites, Printing/PDF, Mods/RDF, and most of all mapping. The difference between the two is that XML is very loose in terms of its vocabulary of syntax, thereby it has less restrictions. On the other hand, TEI has more restrictions and has a specific vocabulary of syntax, like that of HTML.

Overall, by looking over the tutorial, I feel like my understanding of representing text in markup has definitely expanded. I thought it was really fascinating to learn the REAL purpose of both XML and TEI, which I never really could quite understand in the past. For example, the wide selection of outputs that can be created or the distinct elements that can be associated in each document (such as <speaker>).

[ZSchleger]

XML and TEI are similar and go hand in hand in some cases, but XML is much broader and deals more with the metadata, but TEI seems to more in-depth and specific markup. One thing i learned about TEI is that there seems to be more options when it comes to marking a document and the vocabulary used to markup documents.

[LizardWizard01]

From what I gathered, TEI is a markup language that is specifically used for the way we use XML in class. I would say XML has a much less focused application while TEI is specifically built to organize documents in the same manner that we do in class.

When the slides mention reproducing vs modelling I think it means we aren't making a document better and putting it back on the web. Rather we're sort of reorganizing it to point out aspects of the document that are already there.

[WillStill]

Through looking a bit further, I found that TEI draws from a set list of elements unlike XML. This makes XML seem a bit more versatile in it's application of documents, but less consistent between authors and the same types of texts.

I do like the comparisons to HTML made through this and from the TEI and HTML slide. From the example here, neither HTML nor TEI reproduces a source document, as both would be simplifying the document by selectively choosing information. Knowing where a new paragraph starts in relation to the page or the size of the indent is not explicitly needed, although it might be shown in the structure. TEI does do a better job at modelling by adding information through structure, where HTML might lose it through the lumping of tags.

[DivinexRoyalty]

From what I have experienced so far, i have seen the differences between TEI, XML, and HTML is the objective of them. Here is a simple breakdown in my eyes:

TEI- used for choosing selective information and used as a markup language much like XML. Same main objective fo organize documents.

XML- much like TEI, XML has many similarities and is used as a markup language in order to organize and analyze documents and important information.

HTML- different from the first two, this language is used to create websites using different codes in order to create flowing pages much like the one we are using now.

After reviewing these languages and looking through the slides, I think that the most similar thing we do in class is remodeling. We do this when we take a code and go back to edit it and create simpler attributes, etc in order to make a more precise code that could later be associated with a schema.

[tec5271]

I have come to learn that TEI is a more developed version of XML or an extension of what we do with XML. XML creates basic structures and it is how data is stored, transported, and defined. TEI produces structure as well but seems to be limited with how it can organize documents.

The way that we can represent tangible documents using TEI can dramatically change how these documents are understood by a viewer of the code. It allows us to make a fully digital copy of something that was once only able to be seen from the original source

[SavannahRicks]

TEI is a lot like XML, but what I learned is that TEI is much more descriptive than XML. XML focuses more on the actual content of documents, TEI does the same thing but also includes visual discription of the physical copy of the document we are marking up. TEI can also describe any edits made into the original copy, like side notes and markouts. When we take a physical, undigitalized document, we are basicly unearthing its unwritten details and organizing it for future readers to interpret in their own perposes.

[MyeishaF]

TEI and XML are similar in their use of elements. I think TEI could be used to better describe what you are seeing. So closely related to the material on page and what it's made out of. Like what type of paper, maybe drawings on the paper. As compared to something like HTML which doesn't have to be as descriptive. It's just simpler which is why many TEI elements can exist in one HTML element. Because the goal of HTML isn't to be sustainable. TEI can be used to digitalize documents that weren't available before.

[JiminyKricket0323]

After thoroughly reading the slides, I've realised there are many similarities between TEI and XML. They seems similar when using them to document the text files. However, TEI touches more details in depth when XML is used more to do framework of text documentation. Because I was more focused reading about the TEI and XML, I didn't realise HTML also can be used to document text files. Previously, I thought HTML is often used to create websites pairing with CSS files. Additionally, I didn't know about that we can expend so far with one model to many outputs using different markup languages with their own characteristics for different objectives.

[rcc5418]

From what I can tell, TEI looks pretty similar to XML, at least in the way I've been using it. I did take notice of the part that mentioned turning our observations into formal information. I've only been doing that in the use of comments in XML so far, but maybe there's more to be done in TEI?

As I understand it, TEI is a specialized type of XML used for certain documents, so maybe that's why we've been learning Relax NG before this. Perhaps TEI is like a Relax NG document in the way that it will force certain conscriptions on an XML document so it's regulated somewhat. At least, that's my guess.