TEI SIG on Correspondence - Minutes Würzburg, Oct 15, 2011

Attendees: Fotis Jannidis (FJ), Syd Bauman (SB), Edward Vanhoutte (EV), Ron Van den Branden (RVB), Elena Pierazzo (EP), Lou Burnard (LB), Joachim Veit (JV) – convener, Martin de la Iglesia (MI), Stefan Cramme (SC), Jörg Ritter (JR), Michael Huber (MH), Mareike Laue (ML), Sabine Seifert (SS), Raffaele Viglianti (RV), Sina Bock (SB), Anna Maria Komprecht (AMK), Benjamin Wolff Bohl (BWB) – minutes

Introduction (JV)

  • introduction of participants
  • survey on the developement and history of the SIG and topics discussed so far

Discussion <correspDesc> (or similar)

  • Sketch of the current situation:
    • DALF as P4 customization offers a lot of special elements for letter description
    • Peter Stadler had put a P5-customization (ODD) into discussion on the SIG:s mailing list, allowing for a core <corresDesc> inside <sourceDesc>
  • Meanwhile EV and RVB (KANTL) are mapping DALF to P5. In P5 many of the former P4 <letDesc> elements had already been included in <tei:msDesc> ; nevertheless an inventory of the remaining additional correspondence elements which should be part of a correspondence specific customization would be very useful for further discussion. Mapping and ODDification of DALF to TEI P5 could be completed by the end of the year
  • Edvard Munch letters have been transcribed in perfect uncustomized TEI, Hilde Boe should be asked if some examples may be published in the wiki for further discussion
  • In order to assist further discussion a comparison of these three solutions will be an essential prerequisite

PRELIMINARY GOAL: Publish a comparison of the three solutions on the WiKi (and later enlarge this collection)

  • EP brought forward that in aiming for a TEI feature request one will have to take into account:
    • the current discussion about tei:msDesc in the SIG:manuscripts: introducing a tboDesc (text bearing object) in order to address a greater amplitude of "manuscripts"
    • the idea of forming a "superMetaSIG" in order to coordinate efforts in creating a "elephantDesc" (i.e. a common thing allowing for descriptions of as many textual sources as possible)
  • FJ opted against starting with a "superSIG", before finishing this SIG:s work, as it is obvious that there will be no quick results, which would frustrate people
  • RVB put in that defining a small set of elements would be more convenient for further generalisation and integration
  • SB pointed out that in the end a tboDesc could be the right thing and the SIGs should try to feed in specific things
  • Based on her experiences with the TEI-council EP suggests not to strive after "big things" because one has to consider that backwards compatibility always prevents too ambitious solutions; if the SIG goes that way things might be developed and then dropped
    • As there will not be a modification of tei:msDesc EP recommends aiming for a customisation
  • JV stated that as far as he understood, the wish for a subsetContainer for a very restricted set of new correspondence elements has a consensus

MIDDLE-TERM GOAL: develop a proposal for "official" customizations

Discussion on future work

  • JV asked for a taskforce and definition of some future activities
  • RVDB hopes DALF will conclude their efforts in P5 mapping until the end of the year
  • FJ proposed a comparison of the two currently discussed customizations and the P5-conformant encoding of the Munch Letters; EV (DALF/KANTL) volunteered on setting up the comparison
  • JV asked for examples in order to point up the differences and supply other projects with some orientation and information for their work as early as possible
    • EV at the edition we started in march [PLEASES FILL IN THE URL] there you can see the XML
  • EP prefers a tighter plan that could even result in a porposal for a TEI-microgrant
    • e.g. the purpose of two days will be: "we collect letters and put them in the WiKi" or similar; someone will have to coordinate especially if the grant will come out maybe next month
  • LB proposed a more complete overview of how to edit letters as one would have to be very careful not to think these 3 will cover everything;
    • this would be wonderful but would need researchers and funding(EV)
  • EP clarified that it should be about a starting point first
  • JV added as we are dependant on the SIG contributors, there is only a very small field of letters at the moment
    • EP: modern, renaissance and medieval letters are completely different
    • SB: interested in whether the TEI council will consider E-Mail as corresp or CMC (computer mediated communication)
      • EP: the SIG has to define what they deal with
      • SB: a guidance / thoughts from council will be interesting

MIDDLE-TERM GOAL: collect examples and find out what people have done

  • JV: for TEI-by-example it's a bit too early but how can we help people who want to start with new editions?
  • LB: give the 3 examples mentioned above, one has to figure out which is best for one's own purpose
  • JR's college is looking for a recommendation (editorial note: and certainly other projects as well)
  • LB: you must make an intellectual deciscion
  • EP: it's hard for the beginning; it's ultimately the rule to give something: "the best practice might be..."
  • JR: would like to see recommendations because otherwise people might loose interest
  • JV: There is a clear wish for cooperation between editors of correspondence and with common solutions this would be much easier
  • LB: first common ground is TEI; a meta-recommendation could be a second step
  • FJ: common denominators work out of the box
  • EV: you will compromise yourself in using a set not fit for your purpose; designing your own encoding solution is your scholarly work
  • EP: sometimes you just want to do the thing everybody else does; I claim we should give guidance; there's nothing wrong with that

MIDDLE-TERM GOAL: develop best practice models

LONG-TERM GOAL: make a compressed proposal (EP)

other proposals

  • SB will try to sprousse up Peter's ODD to make it work with the TEI a little better
  • SB proposed to make the discussions more visible by taking part in conference calls