Scholarly Publishing SIG: TEI XML Workflows and Best Practices

Scope

[Following is the original form of the SIG proposal submitted to TEI Council and Board on 4 June 2009]

The first objective of this SIG is to establish TEI P5 as an archival format for monographs and academic trade books, as well as for scholarly journal articles. This would entail exploring a specific customization or possibly a set of customizations that could be used for book and journal publishing, and will specifically look to TEI Tite to fit this role. The use of a single source archival XML file would not only fulfill preservation needs but would also facilitate the creation of multiple electronic book and journal article formats, and as such would allow for publishing in any medium.

Additionally, the creation of best practices for XML workflows within publishing will be explored. This includes when encoding would enter the traditional publishing process--whether it is prior to the composition process or directly after the book is finalized for print--or whether it should be vendor-supplied in entirety. Smaller and even medium-sized presses continue to do some inhouse typesetting, and handling XML in the composition process will require some focus. Best practices regarding transformations of the XML--into HTML for online purposes, into PDF files, and into electronic book formats, such as ePub, will also be investigated.

Finally, the development of Schematron rules in order to check the quality of the XML will be explored. Since the types of content being discussed are of similar structure, and since presses will be looking for some of the same problems, this process would be better suited to community-based discussion.

Context

Many university presses are facing the challenge of adopting XML as part of their traditional workflows, and for the most part the work is being done in isolation. Since the obstacles are fairly common across the board, a community-driven approach is the ideal way for presses to face these problems and to develop solutions.

Adopting a standard such as TEI Tite would level the playing field for all the participating presses, and allow for other workflow issues to be discussed within the same context. Many presses have not yet chosen an XML schema for an XML-based workflow, and the simple creation of this SIG would allow a space for them to witness progress among their peers and would hopefully increase the adoption rate of TEI as the university press publishing schema of choice.

Program of work

The activity of this SIG will generally be focused on developing best practices around the adoption of a TEI-based XML workflow. Some of these best practicies will be able to be applied to workflows centered on other XML schemas, but the primary goals will center on TEI.

The primary work objectives are listed below:

  • Adoption of a standard TEI customization
    • TEI Tite
  • XML workflow for print publication
  • Conversions to other Formats
    • Stylesheets
    • Other tools
  • Schematron rules

Related work

The SIG members will monitor and (where appropriate) participate in other related initiatives, in particular to see whether tools discussed within this SIG or within the Tools SIG can be applied elsewhere.

Potential Participants

  • Judith Altreuter: Modern Language Association
  • Charles Ault: Temple University Press
  • Paul Banks: Modern Language Association
  • Christine Brooks: Kent State University Press
  • Eric Brooks: University Press of New England
  • Larry Converse: Brookings Institution Press
  • Chris Cosner: Stanford University Press
  • Ani Deyirmenjian: University of Toronto Press
  • Nancy Driver: Georgetown University Press
  • John Grucelski: University of Michigan Press
  • Kevin Hawkins: University of Michigan Library
  • Kaci Lane Hindman: University of Alabama Press
  • Kathleen Pike Jones: University of Washington Press
  • Barbara Karwhite: University of Tennessee Press
  • Kristin Harpster Lawrence: Wayne State University Press
  • Dariel Mayer: Vanderbilt University Press
  • Patty Mitchell: Penn State University Press
  • Eric Newman: Fordham University Press
  • Robin Norman: The Jewish Publication Society
  • Jennifer Norton: Penn State University Press
  • Beth Pratt: Ohio University Press
  • AC Racette: Northwestern University Press
  • Kenneth Reed: University of North Carolina Press
  • David Sewell: University of Virginia Press
  • Carol Stein: American School of Classical Studies at Athens
  • John Stevenson: University of Washington Press
  • Deborah Weiner: Georgetown University Press
  • Barbara Yarrow: University of Arizona Press