TEI Lite 2.0 Working Group

Rationale

Motivations for the new version of the TEI Lite are several.

First, its original dates back to 1996, later followed by a series of updates varying in scope. The last substantial revision was made in 2006, at a time when both the technologies supporting XML processing were not as developed, and, more importantly, consensus regarding publication and interoperability of TEI-encoded texts was in flux and implementation praxis varied hugely. Therefore TEI Lite (and TEI) Guidelines for the most part pay no heed to processing and publishing concerns, in particular rarely addressing encoding strategies for composite, heterogeneous collections, focusing rather on the "archive" function of the format, where effectively all information is injected into a single TEI resource. The working group's intention is to expand the horizon of the TEI Lite Guidelines, to discuss recommended data organization, modeling, processing practices for a broad range of real life uses. Especially the processing part will make use of the TEI Processing Model, non-existent yet when TEI Lite was last updated.

Second, despite decades of efforts from the TEI community, the standard is still too often perceived as prohibitively complex, and even the success of TEI Lite with its reduced set of elements did not amend the situation. One reason may be the fragmentary character of existing resources to learn TEI from, both in terms of structure and examples provided. Particularly the latter in the Guidelines are usually missing the broader context, from the facsimile of the original source to the complete TEI document to which they might belong, therefore making it impossible to the users to analyze the complete picture the Guidelines try to portray. Therefore, TEI Lite aims to extend the base of full encoding examples as well as illustrate remaining fragmentary ones with a broader context, from facsimile images, through the editorial process, to a proposed final presentation. This will be achieved through extensive use of graphic and other media (e.g. screencasts or animations), not relying solely on textual descriptions of phenomena discussed.

Finally, one of the common concerns with the TEI standard is its increasing idiosyncrasy, for the most part a consequence of the inability to express contextually diverse content models for the same element. TEI Lite 2.0 working group intends to propose a syntax and implementation for that problem, together with the reorganization of a number of elements. We hope that the results of this effort will pave the way for the new, P6, version of the TEI.

Objectives

  • Provide an extensive set of comprehensive encoding examples, enhance fragmentary examples with a broader context, and illustrate with visual media and interactive presentation techniques, not relying on textual description alone.
  • Rewrite the TEI Lite Guidelines prose, focused around contemporary practices regarding interoperability and sustainability, addressing encoding strategies for various types of material and applications, including composite, heterogeneous collections.
  • Select elements suitable for TEI Lite 2.0 and develop a conceptual model for their organization.
  • Develop declarative syntax proposal for defining contextually differentiated content models.
  • Investigate the processing of contextually differentiated content model definitions for schema generation.
  • Prepare TEI Lite 2.0 schema customization.

Schedule

  • November 2024 / January 2025:
    • The Working Group continues work begun at the TEI 2024 Buenos Aires Conference to review modules and the previous Lite and Simple customizations as well as Best Practices for TEI in Libraries and select elements suitable for Lite 2.0.
    • Establish GitHub repository and other infrastructure required.
  • January – September 2025:
    • Monthly meetings and reporting regularly to Council with models for review.
    • January 17–21: F2F working group meeting in Kraków area, Poland

Administrative

Magdalena Turska leads the working group, which includes Helena Bermúdez Sabel, Gustavo Fernández Riva, and Martina Scholger. Wolfgang Meier will be the liaison for e-editiones community.

The working group will provide regular progress reports to the TEI Technical Council, which maintains the authority to accept, adapt, modify, or reject its proposals as they relate to the content modeling and processing of the TEI Guidelines.