Digital Publishing With EpiDoc: epigraphy, papyrology, interoperability

1
Digital Publishing With EpiDocepigraphy,
papyrology, interoperability

• Tom Elliott
• tom.elliott_at_nyu.edu

2
Overview

• EpiDoc
• Method, History, Disciplines and Projects
• Digital Publishing
• Next Steps for EpiDoc

3
EpiDoc Method

• Open
• Standards-compliant
• Collaborative
• Comprehensive
• Semantics, not appearance

4
EpiDoc Method Standards

• eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
• Text Encoding Initiative (TEI)http//www.tei-c.or
  g
• Leiden Conventionshttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L
  eiden_Conventions
• EAGLE Electronic Archive of Greek and Latin
  Epigraphy(Rome, Heidelberg, Bari, etc.)

5
eXtensible Markup Language

• a general-purpose specification for creating
  custom markup languages. It is classified as an
  extensible language because it allows its users
  to define their own elements. Its primary purpose
  is to facilitate the sharing of structured data
  across different information systems,
  particularly via the Internet,2 and it is used
  both to encode documents and to serialize data.
  XML is recommended by the World Wide Web
  Consortium (W3C). It is a fee-free open standard.
  The recommendation specifies both the lexical
  grammar and the requirements for parsing.--
  XML in Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia,
  lthttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMLgt, 20 June 2008.

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Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) Guidelines

• define and document a markup language for
  representing the structural, renditional, and
  conceptual features of texts. They focus on the
  encoding of documents in the humanities and
  social sciences, and in particular on the
  representation of primary source materials for
  research and analysis. These guidelines are
  expressed as a modular, extensible XML schema,
  accompanied by detailed documentation, and are
  published under an open-source license.--
  TEI Guidelines in TEI Text Encoding
  Initiative, lthttp//www.tei-c.org/Guidelines/index
  .xmlgt, 20 June 2008.

7
The Leiden Conventions

• an established set of rules, symbols, and
  brackets used to indicate the condition of an
  epigraphic or papyrological text in a modern
  edition. The earliest form of the Conventions
  were agreed at a meeting of classical scholars at
  the University of Leiden in 1931, and published
  in an article shortly thereafter.-- Leiden
  Conventions in Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia,
  lthttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leiden_Conventionsgt,
  20 June 2008.

8

• Nero ClaudiusCaesar
  Aug(ustus)GermanicusAesculapio iu-gera
  quinquedata a divo Aug(usto)confirmataa divo
  Claudiorestituit ---c(oloniae) I(uliae)
  n(obili) Cnoso perP(ublium) Licinium
  Secu-ndum proc(uratorem)-- EDH HD032952
  AE 1901.240 (Restoration of land to a Cretan
  sanctuary of Aesculapius, 54-68 CE)

9
Electronic Archive of Greek and Latin Epigraphy
(EAGLE)

• A confederation of web-facing databases operating
  under the auspices of the Association
  Internationale d' Épigraphie Grecque et Latine
• Components
• Epigraphic Database Roma (EDR) Classical Rome
  and Italiahttp//www.edr-edr.it/
• Epigraphische Datenbank Heidelberg (EDH) Roman
  Provinceshttp//www.uni-heidelberg.de/institute/s
  onst/adw/edh/index.html.en
• Epigraphic Database Bari (EDB) Christian
  Inscriptions of Rome (3rd - 8th
  centuries)http//www.edb.uniba.it/
• etc.

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EAGLE Conformance

• Above and beyond full conformance with EpiDoc
  specifications for basic text transcription,
  EAGLE-conformant EpiDoc publications also must
  embody specific structures, components and
  metadata elements necessary to facilitate
  consistent, automatic incorporation of their
  content into the appropriate subsystem of the
  federated epigraphic database system sponsored by
  the International Association of Greek and Latin
  Epigraphy.

11
EpiDoc Method

• Open
• Standards-compliant
• Collaborative
• Comprehensive
• Semantics, not appearance

12
EpiDoc History

• http//epidoc.sourceforge.net/about

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EpiDoc Disciplines and Projects

• http//epidoc.sourceforge.net/projects.shtml
• Epigraphy
• Papyrology
• Numismatics
• Paleography
• Byzantine Seals

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Overview

• EpiDoc
• Method, History, Disciplines and Projects
• Digital Publishing
• Next Steps for EpiDoc

15
Publishing Dissemination

• Formats and Modes
• Books and other dead tree formats
• Well-established modes of dissemination, both
  formal and informal
• Established modes of collecting and preservation
• Digital incunabula (facsimiles of print)
• E.g., PDF, plain HTML web pages, MSWord files
• Established modes of formal dissemination
• Evolving modes of informal dissemination
• Challenges to collecting and preservation

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Publishing Dissemination

• Formats and Modes (continued)
• First-generation born-digital works
• Those with a central manifestation or unified
  control over venue
• E.g., Datasets, Wikipedia
• Evolving modes of dissemination
• Challenges to collecting and preservation
• Second-generation born-digital works
• Content and manifestation depends on aspects of
  the web and data and services that are not
  under unified control
• E.g., mashups
• Extemporaneous, ephemeral

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Digital Publication Method

• Guarded embrace
• Standard formats
• Actionable Citation
• Links citations
• Treat web resources as publications
• Bibliographic citations as (eventual) links
• Software uses citations/links
• Semantic web, microformats, Zotero

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Actionable Citation Interoperability

• Example of Pleiadeshttp//pleiades.stoa.org

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Actionable Citation Interoperability

• Example of Pleiadeshttp//pleiades.stoa.org
• http//pleiades.stoa.org/places/638753
• http//pleiades.stoa.org/names/aphrodisias
• http//pleiades.stoa.org/batlas-43-b2-roma
  BAtlas 43 B2 Roma

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Actionable Citation Interoperability

• Using Pleiades URLs in an EpiDoc XML file
• Using URLs for Pleiades and EpiDoc XML files in
  ORE Resource Maps
• Describing aggregations of resources
• Serialize in Atom XML (a webfeed format, similar
  to RSS)

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Next Steps

• Upgrade to TEI P5
• Complete Guidelines
• Upgrades to Common Tools
• eXtensible Stylesheet Transformations (XSLTs)
• Text and font converters
• New Tools
• Collaborative, web-based editor

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Digital Publishing With EpiDocepigraphy,
papyrology, interoperability

• Tom Elliott
• tom.elliott_at_nyu.edu