TEI for Transcription, Editing, and Representing Primary Sources

Dr James Cummings

@jamescummings

http://slides.com/jamescummings/tei-for-primary-sources

Press space to move through slides; CC+by; Thanks to TEI Community

Transcription: A special kind of reading?

Goals of transcription:
- to make a primary source accessible
- and comprehensible
- which may entail adding and/or using additional information
Hence:
- transcription is selective
- transcription is interpretative
- transcription is subjective and depends on the editors' decisions

Just like the application of markup to a text!

The act of transcribing

Inspect the original document or an image (facsimile) of it
Identify areas on the document like text, graphics, etc.
Find the first line
Start typing the first line, identify special characters
Record textual modifications/interventions like highlighting, (interlinear) additions, deletions, transpositions, etc.
Identify text-structures
Recognize writing activities
Identify named entities like persons, places, etc.

At what point does transcription become editing?

The act of transcribing

Inspect the original document or an image (facsimile) of it → <facsimile> or <sourceDoc>
Identify areas on the document like text, graphics, etc.
→ <surface> or <zone> etc.
Find the first line → <line> etc.
Start typing the first line, identify special characters → <g> or <hi> etc.
Record textual modifications/interventions like highlighting, (interlinear) additions, deletions, transpositions, etc. → <hi> or <mod> etc.
Identify text-structures → <div>, <head>, <p>, <list> etc.
Recognise writing activities → <add>, <del>, or <abbr> etc.
Identify named entities like persons, places, etc. → <name>, <persName>, or <placeName> etc.

What‘s in a transcription?

When transcribing primary sources for the creation of a digital edition, we usually encounter a range of textual phenomena:

original layout information
abbreviations or other "arcana"
errors which invite correction or conjecture
scribal additions, deletions, substitutions, restorations, transpositions
passages which are damaged or illegible
non-standard orthography which invites normalization
…

Transcription of primary sources

<teiHeader> provides descriptive and declarative metadata of a digital resource, possibly including a <msDesc>
<text> contains a text-structural representation of a document's intellectual content (the text itself).
<facsimile> organizes a set of page images representing a set of <surface>s
<sourceDoc> a non-interpretive representation of a document considered purely as a physical object.

Note: The elements are invalid here.

Make sure you know why!

Abbreviations

Abbreviations are used in handwritten materials to shorten the scribal labour by using significant marks to replace:

single letters
groups of letters
words
whole phrases

Types of Abbreviations

A suspension consists only of the first letter of a word or phrase, followed by a point. ('p.' for 'page')
A contraction is a form of abbreviation where the letters in the middle of the word are omitted ('Dr' for 'Doctor'); the abbreviation can also come from more than one word.
A brevigraph is a character representing two or more letters ('p with a bar through the descender' for 'per').
Superscripts are represented by means of letters indicating various kinds of contractions: ('po' with superscript 'r' for 'pour')

Simple Editorial Changes

The core module provides some phrase-level elements which may be used to record simple editorial interventions.
<choice> groups alternative encodings for the same point in a text
- Abbreviations:
  - <abbr> abbreviated form
  - <expan> expanded form
- Errors:
  - <sic> apparent error
  - <corr> corrected error
- Regularization:
  - <orig> original form
  - <reg> regularized form

Two Levels of Encoding Abbreviations

Abbreviations can be viewed in two different ways:

As a representation of a particular sequence of letters or marks on the page:
a 'p with a bar through the descender'

As a representation of the letters it is believed to stand for:
persone
The nice thing is that we don‘t have to decide which view we want to represent – the TEI can handle both in one document!

Two levels of encoding abbreviations

<abbr> (abbreviation) and <expan> (expansion) encode the whole of an abbreviated word and the whole of its expansion
<am> (abbreviation marker) contains a sequence of letters or signs present in an abbreviation which are omitted or replaced in the expanded form of the abbreviation
<ex> (editorial expansion) contains a sequence of letters added by an editor or transcriber when expanding an abbreviation

Abbreviation and Expansion

Mr <expan>William</expan>
<lb />
<expan>Shakespeare</expan>

Mr <choice>
 <abbr>W<am rend="abbr-sup">m</am></abbr>
 <expan>W<ex>illia</ex>m</expan>
</choice>
<lb />
<choice>
 <abbr>Shakes<am rend="abbr-per">p</am>e</abbr>
 <expan>Shakes<ex>pear</ex>e</expan>
</choice>

Corrections and emendation

Apparent errors in the text can be recorded in their original state, as corrected text, or combined with the <choice> element
Processing software can present either the original or the correction.
- <sic> contains apparently incorrect or inaccurate text
- <corr> provides the correct reading of the text

William Shakespeare died in
<choice>
 <sic>1614</sic> 
 <corr>1616</corr>
</choice>

Regularisation

Modifications

<mod> represents any kind of general modification without specific interpretation often used with a @type attribute for further specification
<add> addition to the text
<del> letter, word or phrase marked as deleted in the text
<subst> groups additions and deletions as a single
intervention
<supplied> marks editorially supplied text
<unclear> marks where text is illegible, containing best guess

<l>And towards our distant rest began to trudge,</l>
<l>
 <subst>
 <del rend="strikethrough">Helping the worst amongst us</del>
 <add>Dragging the worst amongt us</add>
 </subst>, who'd no boots
</l>
<l>But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame;
<subst>
 <del rend="strikethrough">half-</del>
 <add>all</add>
</subst> blind;</l>
<l>Drunk with fatigue ; deaf even to the hoots</l>
<l>Of tired, outstripped <del rend="strikethrough">fif</del> 
five-nines that dropped behind.</l>

Partly Legible Text

<unclear> marks where text is illegible, containing best guess
- @reason states the cause of the uncertainty in the transcription
- @resp indicates the party responsible for the interpretation
- @cert signifies the degree of certainty of the interpretation
- @agent categorises the cause of any damage

Omitted or Damaged Material

<gap> indicates a point where material is omitted
<damage> contains an area of damage to the text witness

<l>The Moving Finger 
wri<damage agent="water" group="1">es; and</damage> 
having writ,</l>
<l>Moves <damage agent="water" group="1">
  <supplied>on: nor all your</supplied>
 </damage> Piety nor Wit</l>
<gap unit="lines" quantity="8" reason="sampling"/>

Multiple Witnesses -- Critical Apparatus

<app> an entry in a critical apparatus
<lem> (optional) a lemma or base text
<rdg> a single reading within a textual variation

Digital Facsimiles

About Digital Facsimiles

A digital facsimile is composed of digital images of the original source. A digitised source document may contain nothing more than page images and a small amount of metadata, but also an encoded transcription of the represented pages.
<facsimile> contains the representation of a written
source as a set of images
<graphic> indicates the location of any graphic using the @url attribute

Example of Digital Facsimile

<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
 <teiHeader>
 <!-- metadata describing the edition -->
 </teiHeader>
 <facsimile>
 <graphic url="page01.jpg" />
 <graphic url="page02.jpg" />
 <graphic url="page03.jpg" />
 <graphic url="page04.jpg" />
 </facsimile>
</TEI>

Referencing a Digital Facsimile

<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
 <teiHeader>
 <!--...-->
 </teiHeader>
 <text>
 <pb facs="page1.png"/>
 <!-- text contained on 
    page 1 is encoded here -->
 <pb facs="page2.png"/>
 <!-- text contained on 
    page 2 is encoded here -->
 </text>
</TEI>

Combining Transcription with a Facsimile

Transcriptions may either be supplied in parallel to a
facsimile, or be documentary (embedded or non-interpretative)
If the transcription is regarded as a text in its own right and
organized independently of its physical realization in the document, the recommended practice is to use the <text> element to contain such a structured representation, and to present it in parallel.
If the transcription is intended to prioritize the process by which the document came to take its present form over its textual representation, it may be preferable to present it as a documentary (embedded) transcription within a <sourceDoc> element.

Parallel Transcription with Facsimile

<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
 <teiHeader>
 <!--...-->
 </teiHeader>
 <facsimile>
 <surface xml:id="p1">
  <graphic url="p1.jpg"/>
 </surface>
  <!-- ... -->
 </facsimile>
 <text>
 <pb facs="#p1" />
 <!-- text contained on page 1 is encoded here -->
 <pb facs="#p2" />
 <!-- text contained on page 2 is encoded here -->
 </text>
</TEI>

Surface and Zone

<surface> defines a written surface as a two-dimensional coordinate space
<zone> defines a single area on the surface using coordinates
@points a list of point-pairs which build the text area (x,y).
the @ulx, @uly, @lrx, @lry define the upper left corner and the lower right corner of a rectangle.
to define these coordinates you can for example use the Oxygen facsimile plugin, the Image Markup Tool, etc.

A Documentary, Embedded or Non-Interpretative Transcription

<sourceDoc> contains a transcription of a single document, representing the physical surface of a document without interpretation of the text, e.g for building a dossier génétique.

Similar to <facsimile>, a <sourceDoc> usually contains one or more <surface> elements with <zone> and <line> elements.
<line> contains the transcription of a topographic line in the source document
Some editorial markup is allowed (<add>, <del>,<unclear>, etc.) but you should only use elements here that are not interpretative.

A Documentary, Embedded or Non-Interpretative Transcription

<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
<teiHeader>
 <!-- metadata -->
 </teiHeader>
 <sourceDoc>
 <surface>
 <zone>
 <line><!-- Transcription of the 
         first line --></line>
 <line><!-- Transcription of the 
         second line --></line>
 </zone>
 </surface>
 </sourceDoc>
</TEI>

Genetic Editing: Marking up the Process

<mod> generic tag for marking any kind of modification in the document, without attributing a specific function to it
<metamark> any kind of written mark intended to determine how the document should be read
<retrace> writing which has been rewritten or otherwise 'fixed' (e.g. replacing pencil with ink)
<undo>, <redo> written modifications which have been reversed or reinstated
<transpose>, <transposeGrp> transposed sequences

Metamarks

The <metamark> element annotates marks such as numbers, arrows, crosses or other symbols, indicating how the text is to be read. These symbols are a kind of metatext, rather than forming part of the text
@function specifies the function of the metamark (e.g. status, insertion, deletion, transposition, used)
@target identifies one or more elements to which the function indicated by the metamark applies

<surface>
 <metamark function="used" rend="line"
target="#X2"/>
 <zone xml:id="X2">
 <line>I am that halfgrown <add>angry</add>
 boy, fallen asleep</line>
 <line>The tears of foolish passion yet
 undried</line>
 <line>upon my cheeks.</line>
 <!-- ... -->
 <line>I pass through <add>the</add> travels
 and <del>fortunes</del> of
 <retrace>thirty</retrace>
 </line>
 <!-- ... -->
 </zone>
 <metamark function="used" target="#X2">
 Entered - Yes</metamark>
</surface>

<undo> and <redo>

An alteration that has to be altered:

<undo> indicates one or more marked-up interventions in a document which have subsequently been marked for cancellation
- @target points to the element(s) which are to be reverted
<redo> indicates one or more cancelled interventions in a document which have subsequently been marked repeated.
- @target points to the element(s) which are to be reasserted

<line>
This is 
<del change="#s2" rend="overstrike">
 <seg xml:id="X-a">just some</seg> 
  sample 
 <seg xml:id="Xb">text</seg>,
  we need
</del>
<add change="#s2">not</add> 
  a real example.
</line>


<undo target="#X-a #X-b" rend="dotted" change="#s3"/>

<line>
 <redo target="#redo-1" cause="fix"/>

 <mod xml:id="redo-1" rend="strikethrough" spanTo="#anchor-1" />
 Ihr hagren, triſten, krummgezog nen Nacken
</line>

<line>Wenn ihr nur piepſet iſt die Welt ſchon matt. 
 <anchor xml:id="anchor-1"/></line>

Transpositions

Transpositions are passages that should be moved to a
different position. Metamarks (arrows, asterisks,
numbers…) often indicate the changes.

The element <transpose> describes a single textual transposition as an ordered list of at least two pointers (<ptr>) specifying the order in which the elements indicated should be re-combined
The element <listTranspose> supplies a list of transpositions, each of which is indicated at some point in a document, typically by means of metamarks. The list can be part of the <profileDesc>

<line>
 <seg xml:id="ib01">bör</seg>
 <metamark rend="underline" 
   function="transposition" target="#ib1"
   place="above"> 2. </metamark>
 og <seg xml:id="ib02">hör</seg>
 <metamark rend="underline" 
   function="transposition" target="#ib02"
   place="above">1. </metamark>
</line>
<!-- ... -->
<listTranspose>
 <transpose>
 <ptr target="#ib02"/>
 <ptr target="#ib01"/>
 </transpose>
</listTranspose>

Recording the Genesis of a Text

Writing process ("revision history")

<listChange> groups a list of revision phases
- @order whether the order of the change elements is significant or not
<change> describes a single revision phase
- @xml:id to identify the stages
The list of revision phases is part of the <profileDesc>,<creation> in the TEI Header

Let us hypothesize that the different colors of ink here are
associated with different layers (stages, phases...)

Documenting the Layers

<profileDesc>
 <creation>
 <listChange ordered="true">
 <change xml:id="stage-1">First layer, in black ink</change>
 <change xml:id="stage-2">Second layer, in red</change>
 <change xml:id="stage-3">Corrections and revisions, 
  in blue</change>
 <change xml:id="stage-4">Deletions and usage notes 
  in green</change>
 </listChange>
 </creation>
</profileDesc>

Associating the Layers

<change xml:id="stage-1">First layer, in black ink</change>
<change xml:id="stage-2">Second layer, in red</change>


<!-- in a surface in sourceDoc -->

<zone xml:id="zone1" change="#stage-1">
 <line> 28) le court de tennis. Les tribunes sont ... Deux joueurs</line>
 <!-- ... -->
 <line>30) l’un des joueurs de tennis se tient ... trois</line>
 <line>fois sur le sol</line>
 <zone change="#stage-2">
 <line>31) </line>
 <line>Vue de face</line>
 <line> à contre jour</line>
 <metamark function="add"/>
 <line>la vieille dame ... dans le vestibule (contre-jour)</line>
 </zone>
 <!-- ... -->
</zone>

Elements in 'transcr' Module

Elements defined in the 'transcr' (Representatiion of Primary Sources) module:
- addSpan, am, damage, damageSpan, delSpan, ex,
  facsimile, fw, handNotes, handShift, line,
  listTranspose, metamark, mod, redo, restore,
  retrace, secl, sourceDoc, space, subst, substJoin,
  supplied, surface, surfaceGrp, surplus, transpose,
  undo, zone

TEI for Transcription

By James Cummings

TEI for Transcription

A TEI workshop presentation on TEI for Transcription, Editing, and Representing Primary Sources

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