Guidelines for Electronic Text Encoding and Interchange
                         Publication of TEI P2
 
Attentive readers of this list will recall that early 1992 was the most
recently announced date for the publication of TEI P2 (the revised and
expanded version of the TEI Guidelines).  In some incautious moments, we
may even have said 'January 1992.' We have now gone past that month, and
to our dismay it is clear that the entire text of TEI P2 is ... not
quite ready for distribution.  To maximize the opportunities for public
discussion and comment, therefore, we will not wait for the entire draft
to be ready but will instead publish each section of the draft as soon
as it has been approved by the drafting committee and the editors.
 
Each part or fascicle will be placed on the fileserver here at UICVM in
a variety of electronic formats, and we will also be maintaining mailing
lists in Europe and the US for those who prefer to receive paper copy.
Needless to say, an announcement will be made here on TEI-L each time a
new fascicle is made available.  Each part will also include a full
table of contents for the whole draft, indicating the current status of
each part.  This is so that, whichever part you receive, you will be
able to tell both where it belongs in the whole work and which other
parts are available to date.  Each part will also be accompanied by a
'user response form' for comment, but comments are of course welcome in
whatever format is most convenient, particularly those directed to this
list.
 
We are acutely aware that many people will be disappointed by this
delay, not least those who have been unable to obtain copies of P1.
Please bear with us:  one factor contributing to the delay has been the
amount of exciting new material produced by the workgroups reporting at
our Norwegian conference last year; another has been our decision to
reorganize quite radically the way the material in the drafts is
presented, in response to some frequently voiced criticisms of TEI P1.
 
For us, the serial mode of publication has two important benefits: the
burden of getting everything right by an impossible deadline is somewhat
lightened (obviously); and the task of getting material out for comment
and review is somewhat simplified.  Not everyone has the time or
inclination to comment on a volume the size of P1 when it lands on the
desk all of a piece, while individual chapters on specific topics can
perhaps be more readily and speedily considered.  We hope that this
means the quality and quantity of public comment will increase:  you can
help by commenting yourself or by making sure that other interested
persons in your organization who may not have access to e-mail are made
aware of the drafts as they come.
 
In a separate note we are posting a brief description of the format and
content planned for TEI P2.  It's a little early to say which part will
have the honour of being the first published, but just to whet your
appetite, the smart money is on dictionaries, spoken texts and the TEI
header ...
 
 
-Michael Sperberg-McQueen
 Lou Burnard
 TEI Editors