TEI Lines of Work, Work Packages and Work Items
author: C. M. Sperberg-McQueen and Lou Burnard

Text Encoding Initiative
Lines of Activity, Work Packages, and Work Items

C. M. Sperberg-McQueen
Lou Burnard
TEI ED W900
January 1995

This document describes the work facing the Text Encoding Initiative, now that the TEI Guidelines have been published. First, it reviews the main lines of TEI activity as set out in documents TEI SC G14 (A Pre-Proposal Description) and TEI SC G15 and G16 (proposal to NEH of August 1993 and revised work plan for that proposal). Then it lists work items which fall naturally under each, grouping the work items into work packages, identifying dependencies among the work items and work packages, and giving rough estimates of the amount of time which might be required of each.

This is an overview of the project's work, not the editors', but it has been prepared by the editors and the work to be done by the editors may be described in more detail than that to be done by others. No assumption should be made that all the work described here need be done by the editors personally.

[In its current form, this document does not capture all dependencies, and does not explain all the work items; it assumes the reader will know or can guess what it meant. Also, no time estimates are yet included. -CMSMcQ]

Lines of Work

The Text Encoding Initiative has four main lines of activity (outlined in document TEI SC G14):

- dissemination and user support
- evaluation of the Guidelines
- extension and maintenance of the Guidelines
- cooperation and coordination with other bodies

Support activities for these four main lines may be grouped into the following two areas:

- administration and management
- creation of tools

Dissemination and User Support

The activities listed here serve either to spread knowledge of the Guidelines among the TEI's constituent communities or to encourage their use. This line has seven work packages:

- editions and distribution
- additional documentation
- talks and papers
- promotional activities
- workshops
- metaworkshop followup
- coordination of volunteers

Editions and Distribution

- new print edition of TEI P3 (correct all known errors in master text; correct Script macros; optionally complete TeX translation and macros; optionally revise Script macros for better layout; optionally implement import into Ventura Publisher; produce hard copy; proofread/check final copy; arrange for printing). Depends on P3 document maintenance.
- errata sheet for P3
- fill orders (send out order forms on request; receive orders; mail books or CDs; cash checks)
- set up Gopher, W3 servers
- maintain ftp, Listserv, Gopher, W3 servers (select documents, format as needed, place on server, write documentation as needed)
- plan future electronic editions of TEI P3
- TEI P3 DynaText CD-ROM (study, announce, distribute). An NEH deliverable due 1995-12 (sic).
- TEI-P3-on-a-disk. An NEH deliverable due 1994-12.

Additional Documentation

- generic tutorial (TEI U5) (match generic slide set better; document all of Pocket TEI). Depends on: definition of Pocket TEI/TEI Lite (in Tools line). NEH deliverable due 1994-12.
- bare-bones introduction (TEI U6)
- case book from metaworkshop (TEI T1). Depends on annotation of sample texts, in Metaworkshop Followup package.
- Guide to the Implications of TEI markup for text-capture projects. NEH deliverable due 1994-12.
- Guide to Using TEI Markup for Electronic Manuscripts / for Document Production. An NEH deliverable due 1995-06.
- tutorial for corpus-based work
- tutorial for library use of TEI, with e-journals
- tutorial for manuscript transcription
- tutorial for transcribing critical editions for philological work
- TEI software disk. NEH deliverable due 1995-06.
- sample-texts diskette. NEH deliverable due 1994-12?
- further tutorials
- further case books
- TEI-L FAQ
- TEI cheat sheets: one-page summaries of tags in various tag sets (design, produce, announce, distribute)

The NEH grant calls for six discipline-specific tutorials (e.g. those on corpus work, manuscript transcription, etc.) to be delivered 1994-12, 1995-06, 1005-12 (two tutorials), and 1996-06 (two tutorials).

Talks, Lectures, and Papers

- informal talks at conferences
- formal lectures
- articles in journals and collections

At the time this document is written, currently pending talks and papers include:

- ALA 1995-02 (MSM)
- ALA 1995-06 (MSM)
- STS 1995-04 (MSM, SH)
- Metadata conference 1995-03 (MSM)
- Korean talks of 1994-10, for proceedings (LB, MSM)
- paper for Journal of the John Rylands Library (LB, MSM)
- final work on paper from DPC '94 (copyright clearance) (MSM)
- BL paper (LB)
- Text Technology special issue (LB)

Promotional Activities

- brochure
- participate in TEI-L (answer questions, keep a presence)
- answer ad hoc requests for information
- send correct descriptions of TEI to directories of projects (NEH, Firchow, etc.)

Some activities listed elsewhere, e.g. under Cooperation and Coordination, also have promotional aspects.

Workshops

- CETH workshop 1995-06
- ACH-ALLC '95 workshop 1995-07
- major TEI workshop in 1996. NEH deliverable due 1996-06.
- European Metaworkshop 1995-04 or 1995-05.
- ask participating organizations to sponsor workshops
- schedule and hold workshops at annual meetings of sponsoring organizations
- complete preparation of slide sets
- study technologies for delivering slides (Author/Editor, Panorama, translation to PowerPoint, HTML, ...)
- create revised Workshop Teaching Materials package. NEH deliverable due 1995-06.

Some work items described elsewhere, e.g. under Additional Documentation, are also relevant for workshops.

Metaworkshop Followup

- transcribe workshop reviews
- transcribe slides with notes from discussions
- annotate the sample texts (feeds Case Book preparation, under Additional Documentation package)
- set up TEITEACH listserv
- set up section for workshop teaching, as part of TEI W3 server
- revise slide sets used in Metaworkshop

Coordination of Volunteers

- draft TEI ED W56 (Ways You Can Help the TEI)
- handle offers of assistance
- monitor work done by volunteers, keep track of volunteer work for mention in acknowledgements, etc.

Evaluation of the Guidelines

This line covers activities aimed at explicit formal review and evaluation of the Guidelines commissioned or organized by the TEI itself. Other forms of evaluation are not included here. Informal evaluation will result whenever projects adopt and use the Guidelines and share their experiences with us; evaluations not commissioned by the TEI may occur if the Guidelines are proposed as a national or international standard.

Internal Evaluation

- set terms of evaluation
- choose evaluators
- act on results

External Evaluation

- set terms of evaluation
- choose evaluators
- act on results

Extension and Maintenance of the Guidelines

The activities here are all concerned with the support of the Guidelines as a technical work. They will be informed, of course, by results of formal and informal evaluation activities. This line of activity has the following work packages:

- organization of technical work
- TEI P3 document and DTD maintenance
- papers on technical topics
- work for Multext

Organization of Technical Work

- revise and adopt TEI ED W48, Procedures for Maintenance and Extension of Guidelines
- choose members of technical committee (target date: 1995-02 / 1995-03)
- schedule technical committee meeting (target: 1995-07 at ACH-ALLC 95, or 1995-06 at ACL)
- TEI ED W54, Rules for Work Groups (editors draft, technical committee adopts). Target for draft: 1995-03
- TEI ED W55, Form of Drafts for TEI Guidelines (editors draft, TC adopts). Target for draft: 1995-03
- issue call for suggested new work items (target: 1995-03)
- draft TEI ED W53, Editors' Recommendations for New Work Items
- draft TEI ED W52, Organization of the TEI (target: 1995-06)

Document and DTD Maintenance

- examine reports of bugs
- correct documents and DTDs as needed
- route problems to technical committee or work groups as needed
- regenerate DTDs periodically
- document work-arounds, fixes
- generate one-file DTD flavors for use with common software

Technical Papers

- demonstration of linguistic annotation for Japanese Electronic Dictionary project, with EDR examples
- discussion of extensions for analytic bibliography developed by McGann et al., and by Lancashire
- demonstration of dictionary tagging applied to Thesaurus Linguae Latinae data from Sinclair
- demonstration of dictionary tagging for older dictionaries (from talk in Toronto 1993-11)
- experimental reformulation of TEI DTD in Belgian syntax (could use, but does not absolutely require, revised Odd system)

Work for Multext

The project is committed to doing consulting or technical work for Multext; details of this work are to be specified elsewhere.

Cooperation and Coordination with Other Bodies

This line includes liaison with other bodies, possibly in support of dissemination activities or maintenance activities. It has the following work packages:

- organization and search for partners
- ISO and other standardization
- cooperative discussions of metadata standards
- monitor external technical developments
- monitor SGML software developments

Organization and Search for Partners

- revise and adopt TEI ED W45, Policy on Technical Cooperation
- approve and issue TEI ED W58, Call for Proposals
- seek opportunities for cooperative work

At the time this document was prepared, the editors were individually engaged in cooperation with other entities in the fields of software development (LB, Memoria project) and tagging for historical editions (CMSMcQ, Model Editions Partnership); members of the Steering Committee had similar commitments to EAGLES, Multext, and the Text Software Initiative.

Possible opportunities for cooperative effort which need to be pursued include:

- Glossa ordinaria project (M. Zier, K. Froehlich)
- Northwestern Homer project (M. Mueller)
- historical dictionaries consortial project (A. Healey of DOE, G. Crane of electronic Liddell/Scott, P. Sinclair of electronic TLL, possibly Middle English Dictionary as well)
- SGML conversion of Dictionary of Old English (in connection with consortium, or independently)

Standardization

- set policy on copyright, publication rights, and revenue sharing for a NISO standard based on TEI P3
- pursue NISO adoption of TEI P3 on mutually agreeable basis
- pursue adoption of TEI P3 as FIPS
- support progression of terminological tag set as ISO standard

Metadata Standards

- assist in organizing metadata conference at OCLC, 1995-03
- present TEI header at metadata conference
- followup work adjusting TEI header, extending it, or developing new generic independent metadata DTD compatible with independent header
- pursue possibilities of harmonizing TEI header and MARC catalog formats (in cooperation with CETH)

The metadata conference is being organized by Stu Weibel of OCLC, Yuri Rubinsky of SoftQuad, and CMSMcQ; it is expected to issue in recommendations for harmonizing fields in common metadata formats (such as the TEI header, the Uniform Resource Catalogue entry, GIS metadata standards, and library catalogue entries). Possibilities of a TEI/MARC harmonization should be pursued independently.

External Technical Development

External technical developments which must be monitored, studied, and understood, and which may suggest improvements or extensions to the Guidelines include:

- DSSSL
- HyTime
- ICADD architectural forms
- DocBook DTD
- IBMIDDOC architecture
- MaJour DTDs
- ISO 12083 DTDs
- HTML DTD, in various versions
- Z Interchange Format (?)

SGML Software

SGML software development must be continuously monitored, and those engagd in TEI technical work must become proficient in the use of relevant programs, including:

- Sculptor and other system integration tools
- Adept, WriterStation, EditTIME, Author/Editor, psgml.el and other editors
- Explorer, Panorama, DynaText, BookManager, and other browsers
- Sara

Administration and Management

This line of work includes activities which support the primary functions of the TEI; it has the following ongoing work packages:

- planning
- financial record-keeping
- fundraising
- document management and provision of central secretariat
- reporting

Planning

- preparation of overall work plan, documentation (e.g. in the current document)
- preparation of periodic annual, 6-month, and 3-month work plans

Financial Records

- maintain bookkeeping records
- create budgets
- monitor expenditures in relation to budget

At the time this document was prepared, it was planned to redesign the bookkeeping system and convert recent data to the new design:

- design new bookkeeping system
- convert current data
- convert recent data

Fundraising

- find prospective funding agencies
- make preliminary inquiries
- draft grant proposals

Document Management and Secretariat

- maintain document registry
- perform document distribution and announcement as needed; post to W3, Gopher, ftp, and Listserv servers as appropriate
- maintain TEI ED A43, TEI Address List
- maintain list of current work items
- draft minutes of executive committee meetings
- draft minutes and public reports of technical committee meetings

At the time this document was drafted, the filing system at the central secretariat was in need of reform:

- redesign document filing system
- weed old files; discard older materials or place them in remote storage

Reports

- generate and file reports to funding agencies, as required
- report monthly to executive committee on editorial activities

Tools

Work items listed here are normally pre-requisites for work items in other sections, or else tools which will make the performance of other work more convenient, more reliable, or faster. This line includes the following work packages:

- design of Pocket TEI / TEI Lite DTD
- Odd system: maintenance, documentation, redesign, reimplementation as application or specialization of Sweb
- tf: maintenance, redesign, reimplementation, documentation
- DTD pre-processor
- Sweb: generic SGML-based literate programming system