The document discusses text encoding and the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). It provides an overview of the history of text encoding, from early schemes like GML to modern standards like XML and TEI. TEI was developed in 1987 and provides a standard for encoding humanities texts that is flexible and has been widely adopted. Several case studies are described that demonstrate how TEI can be used to encode different types of texts and facilitate analysis.

1. C R A I G B E L L A M Y , C O N A L T U O H Y , V E R S I
3 0 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 0
The Text Encoding Initiative
(TEI) and Humanities Research

2. What is Text Encoding ?
“Before they can be studied with the aid of machines,
texts must be encoded in a machine readable form.
Methods for this transcription are called, generally,
‘text encoding schemes’; such schemes must provide
mechanisms for representing the characters of a text
and its logical and physical structure...ancillary
information achieved by analysis or interpretation
(may also be added)...
Michael Sperberg-McQueen (1990)

3. History of Text Encoding/mark-up
 (Machine readable texts: Creating, archiving, and
sharing, textual data)
 GML (Generalised Mark-up Language) 1960s
 SGML (1986)
 HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language) Berners-Lee,
1991
 TEI (Text-Encoding Initiative) 1987; a tag schema for
marking up humanities texts (ordered hierarchy text
model)
 XML (re-worked in 1998 from SGML: a metalanguage
for defining descriptive mark-up languages (in part by
Michael Sperberg-McQueen)

4. Why TEI? (computers de-code, people read)
 Since 1949; Roberto Busa developed the first literary
text encoding project (concordance of Thomas
Aquinas 1225-1274), tension over standardisation
 TEI developed in 1987 in conjunction with the
Association for Computing in the Humanities (ACH)
 Nearly every major text-based digital humanities
project uses TEI
 TEI is a product of a large international
collaboration; tested on numerous projects (a
standard that is extensible and flexible)
 Opens up new methods of analysis!

5. Roberto Busa

6. TEI Case Studies
 HESTIA: Herodotus
 Fine Roles Henry III
 SETIS (Basic library TEI)
 Transcribe Bentham project (crowd-sourcing)
 Daisy Bates

7. Fine Roles Henry III (1216-1272)
 Latin on parchment
 A fine was essentially a promise of money to the king
in return for a concession or favour (key to
understanding the Magna Carta and the
development of the Parliamentary State
 Complex associations of people encoded
 http://www.finerollshenry3.org.uk/home.html
 Facilitates scholarly analysis
 http://www.methodsnetwork.ac.uk/resources/casest
udy10.html

8. HESTIA
 Books of Herodotus texts contained on the Perseus
Project
 Used TEI encoded texts of Herodotus’ ‘Histories’
(place and time)
 http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/hestia/outcomes/index
.html
 Herodotus time-map
 http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/hestia/herodotus/basic
.html

9. SETIS
 350 Australian texts (Text encoded...Federation,
‘Classics of Taxation’, Australia Studies collection)
 Rendered as print on demand, .pdf (library
environment so delivery important)
 http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/oztexts/index.html

10. Transcribe Bentham
 Founder of UCL (philosopher, social reformer)
 150 manuscripts to transcribe
 Transcribing all the details (including deletions,
marginalia etc.)
 http://www.transcribe-
bentham.da.ulcc.ac.uk/td/Transcribe_Bentham
 (transcription desk)
 http://www.transcribe-
bentham.da.ulcc.ac.uk/td/Help:Transcription_Input_Fo
rm
 (guidelines)

11. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

12. Daisy Bates (1859-1951)

13. Daisy Bates (1859-1951)
 Left Ireland in 1882 (aged 23) after a ‘sordid sexual
affair’
 Devoted more than 35 years of her life to studying
Aboriginal life, history, culture, rites, beliefs and customs
 Wrote millions of words living in tents on the edge of the
Nullarbor Plain and WA (in strict Edwardian attire!)
 NLA have Bates ‘word lists’ transcribing the common
words of numerous aboriginal tribes (didn’t name the
tribes). English words with numerous Aboriginal
trnaslations

15. Further Research/Training
 Digital Humanities projects, methods, tools
 http://www.arts-humanities.net/
 TEI by example
 http://tbe.kantl.be/TBE/
 TEI Summer School (Oxford)
 Digital Humanities Summer Institute (Canada)
 http://www.dhsi.org/

16. The TEI Community
 TEI Consortium (join & discussion list)
 http://www.tei-c.org/index.xml
 TEI Journal
 http://journal.tei-c.org/journal/index
 TEI Members Meeting (evolving research
community)
 http://ling.unizd.hr/~tei2010/
 Digital Humanities Answers
 http://digitalhumanities.org/answers/

17. End
 Evaluation forms