After this survey, I started writing my own scripts in order to support my editorial
work, as a set of separate tools. It quickly occurred to me that those scripts could
easily be grouped together in a toolbox that, with a little bit of
@@ -219,10 +219,11 @@
Description
The
TEI Critical Apparatus Toolbox is an online application
for the quick and easy visualization and processing of TEI XML critical editions. It is
- not meant to be a publication tool: the Critical Apparatus
- Toolbox specifically targets the needs of editors during the preparation of
- their ongoing work, allowing them to perform quality controls on their TEI files and to
- display their work-in-progress text either in the style of a
+ not meant to be a publication tool: the Critical Apparatus Toolbox specifically targets the needs of editors during
+ the preparation of their ongoing work, allowing them to perform quality controls on
+ their TEI files and to display their work-in-progress text either in the style of a
traditional critical edition, and/or in parallel versions
corresponding to each witness.
The requirements are very basic: no account, download, installation, or configuration
@@ -242,8 +243,9 @@
for finished editions, but they may not be well adapted to ongoing work. Proposing a
visualization for such encoding is not easy, because there might not be an
identifiable critical text (yet), and the styles can be mixed in the apparatus. The
-
Critical Apparatus Toolbox will display each style (lemma
- and reading[s], or readings only) differently:
+ Critical Apparatus Toolbox will
+ display each style (lemma and reading[s], or readings only) differently: In each case, the content of lem and rdg are highlighted,
with a white background.When an app element contains a lem and one or more
@@ -264,7 +266,8 @@
The use of reading groups is also supported: the content of each
@@ -317,7 +321,8 @@
Displaying this code in the Critical
- Apparatus Toolbox
+ Apparatus Toolbox
@@ -332,25 +337,29 @@
case, it is assumed that the page breaks of this witness are of particular interest to
the user, and they are displayed in a more prominent fashion, as blocks with a thin
blue line representing each break.
-
So far the
Critical Apparatus Toolbox is not very different
- from other TEI display tools, except perhaps that it can handle a great variety of
- encoding styles within the Parallel Segmentation method. But its most distinctive
- feature is the ability to perform automated controls of the encoding.
+
So far the
Critical Apparatus Toolbox is not
+ very different from other TEI display tools, except perhaps that it can handle a great
+ variety of encoding styles within the Parallel Segmentation method. But its most
+ distinctive feature is the ability to perform automated controls of the encoding.
Controlling the Consistency of Your Encoding
The preparation of a critical edition involves many sessions of meticulous
proofreading, especially to check the accuracy of the apparatus. If the
Critical Apparatus Toolbox cannot replace the careful eye of the
- editor, it offers an efficient way to control the consistency of the encoding by
- detecting small inevitable mistakes, like a typo in the list of sigla or the failure
- to record the reading of a particular witness in an apparatus entry.
-
To perform those controls, the
Critical Apparatus Toolbox
- will scan the teiHeader and front sections of the TEI file for a
- listWit, and find all the sigla of the witnesses. Then, it will compare
- this list to the manuscripts appearing in the wit attribute of lem
- and rdg elements. The nature of the controls will depend on the type of
- apparatus used in the edition.
+ level="m">Critical Apparatus Toolbox cannot replace the
+ careful eye of the editor, it offers an efficient way to control the consistency of
+ the encoding by detecting small inevitable mistakes, like a typo in the list of sigla
+ or the failure to record the reading of a particular witness in an apparatus
+ entry.
+
To perform those controls, the
Critical Apparatus Toolbox will scan the teiHeader and
+ front sections of the TEI file for a listWit, and find all the
+ sigla of the witnesses. Then, it will compare this list to the manuscripts appearing
+ in the wit attribute of lem and rdg elements. The nature
+ of the controls will depend on the type of apparatus used in the edition.
Positive Apparatus
In a positive apparatus, the reading of each witness considered for the edition is
@@ -361,7 +370,8 @@
edition) because it forces the editor to be more accurate and makes verifications
easier. It is the type of apparatus that allows for the most efficient consistency
checks.
-
The
Critical Apparatus Toolbox can:
+
The
Critical Apparatus Toolbox can: Highlight apparatus entries that do not use all witnesses: the
content of the incomplete app elements which do not explicitly give a
text for each witness listed in the listWit will be highlighted in red.
@@ -378,7 +388,8 @@
Displaying this code in the Critical
- Apparatus Toolbox
+ Apparatus ToolboxHighlight apparatus entries that do not use a specific witness:
@@ -422,10 +433,12 @@
end it gives fewer opportunities for automated verification: it is impossible to be
sure that the editor added the reading of each witness, since unmentioned
manuscripts are assumed by default to correspond to the lemma.
-
In this case, the
Critical Apparatus Toolbox can
- nevertheless highlight apparatus entries that mention a particular
- witness. Practically, this will highlight only apparatus entries where a
- witness’s reading differs from the lemma. Example:
+
In this case, the
Critical Apparatus Toolbox can nevertheless highlight apparatus entries that
+ mention a particular witness. Practically, this will highlight only
+ apparatus entries where a witness’s reading differs from the lemma. Example: dolores corporis lenianturlaniantur
@@ -435,16 +448,18 @@
Displaying this code in the Critical
- Apparatus Toolbox, when highlighting all apparatus entries mentioning
- witness R2
+ Apparatus Toolbox, when highlighting all
+ apparatus entries mentioning witness R2
Other Controls
-
The
Critical Apparatus Toolbox can also highlight
- apparatus entries that contain a lem, or that contain only rdg
- elements.
+
The
Critical Apparatus Toolbox can
+ also highlight apparatus entries that contain a lem, or that contain only
+ rdg elements.
@@ -480,13 +495,14 @@
Application Design
-
The
Critical Apparatus Toolbox is an online application built
- on a set of XSLT stylesheets served through PHP files, the output of which is made
- interactive thanks to Javascript and CSS. It makes use of some parts of TEI Boilerplate, most notably its web design. But despite the similar look
- and feel, the core functions are very different: all the parts of the TEI Boilerplate stylesheets pertaining to critical edition elements have been
- overridden.
+
The
Critical Apparatus Toolbox is an
+ online application built on a set of XSLT stylesheets served through PHP files, the
+ output of which is made interactive thanks to Javascript and CSS. It makes use of some
+ parts of TEI Boilerplate, most notably its web design. But
+ despite the similar look and feel, the core functions are very different: all the parts
+ of the TEI Boilerplate stylesheets pertaining to critical
+ edition elements have been overridden.
The XSLT stylesheets analyze the TEI XML edition, and determine its
characteristics.
I have chosen to concentrate here on the presentation of
the general framework, rather than getting into technical details about the XSLT
@@ -510,37 +526,43 @@
TEI P5 version 2.9.0 release notes
In the future, keeping up
with the developments and evolutions of the Critical Apparatus module will be a
- priority. We hope that the
Critical Apparatus Toolbox will be
- able to adapt to these evolutions: since the functions of the interface are powered by
- Javascript, updating the XSLT should be enough to adapt to new rules or elements in the
- module.
+ priority. We hope that the Critical Apparatus Toolbox will be able to adapt to these evolutions: since the functions
+ of the interface are powered by Javascript, updating the XSLT should be enough to adapt
+ to new rules or elements in the module.
Future Developments
-
The beginning of the development of the
Critical Apparatus
- Toolbox was a lonely endeavor, but the project has since benefited from the
- collaboration of Magdalena Turska
Magdalena Turska created this prototype as part
- of her work as an Experienced Researcher Fellow of the
Digital Scholarly Editions Initial Training
- Network (DIXIT) program
- (accessed December 4, 2016). who wrote a prototype for the integration of
- the Toolbox into an oXygen framework. Decisive help was also found via a collaboration
- with the Erasmus SP+ DEMM program (Digital Edition of Medieval
- Manuscripts).
Accessed December 4, 2016, The beginning of the development of the Critical Apparatus Toolbox was a lonely endeavor, but the project has since
+ benefited from the collaboration of Magdalena Turska
Magdalena Turska created this
+ prototype as part of her work as an Experienced Researcher Fellow of the
Digital Scholarly Editions Initial
+ Training Network (DIXIT) program (accessed December 4, 2016).
who
+ wrote a prototype for the integration of the Toolbox into an oXygen
+ framework. Decisive help was also found via a collaboration with the Erasmus SP+ DEMM
+ program (Digital Edition
+ of Medieval Manuscripts).
Accessed December 4, 2016,
For the three years beginning
in June 2015 DEMM is holding an annual hackathon event where the Critical
- Apparatus Toolbox is the base application that small, mixed teams of textual
- scholars and computer scientists try to enhance to meet their particular
+ Apparatus Toolbox is the base application that small, mixed teams of
+ textual scholars and computer scientists try to enhance to meet their particular
needs.
The first of these events took place at Queen Mary University London in
June 2015, with the computer scientists Astrid Bin, Daniel Gabana Arellano, Danielle
Gilaberte De Almeida, and Chris Sparks, along with all the current DEMM students as
textual scholars (Digital Editing of Medieval
Manuscripts, People, accessed December 4, 2016,
).
- These events will play an important role in the future developments of the Toolbox, since
- they confront us directly with the real-life experience and needs of editors.
+ These events will play an important role in the future developments of the Toolbox, since they confront us directly with the real-life experience and needs
+ of editors.
New Controls and Features
During the first hackathon, the students and computer scientists were divided into four
@@ -549,8 +571,9 @@
text (from various states of transcription showing either abbreviated or expanded words
to parallel versions of a text with potentially different branches), and the last
concentrated on the relationship between the edited text and images. These themes could
- serve as general directions for enhancing the
Critical Apparatus
- Toolbox:
+ serve as general directions for enhancing the Critical Apparatus Toolbox: offering visualization options for named entities, from a simple index to more
elaborate links to maps, when possible;taking into account the visualization of transcription features like
@@ -559,8 +582,9 @@
display of parallel witnesses;adding some options to link the text to its representation, or to images
generally. This poses the problem of access to the images: in the current state of
- the Toolbox, users upload their TEI XML edition but not the other files potentially
- linked to it, like images.
+ the Toolbox, users upload their TEI XML edition but not the other
+ files potentially linked to it, like images.
@@ -572,13 +596,14 @@
Tool.The UVic Image Markup Tool
Project, accessed December 4, 2016, Even if the Critical Apparatus Toolbox is not a publication application, such an
- output would provide users with a ready-to-use static version of their edition, a set of
- files (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc.) that they could publish on their website or show in
- a demo session. While complex projects will always need a proper publication framework,
- this sort of lightweight publication output would provide a simple tool for basic
- self-publication.
For a discussion of the question of TEI and
- self-publication, see Pierazzo 2015,
+ level="m">Critical Apparatus Toolbox is not a publication
+ application, such an output would provide users with a ready-to-use static version of
+ their edition, a set of files (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc.) that they could publish on
+ their website or show in a demo session. While complex projects will always need a
+ proper publication framework, this sort of lightweight publication output would provide
+ a simple tool for basic self-publication.
For a discussion of the question of
+ TEI and self-publication, see Pierazzo 2015,
129–30.
@@ -598,19 +623,20 @@
numbering, and content of the apparatus notes) to deliver as useful an output as
possible.
I am preparing a generic TEI-to-LaTeX and TEI-to-PDF conversion feature that will be
- implemented in the
Critical Apparatus Toolbox. I chose LaTeX as
- an intermediary format because it offers all the desired options, thanks to the
- reledmac package especially designed for typesetting critical
- editions.
The reledmac package, maintained by Maïeul Rouquette,
- replaces the established ledmac and eledmac packages. See
- CTAN (Comprehensive TeX Archive Network),
reledmac—Typeset Scholarly Editions, accessed December 4,
- 2016, I thank M. Rouquette
- for kindly helping me to learn how to use the package. It is better
- suited to the specific needs of critical editions than XSL:FO. Another advantage of an
- intermediary file is that it leaves users the opportunity to edit the LaTeX code to
- obtain a better PDF result, which they might prefer over a modification of the XSLT
- templates, depending on their skillset.
+ implemented in the Critical Apparatus Toolbox. I chose LaTeX as an intermediary format because it offers all
+ the desired options, thanks to the reledmac package especially designed for
+ typesetting critical editions.
The reledmac package, maintained by
+ Maïeul Rouquette, replaces the established ledmac and
+ eledmac packages. See CTAN (Comprehensive TeX Archive Network),
+
reledmac—Typeset Scholarly Editions,
+ accessed December 4, 2016,
+ I thank M. Rouquette for kindly helping me to learn how to use the
+ package. It is better suited to the specific needs of critical editions
+ than XSL:FO. Another advantage of an intermediary file is that it leaves users the
+ opportunity to edit the LaTeX code to obtain a better PDF result, which they might
+ prefer over a modification of the XSLT templates, depending on their skillset.
This feature, still a work-in-progress but well advanced, lets the user customize many
parameters of the output through a graphical interface, without requiring any knowledge
of LaTeX. When users need heavy customization of the default settings, they can easily
@@ -643,13 +669,14 @@
integrate TEI encoding seamlessly into the workflow of textual scholars.See Turska, Cummings and Rahtz
2016
-
The
Critical Apparatus Toolbox belongs in this growing galaxy of
- lightweight, user-oriented tools. With features demonstrating the immediate benefits of
- TEI encoding, it is a good tool for TEI training and workshops. But its main purpose
- remains to facilitate the work of textual scholars, a complex task given the widely
- diverse habits of different schools, and even of different people. Our first results
- demonstrate that despite the diversity, some level of common ground can be found to
- provide generic services.
+
The
Critical Apparatus Toolbox belongs in
+ this growing galaxy of lightweight, user-oriented tools. With features demonstrating the
+ immediate benefits of TEI encoding, it is a good tool for TEI training and workshops. But
+ its main purpose remains to facilitate the work of textual scholars, a complex task given
+ the widely diverse habits of different schools, and even of different people. Our first
+ results demonstrate that despite the diversity, some level of common ground can be found
+ to provide generic services.