What is TEI Conformance, and Why Should You Care?

The recommendations of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) seem to have become a defining feature of the methodological framework of the Digital Humanities, despite recurrent concerns that the system they define is at the same time both too rigorous for the manifold variability of humanistic text, an...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lou Burnard
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Text Encoding Initiative Consortium 2018-12-01
Series:Journal of the Text Encoding Initiative
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/jtei/1777
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832578471976501248
author Lou Burnard
author_facet Lou Burnard
author_sort Lou Burnard
collection DOAJ
description The recommendations of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) seem to have become a defining feature of the methodological framework of the Digital Humanities, despite recurrent concerns that the system they define is at the same time both too rigorous for the manifold variability of humanistic text, and not precise enough to guarantee interoperability of resources defined using it. In this paper I question the utility of standardization in a scholarly context, proposing however that documentation of formal encoding practice is an essential part of scholarship. After discussing the range of information such documentation entails, I explore the notion of conformance proposed by the TEI Guidelines, suggesting that this must operate at both a technical syntactic level, and a less easily verifiable semantic level. One of the more noticeable features of the Guidelines is their desire to have (as the French say) both the butter and the money for the butter; I will suggest that this polymorphous multiplicity is an essential component of the system, and has been a key factor in determining the TEI’s continued relevance.
format Article
id doaj-art-40e94c8c95594f86922063e66342ab51
institution Kabale University
issn 2162-5603
language deu
publishDate 2018-12-01
publisher Text Encoding Initiative Consortium
record_format Article
series Journal of the Text Encoding Initiative
spelling doaj-art-40e94c8c95594f86922063e66342ab512025-01-30T13:56:30ZdeuText Encoding Initiative ConsortiumJournal of the Text Encoding Initiative2162-56032018-12-011210.4000/jtei.1777What is TEI Conformance, and Why Should You Care?Lou BurnardThe recommendations of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) seem to have become a defining feature of the methodological framework of the Digital Humanities, despite recurrent concerns that the system they define is at the same time both too rigorous for the manifold variability of humanistic text, and not precise enough to guarantee interoperability of resources defined using it. In this paper I question the utility of standardization in a scholarly context, proposing however that documentation of formal encoding practice is an essential part of scholarship. After discussing the range of information such documentation entails, I explore the notion of conformance proposed by the TEI Guidelines, suggesting that this must operate at both a technical syntactic level, and a less easily verifiable semantic level. One of the more noticeable features of the Guidelines is their desire to have (as the French say) both the butter and the money for the butter; I will suggest that this polymorphous multiplicity is an essential component of the system, and has been a key factor in determining the TEI’s continued relevance.https://journals.openedition.org/jtei/1777interoperabilitystandardizationconformance
spellingShingle Lou Burnard
What is TEI Conformance, and Why Should You Care?
Journal of the Text Encoding Initiative
interoperability
standardization
conformance
title What is TEI Conformance, and Why Should You Care?
title_full What is TEI Conformance, and Why Should You Care?
title_fullStr What is TEI Conformance, and Why Should You Care?
title_full_unstemmed What is TEI Conformance, and Why Should You Care?
title_short What is TEI Conformance, and Why Should You Care?
title_sort what is tei conformance and why should you care
topic interoperability
standardization
conformance
url https://journals.openedition.org/jtei/1777
work_keys_str_mv AT louburnard whatisteiconformanceandwhyshouldyoucare