What to Capture

All printed material should be captured: all text (that is, printed characters) should be transcribed and the presence of graphical items or other non-transcribable elements should be indicated with markup.

End-of-line Hyphens

A distinction should be maintained in the electronic transcription between end-of-line or soft hyphens (an artifact of page layout) and hard hyphens (a linguistic feature). The former should be transcribed as the SOFT HYPHEN (U+00AD) character; the latter, as the HYPHEN-MINUS (U+002D) character generally available on Western keyboards. In the rare case of coincidence of the two types — where a word that is normally hyphenated is split across a line break at its hyphen — the hyphen should be considered hard, and transcribed as the HYPHEN-MINUS.

Character Encoding

Characters should be encoded in UTF-8. For characters not easily input from the keyboard, use hexadecimal numeric entities (e.g. é, the small latin e with acute accent, is represented as é).

Accuracy and Verification

The standard for accuracy of transcription should be at least 99.99% (1 error in 10,000 characters). The sample size for verification will be 5% of the total text.

Documenting the Encoding Process

Almost surely, difficult encoding situations will arise whose resolution may not be covered by this documentation or the TEI Guidelines. In such cases, it is important to document the markup choices that are made. To this end each encoded file should be accompanied by a document with such notes. These notes should reference features of a document that seem remarkable to encoders and how these were handled by encoders.

TEI Tite text structure

In TEI Tite, text is the root element, containing front matter, the body of the text, and back matter.

The text's xml:id attribute should contain a unique identifier for the document being encoded.

Tite omits the teiHeader element as a convenience to transcribers. This departs from normal TEI practice, which requires TEI as the root element, containing teiHeader and text elements. In order to bring a document encoded in TEI Tite into adherence with the TEI Abstract Model, projects should add a teiHeader before engaging in post-transcription processing.

Groups of Texts

A document should be encoded as a group of texts only when each member of the group contains its own front or back matter (most often, a separate title page). In this case the group element should be a child of the text element, and should contain child text elements each containing a front, body, and back (each text need not have both front and back matter, but should have at least one). Note that this group of texts will still have its own front and back matter. When dealing with a group of texts, the basic TEI text structure is modified to look like:

In cases where a document appears to contain a group of texts but the above condition is not met, encode each unit as a (numbered) div with an appropriate type attribute.

Structural Divisions

Tite uses numbered divisions: div1 through div7, which stand for levels of nesting within a text. div1s nest inside or are contained by the front, body, and back elements, div2s nest inside or are contained by div1s, etc. The document's table of contents is often a good place to find cues about where structural divisions start and end; other cues can be blank pages, recurring typographical or ornamental features, or a numbering system ("Chapter 5" etc.). Also, the presence of a heading will often indicate the beginning of a division.

The type attribute should be used to express the type of division being marked. Where present, use a name for division type given in the document itself. Though any constrained enumerated list of type values will have to be determined on a job-by-job basis, some examples of appropriate division types are: act article book chapter essay letter part scene section subsection

When a heading is present, encode it with the head element. If there is more than one heading at the beginning of a given division, encode each heading with its own head element, using the type attribute to distinguish them. Appropriate values are: main sub (subtitle) alt (alternate) desc (descriptive)

The n attribute should be used to record sequential labels associated with a structural division (numbers, numerals, letters). When present, these labels should also be transcribed within the content of head element. For instance: III: It Awakes

Front and Back Matter

Front and back matter should be encoded with the front and back elements, respectively. div1 elements should contain the major sections and should be characterized by type attribute values. The exception, however, is the title page, which should be encoded with the titlePage element and its children. The titlePart element should have a type attribute with one of the following values: main sub (subtitle) desc (descriptive title) alt (alternate title) volume (volume information) titlePart type="volume" should be used to encode volume information wherever it is found on the title page, even if it is separated from the other title information. The elements that make up the titlePage content model are: graphic, byline, epigraph, docTitle, titlePart, docAuthor, docEdition, docImprint, docDate, figure, ornament.

Information on the verso of the title page should be included as well (after a pb).

Common items to encode in front and back matter -- and therefore common type attribute values for front and back divisions are: front acknowledgements advertisement castlist contents dedication fly-title foreword introduction preface back appendix bibliography colophon glossary index

Half-title and fly-title pages may be encountered in the front matter. A half-title page precedes the title page proper and sometimes includes volume or series information; a fly-title page comes at the very end of the front matter, just before the body. In the case of half-titles, encode these as div1 type="half-title" (with titlePart elements inside docTitle elements as appropriate); in the case of fly-titles, encode them likewise with div1 type="fly-title", making sure to make the fly-title division the last part of the front matter (and not the first part of the body, as may seem reasonable as well).

Letters

opener and closer are elements designed to encode the beginning and ending sections of letters, prefaces, diary entries, or other personal types of writing. Both elements contain: dateline: for recording time and place of composition; use date with when value (in W3C format as in the TEI Guidelines) to record date information signed: for recording a signature salute: for recording salutation at the beginning ("Dear Roger,") or end ("Yours truly,")

opener contains the additional elements epigraph, argument, and byline. epigraph will often be useful in the context of a letter. When encoding an epigraph, make sure to encode the content as you would any other feature, marking line groups, bibliographical elements, etc.

argument and byline, however, are not intended specifically for use with letters: argument: for a summary that precedes a division byline: for a statement of responsibility for the document

Verse

All verse should be encoded within at least one lg element, even when there are no distinct stanzas or when the verse is interspersed with prose. If it is known, use the type attribute to express the type of line group. Sometimes within a poem there is a question about what should be tagged as a lg or as a separate div. As a rough rule of thumb, if there is a title accompanying the division, use the div element; otherwise, use lg.

Each line of verse should be encoded with the l element, and care should be taken to distinguish these logical lines of verse from lines motivated by page layout. The latter should be encoded as lbs. Thus should be encoded as AS virtuous men pass mildly away, And whisper to their souls to go, Whilst some of their sad friends do say, "Now his breath goes," and some say, "No." Also, as in the example above, use the rend attribute to mark when a line is indented more than its siblings. Use numbered indent values (e.g. indent(1), indent(2), etc.) to make clear levels of indentation.

Drama

The standard TEI elements for drama should be used: sp, stage, speaker. If the who attribute is used on sp, also transcribe who is given as the speaker, in whatever form it is written, in the speaker element. Short pieces of stage direction that accompany the speaker designation may be included in the speaker element.

Scenes and acts should be encoded as appropriately nested div elements with type attributes of scene or act, respectively. Cast lists can likewise be encoded using div and type="castlist".

Prologues and epilogues can be treated as sps of their own, unless their structure would be better represented by nested div elements.

Newspapers

Tite includes the elements colShift and cb which are well suited for the multi-column layout of newspapers. Additional relevant elements are: ref, to encode a pointer to the continuation of a story in a different column or on a different page; and figure, to describe illustrations, advertisements, and cartoons.

Block Quotations

Use the q element to encode block quotations. A block quotation is indicated by its being set off from surrounding text either with extra line-spacing or margins or with a different typeface. If the quotation is of an entire text, use the floatingText element and its children inside the q element:

If present, transcribe all quotation marks or other delimiters inside the q element.

Figures

Use the figure element to encode figures. If a figure has a heading or caption, encode it with the head element. If there is associated text, simply use a p to encode it.

Tables and Lists

Tables and lists are encoded as in the TEI Guidelines, but note the following.

If a cell in a table is a heading or a label, set the role attribute to label; if the cell contains data, there is no need to use role: data is the default. If a cell or row spans more than one column or row, use the rows or cols attributes set to the number of columns or rows that it spans.

If unsure about whether a structure is best encoded as a list or table, record it as a table only if it would not be properly understood without tabular layout.

Lists should be encoded as either sequences of items or label-item pairs. When items in the list contain a label, as in a gloss list, be sure to use the latter form.

Notes

Both the reference to the note in the running text and the note itself must be encoded. Use ptr or ref to encode the reference. If there is no reference in the text (often the case for marginal notes), supply a ptr element in a reasonable place in the text running beside the note. If there is a reference (number, symbol, etc.), use the ref element and include the reference text as the content. In both cases, a target attribute must be supplied which contains the xml:id value of the associated note.

When encoding the note itself with the note element, the xml:id and place attributes must be supplied. See the TEI documentation for acceptable values for place; the most common will be foot, end, margin-left (-right, -top, -bot).

Transcribe the note directly after it is referenced in the document. In the case of notes without explicit reference (pointed to with ptr), set the anchored attribute to false.

divWrapper Elements

Elements that can appear at the beginning and end of structural divisions, such as argument, epigraph, and opener, are called divWrapper elements in the TEI class system. An argument is a summary of what is to come; be sure to distinguish this from a heading, which is a title for the division. If an epigraph comes with bibliographic or simple citation material, encode this as well. For example: "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Thomas Jefferson.

Uncertain Blocks

In rare cases where the logical identity of a block-level element is hard to discern, use the TEI element ab (anonymous block) instead of applying a p or div element. In these cases, be sure to document this decision in accompanying notes. Applying this element should be viewed as a last resort.

The gap element should be used when for some reason the document being transcribed contains illegible text (smudged, torn, missing, etc.) or something outside the scope of transcription for a given project: characters in an unsupported character set, for instance. gap indicates that something is omitted. When using gap, set the reason attribute to an appropriate value. (See unclear below.)

Typographical Changes

There are six elements in Tite that capture specific typographical features: b for bold-face glyphs i for italicized glyphs ul for underlined glyphs smcap for glyphs in small-caps sub for glyphs in subscript sup for glyphs in superscript These mark the physical change, and are agnostic about a logical motivation for it. There are two exceptions to this approach, however: marking foreign words and titles. In the case of foreign words, use the foreign element; in the case of titles, use the title element only if certain that the word or phrase in question is a title. If a phrase is, say, italicized, but you are uncertain about its being a title, use the i element instead. Foreign words should be marked only if they are typographically distinguished from surrounding text.

In addition, the handshift element may be used within the body of a transcription to indicate where a change of hand is detected for whatever reason.

If there is a typographical feature not covered by the above elements, the TEI hi element is still available in Tite. Use it without a rend attribute.

Phrase-level Quotation

For passages set off by quotation marks or another delimeter, use the q element, including the delimeter inside the tag.

Alignment and Indentation

If the alignment of an element seems remarkable, set the element's rend attribute to an appropriate value (normally center, right, left, etc.). However, when semantic already accounts for its cause, description of alignment is not necessary. Headings, for instance, do not need to be marked as being centered.

To indicate level of indentation (often in verse), use numerical arguments to indent, as in indent(1), indent(-1), and so on.

Uncertain Segments

The seg element is the phrase-level analogue to the ab element. If a phrase-level feature seems to be present but its identity is hard to fathom, use this element. This, again, is a last resort.

Alternately, when a passage of text is for some reason too hard to read, use the unclear element, setting the reason attribute to an appropriate value. When using unclear, surround the entire word with the tag if any part of it is unclear (not just the illegible letter, say).

Unknown Glyphs

For cases in which it is unknown which character a given glyph corresponds to, mark the glyph with the g element to indicate the uncertainty. By convention in Tite, g represents any unknown glyph; no ref attribute is necessary. Note that unknown glyphs are different from illegible text.