\font A=cmr10\scaled\fontsize8
\font B=cmsl10\scaled\fontsize5
\font D=cmr10\scaled\fontsize5
 
\centerline
{\A Outline of a Standard for Encoding Literary and Linguistic Materials}
 
\bigskip
{\B
\centerline
Nancy M. Ide
\centerline
Department of Computer Science
\centerline
Vassar College
\centerline
Poughkeepsie, New York 12601 US
\centerline
(914) 452-7000 x 2478, Bitnet:  IDE@VASSAR
\medskip
C.M. Sperberg-McQueen
\centerline
Computer Center
\centerline
University of Illinois at Chicago
\centerline
Chicago, Illinois 60680 USA
\centerline
(312) 996-2477, Bitnet:  U18189@UICVM}
 
\D
\vskip .5in
 
Researchers involved in computer-assisted work with literary and
linguistic materials have long seen the need for an encoding standard
for machine-readable texts.  In 1987 the Association for Computers
and the Humanities spearheaded an effort, funded by the American
National Endowment for the Humanities, to develop such a standard
by assembling 31 representatives of the major machine-readable text
archives in North America, Europe, and Israel as well as representatives
of relevant professional societies and North American humanities
computing centers.  This group developed a set of principles, agreed
upon after two very long days of intense discussion, to guide the
preparation of the standard and define its purpose.  This paper
presents those principles, discusses the issues and questions that
gave rise to them, and describes the standards development effort
as it has progressed to date.
 
The issues of foremost concern to the participants in the meeting
on Text Encoding Practices were:
 
\medskip
{\item $\bullet$
Is it reasonable to attempt to develop a standard for encoding
literary and linguistic materials at all?
If so, which classes of materials should be covered by the
standard?}
{\item $\bullet$
Should the encoding standard be prescriptive, providing
concrete syntax for encoding conventions, or only descriptive,
indicating only {\B what} to encode rather than {\B how} to encode
it?}
{\item $\bullet$
Should the encoding standard be developed with the intention of both
encoding new materials as well as converting texts already encoded
to conform to the standard?}
{\item $\bullet$
Should the standard specify a ``required" minimum of encoding for
machine-readable literary and linguistic materials?}
{\item $\bullet$
Should the standard be made compatible with existing schemes?
If so, which ones, and to what extent?}
\medskip
 
To address these questions the group had to consider a number of
additional questions concerning the purpose and audience of the
standard, the status of existing archives, and the degree to which
the SGML International Standard answers the encoding needs
under consideration.
 
The principles agreed upon by the group are appended.  The effort
to develop the standard is now underway, primarily under the
direction of the Association for Computers and the Humanities,
the Association for Computational Linguistics, and the Association
for Literary and Linguistic Computing.  A large number of other
organizations form an advisory committee to the project and
have agreed to endorse the standard.  Working parties, each
concerned with one of the four items under (6) in the appended
list of principles, and in the case of 6.b and 6.c, with
particular areas of application as well, have been established
to develop specific encoding conventions.
 
\bye
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  \font A=cmr10\scaled\fontsize8
  \font B=cmsl10\scaled\fontsize5
  \font D=cmr10\scaled\fontsize5
 
  \centerline
  {\A Outline of a Standard for Encoding Literary and Linguistic Materials}
 
  \bigskip
  {\B
  \centerline
  Nancy M. Ide
  \centerline
  Department of Computer Science
  \centerline
  Vassar College
  \centerline
  Poughkeepsie, New York 12601 US
  \centerline
  (914) 452-7000 x 2478, Bitnet:  IDE@VASSAR
  \medskip
  C.M. Sperberg-McQueen
  \centerline
  Computer Center
  \centerline
  University of Illinois at Chicago
  \centerline
  Chicago, Illinois 60680 USA
  \centerline
  (312) 996-2477, Bitnet:  U18189@UICVM}
 
  \D
  \vskip .5in
 
  Researchers involved in computer-assisted work with literary and
| linguistic materials have long seen the need for a standard or common
| encoding scheme
  for machine-readable texts.  In 1987 the Association for Computers
  and the Humanities spearheaded an effort, funded by the American
| National Endowment for the Humanities, to develop such a common scheme
  by assembling 31 representatives of the major machine-readable text
  archives in North America, Europe, and Israel as well as representatives
  of relevant professional societies and North American humanities
  computing centers.  This group developed a set of principles, agreed
| upon after two very long days of intense discussion, to define the
| purpose and approach of commonly accepted guidelines for the
| encoding and interchange of texts in machine-readable form.
  This paper
  presents those principles, discusses the issues and questions that
  gave rise to them, and describes
| the development effort
  as it has progressed to date.
 
  The issues of foremost concern to the participants in the meeting
  on Text Encoding Practices were:
 
  \medskip
  {\item $\bullet$
  Is it reasonable to attempt to develop
| guidelines
  for encoding literary and linguistic materials at all?
  If so, which classes of materials should be covered by the
| guidelines?}
  {\item $\bullet$
| Should the encoding guidelines be prescriptive, indicating both
| {\B what} to encode and {\B how} to encode it, or only descriptive,
| providing an account of what textual features previous projects have
| encoded and the syntax they used, or something in between?}
  {\item $\bullet$
| Should the encoding guidelines address primarily the problems of
| encoding new materials, or the problems of converting already encoded
| texts to conform to the new interchange format, or both?}
  {\item $\bullet$
  Should the
| guidelines
  specify a ``required" minimum of
| features to be encoded in
  machine-readable literary and linguistic materials?}
  {\item $\bullet$
  Should the
| encoding scheme proposed by the guidelines
  be made compatible with existing schemes?
  If so, which ones, and to what extent?}
  \medskip
 
  To address these questions the group had to consider a number of
  additional questions concerning the purpose and audience of the
| guidelines,
  the status of existing archives, and the degree to which
  the SGML International Standard answers the encoding needs
  under consideration.
 
  The principles agreed upon by the group are appended.  The effort
  to develop the
| guidelines
  is now underway,
| under the
  direction of the Association for Computers and the Humanities,
  the Association for Computational Linguistics, and the Association
  for Literary and Linguistic Computing.  A large number of other
  organizations form an advisory committee to the project and
  have agreed to endorse the standard.  Working parties, each
  concerned with one of the four items under (6) in the appended
| list of principles, and in the case of (6.b) and (6.c), with
  particular areas of application as well, have been established
  to develop specific encoding conventions.
 
  \bye
