The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Directions for Transcription Checking Brent Nelson
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project The task To make the transcription (the text plus markup) reflect accurately and as fully as possible what you see on the exemplar (the facsimile image of the printed page). Correct errors in the transcription Identify and preserve, but correct, errors in the exemplar (that is, the original printing).
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Identifying and correcting errors Need to understand and keep in mind where the transcription comes from Need to distinguish between peculiarities of early modern orthography and typography vs. error
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Where the transcription comes from: the EEBO image
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Where the transcription is going: our image
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Early modern orthography and typography (especially letter forms) vs. error For example: long vs. short “s”
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Early modern orthography and typography (especially letter forms) vs. error For example: Spelling and letter forms: u/v; i/j
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Early modern orthography and typography (especially letter forms) vs. error For example: Italic and regular Roman letters
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Early modern orthography and typography (especially letter forms) vs. error For example: Other peculiar forms
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Early modern orthography and typography (especially letter forms) vs. error For example: vowel ligatures and special characters
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Some basics of XML Semantics vs. Format The basic pieces: Schema: TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) Elements <name type="person">Donne</name> Attributes <name type="person">Donne</name>[expressed as @type] Values <name type="person">Donne</name> Text <name type="person">Donne</name> There can be multiple attributes in an element <foreign xml:lang="la" rend="italic">nosce te ipsum</foreign> Elements can be nested <hi rend="italic">The maxim <foreign xml:lang="la">nosce te ipsum</foreign> </hi> See directions for checking transcriptions here.
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Workflow Add markup for language and marginal note placement Proof the transcription, paying particular attention to italic text, Latin text, and marginalia Add new formwork
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Workflow Add markup for language and marginal note placement Search for “italic” to identify all instances of <hi rend="italic"> Use ctrl-f, but also the naked eye Change <hi rend="italic">sub peccato</hi> to <foreign xml:lang="la" rend="italic">sub peccato</foreign> Note: if all the italicised text is Latin, the @rend information can be included inside the <foreign> element. If only some of the italicized text is Latin, then the <foreign> element has to be nested inside the <hi> element. Add attributes place="margin-right" and place="margin-left" to the <note> elements. Also, add line breaks if they are missing.
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Workflow Proof the transcription Pay particular attention to italic text, Latin text, and marginalia (note that often italics and line breaks often are missing here). Look especially for ligatures that are not presented as ligatures (e.g. “ae” instead of æ: which will be processed into æ) and other special characters.
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Workflow Add new formwork Page number, running title, and sermon number at the top RECTO: <fw type="running" place="tl">S<hi rend="small-caps">erm</hi>. X.</fw> <fw type="running" place="tm"><hi rend="italic">On the</hi> P<hi rend="small-caps">urification</hi>.</fw> <fw type="pageNum" place="tr">97</fw> VERSO: <fw type="pageNum" place="tl">98</fw> <fw type="running" place="tm"><hi rend="italic">On the</hi> P<hi rend="small-caps">urification</hi>.</fw> <fw type="running" place="tr">S<hi rend="small-caps">erm</hi>. X.</fw>
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Workflow Add new formwork Signature and catchword at the bottom RECTO: <fw type="sig" rend="normal" place="bm" n="A">A</fw> <fw type="catch" rend="normal" place="br">favour</fw> VERSO: <fw type="sig" rend="normal" place="bm" n="Av"></fw> <fw type="catch" rend="normal" place="br">favour</fw>
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Errors and convention; silent corrections and reported corrections LXXX sermons image 265 Note “then” vs. “than” in line 21 But, “of” vs “off” in line 36 Splitting of notes, line 38 With Latin word separation (line 60): ask or <unclear> See also Latin in last line and marginalia “Hieron”
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Punctuation in relation to closing of elements Comma: always outside <foreign xml:lang="la" rend="italic">Antiquus Dierum</foreign>, Period: always outside <foreign xml:lang="la" rend="italic">Antiquus Dierum</foreign>. Colon: usually inside <foreign xml:lang="la" rend="italic">Antiquus Dierum:</foreign> Semi-colon: usually outside, but not always—check <foreign xml:lang="la" rend="italic">Antiquus Dierum</foreign>;
The John Donne Society’s Digital Prose Project Good practise Save often Preview often