Open Scriptural Information Standard OSIS – An Introduction Bible Technologies Conference SBL Annual Meeting November 22, 2002

Open Scriptural Information Standard OSIS: Past and Present I.What is OSIS? II.Why do we need it? III.How are we building it, and who is involved? IV.What are the next steps?

Open Scriptural Information Standard I. What is OSIS? Open– not a proprietary format Scriptural- we are working with the Bible as text Information- we plan to be able to markup scripture related text as well Standard- OSIS will be a standard way of marking up scripture and related text which everyone can use

Open Scriptural Information Standard Ok, so what is OSIS? Media Speed Custom Papyrus S-L-O-W Press FAST Portable FAST OSIS provides an agreed upon format to provide both fast production and customization. It is truly “a common format for many visions.” People use the bible for many reasons.

Open Scriptural Information Standard What is XML? XML is eXtensible Markup Language Allows us to identify and describe the pieces of a document Provides portability across applications and media types Grows/extends with time and use

Open Scriptural Information Standard So what? We can mark up a text once, then view it on a number of different applications, instead of taking the time to format it for each different application (PC, Palm, Cell Phone, Printed Bible, etc.) In other words, we “free the text from the render” This gives the user the freedom to determine the best format from which to engage the scriptures.

Open Scriptural Information Standard II. Why do we need OSIS? Standards are useful Permanence Portability

Open Scriptural Information Standard Standards Are Useful Financial- My Visa acct  your Mastercard acct Units of money Media- TV channels, VCRs Wire and cell phones Units and Measures- Length voltage, etc. Thus 2  4s, wrenches, light bulbs,…

Open Scriptural Information Standard Goal: Permanence Problem – “At risk” texts are not just ancient scrolls. Works stored in proprietary electronic formats are vulnerable to software/hardware revisions and upgrades. Solution – a digital repository for XML text outlasts and is impervious to changes in technology

Open Scriptural Information Standard Goal: Portability What Jesus' Followers Must Do 16 Jesus' eleven disciples went to a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus had told them to meet him. 17 They saw him and worshiped him, but some of them doubted. 18 Jesus came to them and said: I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth! 19 Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 20 and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.

Open Scriptural Information Standard III. How OSIS was created Bible Technologies Conferences Bible Technologies Group

Open Scriptural Information Standard About First BTC First meeting hosted by ABSi in Virginia in April, participants representing all sectors of the Bible community Agreed on loose organizational structure (the Bible Technologies Group, or BTG) Created working groups

Open Scriptural Information Standard About BTG Co-sponsored by SBL, ABS Led by Steve DeRose, Kees de Blois (UBS) Two current working groups – OSIS core and Linguistic Annotation Key Bible organizational participants – SBL, UBS, ABS, Bible Forum, Catholic Biblical Association, in addition to numerous publishers and software manufacturers

Open Scriptural Information Standard Technical Progress Evaluated use cases from working groups – 5/01 to 11/01 Evaluated DTDs (TEI, Logos, SIL, Lifeway, B&H, eHosanna, ThML) – 5/01 to 11/01 Created requirements doc for OSIS 1.0 – released 11/01 (SBL Annual Meeting) Completed OSIS beta version – released 04/02 (Spring Bible Tech Conference) Completed OSIS 1.1 – released 11/02 (SBL Annual Meeting)

Open Scriptural Information Standard Who will benefit? Scholars Small Publishers Translators Software manufacturers

Open Scriptural Information Standard IV. OSIS – The Future OSIS is truly a common format for many visions. The goal of the Bible Technologies Group is to continue to develop OSIS as “a common format for many visions,” by building OSIS tools to allow lay people, publishers, software manufacturers, translators and anyone interested in scripture interaction to engage the text more effectively

Open Scriptural Information Standard OSIS and the BTG Producing OSIS user manual, cheat sheet for developers (due 2/03) Working on authoring tool for non- techies to put text in OSIS (due 3/03) Marking up ABS Bibles and other scriptural text, including public domain text such as commentaries, sermons, etc. (Ongoing)

Open Scriptural Information Standard Technical Questions: Patrick Durusau (SBL), Steve DeRose, General Questions: Mike Perez (ABS),