ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 OSIS Past, Present & Future A Bible Society Translation & Publishing Perspective Daud Soesilo & Kees de Blois (with input from Bob Batzinger)

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Publishing Cycle Market research / Needs assessment Product development Translation preparation, research & training Text processing, editorial process Prepress & typesetting Production Distribution Product evaluation

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Market Research Research (focus groups) on: Target audience (young / old, churched / unchurched) Most effective media (print, audio, video, CD) Content (text & helps) Text (new or existing translation) Format (color, lay-out, illustrations) Size of edition

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Preparation & Research Language reduced to writing? (linguistic analysis) Stable orthography? Socio-linguistic survey of language and its use Authors/translators/artists available? Hardware/software (incl. resources)

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Training Selection of translators (by national Bible Society on recommendation of translation staff) Training in Translation theory & practice Biblical backgrounds Authoring skills Team skills Understanding publishing process Time management Computer skills

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Translation & Editorial Process Exegetical preparation First draft by team member Ideally straight text with SFM-encoding Internal review (peer revision) Input from external reviewers Running consistency checks (content & format) Consultant checks (ideally at all stages) Trial publications – comprehension testing Evaluation Revision

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Prepress & Typesetting (print media) Preprocessing of manuscripts (proper tagging, consistency of text format) Conversion tags to proprietary formats for typesetting Pagemaking in proprietary software (in house or outsourced) Inserting footnotes Output PDF, camera-ready-copy or film

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Production Despatch CRC/film to printer Printing & binding Shipment of product Transportation to warehouse/distribution centers

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Distribution Program focused (Bible Society, churches, parachurch groups, literacy agency) Sale via bookshops (Bible Society, church, commercial)

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Product Evaluation Assess reception: Sales of product Evaluation of use in programs Questionnaires Completion of publishing cycle

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Publishing Process: Stakeholders

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Translation Process: current pre-OSIS reality

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Standard Format Markers Generating textbases with SFM ’ s (Standard Format Mark-up)

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Standard Format Markers System of back-slash codes Developed by SIL Adapted / customized by UBS In use since eighties Regional variations UBS working on pre-OSIS global standard

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Sample text (unformatted) with text, references and notes Example of TEV in Paratext (unformatted view)

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Sample text (unformatted) \id MRK 42MRK.TEV Todays English Version (ABS) May 2000 \h Mark \st The Gospel according to \mt MARK \c 1 \s The Preaching of John the Baptist \r (Matthew ; Luke ; John ) \p \v 1 This is the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. \f a \rf 1.1\rf* \itw Some manuscripts do not have\itw* the Son of God.\f* \v 2 \x \rf 1.2:\rf* Mal 3.1. \x* It began as the prophet Isaiah had written: \q <<God said, <I will send my messenger ahead of you \q2 to open the way for you.> \q \v 3

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Sample text (formatted) with text, references and notes Example of TEV in Paratext, (formatted view)

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Sample text (formatted) MRK 42MRK.TEV Todays English Version (ABS) May 2000 The Gospel according to MARK 1 The Preaching of John the Baptist (Matthew ; Luke ; John ) 1 This is the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. a 2 1.2: It began as the prophet Isaiah had written: a: “ God said, ‘ I will send my messenger ahead of you to open the way for you. ’ 3 1.3: Someone is shouting in the desert,: ‘ Get the road ready for the Lord; make a straight path for him to travel! ’ ” a a 1.1 Some manuscripts do not have the Son of God. 1.2: 1.2: Mal : 1.3: Isa 40.3 (LXX).

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Focus on format marking Allows for rapid development of formatted material Encourages inconsistent and incomplete attempts at marking document features Makes it difficult for marking document structure (hierarchy, nesting)

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Tools to handle SFM-text Editorial & checking tools based on SFM mark-up developed Successfully implemented across the globe

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 SFM-input for typesetting SF-Marked up text-bases serve as direct input for typesetting in TeX SF-Marked up text-bases can be converted into input for typesetting in proprietary DTP systems (Ventura, PageMaker, Quark Xpress) Custom conversion scripts (CC, Perl, TeX) handle desired implementation of SFMs

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Challenges Pre-OSIS Approach (1) Most exegetical and translation tools only available in proprietary formats: Linking between references often problematic User needs to operate several applications at once

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Challenges (2) ii. Non-Roman scripts in the pre-Unicode approach

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Challenges (3) iii. Problems of keeping generic text-bases updated, when last- minute editorial changes are implemented in proprietary formats

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Challenges (4) iv. Problems of regional and agency-specific variations in SFM mark-up (within UBS an effort is being made to establish a global standard)

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Translation / Publishing Process (OSIS implemented)

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Advantages (1) Facilitate the interchange of textbases between agencies, publishers and software developers

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Advantages (2) Potential for web publishing of Scripture text and resources

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Advantages (3) Facilitates publishing in a wide variety of formats and media resources

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Where do we go from here?

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Implement OSIS 1.0 An XML schema marking structure and data types for Scripture (for both source texts and translations)

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 XML-Compliant Software Develop user-friendly software tools for inputting, editing & checking Scripture text compliant with the OSIS schema (Paratext, FieldWorks)

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Converting Textbases Write scripts for conversion of SFM textbases to OSIS markup

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Mark-up for Reference Tools Develop schemas for existing and new scholarly help & reference tools to be linked up with Scripture text

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 Displaying Reference Tools in Browser Develop support for displaying scholarly help and reference tools in a browser window which links to Scripture texts selected by various attributes

ABSi/SBL Bible Technologies Conference, Rome, April 2002 OSIS 1.0 A Major Step Forward !!