CME OVERVIEW
CME Project Objectives
1. Select modern editions of Middle English texts.
2. Produce page-images of each of them (the entire edition).
3. Key and code selected portions of each edition (text proper
and textual apparatus), working from the page images.
4. Produce paper reprints of certain of the editions
(as required by Preservation) from the page images.
---------------------------------------------------------------
1. SELECTION : mcsparra / pfs
Selection is ongoing, based largely on a list compiled by pfs
and mcsparra.
Criteria
Good variety of genre, date, and dialect.
ME work quoted by the MED.
Importance of the work.
Edition not (wholly) superseded.
Edition in the public domain in US, UK, and Europe.
Book available in a copy suitable for:
disbinding
scanning
keying
reproducing
Exceptions
Many items fail to meet one or more criteria, but are being
used anyway. Items in journals will be scanned without being
disbound. Some marred copies unsuitable for reproduction will
be used because they are the only ones available for
disbinding. Some are not available at all at the UM, and may
be pursued on the used-book market. The public-domain
criterion has not been violated.
Acquisition
Once selected, books need to be physically acquired.
Approvals
Once selected and acquired by MEC, most books will require
additional approvals. Books from the library stacks require
approval by Preservation (if they are mislinked, they need to
have that fixed too); books from the MED need to be approved
by MED. Etc.?
Progress
Approx. 50 books have been selected, acquired, approved,
and (largely) disbound. Another 20 await the finding of
a suitable copy.
2. PREPARATION OF BOOKS (pre-scan)
Once selected, acquired, and approved, books need to be:
a. collated for completeness. Missing and excessively damaged
pages need to be supplied (usu. in photocopy) from a better
copy. pfs
b. mended, erased, etc. pfs+
c. disbound (with some exceptions). pfs
d. examined with respect to structure and distinctive
problems, so as to supply a suggested DIV-structure, as
well as other specific instructions, with each
book to the keying vendor.
Instructions placed on web and in directory where
image files will go. pfs
e. examined with respect to facing pages. If text (especially
parallel text) is spread across facing pages, the book needs
(1) to be identified as en-face; and (2) to have each of its
pages in that condition matched with the facing page, the
information to be entered in the books database. Thus:
Book AHA4292. En-face? YES.
Page 47 [faces 48]
Page 48 [faces 47]
Page 49 [faces 50]
Page 50 [faces 49]
Page 51 [faces 52'
At present, this information is being entered into the
book-by-book keying instructions only. pfs
f. recollated, again checking for completeness, as well as
text loss caused by the disbinding, attaching a filename
prospectively to each page in a spreadsheet of which the
second column contains the printed page number ("5", "iv" "465"),
if any; the first column contains a sequential page indicator
(P.00001 P.00002 etc.); and the third col. is reserved for
feature codes (see step (g)).
billhall +
*NOTE: step (g) has been deferred except for recording the
title page.
*g. inventoried with respect to these features; a single code
to be entered into the books database for each page.
Publication Info
BLP blank page
ERR errata/corrigenda
>>>> TPG title page
ILL illustration
ADV publisher's advertisements, etc.
Editorial apparatus
INT Editorial introduction
MSS Summary list of MSS
MSD Manuscript description
GRA Grammatical analysis
BIB bibliography
REF references
COM Commentary (line-by-line, etc.)
VAR Stand-alone list of textual variants
Indexes
IND comprehensive index (only one index in vol)
TOC table of contents
LOI list of illustrations
LOT list of tables
MIX index combining two or more of following
NNI author or name index
PNI places index
SUI subject index
SPI special index
UNS unspecified
VOI volume index
GLO glossary or word-index
Text, etc.
TXT ME text
TRN Modern translation
SRC Source text (of ME translation)
3. SCANNING
Each book will be scanned in its entirety (chief exception:
journal articles). rashmi.
Specs:
Resolution: 600 dpi
Color depth: 1-bit (bitonal)
Contrast: adjusted as far as possible to show all the text
and only the text. ('background suppressed' on
colored covers)
Format: Group IV tiff
Settings: de-skew ON; de-speckle OFF
A gray-scale 'target' image will be included with each book's image
files.
Stop-job criteria
A scanning job should be stopped when any of these
conditions are observed:
Out-of-order pages.
Missing pages.
Missing or obscured text.
Ugly pages (in texts that require preservation prints).
4. FILENAMES, etc.
There are two primary entities to organize: IMAGES and TEXTS.
IMAGE-organization is by volume. Files are arranged under
the main CME directory in subdirectories named with the
NOTIS id no. of the print copy (or a specially created
record for the electronic copy, as that becomes available)
AHA4292, etc. Each subdirectory contains the image
files for a single bibliographic item. All files containing
information related to that volume are prefixed with the
same ID no. For example, if the first volume (Bruce's
edition of the stanzaic Morte Arthure) has NOTIS id
AHA2659, then the subdirectory AHA2659 may contain files
like this:
CME-----\AHA2659---00000001.tif
|
+---------00000002.tif
|
+---------00000003.tif
|
+---------AHA2659.notes.txt
TEXT-organization has yet to be worked out.
5. IMAGE PROCESSING (post-scan 1) nits
The files for each book will be
a. burned to CD (and duplicated):
b. subjected to simple image QC, checking that
the first and last file of the to-be-keyed
section(s) correspond with the correct
page, and that there are the right number
of image files.
c. shipped to the keying vendor, accompanied by
keying instructions and a print-out of the
page-to-image spreadsheet.
d. subjected to fuller image QC (checking all
image files against the original; the original
then set aside).
e. uploaded to the server.
6. OUTPUT TO PRINT
Selected volumes will be printed from the image files.
Requirements:
1-1/2 to 2 inch left hand binding margin
registration, front and back
archival/acid-free paper stock
pfs 27 Jan 00