Sure. TEI P5 is the name of the forthcoming revision of the TEI standard (currently version P4). Janus tags is a neat term for something that has been discussed as an addition to the standard. Its purpose is to address the problem raised (I think here) by Dot about markup in attribute values.
Here's an example. Currently in TEI (P4), you have the tags <sic> and <corr> for marking either the erroneous text (sic) or the corrected text (corr) in a document (e.g. this is <sic>an</sic> mistake; or this is <corr>a</corr> mistake). An obvious desideratum is that there be some mechanism for indicating what the 'opposite' form is (i.e. what the correct reading should be in the case of sic or what the original error was in the case of corr).
One method of doing currently this is using attributes: this is <sic corr="a">an</sic> mistake; or this is <corr sic="an">a</corr> mistake. The problem, however, comes if the text that is supposed to go on the attribute has markup itself. E.g.
this is <emph>an</emph> mistake.
When we come to indicate the error in this example, we have markup on an attribute value:
this is <sic corr="<emph>a</emph>"><emph>an</emph></sic> mistake.
Janus tags are a way out of this problem. They are use to indicate that two options can be entertained at a certain point in the markup, but that only one would normally be chosen at any one time. So to return to our example, we might have something like this:
this is <janus><error>an</error><correct>a</correct></janus> mistake.
In this system, there is no problem with markup on attribute values. The version with <emph> would be encoded like this:
this is <janus><error><emph>an</emph></error><correct><emph>a</emph></correct></janus> mistake.
The system isn't foolproof, though that's a separate issue. -dan
Binkley, Peter wrote:
For those of us who are new to TEI (ok, just me, then), would someone care to gloss this? P5? Janus tags?
Peter
Peter Binkley Digital Initiatives Technology Librarian Information Technology Services 4-30 Cameron Library University of Alberta Libraries Edmonton, Alberta Canada T6G 2J8 Phone: (780) 492-3743 Fax: (780) 492-9243 e-mail: peter.binkley@ualberta.ca
-----Original Message----- From: Daniel O'Donnell [mailto:daniel.odonnell@uleth.ca] Sent: Monday, June 28, 2004 06:22 PM To: Digital Medievalist list Subject: [dm-l] [Fwd: The time has come to make some <choice>s]
Hello all, I realise that many of us are on the TEI list and hence have seen this; it is an important question, however, and I thought I would distribute it here as well. If you are just beginning in computer applications, the issue is fairly advanced (though it has already come up), and you're not likely to write a position paper on it in the next 30 days; I hope in this one instance, you'll forgive me for not explaining it unless asked. -dan
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: The time has come to make some s Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 19:20:35 -0400 From: Syd Bauman Syd_Bauman@BROWN.EDU Reply-To: editors@tei-c.org To: TEI-L@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS TO INFLUENCE P5! ---- --- ---------- -- --------- ---Over the last year there has been some public discussion of the "replacement Janus" mechanism for P5. The quick overview is that, in order to avoid putting content (which might need markup) in attribute values (which can't have markup), it has been suggested that we change the so-called Janus tags from things like
<corr sic="adnire">admire</corr> <orig reg="w">vv</orig>ith <orig reg="w">vv</orig>hat charity the <abbr expan="Text Encoding Initiative Consortium">tei-c</abbr>
to things like
<choice> <sic>adnire</sic> <corr>admire</corr> </choice> <choice><orig>vv</orig><reg>w</reg></choice>ith <choice> <reg>w</reg> <orig>vv</orig> </choice>hat charity the <choice src="abbr"> <abbr>tei-c</abbr> <expan>Text Encoding Initiative Consortium</expan> </choice>
The TEI Council would like to enlist the assistance of interested parties in helping them consider the issues involved. Therefore, this is a call for volunteers to write up a short working paper on the issues surrounding the use of the new mechanism and of the previous attribute mechanism. (Note that some have referred to the new mechanism as the "choice" mechanism, but the name of the element used in the examples above is not carved in stone, and is one issue the authors of this working paper may wish to address.)
Current thinking is that a first draft of the paper should be ready by Sat 07 Aug, and the final version should be ready on Thu 16 Sep.
Interested volunteers should reply to editors@tei-c.org.
-- Daniel Paul O'Donnell, PhD Associate Professor of English University of Lethbridge Lethbridge AB T1K 3M4 Tel. (403) 329-2377 Fax. (403) 382-7191 E-mail daniel.odonnell@uleth.ca Home Page http://people.uleth.ca/~daniel.odonnell/
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