On Tue, 2005-21-06 at 21:43 +0100, Lou Burnard wrote:

Daniel Paul O'Donnell wrote:

...

So here's a question: when is it worth it to devote time to learning a complex language like TEI--or any other standards based structural language or computer skill (and when is it not)? What should one expect to get out of going to the trouble of learning them? And what do you lose by (or simply what is the cost of) doing so?

The way you pose these questions seemsd to me to indicate that you have already taken up a position... but for the record, let me assert again that I think those who do not understand the technologies by which information is now processed and shared across the globe are thereby marginalised. If you care about texts and the communication of their meanings, then you care about markup, one way or another. I don't claim that our current crop of technologies for handling the meanings of texts are the best yet, but they won't get any better if the people who know most about extraction of meaning and its representation say "oh, I'm just a low grade humanist and I can't bother my pretty little head with this computer stuff!". Or, to be more exact, they won't be made better by those who take that attitude. They'll be made better by people who are willing to understand enough of the technology to bend it to their needs. When were things ever any different?

I guess I've taken a position in that I've committed myself a bit to the field over the last couple of years and it would be kind of disturbing to discover I thought it was all a waste of time. But the challenge "markup languages are obsolete"--or perhaps better phrased, "are a waste of effort for someone who is not intrinsically interested in them" seems such a head on challenge, I thought I'd see what happens if you really ask the question.

My experience has been that people who find structural markup useful find it very useful and the arguments for learning and using it almost beyond obvious... and those on the outside don't understand at all why anybody would bother. So I thought, alright what non-trivial reasons as there for learning what is in essence a third discipline for most editors (i.e. disciplinary skills, editing, and markup).

-d