THL Toolbox > THL Technologies & Open Standards > THL Authoring and Publishing Systems
THL Authoring and Publishing Systems
Contributor(s): David Germano
Overview
THL Authoring and Publishing Systems are what allow individuals to contribute data to THL, as well as revise it in an ongoing basis, and then publish it within THL in an integrated fashion. The present document provides a bird eye's view of these systems. They can be classified into five different areas in accordance with the general kind of resource they deal with: (i) Documentation, (ii) Essays, (ii) Tibetan Texts, (iv) Structure Scholarly Data & other Reference Resources, and (v) Miscellaneous Systems.
Documentation
Wikis get used for all documentation of any type – introductions, help, status reports, technical, and so forth, and delivered through our Wiki-to-THL publication. These are are stored in TOOLBOX and ABOUT THL. These include:
- Technical documentation on Creating and Processing Data for Contributors: Toolbox.
- Help files & User References for actually using a specific THL resource: Toolbox.
- Background, introductions to, or surveys of anything technical, or formats of work (like a dictionary): Toolbox.
- Copyright and Licensing information: Toolbox.
- Portal “Status Reports”: About THL.
- Portal “Read More” links that give an introduction to a given Portal or Resource: About THL
- Portal “How to Participate” links: About THL.
Howevr, neither of these worksites should contain scholarly content or work.
Scholarly Essays
Scholarly essays get rendered with XML. Examples:
- Encyclopedia Essays
- JIATS Journal Articles
- Project Essays
Currently our workflow system involves marking essays up in Word using a complex system of TEI-based Microsoft Word styles, and then converting them to XML using a Visual Basic Macro. These include tables of terminology which get converted into powerful interactive glossaries. However, once converted, a XML editor is required to make further changes, which is beyond most scholars. It would be very useful to have some type of online XML editing mechanism for scholars to continue to revise their work. Best of all would be if it was WYSIWYG.
However, a Wiki could be used for the creation and revision of a scholarly essay not yet ready to be rendered into XML. In that case, use a worksite dedicated to that subject. In addition, some intellectual content which is more informational in character, and which may need ongoing revision, could be rendered in a Wiki within a relevant worksite.
We are still considering whether some scholarly content may be best supported through a Wiki, such as the Encyclopedias. It could be that the Encyclopedia consists of published XML essays, but also links to corresponding Wiki pages for Wiki essays as well. The latter might be “in process”, but also could be shorter pieces.
Tibetan Text editions
Tibetan text editions are rendered with XML.
Currently our workflow system involves marking texts up in Word using a complex system of TEI-based Microsoft Word styles, and then converting them to XML using a Visual Basic Macro. These include tables of terminology which get converted into powerful interactive glossaries. However, once converted, a XML editor is required to make further changes, which is beyond most scholars. It would be very useful to have some type of online XML editing mechanism for scholars to continue to revise their work. Best of all would be if it was WYSIWYG.
Scholarly Structured Data & Other Reference Resources
Scholarly data that has a precise internal structure are stored in XML or SQL databases. These typically are reference resources of one type or another. We are moving towards a system that combines XML/XSLT with Ruby on Rails. This will have two overarching systems - an XML/XSLT system for representing essays and texts, and a Ruby on Rails system for dealing with images, audio-video and dictionaries.
The full list:
- Audio-Video Database: Ruby on Rails (the Media Management System); includes integrated online editing facilities.
- Bibliographies: PHP/MYSQL system (the Scout Portal Toolkit-SPT); includes integrated online editing facilities.
- Image Database: Ruby on Rails (the Media Management System); includes integrated online editing facilities.
- Place Dictionary: XML/XSLT; integrated online editing facilities are missing, which constitute a major priority.
- THL Himalayan Dictionaries database: Ruby on Rails; no online editing facilities currently planned.
- THL Tibetan Dictionaries database: Ruby on Rails; includes integrated online editing facilities.
- Tibetan Language Learning Resources: XML/XSLT; integrated online editing facilities are missing, which constitute a major priority.
- Tibetan Text Thematic Research Collections: XML/XSLT; integrated online editing facilities are missing, which constitute a major priority. Scope: summaries, translations, analytical essays, cataloging data all that concern specific Tibetan texts and collections of Tibetan texts; we should explore using Wikis as workflow space for such things.
- Timeline: we currently have only a half-finished implementation in Django (with integrated online editing facilities) which we would like to replace with Ruby on Rails using Simile for visualization.
- Translation Tool: Java Web start; another way to deliver the Tibetan dictionaries through parsing a passage online and giving definitions word by word. Editing not relevant since is primarily a delivery vehicle.
- Who's Who Roster of Tibet: a Java application slated for replacement; integrated online editing facilities. Scope: a roster of organizations, individuals and projects in general involved with Tibet.
Miscellaneous Systems
Then there are other systems and tools that typically involve some visual aspect:
- Flash Interactive Maps: used to display maps of small areas interconnected with images, data, etc. Examples are Sera, Sera Hermitage, Drepung, Lhasa, Asia, Tibet, and Tibet Historical Map.
- Map Server: used to display our GIS data from the Place Dictionary.
- VRMLs: used to display three dimensional reconstructions of architecture.
