TEI

= Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) = toc

The Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) is a metadata standard for encoding electronic texts. It was initiated in the 1980s and has enjoyed a fairly long development cycle compared to younger metadata standards. It is an internationally developed and utilized schema, and various professional associations have contributed to its development over the years. TEI is expressed in XML (previously SGML), supported by a DTD (document-type-definition) or XML schema. It is modular, meaning that it is highly customizable and can adapt to a number of different situations (a "module" for each separate use). This is an essential characteristic of a text encoding schema because humans employ a vast array of texts that must be defined intellectually as different types of documents (screenplay, novel, poetry, etc.) in order to preserve information about the physical form that would otherwise be ambiguous in its digital form.

Metadata Schema
TEI schemas are structurally quite simple, containing a header and transcription, but the guidelines define over 500 different textual components and concepts to apply to a vast array of document types. Logically, the header contains descriptive metadata about the creation and distribution of the work itself as well as administrative metadata about the digital object. The transcription is simply a transcription of the text, with elements defining format elements such as headers (or chapters, for example), paragraphs, and other textual elements.

Example of a TEI Transcription



 * References **
 * 1) Text Encoding Initiative Consortium. 2005. []
 * 2) Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. //The Brothers Karamazov//. XML File (2009). []