On 7/16/2011 10:01 AM, Schwendner, Gregg wrote:
> I want to convert a put a some data I have compiled in a MS word file into a database that can ultimately be turned into a file compatible with epidoc. I presume this means something easily written in / easily converted to XML.
> Does this mean FIlemaker Pro exclusively? Would i be better off putting it in Epidoc directly (apart from the problem of lack of access to epidoc training seminars here)?
I would suggest that you import your file into OxygenXML and work with
it there. I wouldn't use a database unless your source data is highly
structured. If your Word file is not too heavily formatted, just save it
as a text file and use that as your starting point. If you have a large
file with a copious amounts of formatting that you would like to try and
preserve -- i.e., where, say, bold face text has some semantic
significance -- you can save your file as HTML and import that into
Oxygen. Of course, Word's HTML export is laden with extraordinarily
verbose tagging that will need to be heavily edited in Oxygen. Hard to
say where the cost/benefit leans in favor of this approach. I just did a
rather large project (>10 MB) this way and there were many times I
regretted not just started from scratch with a bare text file.
It's true that acquiring EpiDoc expertise on this side of the Atlantic
can be a challenge. But the situation is improving all the time. There
is a major push currently underway to update the Epidoc Guidelines to
TEI P5. There is a lot of good material on the EpiDoc Summer School pages.
<http://wiki.digitalclassicist.org/EpiDoc_Summer_School>
Also, the Women Writers Project at Brown has some very nice resources on
their web site. They also hold occasional training seminars over here.
<http://www.wwp.brown.edu/outreach/resources.html>
While there is no doubt a lot of subscriber overlap here, the Markup
list is the go-to place for questions concerning EpiDoc. Subscribe here:
<http://lsv.uky.edu/scripts/wa.exe?REPORT&z=3>
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Good luck.
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