Theos-Talk Archives (July 1994 Message tl00026)

This is from Eldon Tucker.

Following are the raw notes that I quickly wrote down
on computerizing Theosophy, and sent a copy directly
to Don, Mike, and John, last week.

----


Following are some raw notes that I sent on to John.
I'll have more time to write them up in a week or two.
They're just keywords of significant ideas ... There
was too much to put down to take the time to carefully
write them out.

Please excuse the spelling, etc. It was hastily written...

----

ascii edition

    can read on apples, ataris, z80's, mac, unix, mainframe
    easier for foreign computers
    smaller files to distribute via floppy/cdrom
    a step towards Braille edition
    bold/italics/underline/smallcaps to allcaps
    only top 1 percent of population concerned re
bold/italics/accents
    need rules to transliterate Skt. into ascii
    can be put into Project Gutenberg?
    1 hard return after each line of text
    2 hard returns after normal paragraph
    3 hard returns after section break
    4 hard returns after chapter
    5 hard returns after title and book parts
    include name,adr,phone,email adr of person

homogenized wp edition

    include title page, (c) info...
    style for start of chpt page break
    style for start of chpt hdg.
    make symbol font from eps figures from SD etc.
    line-art illustrations cleaned up in corel draw, as eps
    pictures scanned at 150 dpi, 256 shades of grey
    only pagebreaks at beg. of book at start of chapters
    none within chapters
    easy to read
    easy for programs to read and search
    no bold, use italics in std. fashion
    most selections of emphasis by editor w/o author
consultation
    correct accents re current Skt. etc. transliteration
rules
    smallcaps for mss, b.c., a.d., m.d. -- keep list of what
done
    use macron "-" accents instead of "^"
    older books styled according to customs & practices of
their times
    break out of paragraphs quotes of 3-or-more lines
    ? American vs English spellings -- standarize spellings,
use modern
    standarrize capitalization of Theosophical terms
    make WP51 spelling dictionary of accepted terms
    ? correct mistakes & authoritative edition vs preserve
mistakes
    high accuracy for general readers rather than exacting
perfection
    correct both body text and quotes in book
    go for general public, most bang for buck, not few
scholars

general wp entry

    extreme minimum of formatting on text
    lines ending with "-", decide if hyphenated word or "-"
must remain
    on books keeping paganation add "[PN]12[pn]" at page
breaks
    e.g. if page 192 ends "manvan-" and next starts with
"tara",
    enter "manvan[PN]192[pn]tara" into the text
    list of accents can use, and macros to make underdots
    sentences end with single space
    no spaces around en or em dashes
    put punctuation inside quotes (e.g. >,"<  >.'<)
    change '--' to en or em dashes (^Vn or ^Vm)
    ital for i.e. et seq. viz. vide vide infra vide supra
etc...
    never two returns in a row, or two spaces in a row
    don't redefine tabs and use for positioning
    don't use codes:
small/fine/large/verylarge/extralarge/font
    no
underline/doubleunderline/outline/shadow/redline/strikeout
    no l/r margins, tabset, t/b margins, line just
    check for ' !', ' .', ' ?' etc. -- disconnected punct.
    change double quotes to typo. quotes
    change single quotes to typo. quotes (take care
regarding 's)
    smallcaps, subscript, superscript, ital ok
    italics not include trailing space
    put footnotes into WP51 footnotes -- no final return in
fn text
    each para ends with single return
    leave tables/figures for final setup, mark as [TABLE],
[FIGURE]
end last line
    surround nexted quote blocks with [QT1] ... [qt1], then
if 3rd
    level [QT2] etc.
    surround added text with [AD] ... [ad] (e.g. if take
from TOC in
    SD a title and put into body like:
    STANZA 1.[AD]The Night of the Universe[ad]
    have in BOLD, only text in materials in boldface is
added
    surround foreign words (non-latin characters) in codes
to indicate
    (e.g. [GK] ... [gk] for Greek, [HB] ... [hb] for
Hebrew,
    [SK] ... [sk] for Sanskrit, [TB] ... [tb] for Tibetan,
etc
    drop quote marks on quote text in quote blocks
    use ^V4,56 for elipses (always space ... space, using
simple form)
    no margin set codes,

indexes

    sort order for accents
    list of transparent words (not affect sort order)
    list of abbreviation expansions (sorted as though was
expanded word)
    list of alternate expansions (sorted as though different
word,
    e.g. 'first round', 'second round', 'third round' as
though
    'round 01', 'round 02', 'round 03')

coordinating site/center/repository

    make standards for editing setting up
    coordinate work - avoid duplicatoin
    point of contact for public
    nonprofit status? to accept funds
    use trademark with distribution to protect from secretly
    altered materials
    site for master, official copies of materials
    provide general publicity on what has
    internet account and ftp site for materials
    internet mailing list for workers on the assoc. projects
    coordinate editors, proofreaders, scanning
    raise funds for expenses, legal fees, printing,
distribution
    costs but *not* salaries or paid time for volunteers
    purchase needed software for workers (e.g. Adobe
Distiller)
    restriction that materials not-for-profit, no charge for
    redistribution over nonimal copying fee

deliverables

    large printing for hard-of-seeing
    braille edition
    authoritative edition of HPB's works
    allowed alterations: mismatched quotes, missing
periods,
    single Contents for both vols of SD,
    homogenized edition of HPB's works with optional
redlining
    investigate how Arcane School, ARE index their materials

goals

    disseminate theos. to larger audience
    reach hard-of-seeing and blind
    allow new means of study (via computer indexing to
desired passages)
    promote sell of printed books (interest from reading
electronic ed.)
    put classic theosophy in public domain for widest dissemination

deliverables

    ascii edition
    verbatim WP51 edition (for HPB only)
    homogenized WP51 edition
    adobe acrobat edition
    braille edition
    BCW Cumulative Index (in WP51 file already)
    pronounciation guide to Theos. terms, with sound (.wav
files) for
    each term (made by Sanskrit, Tibetan, etc. experts)
    consolidated database/encyclopadia of terms from Theos.
Glossary,
    Occult Glossary, etc. -- would TUP release their
Encyclopedic
    Theos. Glossary (entire filing cabinet of materials
prepared
    by Geoffrey Barborka et al in 1940's, never printed)
    various stages of index into adobe acrobat edition:
    (1) every word, (2) concordance of specific
terms/phrases,
    (3) conceptual index with marked passages (start and
end of
    cited text marked and assoc. with phrase and search
    ability against contents of conceptual index)
    brief bio sketch and picture of people referenced with
    hypertext links (click on name to learn about person)

support deliverables

    make list of first titles to do and start (c) research
    impossible to predict when book in P.D., need legal
research
    get new Mahatma Letters ed. in WP51 from Vic Hao Chin
for dist.
    ask Pasadena re electronic books that they will release
    raise money and find volunteer workers
    obtain ok Sanskrit, Tibetan, Greek, Hebrew, ..., fonts
to distribute
    make symbol font from SD symbols, have expert cleanup of
it
    database of citations/bibliography (use materials from
Gomes?)
    style guides for WP51 entry, ascii conversion
    rules for transliteration into ascii
    compiled list of Sanskrit ligature rules
    public domain Palatino postscript font with all accents
added that
    we want including underdots

value of using Adobe Acrobat

    current cost for read-only copy will drop by few years
when
    we go out the door
    want truly electronic book, with book-like pages and
illustrations
    computer hardware will support electronic books better
in few
    years (greater storage capacity, faster processing
speed,
    better resolution displays)
    want to distribute single verion of book across multiplatforms
    (e.g. mac, pc, ...)
    allows navigation of electronic book, personal
annotations
    can print sections as desire
    Adobe Acrobat - read/print only, Adobe Distiller -
annotate and
    originate new versions of books
    have text, graphics, images in device & resolution
indep. format
    can add annotations, hypertext links, bookmarks
    could accommodate popular search-engine software to
locate word
    or entry in doc, or cross-ref dif subjects in doc or
set of docs
    can click on photo to get more detailed view