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Fall 2023 Syllabus (Schedule)

Read the Course Description

The Course Description page contains a detailed explanation of course policies and the basis for grades.

Jump Down to the Schedule

The button jumps to the closest day to today's date. Review the schedule as we get started to get a sense of how this course will work on a daily basis.

Tools and Resources

Download and install the following software on your own personal computer(s) as we start the course. These software tools are also available in our campus computing labs.

  1. <oXygen/>. The DIGIT program has purchased a site license for this software, which is installed in Kochel 77, Lilley Library, and other classrooms in Burke and Witkowski where students are taking DIGIT classes this year. The license also permits students enrolled in the course to install the software on their home computers (for course-related use only). When installing this on your own computers, you will need the license key, which we have posted on our course Announcements section of Canvas.
  2. Zoom: Make sure your Zoom installation is up-to-date, and you are ready to connect. (We will use Zoom when we need it for office/project meetings.)
  3. Slack: https://slack.com/help/articles/218080037-Getting-started-for-new-members). Download and install the Slack chat client, configuring your account to use use your Penn State email address (the official address, which looks like xyz123@psu.edu, and not an alias based on your name that you may have set up), so you can join our Slack workspace: DIGIT-coders. When you receive an invitation to join this workspace you should accept.
Resources for class:

Schedule

This schedule is subject to revision. Stay alert for updates and announcements of significant changes posted on Canvas.

Week 1 Class topics Do before class

M 08-21

 Welcome! Introduction to the course. Intro to XML and "plain" text in the oXygen XML Editor. Introduce XML Exercise 1 (due Wed. 8/24): getting started with oXygen and coding your first XML. What happens when text-generative AI writes markup code, and when/how we'll be working with AI in this class. Respond to Dr. B’s Poll (see Canvas / Penn State email).

W 08-23

 Review and discuss coding of the letter for XML Exercise 1. Elements, attributes, comments, escape characters, and "pretty-printing" in <oXygen/>. How file systems recognize XML documents (File extension, and XML declaration line). Introduce XML Exercise 2.
  • Install oXygen XML Editor and add our license key if you have not done so already.
  • Read my Introduction to XML, open a new XML file in oXygen, and experiment with the code in the tutorial: Can you tell what makes markup well-formed or not?
  • Complete XML Exercise 1

F 08-25

 Discussion of Pierazzo introduction of XML: what kinds of things are really markup? Discussion of homework, writing comments, XML data and metadata, coding attributes and self-closing elements. Introduce the DIGIT Coders’ Slack and XML Exercise 3 and being systematic about a collection.
Week 2 Class topics Do before class

M 08-28

 Discussion of XML homework: (how is a collection different from a single file)? Explicit markup and pseudo-markup. Self-closing elements. Introduce document metadata coding challenge in XML Exercise 4. (If time: Ideas for organizing metadata: capturing prosopography: pairing up @xml:id attributes with pointer attributes (#) to refer to them across a collection. Examples: Digital Mitford letters and Map of Early Modern London.)
  • Connect to the DIGIT Coders' Slack: Install Slack on your computer / mobile devices and set up your profile using this Slack Guide for New Users. Join the DIGIT-Coders Slack (invitation link posted in Canvas), and set up your profile display name so the class and I can recognize you.
  • Complete and submit XML Exercise 3 (small collection of letters)

W 08-30

 Discussion of The Ballad of Booker T.: Multiple ways to encode a poem and manuscript information. Overlapping hierarchies. Complete XML Exercise 4.

F 09-01

 Prep for Dr. B's away-mission to the TEI-MEC Text and Music encoding conference next week. Introduce XML-Pretest exercise. Introduce class GitHub (textEncoding-Hub) and how we will interact with it. Students join the class textEncoding-Hub. Intro to GitHub markdown.Markup vs. markdown. Explore GitHub markdown for writing issues, including code-blocks.
  • XML Exercise 5: Revise your coding for XML Exercise 4 to change something significant about how you represent the metadata of this document, and try the optional challenge in the assignment to represent how Hughes revised one or two of his lines in the poem.
  • Complete GitHub Exercise 1: If you don't have a GitHub account yet, you'll create one. ALL students, complete this exercise by requesting to be added to our class textEncoding-Hub.
Week 3 Class topics Do before class

M 09-04

 Labor Day Holiday: No classes. ...

W 09-06

 [Dr. B is in Germany for the TEI-MEC Conference: Class via Zoom] Review of the XML Pre-test. Issue the take-home XML Test on Canvas and Emily Dickinson Project discussion. Complete the XML Pre-Test to review together in class.

F 09-08

 [Dr. B is in Germany for the TEI-MEC Conference: No synchronous class meeting today.] Class holds a virtual discussion in markdown on GitHub. GitHub Discussion Assignment: Comparing Emily Dickinson Projects on the textEncoding-Hub.
Week 4 Class topics Do before class

M 09-11

 GitHub orientation week! Working with the Git Bash Shell (Windows) and Terminal (Mac and Linux): Command line (shell) orientation.

W 09-13

 Working with git and GitHub as a code developer.

F 09-15
  • Introduce Seven Days of Git/GitHub. Always git pull before you start work in a shared repo!
  • In-class Pull-Push practice: Use git pull to access a file on the textEncoding-Hub, and then push it to your personal GitHub repo.
 (If you didn't do this on Wednesday):
Week 5 Class topics Do before class

M 09-18

 Validity for a project: what is a schema? How to write a Relax NG schema and how to describe XML elements, attributes, and their contents like an architect’s blueprint. The interesting tag soup of mixed content.
  • Read our Introduction to Relax NG
  • GitHub practice

W 09-20

 Writing Relax NG: Technical details and big picture issues. Introducing datatypes, rules for mixed content, attribute value options, datatypes. Practice with sequence indicators, options, grouping.

F 09-22
  • Getting / giving help on the DIGIT-Coders Slack:
    • How to ask good questions and get help!
    • Slack practice with code blocks / markdown
  • Grouping and mixed content. Debugging Relax NG
  • Relax NG Exercise 2: Select an XML homework assignment you completed. Inspect your encoding (and review my comments if available). Then determine how you might want to change it to make it more systematic and efficient. Your code should feature attributes and apply datatypes, and mixed content. Write Relax NG and modify your XML so that it is valid against your schema plan.
  • GitHub practice
Week 6 Class topics Do before class

M 09-25

 Relax NG review / debugging.
  • Repair any broken Relax NG syntax and/or XML validation issues on previous homework submissions.
  • Relax NG Exercise 3: Choose a new document (any genre, any language, manageable size for homework, interesting to model): Try writing a schema first, and then coding to fit the schema. (Edit both the XML structure and the Relax NG rules as you go.)
  • GitHub practice

W 09-27
  • Working with xsd:ID, xsd:IDREF, and xsd:IDREFs
  • Dates, times, numbers and datatypes: Looking Stuff Up
  • Relax NG Exercise 4 / Pre-Test: exploring more datatypes
  • Repair any broken Relax NG syntax and/or XML validation issues on previous homework submissions.

F 09-29
  • Issue Relax NG Test
  • Introducing the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI): Ways of Knowing in Digital Humanities and TEI (web slides).
  • Presentation info vs. Semantics in Markup. Text encoding initiative: introducing the Guidelines and structure of a TEI document. Introduce class coding exercises in TEI.
Week 7 Class topics Do before class

M 10-02

 Handling text data structures, context information, and metadata the TEI way. What the TEI Header is for. TEI Exercise 1: Analyzing documents with TEI, working with the TEI Guidelines

W 10-04

 Introducing HTR (Handwritten Text Recognition). Tranksribus orientation TEI Exercise 2: metadata in TEI

F 10-06

 Working with / training Tranksribus for HTR and TEI export.
  • Trankribus Exercise 1
  • Relax NG Test due by the end of the day
Week 8 Class topics Do before class

M 10-09

 Optimizing HTR, working with TEI Tranksribus Exercise 2

W 10-11

 Customizing TEI with ODD (One Document Does it All): planning a schema.
  • TEI ODD / Tranksribus topics. Photographing and processing images and text on text encoding projects: Image file formats for web projects. HEIC images (from iPhones): Image-processing tutorial
  • Semester project options.
 TEI Exercise 3: Working with the teiHeader. (Read about and work with the TEI Header chapter in the TEI Guidelines)

F 10-13

 Form Project Teams! Setting up new team project GitHub repos TEI exercise 4: Working with a TEI ODD customization: Experiment in TEI Roma Beta with further customization of our starter ODD.
Week 9 Class topics Do before class

M 10-16

 How does HTML relate to TEI and XML? HTML and file management. Introduce HTML Exercise 1 for GitHub Pages in your GitHub repo.

W 10-18

 Associating files and making links: absolute vs. relative. Building web pages in your GitHub repo.

F 10-20

 Introduce XPath
  • Project Milestone 1: (end of day)
    • Team leaders: create GitHub repo for your team and invite your teammates and Dr. B (as @ebeshero) to your repo
    • Establish a time and means for regular weekly meetings within your project groups. Set up a Slack channel for your project in the DIGIT-Coders Slack and invite your teammates and Dr. B
Week 10 Class topics Do before class

M 10-23

W 10-25

 Querying XML with XPath. Working with XPath arithmetic operations, searching for nodes on axes, and setting predicates.
  • XPath Exercise 2
  • Finish/revise incomplete HTML exercises if necessary and continue tinkering with HTML and CSS on your GitHub Pages site.

F 10-27
  • XPath Predicates as boolean filters (using and, or and the not() function)
  • Revisiting XML markup decisions, based on what XPath can show.
  • XPath math: min, max(), sum().
  • Complete XPath Exercise 3
  • Work on markup and a schema for your semester project, and push updated files to your repo.
  • Project Milestone 2:
    • Set up docs/ directory and start GitHub Pages from the project repo. Someone on the team posts a splash page for the project site.
    • Decide in project teams (if necessary) which documents you are working with, and how you will divide them up among you. Survey your documents and determine what they are about, what makes them interesting. What kinds of information can you be making available by building a digital archive of this material? Write this up for this milestone and work together to try to represent this on the website.
    • If working with the Behrend Library archive materials, make a start on photographing images for the project.
      • Create a space in the project GitHub repo for photos of the documents you are working with.
      • Come up with a good system for naming the files (no spaces in the names).
Week 11 Class topics Do before class

M 10-30

 XPath string functions:
  • Handling only one node at a time: contains(), matches(), translate(), replace(), string-length(). Cutting a string in parts: tokenize(); taking substring-before() or substring-after()
  • Bundling up a sequences of strings: string-join()
  • XPath resubmissions: If you have not done so already, review your submissions for XPath 1 and 2 against posted solutions and add comments and alternative XPath expressions for anything you missed. Alternative XPath expressions would be: think of a different, related node or piece of information to look for in the XPath, and try looking for that based on what you learn from the posted solution.

W 11-01
  • Review XPath Exercises
  • Project code review. (Why a good project schema mattes for building a project.)
  • Complete XPath Exercise 4 (String functions)
  • Semester Project Milestone:
    • Teams make progress on organizing GitHub repos, modeling documents and images in XML.
    • Discuss and decide on use of the TEI or Relax NG.
    • Each team member prepares some XML for the project, perhaps to propose a model for the documents you are working with.

F 11-03

 Introducing XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheets Language Transformations). XML to XML, XML to HTML. Namespaces. Setting up oXygen to write XSLT and saving as .xsl. Writing your first XSLT stylesheet transformation. Read Introduction to XSLT, and watch one (or both) of the following orientation videos on how to set up oXygen to write XSLT:
Week 12 Class topics Do before class

M 11-06

 How XSLT template matches work. XSLT to create HTML, trimming the tree.

W 11-08

 XSLT to HTML: Making an HTML reading view for semester projects. XSLT Exercise 2

F 11-10

 Review XSLT and next project milestone. Writing good code documentation in your GitHub repo.
  • For XSLT-to-HTML review, watch Dr. B's video Writing XSLT to Process (TEI) XML and Output HTML. Review your first two XSLT submissions and make corrections. Resubmit these with your comments/questions in the Canvas submission points for XSLT Ex 1 and 2.
  • Semester Project Milestone
Week 13 Class topics Do before class

M 11-13
  • Putting the pieces together: Workshopping XSLT, HTML, CSS.
  • Modal XSLT: processing the same nodes in multiple ways.
 XSLT Exercise 3

W 11-15

 Using sort() to sort your output. Internal links on an HTML page, from XSLT. XSLT Exercise 4: Modal XSLT over a Collection

F 11-17
  • Review / discuss XSLT over collection: linking and sorting. Introduce Creative Commons. Pulling and highlighting interesting data for project sites. Planning how to style your output; looking stuff up.
  • Issue XPath/XSLT Take-Home Test
 XSLT Exercise 5: adding internal links, sorting, and styling the collection output with CSS
Week 14: Thanksgiving Class topics Do before class

Sun 11-19 to Sat 11-25

 Thanksgiving Holiday Have a peaceful and productive week!
Week 15 Class topics Do before class

M 11-27

 XSLT, HTML, CSS for displaying images and text Work on XSLT test and Project Milestone

W 11-29

 Preparing the reading view with images and text. Navigating the site. Styling considerations
  • Exercise: XSLT/HTML/CSS with Images (combined with Milestone 4)
  • Project Milestone 4 due by the end of the day

F 12-01

 XPath/XSLT Take-Home Test due
Week 16 Class topics Do before class

M 12-04

 CSS Flex and Grid for Reading View Layouts: Semester Project Milestone

W 12-06

 CSS Flex and Grid continued. Taking stock of projects:
  • Documentation and reflection work: writing about what isn't there, assessing what could come next.
  • Linking the code view of your repo to your GitHub Pages site
  • Choose, embed, post a Creative Commons License
 Project work!

F 12-08

 Last day! DIGIT Works presentations. Prepare to share and discuss your project work with the class / DIGIT Works.
Finals Week (12/11 - 12/15) Due

H 12-14

Semester projects due by 11:59pm.

Finish developing projects, and send a post to me on GitHub and Canvas to indicate your team is finished.