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Technical Overview
Text
Conversion. VRR
titles were scanned
directly from the printed
editions specified in
the Contemporary Civilization
reading lists and then
converted into both
TEI-compliant XML and
standard HTML versions. A
commercial vendor, Pacific
Data Conversion Corporation
of Eugene, Oregon, performed
the scanning and markup
according to Columbia
Libraries' specifications.
The TEI/XML versions
of these texts are currently
archived, but may be
made available for use
as needed within the
context of the VRR Pilot
Project.
Every
effort was made to ensure
that the converted texts
were as complete and accurate
analogs of the corresponding
print editions as possible
so that the integrity
of the works would not
be compromised. Page numbers
from the print version
were retained as were
all other structural portions
of the text, such as preliminaries,
copyright page, back of
book index, images, etc.
User
Interface. A
user interface for the
HTML versions of these
texts was configured
by library staff to
provide a very basic,
easy-to-use presentation
for online text reading,
one that might also
be adaptable for use
in other similar Libraries-based
digital text projects. Navigation
controls were included
in the left sidebar
and bottom menu bar
to allow easier access
to texts at the chapter
or section level. Hyperlinks
were added to the book's
table of contents, footnotes
and endnotes to allow
for easier reference. The
width of the text block
was configured to be
adjustable by the user
by changing the width
of the browser, so that
different users with
different monitors and
settings could create
a comfortable viewing
window. (For more
information about markup
and interface, see the
VRR project
documentation pages.)
Browser
Support. Although
the presentation was
developed chiefly for
display in Microsoft
Internet Explorer 5.5+,
every effort was made
to ensure that the HTML
presentation was equally
effective in Netscape
4.5+ for Windows. Other
browsers and hardware
platforms were not able
to be tested as part
of this pilot project.
Only minimal use was
made of Javascript to
facilitate cross-browser
compatibility and accessibility.
Text
Indexing. Although
it had been hoped that
VRR texts would be able
to be fully indexed
using a markup-sensitive
search engine that was
optimized for full-text
searching, this functionality
was not available in
time for the pilot phase.
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Original
Vendor RFP,
Detailed Vendor
Requirements, 2002
Columbia Post-Processing
Vendor Questions
/ Errors
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