No. 26: Introduction to Electronic Texts

David Seaman
No. 26: Introduction to Electronic Texts
22-26 July 1996

1. How useful were the pre-course readings?

1: Somewhat useful, but primarily bewildering. 2: Very useful. 3: Critical importance (for orientation, not for learning what DS taught me). 4: Very helpful. I like the fact that I can view most via the Web (less to buy). 5: When reading them, I thought I didn't understand much and wondered how they could possibly help me prepare for the course. Once the course started, I realized that just having that first exposure to the material helped me absorb the work done in class. 6: Read only the first two pages of the introduction. Very helpful to get some basic vocabulary, but basically a hands-on course. 7: Very useful. 8: Never arrived. [Never sent; they were available only in electronic form. -Ed.] 10: Very, almost essential. 11: Valuable, as these were often new concepts and even passing familiarity helped when we covered the subject in class. 13: More for reference than reading.

2. Were the course syllabus and other materials distributed in class useful (or will they be so in the future, after you return home)?

1-2: Yes. 3: Yes

much of it is online, but the paper is still useful to old people of my generation. 4: Yes. I like the fact that I can view most via the Web. 5: Yes, absolutely. 6: Very. 7: Yes. 8: Yes, handouts were good. 9: Yes, very useful. 10: Yes, absolutely. 11: Useful at the time of handout/distribution, and being saved in a separate notebook for future reference. 13: Yes, as long as they are up to date

online versions are available.

3. Was the intellectual level of the course content appropriate?

1: I leave humbled! I wish I'd been warned to learn Windows before I came. 2: Yes. 3: Yes. It was at times above my head, but that's low enough. 4: Yes, I did feel that I knew more about Windows/basic computer skills/html than others in the course. This did make the class slow in some parts, e.g., Day 1. 5: Yes

great. 6: For me. 7: Yes. 8: Yes

very stimulating. 9-10: Yes. 11: Yes

challenging cutting edge concepts, but manageable

starting some classes with a chance for students' questions about previous class content was helpful. 12: Yes. 13: Yes, though the course was more hands-on than intellectual.

4. If your course had field trips, were they effective?

3: We did go down to the scanner, and that was useful. 4: We went to the Etext Center to scan. Yes, very helpful. I wish we had more time with specific exercises to do based on our readings. 10: Yes. 11: Yes

Etext Center tour and hands-on scanning in pairs made concrete the concepts read about and discussed in class beforehand. 13: Yes, visit to Etext Center to use scanners.

5. Did the actual course content correspond to its RBS brochure description and Expanded Course Description (ECD)? Did the course in general meet your expectations?

1: Yes, it corresponded to the description. It was geared more toward librarians than scholars, but I believe my own future scholarly work will be the better for my knowing this material. 2: Yes. Course met my expectations very well. 3: Yes, yes. 4: Yes, this course and RBS met my expectations. I would love to come back for more!! 5: Yes

the course met and even exceeded my expectations. 6: Reference to reviews of equipment such as scanning would have been helpful. 7: Yes. Yes. 8-10: Yes. 11: Yes. Yes, definitely

a real sense of accomplishment and learning by course's end. 12-13: Yes.

6. What did you like best about the course?

1: Sequential organization; willingness of the instructor to answer questions. Geniality of the instructor. 2: Instructor's depth of knowledge and enthusiasm. He was patient and made sure our expectations for the course were met. 3: 1) DS makes the complicated comprehensible. 2) He gives context

goes beyond the technical. 4: The use of the computers. Scan time in the Etext Center. TEI tag process with document. I saw the whole process and had a completed example of my work via the Web. 5: It's hard to choose! The instructor, the content and focus of the course, the facility, all were outstanding. (I also appreciated the opportunity to exchange ideas with the other course participants.) 6: Clarity. Speed, but willing to slow down and also to give individual help. 7: The step-by-step practical experience using SGML and HTML. 8: DS and his competence and style. 9: Learning how to mark up documents with TEI; seeing our work actually posted to the Web. 10: For me, the opportunity to review the area and fill in gaps in my knowledge, and to be able to ask specific questions I had about my own work. I also was happy to be able to see the Etext Center first hand. 11: Creating a concrete

if electronic

document to mount on the ETC server, with my name on it as the responsible person. 12: Hands-on experience of creating etext from autograph manuscript and seeing the process from image to become real etext. 13: DS's intelligence, knowledge, and helpfulness.

7. How could the course have been improved?

1: Better display of the [instructor's front-of-the-room] screen; it was difficult to see. Pace sometimes accelerated at warp speed, so that I found myself abruptly lost. 2: Not any possible way to improve teaching

excellent instructor. Rigorous material handled well. 3: Have DS tutor me one-on-one??? 4: 1) I like how we all saw everyone's end SGML product and corrections. I would have liked to have had the same for the first part. Perhaps see at least one example of different types of documents and how they could be divided up (ie, div0, div1, div2). Perhaps have a few examples on the Web to review and go over in class before we begin on our own. 2) A handout or diagram that shows the entire process-summary (include staff and software used at each point). 6: ? 9: The course was really fantastic. It couldn't have been better. 10: At this moment I can't think of any way to improve it. 11: Hard to fault anything

well-focused, moved at a rapid pace. 12: I thought, for a certain session of the course, if there were a teaching assistant to help the instructor, each student who encountered a particular question that was not common to the other students would be able to ask such questions without bothering the instructor and solve the matter instantly. 13: A bit more discussion of theoretical issues

Internet ethics, textual critical implications, etc. Or just simply, why etexts?

8. Please comment at will on the quality/enjoyability of the various RBS activities in which you took part outside of class, e.g. Sunday afternoon tour, Sunday night dinner and videos, Bookseller Night, tour of the Etext Center or Electronic Classroom, printing demonstrations, evening lectures, &c.

1: I attended one, and it was interesting. 2: Attended two lectures, both of which were good. 3: As a commuter, I missed all but the "State of" talks. It was great. 4: Great!! Michael Winship was a joy to see and hear. 5: Good. (I appreciated the shift in focus in TB's lecture.) 6: Greer Allen was superb. 8: Attended two. Both quite enjoyable. 9: :-) 10: I thought they were all first rate and enjoyable (though TB was unnecessarily pessimistic, I thought). Most of the lectures were on topics I would not ordinarily have chosen to attend, but fascinating. 11: High quality, quite informative. 13: MW was brilliant. TB is getting more polished each year.

9. Any final thoughts?

1: If you're a Mac person, learn Windows before you arrive. 2: Do your reading well ahead

even if you have a real interest in the topic, it takes some time for basic concepts to sink in. 3: Yes. Do a lot of mind-picking and networking. I got valuable information from faculty and participants during breaks. DS is a fine teacher, very patient--knows his stuff. 4: A good introductory course to SGML and how TEI works with electronic text and future access. 5: I highly recommend this course and instructor! 6: Ask for a copy of evaluations to encourage administrators to foot the bill. [All RBS 1996 participants will receive the RBS 1996 Yearbook, which will contain the complete text of all RBS 1996 evaluations. -Ed.] 8: Enjoy! 9: No

it was very enjoyable. I highly recommend it. 11: Do reading before arrival. 13: This course works better the more familiar you are with a wide range of Internet applications.

Number of respondents: 13

PERCENTAGES

Leave	Tuition	Housing	Travel
Institution gave me leave	Institution paid tuition	Institution paid housing	Institution paid travel
69%	86%	62%	62%
I took vac- tion time	I paid tui- tion myself	I paid for my own housing	I paid my own travel
0%	7%	15%	8%
N/A: self- employed, re- tired, or had summers off	N/A: self employed, retired, or exchange	N/A: stayed with friends or lived at home	N/A: lived nearby
31%	7%	23%	30%

There were 13 students, five were teacher/professors (37%), two were general librarians with no rare book duties (15%), one was an archivist/manuscript librarian (8%), one was a conservator/binder/preservation librarian (8%), one was a full-time student (8%), one was a general librarian with some rare book duties (8%), one was a reference librarian with etext duties (8%), and one was a special collections librarian with some rare book duties (8%).