23-27 July 2007 in Charlottesville

1) How useful were the pre-course readings?

1: The pre-course readings were vital to a thorough understanding of the technical elements of the course. Knowing the proper tags made the class much easier to comprehend. 2: Quite helpful. 3: They were too technical. They made sense after the course, but not before. 4: It was useful to do the readings, but not entirely necessary since we went over almost all of the material over the first days of class. 5: Extremely. I knew nothing about how to do what I wanted to be trained to do. I would’ve been lost if I had not done the reading. 6: Those readings work, but you need to have a little knowledge about what you are reading. 7: Useful; however, I find the hands-on activity much more helpful. 8: Helpful, not to say necessary. 9: Very helpful – gave a good foundation for what we went over. 10-11: Very useful.

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

1: Yes. I will most definitely refer to the material for my job in the immediate future. 2: Materials were helpful in class, and hopefully should be so in the future. 3: More detailed syllabus information would have helped one prepare more for the course. 4: Yes – especially being able to take home all of the files we used and worked on all week. 5: Yes, helpful now, and I know they will be crucial for my continued improvement when I return home. 6: Really useful. 7-8: Yes. 9: Yes! 10: Yes, very much. 11: Yes, and I will definitely use them in the future.

3) What aspects of the course content were of the greatest interest or relevance for your purposes? Was the intellectual level of the course appropriate?

1: I found the thorough instruction of the creation of XML documents, and the proper procedure for tagging scanned manuscripts. I also found the TEI instruction to be very helpful, and it will also be applied to my work projects. 2: It was all relevant and at a perfect level for me. 3: Great hands-on approach by the instructor. He was very attentive and kept the class engaging. Strong intellectual and practical content. 4: The intellectual level of the course was a bit lower than I had hoped, but about what I expected. This course caters to people with no XML experience. 5: Everything. Oh yes. 6: When we saw the digital lab; it was amazing. 7: Practice, and use of the TEI guidelines. Yes, intellectually speaking the course was very engaging. 8: The introduction to TEI. 9: Scanning, tagging, style sheets; but also enjoyed learning about funding. 10: XML tagging in particular. Yes, the level was appropriate. 11: Learning TEI mark-up, and the XML basics. Yes, the intellectual level was appropriate.

4) If your course left its classroom to visit Special Collections (SC) or to make other field trips away from your classroom, was the time devoted to this purpose well spent?

1: The tour of the scan center was highly informative; time well spent! 2: Absolutely. 3: Very well spent time in visit to SC; fascinating glimpse at production. 4: The trip to the digital archiving lab was fantastic. One of the high points of the course in my opinion. 5: Yes, definitely. 6: We spent almost one session in the digital lab and scan lab. 7-9: Yes. 10: Yes, very well spent. 11: Yes, we visited the digitization lab in SC, and had plenty of time to see their operation and equipment.

5) What did you like best about the course?

1: I enjoyed the hands-on aspect of the course, especially transcribing the Civil War letters. This process was enhanced by DS’s wonderful style of instruction. Whether you were familiar with electronic texts and image or relatively new to the field, DS easily catered his instruction to all of the students in the class. 2: The transcription and tagging section which allowed for asking questions when theoretical knowledge fell short in actual practice. 3: Excellent, enthusiastic instructor. He was kind and animated throughout. 4: Being able to play around with XML documents with DS around to answer questions. He’s a fantastic instructor. 5: Getting to look at real Civil War letters, especially since they were love letters. Seeing my letter load online properly. 6: That now I’ve improved my knowledge about XML and now I can create (not completely) an online library. I need more preparation, but it’s a really great start. 7: Using TEI. 8: The asides. 9: The hands-on work: transcribing and tagging Civil War letters into the XML files. 10: That we had hands-on experience. 11: DS is a great instructor.

6) How could the course have been improved?

1: I can think of no way to improve this course. It was excellent. 2: I can think of nothing right now. 3: A bit less lecture at times; more time spent constructing XML documents. Maybe two instead of one, using Oxygen or alternative editors. 4: I think the course could be improved by speeding it up a bit – maybe expecting students to have understood more of the pre-class readings. 5: DS can’t improve on perfection. 6: Everything is fine. 7: It may possibly be too much of a survey of the digitization process. It would have been possible to combine TEI with EAD, and left scanning and project development as a separate class. 8: More on the fierce Bad Rabbit. 9: Perhaps offering a book on writing XML. 10: Spend less time the first day explaining what HTML, XML, and TEI are – it is better to jump right into tagging, and explain as you move along. 11: I don’t have any suggestions for improving the course.

7) We are always concerned about the physical well-being both of the RBS teaching collections and of materials owned by UVa’s Special Collections. If relevant, what suggestions do you have for the improved classroom handling of such materials used in your course this week?

1: I would recommend housing the letters in separate acid free sleeves, otherwise, the materials were handled with great care. 2: All seemed fine. 3: None. This was managed fine in this course – respectful, careful attention to use of archival materials. 4: It was strange to be handling our primary documents in the computer lab setting. 5: Well, I was a bit cavalier when I first opened my letter; it looked so good that I forgot it was old. Some reminders not to manhandle the collections would be good from time to time. 6: For me, all the material is useful, and it is exactly what we need. 7: N/A. 10: Instruct students on how letters [the Civil War letters] should be handled, i.e., lay them flat on the desk, no drinks while using them, (the instructor did this) &c. Make sure to let folks realize that they are holding a valuable piece of history. 11: No suggestions.

8) If you attended the Sunday and/or other evening lectures, were they worth attending?

1: The evening lectures are definitely worth attending. I regret not attending all of them. 2: I enjoyed Sunday and Monday evening lectures – am glad I went. 3: The lectures were not that interesting, but the Sunday night one was nice upon arrival. Note: should have a Q & A session after lectures. 4: Sunday was well worth it. 5: Yes, always. 6: Didn’t attend. 7: N/A. 8: Yes. 10-11: Yes.

9) Did you get your money’s worth? Any final or summary thoughts, or advice for other persons considering taking this course in a future year?

1: The class was most certainly worthwhile. Yes, I believe that it was money well spent. DS deserves praise in his ability to gracefully instruct our class. Even when individuals in the class had difficulty in comprehending as aspect of the course, DS easily provided individual help in keeping the class up to speed. Advice? Read the required reading! I highly recommend the class. 2: Well worth the money. Advice: do the readings and do know HTML. 3: Yes. It’s been an intense experience, and I feel more equipped to work with XML. Lovely campus environment, wonderful town – I’ll definitely consider coming back. 5: I would definitely recommend this course to anyone. The fee is reasonable. I’ll be back. DS was not only expert, but also ebullient. This course was fairly arduous, and he made it both clear and enjoyable. I left every day tired, but happy. 6: Yes. You are going to learn a lot of things to improve your job. Take an HTML course before coming. 7: Yes. 8: Much of the course content could be learned from a manual; [however], the great value of the seminar was that which could not be learned thus – the many years of experience condensed into digression, asides, and anecdote that made it all extremely worthwhile. If the sequel to this course is offered, I would be very anxious to take it. 9: I can’t wait to take the second XML/Style sheets course. 10: I think the course should be cheaper; $900 just to learn some XML is not worth it to me. I know DS, and have great admiration for his work and legacy [at the] UVa Etext Center, but it should not cost this much. I took the class more so because he was teaching. 11: Yes.

Number of respondents: 11

Percentages

Leave Tuition Housing Travel

Institution Institution Institution Institution

gave me leave paid tuition paid housing paid travel

63% 63% 45% 45%

I took vaca- I paid tui- I paid for my I paid my own

tion time tion myself own housing travel

18% 9% 36% 36%

N/A: self- N/A: Self- N/A: stayed N/A: lived

employed, re- employed, with friends nearby

tired, or had retired, or or lived at

summers off scholarship home

18% 27% 18% 18%

There were 3 rare book librarians (27%); 2 digital conversion specialists (18%); 2 teachers (18%); 1 librarian (9%); 1 web publications editor (9%); 1 full-time student (9%); and 1 independent scholar (9%).