L2/04-081 From: Jeremy Black Date: 2004-02-02 11:51:59 -0800 Subject: cuneiform Unicode proposal Dear Mr McGowan, I am writing as a scholar of Ancient Iraq who over the last 7 or 8 years has had some considerable degree of involvement in electronic technology, chiefly as the Director of the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature project here at the University of Oxford (www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk). As you will be aware, Prof. Jerrold S. Cooper and Dean Snyder at Johns Hopkins (under the aegis of the Digital Hammurabi project) together with various colleagues including Prof. Steven J. Tinney of U. of Pennsylvania have worked on a proposal for the implementation into Unicode of a model of cuneiform (N2698) which will be presented at the 98th meeting of the Unicode Technical Committee. This model will, we believe, work well for the needs of cuneiform scholars around the world. You will be aware that the proposal has been discussed at some length and in great detail within the field of cuneiform studies. We now believe this to be the best solution for the requirements of cuneiform. I am aware that certain objections have been brought forward to proposal N2698. However, scholars within the field of cuneiform studies strongly support the work of the group who have been labouring to implement the proposal that is before your committee, and I hope that you will agree to accept it. Yours sincerely Jeremy Black Dr J A Black Oriental Institute Pusey Lane Oxford OX1 2LE