ICE2

From: Dean Snyder (dean.snyder@jhu.edu)
Date: Wed May 07 2003 - 15:14:02 EDT

  • Next message: Rick McGowan: "ICE Conference, June 5-7 2003"

    Greetings,

    We have scheduled the second Initiative for Cuneiform Encoding Conference
    (ICE2) at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, for
    Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning, June 5-7, 2003.

    The main goal for this conference is to make final decisions on certain
    methodological issues pertaining to our proposal to encode the Sumero-
    Akkadian cuneiform script system in Unicode. We will also select a new
    working group to actually generate the proposal.

    The decisions we make at ICE2 will guide our work on the encoding
    proposal we intend to formally present at the Unicode Technical Committee
    Meeting, hosted by the Digital Hammurabi Project at Johns Hopkins in
    November, 2003 <http://www.unicode.org/timesens/calendar.html>.

    We will track the progress of our proposal on the ICE website <http://
    www.jhu.edu/ice/>, and discussions on specific issues will take place
    publicly on the ICE email list <cuneiform@unicode.org>. (Email me and I
    can subscribe you to the list.)

    All interested and qualified parties are encouraged to participate in
    both the ICE2 conference and the email discussions on the ICE list.

    --------------------------------

    Some of the outstanding methodological issues needing resolution include:

    * What exact period will we begin with in our encoding? (We have
    previously ruled out archaic cuneiform.)

    * How will we treat compound signs, i.e. character sequences made up of
    two or more signs written one after the other but treated as one grapheme?

    * How will we treat complex signs, i.e. signs made up of two or more
    signs written one inside the other and treated as one grapheme?

    * How do we encode gunu signs, i.e., signs with added "flourishes"?

    * How do we treat diri spellings. i.e., multiple signs treated as one?

    * What sequence will we impose on the signs?

    * What period will we use for the representative sign glyphs Unicode requires?

    * How will we choose sign names?

    * What text elements will we encode? - e.g., column, case, and line dividers?

    * How will we address numeric and metrological signs?

    * How do we deal with mergers and splits - for example, in order to
    support round tripping between character and transliteration?

    * What about ruby (plain text annotation) - a mechanism in Unicode
    whereby we could associate the interpretation of a sign with the sign itself?

    -----------------------------------------------

    Here is the current list of known attendees, in alphabetical order:

    Dr. Miguel Civil, Emeritus Professor of Sumerology, Oriental Institute,
    University of Chicago, Editor, Materials for the Sumerian Lexicon

    Dr. Jerrold Cooper
    Professor of Assyriology, Near Eastern Studies, Johns Hopkins University,
    Digital Hammurabi Project

    Karljuergen Feuerherm
    Ph. D. Candidate in Akkadian, University of Toronto, Computer Scientist,
    Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Dr. Madeleine Fitzgerald
    Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Near Eastern Languages and
    Cultures, UCLA, NSF Digital Libraries Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow for
    the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative

    Edwin Hart
    IT staff, Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University

    Cale Johnson
    Graduate student, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures,
    UCLA, staff member of Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative

    Rick McGowan
    Vice President & Senior Software Engineer, Unicode Inc.

    David Reynolds
    Metadata Specialist, Cataloging, Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins
    University, Digital Hammurabi Project

    Dean Snyder
    Scholarly Technology Specialist, Center For Scholarly Resources, Sheridan
    Libraries, Johns Hopkins University, Manager of the Digital Hammurabi Project

    Dr. Steve Tinney, Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Languages and
    Cultures, University of Pennsylvania, Director Pennsylvania Sumerian
    Dictionary Project

    Lee Watkins, Jr.
    Director of the Center for Scholarly Resources, Sheridan Libraries, Johns
    Hopkins University, Director of the Digital Hammurabi Project

    Dr. Bruce Wells
    Post-Doc, Near Eastern Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Digital
    Hammurabi Project

    Dr. Kenneth Whistler
    Technical Director & Maintainer of the Unicode Character Database,
    Unicode Inc. Software Engineer, Sybase Inc., Linguist, Native American
    languages

    Respectfully,

    Dean A. Snyder
    Scholarly Technology Specialist
    Center For Scholarly Resources, Sheridan Libraries
    Garrett Room, MSE Library, 3400 N. Charles St.
    The Johns Hopkins University
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA 21218

    office: 410 516-6850 mobile: 410 245-7168 fax: 410-516-6229
    Manager, Digital Hammurabi Project: www.jhu.edu/digitalhammurabi
    Manager, Initiative for Cuneiform Encoding: www.jhu.edu/ice



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