Re: Dictionaries, practical question

I had a similar discussion only today: a colleague wants to create from 
a 18th century manuscript a multi language lexicon using FieldWorks/FLEx 
(http://fieldworks.sil.org/). I tried to convince him on the advantages 
using TEI would have but didn't get through. I see his arguments for an 
easy to use tool that is established in his field. But I am concerned 
about the loss of information about the material, visual and structural 
aspects of the documents. We are now discussing into two directions:
- would it be possible to convert from FLEx to (sufficiently information 
rich) TEI in the end? Mainly for interoperability reasons ...
- would it be wise to go from TEI to FLEx (keeping more information from 
the documents, but working without an easy editing tool)?

Any experiences on this around?

Best, Patrick

Am 11.01.2017 um 16:37 schrieb Paul Schaffner:
> Hi all, this is not strictly TEI, as you'll see, but I suspect there are
> a number of lexicographers here. I was asked yesterday by someone
> compiling a Latin dictionary if there was a standard (perhaps
> database-type) piece of application software in which to compile, edit,
> and search it. He is (sigh) using Microsoft Word at the moment, and has
> rejected the usual filemaker-type databases as not sufficiently
> supportive of word-processor-type formatting (multiple languages and
> fonts, etc.) I of course pointed out that the chief desideratum for
> future functionality was to distinguish unambiguously between different
> structurally distinct pieces of each entry; that XML was a good vehicle
> for recording the sort of mixture of fielded, normalized and free-form
> text typical of dictionaries; that XML could be entered, searched, and
> edited in any number of applications, from Access forms to simple text
> editors; and that TEI did have a functional dictionaries module which
> was worth considering. I am investigating further as to what he actually
> hopes to do with the data, which makes a big difference.
>
> But in the meantime: is there in fact a popular software choice amongst
> working lexicographers? (To the extent that anything used by
> lexicographers could be called 'popular'!)
>
> pfs
>


-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apl. Prof. Dr. Patrick Sahle
Koordinierungsstelle Digital Humanities der Nordrhein-Westfälischen 
Akademie der Wissenschaften
Cologne Center for eHumanities (CCeH) <http://www.cceh.uni-koeln.de/>
Data Center for the Humanities <http://www.dch.uni-koeln.de/>
DiXiT ITN <http://www.dixit.uni-koeln.de/>
Institut für Dokumentologie und Editorik <http://www.i-d-e.de>

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