Teaching the Text Encoding Initiative: Context, Community and Collaboration

Abstract

In common with many technical aspects of digital humanities, the TEI has a reputation for being difficult to teach and difficult to learn, with potential practitioners put off by the large and (at first sight) intimidating set of guidelines, the seemingly complex hierarchical structure and the profusion of angle brackets. One-to-one or small group teaching in the context of a specific project is often the preferred method, where the short but steep learning curve required to engage with the TEI can be addressed in a way which is relevant to the aims and experience of the learner. This, however, is not a particularly efficient way of teaching. In this article, the authors discuss their experience of teaching (and learning) the TEI, and how lessons learned in contexts relating to specific projects might feed into the teaching of TEI in a more general setting – the Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School being the prime example.