Thu Aug 22 05:53:41 1996

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From: Timothy John Finney 
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Someone asked how to get involved in helping with the Electronic New
Testament Manuscripts Project ('entemp' for short). The project aims to
run on voluntary power. A major goal is to have people transcribe mss and
make their transcriptions available to others. Inclusion of high quality
digital images of the manuscripts is also an essential part of the
Project. Once obtained they would provide a sound basis for transcription
work and allow verification of existing transcriptions. 

The genesis of the project was partly motivated by precisely the kind of 
frustration some of the correspondents have mentioned. It is especially 
bad for those of us isolated from the great libraries of the world that 
might be expected to have some of the rare editions or even the mss 
themselves.

Unfortunately, not many images are presently available to the Project. 
However, much progress could be made on the transcription front by
parcelling out particular jobs to volunteers. After transcribing the
pre-1000 AD mss of the Epistle to the Hebrews, I think that the best
approach is to begin by converting existing editions into machine readable
form -- that is, alter a standard Greek New Testament text until it
conforms exactly to the text given in the edition. (If you can make OCR
work, go ahead!)

Here are some editions that would be most useful if interested 
volunteers would key them in:

1) Tischendorf's editions of the great uncials (01, 03, 04, 06, etc);
2) Schofield's edition of the papyri (those known up to 1936);
3) Kenyon's edition of P46
4) numerous other editions as found in J.K. Elliott's _Bibliography of 
Greek New Testament Manuscripts_

Most of these are difficult to get, but should be available in large 
libraries.

There are all kinds of barriers standing before the Project, especially
with regard to obtaining images. A recurring issue is that of Intellectual
Property Rights. Is a conversion to machine readable form an infringement
of copyright? Which editions could we convert without fear of litigation?
We want to do the right thing, and we do not intend to give up. 

If you have a web browser you can look at the Electronic New Testament 
Manuscripts Project's web site which is maintained by James K. Tauber. The 
address is

http://www.entmp.org/

If you want to become a volunteer transcriber, please e-mail James 
or me.
 
Tim Finney
Associate Director, ENTMP
finney@central.murdoch.edu.au
Baptist Theological College
and Murdoch University
Perth, W. Australia

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