HCMC Blogs

Including interactive maps in Humanities projects has become quite common, making the discovery and storage of spatial data an integral part of a project’s workflow. As most of our Geo-Humanities projects store spatial data in TEI XML, Vertexer has been created to generate data formatted (using TEI XML or GeoJSON) for easy insertion in to an external document.
Check it out at https://hcmc.uvic.ca/people/greg/vertexer

Isolation log week 71

Work done from home and in the office 2021-08-16 to 2021-08-20

Total: 35.00 hours
G&T hours: no change

Monday 2021-08-16

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
0.50 hours: DVPP, Wendat: Timesheets and hour-tracking.
2.00 hours: Endings/staticSearch: Handled issue 153, to allow HTML authors to use any HTML element in their search page, rather than being constrained to a div. Fixed some other minor annoyances at the same time.
1.00 hours: Wendat: Further progress on the schema for reconstruction.
1.25 hours: Endings/DHQ: Finished first read/comment of JM submission.
2.00 hours: Endings/staticSearch: Took a deep dive into the out-of-memory error issue when building reports (issue 157), and implemented a workaround that should get us past the problem for the moment. Fixed a couple of other annoyances such as doubled trailing slashes on paths and missing documentation blocks.
0.50 hours: Despatches: Checked TODO list, fixed layout of search page explanation, and corrected some encoding errors and typos.

Total: 7.50 hours

Tuesday 2021-08-17

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
2.00 hours: DVPP: Scramble to figure out why MySQL dumps of the db were out of date; eventually it turned out to be a web server caching issue, now mitigated by turning off timestamp checking at download time and just getting the file. Refreshed metadata in one journal per AC.
1.75 hours: Endings/staticSearch: Cleanup of old tickets, and implementation of issue 156 for a splash screen to handle the slightly longer load times for sites with typeahead filters. Added documentation for yesterday's work.
1.75 hours: BreezeMap: Refactored the work on pan/zoom on the timeline, after some discussions with GN, completed the ticket, and merged the work into dev.
2.00 hours: Wendat: Testing new reconstruction schema with ML, and follow-up work; project meeting.

Total: 7.75 hours

Wednesday 2021-08-18

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
0.75 hours: MoEML: Fix overnight build break caused by duplicate id, caused by incomplete text version of id list intended for RAs to check for available ids.
3.50 hours: LEMDO: Completed initial work on ticket to provide processing-instructions that cause the generation of documentation tables from taxonomies, charDecls and listPrefixDefs. Project meeting. Fix for problem with links in documentation in LEMDO anthology; documentation for programmers and documenters regarding PIs; a couple of bug fixes.
0.75 hours: Wendat: Discussion re format of xml:ids, addition of new wrapper element to reconstruction schema, signing of RA contracts, hour tracking sheet update.
0.75 hours: MoEML: Added some redirects, fixed a build break caused by bad @xml:lang value.
0.50 hours: DVPP: Chasing up another unprocessed timesheet.
1.25 hours: Endings/staticSearch: Ticket triage, closing some old ones; quick fix for empty-file-output problem, pending more elegant solution; added another live project to the documentation.

Total: 7.25 hours

Thursday 2021-08-19

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
0.25 hours: TEI: Checking on tickets and a couple of pull requests.
0.50 hours: Endings/staticSearch: Looking at and discussing a couple of tickets/bugs that need to be cleared before 1.4 can be released.
1.50 hours: ProD: Attending XML/LaTeX/PDF meeting.
1.75 hours: Wendat: Plan for repo reorg; changes to both main and reconstruction schemas; emails laying the groundwork for Schematron rules in reconstruction schema and revisions to taxonomies.
1.25 hours: MoEML: Accessibility issue fixed: tooltips for e.g. supplied text etc. now also function as popups when the text is clicked.

Total: 5.50 hours

Friday 2021-08-20

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
1.75 hours: TEI: Regular meeting with SB, looking at pull requests and selecting tickets for Stylesheets Working Group.
2.00 hours: Wendat: Reorganization of repository to separate cognate work from reconstruction work, which required a lot of rewriting in the build processes and renaming.
2.00 hours: LEMDO: With JJ adding new elements, attributes and constraints to the schema for the manuscript encoding team.
1.00 hours: MyNDIR: Helping PAB with svn issue; adding new page and menu item, debugging a couple of small issues.

Total: 7.00 hours

Posting hours from isolation log 2021-08-09 to 2021-08-13.

Isolation log week 70

Work done from home and in the office 2021-08-09 to 2021-08-13

Total: 37.25
G&T hours: + 2.25

Monday 2021-08-09

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
1.75 hours: TEI: Meeting to work on outstanding tickets relating to ruby, ahead of coming release.
1.00 hours: Wendat: More work on new schema, and start on taxonomy XSLT for it.
0.25 hours: DVPP: Refreshed TEI metadata for three periodicals.
0.25 hours: Scancan: Entered missing title for article, and configured local setup to build PDF volume.
0.50 hours: TEI: Entered new ruby example in Guidelines chapter, and searched out bouten examples for HC.
1.00 hours: Wendat: Set up and tested build process for custom reconstruction schema.
1.50 hours: Scancan: Created document for dedication to vol 28, and built it into the volume. Tracked down and fixed a long-standing annoyance with the PDF viewer TOC (not the print TOC). Rebuilt the whole site and published it for HT's final proofing.

Total: 6.50 hours

Tuesday 2021-08-10

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
0.25 hours: DVPP: Rebuilt TEI metadata for three periodicals.
2.00 hours: HCMC: Staff meeting; initial research into MediaWiki.
0.25 hours: TEI: Typo fix in recent addition to Guidelines.
2.00 hours: Wendat: Debug and fix build process for reconstruction schema; research and response on language code proposal(s).
1.50 hours: BreezeMap: More work on switchable pan-and-zoom branch: added handling for unused taxonomies, set up hiding of timeline when drawing on the map to remove clutter, and fixed a couple of other issues.
1.00 hours: Endings: Read and annotated another of the incoming articles.
1.00 hours: Wendat: Project meeting and follow-up.

Total: 8.25 hours

Wednesday 2021-08-11

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
3.00 hours: MoEML: Made listOrgs sort alphabetically or by custom sort key so encoders don't have to keep them in order; did a set of redirects, and cleaned up fallout; project meeting; added catRef to generated gazetteer pages so the search filters catch them; added explanatory text to search pages.
2.00 hours: LEMDO: Fixed first implementation of processing-instruction method to include tabular view of taxonomies in documentation; extended this to allow subcategory-based tables; added lots of the PIs required; fixed a couple of bugs/build breaks.
0.50 hours: Scancan: Examined corrections from guest editor/author to vol 26 article, did one, and paused on the remainder to get HT's approval.
0.75 hours: DVPP: Rebuilt TEI metadata for one periodical; added class info to pages of students who encoded as classwork. Some TODO triage and cleanup.
1.50 hours: ProD: Meeting with PH to discuss uses of eXist and other XML technologies in the health field.

Total: 8:00 hours

Thursday 2021-08-12

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
0.50 hours: Mariage: Diagnose and fix build break due to invalid HTML generated from valid TEI; add Schematron to prevent recurrence.
1.00 hours: Maint: Working with PS to get key data off old VM.
2.25 hours: Maint: Investigation/testing of MediaWiki as a possible replacement for our blogs, and report to team (not suitable); trawl through other options, and discovery of a good candidate; report to team.
3.25 hours: Scancan: More corrections to vol 26 article per HT, publication of site, creation of docx version of article for translator; prep for and meeting with SB from U of A to map out migration process and start building a timeline; report on this to editors.
0.25 hours: MoEML: Fixed a build break caused by a duplicate id.

Total: 7.50 hours

Friday 2021-08-13

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
0.25 hours: TEI: Ticket work.
0.25 hours: Maint: Researching and reporting blocklist in Europe that's blocking UVic mail host.
2.00 hours: Wendat: More work on schema. Getting close to a testable framework.
0.50 hours: Keats: Following discoveries in Wendat project build process, inserted reference to tei module in order to get teidata / XML Schema datatypes working properly; renamed a bunch of models and macros to avoid name collisions with TEI.
1.25 hours: LEMDO: Implemented requested Schematron rules and tested for unwanted fallout; fixed some, but left tickets for the remainder, which will require remediation.
1.25 hours: MoEML: Created tiled and zoomable map for MoEML team, relearning previous procedures using vips. Used the latest OL, which worked fine using code based on a previous Landscapes version.
0.25 hours: DVPP/ColDesp: Trying to debug reported slow SVN connection for GL, refreshed the metadata in a couple of periodicals and did some digging on the svn server. No joy. Must be a problem between campus and user.
1.00 hours: ProD: Reading up on planned obsolescence of JS alert/confirm, and CSS viewport measure changes coming down the pipe.

Total: 7.00 hours

Posting hours from isolation log 2021-08-03 to 2021-08-06 (4-day week).

Isolation log week 69 (following 3-week vacation)

Work done from home and in the office 2021-08-03 to 2021-08-06 (4-day week)

Total: 28.75 hours
G&T hours: +0.75

Tuesday 2021-08-03

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
0.50 hours: OS and data updates to desktop and Windows VM.
0.25 hours: DVPP: Timesheet submission (three of four so far).
1.50 hours: HCMC Staff Meeting.
1.25 hours: Scancan: Updates to several articles for vol 28, along with new release of site, bringing me up to date with all edits so far.
0.50 hours: MoEML: Completed ticket asking for expanded table of useful svn commands and closed ticket.
1.25 hours: LEMDO: Preliminary work and discussion on text-level diagnostic processing.
1.00 hours: Endings: Ported the reorganized Principles set from the proposed DHQ article back to the main Principles document on the site, making it version 2.0, so all references to it can be aligned.
1.25 hours: Wendat: Project meeting; email discussion and related reading on proposed language subtag; updates to hour-tracking spreadsheet.

Total: 7.75 hours

Wednesday 2021-08-04

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
3.00 hours: Wendat: Preliminary work on schema design for full reconstructions.
1.00 hours: LEMDO: Project meeting, tweaks to IML conversion.
2.25 hours: MyNDIR: Meeting with PB, and collaborative work on a number of issues for the next release. New features added, annoyances fixed, TODO list empty.
1.00 hours: Endings: Initial review of JO's paper for the special issue.

Total: 7.50 hours

Thursday 2021-08-05

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
2.25 hours: Wendat: More work on the nascent custom schema, and lots of discussion by email.
0.75 hours: Maint: Sitting in on attempts to rescue Ling DB, and following up with sysadmin on issue of RDP access to vms.
1.25 hours: Endings: Did another pass through a paper hastily reviewed before, and finished my comments.
0.25 hours: DVPP: Updated TEI metadata in three periodicals, just keeping the XML in sync with the online db.
0.75 hours: LEMDO: Did my part on a ticket to review a couple of documentation pages.
0.75 hours: MoEML: Completed ticket to make document type filter on search page hierarchical as in DVPP.
0.25 hours: LEMDO: XPath investigation of catRef/@target values for supplementary texts.

Total: 6.50 hours

Friday 2021-08-05

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
1.50 hours: Wendat: More discussions on options for the new custom schema.
2.00 hours: DVPP: Diagnosis and fix for person records not appearing in search; rebuild of TEI metadata for three periodicals.
1.00 hours: MOEML: Diagnoses and fix for overnight build break, and Schematron to prevent it in future.
0.50 hours: Endings: Emails/discussions on special issue contributions/contributors.
1.50 hours: LEMDO: Work on rendering of taxonomies as tables in documentation, and discussion on standardizing taxonomy encoding.
0.25 hours: Maint: Updated HCMC laptop.

Total: 7.00 hours

We are currently suppressing all persNames when we generate the PDF print dictionary, as well as all roots/stems that are only roots/stems of persNames, and all xrs that point to persNames.

The XEP PDF build generates WARNING messages if there are any xrs which contain a ref to one or more persName entries AND one or more non-persName entries.

I have dealt with this issue today by:

-removing the schematron rule forbidding more than one xr in an entry (This didn't affect the PDF build.), and

-reviewing the 9 entries that triggered warning messages, and splitting their xrs into two as appropriate - one with the persName(s) and one with the non-persName(s).

So now, when the PDF build runs, we just get INFO messages regarding the persNames, roots/stems of persNames, and xrs to persNames that are being suppressed.

There are two INFO messages that are a bit funny: For the entries "xWullqs" and "cʼəris_2", it says that just a ref within an xr has been suppressed. But when I check the PDF, all three refs in the non-persName xr in both these entries have been preserved. This is correct, as they are not refs to persNames. I just don't know why the INFO message is coming up.

Posting hours from isolation log 2021-07-05 to 2021-07-09.

Isolation log week 68

Work done from home and in the office 2021-07-05 to 2021-07-09

Total: 36.00 hours
G&T +1.00 hours

Monday 2021-07-05

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
0.75 hours: BreezeMap: Various discussions around placeless events and dated events with GN and SA.
0.50 hours: Keats: Another site point edition release (3.10.1) to fix variant spellings of names, per KB. Also some tech support.
5.75 hours: DVPP: Built trial version of poem page layout to run past AC & team; layout is working for desktop, now needs some additional thought for mobile. Meeting with AC; new diagnostic and also testing new type-ahead feature for pseudonyms on one search page. Fixes on search pages for taxonomy changes.
0.25 hours: Maint: Jenkins server stopped responding. Eventually rebooted it when all else failed.
0.25 hours: LEMDO: Diagnosed build break.

Total: 7.75 hours

Tuesday 2021-07-06

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
1.00 hours: LEMDO: Deep dive into taxonomies and recommendations for standardization; determining language tag for Persian word and addition of xml:lang "fa" val to schema.
0.50 hours: HCMC Staff Meeting. (Missed some because of covid jab.)
0.50 hours: MoEML: Tech support to recover file deleted from repo.
0.25 hours: Endings: Started initial reading of article submission.
3.50 hours: Wendat: Discussions with PS re his new design for the site; work on modelling of entries for ultimate encoding. Meeting with ML re sample encodings and planning taxonomies and schema; regular project meeting; follow-up from the meetings.

Total: 6.00 hours

Wednesday 2021-07-07

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
1.50 hours: Scancan: Encode final review for vol 28; rebuild master PDF including it; rebuild and publish site; questions to HT.
1.50 hours: LEMDO: Project meeting, intro for team to editing elementSpecs, addition of Schematron rule and subsequent fix, ticket triage, fixes for borked catRefs.
1.50 hours: DVPP: Project meeting and follow-up on plan to change taxonomies, to go ahead tomorrow.
0.75 hours: Moses: Rebuild of PDF; software install and testing on lab machine so SK can build.
0.25 hours: Maint: Ran updates on all lab machines.
1.25 hours: Endings: Reviewing submitted article, and follow-up discussion with editors.

Total: 7.00 hours

Thursday 2021-07-08

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
0.50 hours: BreezeMap: Discussions with SA and GN on how best to represent whaling data, and possible new features to allow control of pan, zoom, category colours, and category icons.
3.25 hours: LEMDO: Major reorg of the filenames/ids to separate the documentation files from the lemdo anthology files based on prefix; various fixes to handle the fallout; some fixes to the diagnostics to make the bad links list useful; fixes to many bad links; rewrite of print process and documentation to use more generic doc: prefix for includes.
1.25 hours: Endings: More reading of incoming article, discussion and decision with other editors.
3.00 hours: DVPP: With KF and KF, coordinated replacement of three old taxonomies with two new ones, fixes to all the related catRefs, updates to search controls, and so on.

Total: 8.25 hours

Friday 2021-07-09

0.25 hours: Update Jenkins servers.
1.50 hours: LEMDO: Investigation of files apparently missing in output, caused by other file fragments with the same id masking them. Discussion on per-text diagnostics and creation of a diagnostics file (not doing anything yet) to implement whatever we come up with.
5.25 hours: Wendat: Working with ML, encoded five taxonomies relating to POS, Verb Classes, and various subclasses in preparation for reconstruction encoding, and built processing of some of them into the schema generation process. A huge amount of work is still left to do here.

Total: 7.00 hours

Edition 3.10 of Dr. Kim Blank's excellent site Mapping Keats's Progress has been released. It includes a brand-new diagram of Keats's social network, as well as an interactive map of his Northern Walking Tour.