Training and Work Practices Contract
MoEML is a SSHRC-funded project, which means I, as Project Director, have two obligations: (1) to ensure that the work is completed within the timeline
of the grant; and (2) to offer learning opportunities to students. In my SSHRC application (which functions like my contract with the Canadian public), I outlined the following
training plan (slightly revised for 2013):
Outcomes
I follow an apprenticeship model in teaching RAs. After I introduce RAs to the project-specific
resources and tool, I assign the student increasingly difficult tasks while gradually
giving him or her more autonomy in individual tasks and a greater role in the collaboration.
We do a certain amount of co-researching and writing until the student has internalized
MoEML’s standards and learned to write scholarly prose for the digital environment. The
transferable learning outcomes for the RAs who will be engaged primarily in research,
writing, and editing are as follows:
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To be able to use the following databases and on-line repositories of primary materials: MLA International Bibliography, British History Online, Historical Abstracts, City of London Libraries Catalogue, British Library Catalogue, the English Short Title Catalogue, Hamnet, Archives in London and the M25 Area (AIM25), London Archaeological and Research Centre Online Catalogue (LAARC), The National Archives (A2A), and Early English Books Online.
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To know and be able to use important print and digital reference works, such as The London Encyclopaedia, The Survey of London (English Heritage Research), The Oxford English Dictionary, Lexicons of Early Modern English, and The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
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To digest research and write short encyclopaedia-style articles integrating primary and secondary historical and literary sources to elucidate the history and cultural significance of a street or site in early modern London.
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To understand the conventions of early civic maps (such as the use of the bird’s-eye perspective) and the nature of what they depict (the urbs, the civitas, the res publica).
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To keep records of research.
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To understand how early books were constructed and how early bookmaking techniques determine modern citation.
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To have mastered correct citation style for bibliographies and in-text citations of primary and secondary sources.
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To write for the digital environment as opposed to the print environment, which permits linked pages instead of a linear argument.
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To edit and copy-edit their own and other people’s prose.
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To have a good working knowledge of the principles of text encoding and enough knowledge of TEI elements and attributes to do some pre-encoding for the RA doing the encoding.
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Identify XML:ids for streets, sites, and people.
The RAs who become encoders will master some of the above outcomes, plus the following
ones:
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Have excellent text encoding skills, sufficient to encode a document based on pre-established templates.
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Be able to troubleshoot basic encoding problems.
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Be able to work with a team of designers, researchers, and other encoders.
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Know how to document workflow.
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Record metadata consistently.
Obligations
As my part of this contract, I (or my delegates acting on my behalf) will offer the
opportunities to acquire the skills and to achieve the learning outcomes listed above.
As your part of this contract, you agree to do the following:
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Attend team meetings when called to do so.
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Answer emails promptly (within 24 hours).
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Report via email to the Research Fellow if you are not able to work at your scheduled time.
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Report on your progress to the whole team at meetings.
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Check out the MoEML files from SVN when you begin a work session.
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Commit your changes to SVN regularly throughout your work session and at the end of your work session.
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Save all your MoEML work (including but not limited to research notes, planning documents, and encoding notes) to the
working_filesfolder in SVN so that they are accessible to everyone. -
Keep records of your research in the notebooks provided by MoEML.
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Keep MoEML passwords and user ids confidential.
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Record your hours and activities regularly and accurately in the spreadsheet provided by MoEML.
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Seek help early and often.
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Bring forward suggestions and observations that might improve MoEML and/or team practices.
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Teach other team members when they need the skills and knowledge that you have acquired.
References
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Citation
Early English Books Online (EEBO). Proquest LLC. Subscription.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
Lexicons of Early Modern English (LEME). Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2006. Subscription.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
ODNB. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online edition. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Web. [The ODNB is a subscription database. Most university and college institutions in North America and Europe will have a subscription.] -
Citation
Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012. Subscription. OED.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
Weinreb, Ben, Christopher Hibbert, Julia Keay, and John Keay. The London Encyclopaedia. 3rd ed. Photography by Matthew Weinreb. London: Macmillan, 2008.This item is cited in the following documents:
