* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
                   *             TEI P2            *
                   *   new fascicle now available  *
                   *          Chapter 21           *
                   * Characters and Character Sets *
                   * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 
We are happy to announce that a new fascicle of the second draft of the
TEI Guidelines for Electronic Text Encoding and Interchange is now
available for public comment.
 
As readers of this list will recall, TEI P2 is being distributed for
comment as a series of fascicles or part-issues, each containing a
complete chapter of P2, as and when the texts were available.  (File
TEIJ7, "Obtaining the Second Version of the TEI Guidelines," has the
details, if you have forgotten).
 
The present fascicle contains chapter 21 of P2, which discusses problems
of characters and character sets and provides non-technical guidance on
choosing a character set, encoding characters not present in that
character set, and preparing documents for interchange.  It also
introduces the concept of the TEI Writing System Declaration, which will
be formally defined elsewhere in the Guidelines (chapter 52, to be
precise).
 
Other fascicles will be announced as they become available.  Thank you
for your patience!
 
Texts of P2 are being made available in a number of different electronic
formats. These include plain screen-readable text (filetype DOC), LaTeX
(filetype TEX), PostScript (filetype PS) and of course SGML (filetypes
P2X and REF).
 
To get electronic copies of this fascicle from the TEI-L fileserver, all
you need do is send an ordinary email note to the address
 
      LISTSERV@UICVM  (or [log in to unmask])
 
containing the line
 
      GET P221 xxx
 
(where xxx is one of the filetypes mentioned above)
 
The documents you request will be returned to you automatically as
e-mail messages.  Beware! some of the files are quite large, and so may
be delayed.  You will also receive an automatic notification that the
file is on its way to you.  (If you receive something illegible in a
'Listserv packed format', please contact one of the editors directly to
see about getting you the file in a more useful form.)
 
The same files are available via anonymous FTP from the SGML Project at
the University of Exeter.  To access these files, your computer system
must be on the InterNet.  If it is, you should be able to give the
command
 
    FTP sgml1.ex.ac.uk  [ or  FTP 144.173.6.61]
 
When you are connected to the Exeter SGMLbox, type the following
commands:
 
   cd tei\p2\drafts
   get p221.xxx
 
(where xxx is the filetype as mentioned above; note however that the
filename *must* be given in all lower-case letters)
 
For more details on these and other sources of TEI information, please
order copies of files
 
  EDJ8 MEMO (describes how to retrieve electronic copies of TEI P2
             and the various formats in which they are available)
  EDJ9 MEMO (describes how to request paper copies of TEI P2, for
             those without electronic mail access)
 
(on the Exeter file server, these may be edj8.doc and edj9.doc)
 
-C. M. Sperberg-McQueen
 Lou Burnard
 
17 July 1992