Subject: tei report , call for proposals

the future of the tei report and final invitation for proposals 1 background information as reported on this list in early september , the text encoding initiative is considering options for its future organization and funding , and is actively exploring the possibility of a consortium or cooperative organization to support the maintenance and extension of the tei guidelines . on 3 - 4 october , the tei executive committee met with representatives of the tei 's sponsoring organizations ( ach , acl , and allc ) and of some prospective host institutions . the purpose of this note is - to report to the community on the steps being taken toward the goal of a new organization for the tei , - to outline for all concerned the current schedule of events leading toward a final decision , and - to reiterate the invitation for institutions interested in hosting a tei organization to contact the tei as soon as possible , in order to ensure that any proposals can receive full consideration . 2 issues list in the course of the meeting , we elaborated a list of issues which must be resolved in the course of any decision on the tei 's future organization and structure ; any proposal for organizing and hosting a tei structure is expected to address these questions . - intellectual property rights : the tei 's sponsoring organizations are taking steps to clarify the current status of rights in the tei ; any new structure needs to make clear how those rights are to be managed in the future . there is a strong conviction that in any new organizational structure the results of the tei 's work must remain publicly accessible , as they are now . - the governance and legal status of the proposed organization must be described . it is essential that the legal structure be one that allows full participation by institutions and individuals from all countries ; in particular , institutions in the european and north american countries where tei activity and use are currently most common should be on an equal footing . - proposals need to specify a plausible business plan and indicate the level of fees and other funding needed to make the proposed organization self-sustaining . the executive committee and sponsoring organizations have no particular requirements on this topic ( beyond the hope that membership fees not be prohibitively expensive ) ; prospective hosts must take into account the cultural differences between europe and america as regards fees for membership in consortia and cooperative organizations . - geography : there is a strong wish that the international flavor of the tei be maintained with regard to the membership , governance , and provision of service by a tei organization . - the tei has developed a structure and a set of procedures for organizing and carrying out the intellectual work of maintaining the guidelines ; proposals for the tei 's future need to specify in how far these procedures will be retained , and how they will be changed . - proposals for a tei organization should contain provisions describing what is to happen if the organization is unsuccessful ; such a fall-back plan should provide among other things for the reversion of the tei to the original sponsoring organizations . - the future role of the current sponsoring organizations in the future guidance of the tei must be spelled out . there is , in principle , a broad range of possibilities here ; in practice , the current sponsoring organizations wish to have some active role in the governance of the tei , at least for some initial period - - both in order to ensure continuity in the project and to demonstrate their continuing support for the tei and its goals . - the scope of the proposed organization or cooperative must also be clear - - where 's cope ' may be described in terms of discipline , or of type of activity , or of the common bases or foci of activities . the sponsoring organizations recognize that standards of many kinds may be relevant to the activities of their members , and they expect to continue collaborating with each other on standards of mutual concern . whatever institutional and organizational framework is set up for the tei must be in a position to collaborate flexibly with future initiatives of the sponsoring organizations ( as well as continuing the tei 's involvement in work on related standards like xml ) . 3 timetable the timetable for the decision about the future organization of the tei is as follows : 31 october 1998 : initial proposals should be received from prospective hosts . november 1998 : a review committee consisting of the tei executive committee and additional representatives from the sponsoring organizations will review and discuss the proposals and ask proposers for explanations and clarification of matters of detail in the proposals . 30 november 1998 : cut-off for the discussion process , and deadline for submission of revised proposals , with full institutional commitments . early to mid - december 1998 : a short list of proposals will be selected , and proposers will be notified and invited to give final presentations at a meeting in january 1999 . mid - january 1999 : meeting of review committee to receive final presentations , following which the sponsoring organizations will decide the future arrangements for the tei . 31 january 1999 : public announcement of the decision made by the sponsoring organizations will be made by the end of january . 4 invitation institutions interested in proposing to organize and host a tei organization ( or to make any other proposal for the future of the tei ) should contact the tei secretariat as soon as possible at the address below for further information , since initial proposals are expected at the end of october , and final proposals , including full institutional commitments , are due 30 november . members of the sponsoring organizations , or other users of the tei , who would like to express their views on any of the issues outlined above , or to suggest other issues that should be considered , are invited to comment on tei - l , or to contact the appropriate bodies within their association , or to write directly to the tei executive committee in care of the address below . - c . m . sperberg - mcqueen , university of illinois at chicago lou burnard , oxford university tei secretariat : c . m . sperberg - mcqueen , tei @ uic . edu
