[MEI-L] Release of MEI 2012 v2.0.0

[Johannes Kepper]

Dear MEIers,

finally, we have made our way through the Guidelines, which means that we're happy to announce the release of MEI 2012. This release is available from http://music-encoding.googlecode.com/files/MEI2012_v2.0.0.zip. Before adding more details about this, we would like to thank everyone involved in this release in one way or the other for the continuous support. Without a whole lot of dedication by all of you, this wouldn't have been possible. 


LABELLING SCHEME
MEI 2012 v2.0.0 is the complete name for this release. While "MEI 2012" is the label for it, the "v2.0.0" is the technical identification for it. We will use this numbering scheme for all subsequent releases of MEI. Let me explain the numbers a little bit. The first digit indicates the technical foundation to be used. We have built this release from scratch using a different technology (something I'm coming back to later), so this is the second iteration of MEI, following the original 2010-05 release. The second digit indicates changes in the schema, the third digit changes to the documentation. That means the number v2.0.1 would be used for a revised documentation for the current release, the number v2.1.3 would indicate a change in the schema itself, that already had three revisions to the documentation. 


TECHNICAL BACKGROUND – ODD
Starting with MEI 2012 v2.0.0, MEI is described using TEI's ODD, which stands for One Document Does-it-all. This is a meta schema language that allows one to generate schemas and documentation from the same source. It also facilitates customizing MEI in a self-documenting way. We already have a preliminary customization service for those of you familiar with ODD at http://custom.music-encoding.org. 


GUIDELINES
Compared to MEI 2010-05, we completely rewrote the documentation for MEI. We had a tag library for that, which was helpful, but which required a certain amount of familiarity with the schema to work with it. Now we have a nearly 700 page document which still includes a tag library, but also around 250 pages explaining how to use MEI to encode different features of music notation of various kinds. It follows the module structure of MEI and significantly increases accessibility of the schema. Make sure to have a look at this PDF, which is contained in the release zip mentioned above, but is also separately available from http://music-encoding.googlecode.com/files/MEI_Guidelines_2012_v2.0.0.pdf. 


TODO
Even though we have finished this release, there are still things to improve. First, we plan to reshape our website at music-encoding.org to match this new release. We plan to include the Guidelines, a revised tag library section, and a collection of MEI sample encodings. We will address these issues successively, starting in the next couple of weeks. What should happen simultaneously is that we gather feedback on the release, specifically on the Guidelines. If you have the opportunity to work a little bit with the Guidelines in the next few weeks or months, please do that. We hope to improve the Guidelines in a number of several small steps until the end of the current DFG/NEH funded grant, which will be summer next year. 


If you have any further questions, feel free to ask us personally or here on MEI-L. 

With best regards,

Perry and Johannes