[MEI-L] How to encode choices...?

[Johannes Kepper]

Dear Axel,

this is an interesting problem. I'm sure there are better answers around, but here's a first take from me. 
<choice> is about the "same point in a text", as you pointed out.  Normally, you encode the alternatives in its child elements, which are normally paired (<abbr> and <expan>, <sic> and <corr> etc.). It is absolutely possible to have a set of <orig> elements. However, when interpreting the "same point in a text" in a verbose way, <choice> seems to be the wrong choice. Your example has a set of different texts, which may be shuffled or selected randomly, but most importantly, they are different texts. Also, my understanding of the elements from the edittrans module is that they should be used to enrich encodings with additional background knowledge of the editor. Here, everything seems to be in the sources (though this is certainly arguable…). 

I would probably encode every card as a separate section (or even mdiv), and then use an <app> / <rdg> structure referring to these to encode a virtual "walkthrough". Given you know that eleven cards should be played, it would look like so:

<app label="firstCard">
	<rdg target="#card1/>
	<rdg target="#card2/>
	…
	<rdg target="#card22/>
</app>
<app label="secondCard">
	<rdg target="#card1/>
	<rdg target="#card2/>
	…
	<rdg target="#card22/>
</app>
…
<app label="eleventhCard">
	<rdg target="#card1/>
	<rdg target="#card2/>
	…
	<rdg target="#card22/>
</app>

I'm not fully convinced of this approach, as it relies on the interpretation of the cards as different texts, but it should work nicely with an application doing the actual selections in each <app>. 

Other interpretations?

Best,
johannes



Am 13.06.2013 um 19:18 schrieb Axel Teich Geertinger <atge at kb.dk>:

> Dear list,
>  
> We are preparing a little experimental digital edition of a piece named “Kaleidakustikon” (c.1820) by Friedrich Kuhlau. It is an aleatoric piece of music of the same kind as, for instance, Kirnberger’s “Der allezeit fertige Menuetten- und Polonaisencomponist” and the “Musikalisches Würfelspiel” attributed to Mozart.
> It consists of 21 piles of cards, each card containing one bar of music. The player selects one of the 11 cards in each pile by throwing dice. Put together, these cards form a little waltz. The project is of course to make it an online game, at the same time giving us some experience with MEI workflows.
>  
> The question is: How should we encode the multiple alternatives for each bar? The guidelines explain that the <choice> element “groups a number of alternative encodings for the same point in a text”. Sounds perfect for this purpose. However, it only allows editorial markup elements like <abbr>, <sic>, <corr>, <reg>, <orig>, <unclear>, <subst>, and <expan> as child elements (BTW, the guidelines p. 163 also mention <add> and <del>, but not <abbr>, <expan>, and <subst> – a mistake?).
>  
> How do we encode choices among a number of alternatives provided by the composer as part of the compositional concept?
>  
> Best,
> Axel
>  
> <image001.jpg>
> Det Kongelige Bibliotek
> Nationalbibliotek og Københavns Universitetsbibliotek
> Axel Teich Geertinger
> Forsker, ph.d. | Researcher, PhD
> Konstitueret centerleder | Interim Head of Centre
> 
> Det Kongelige Bibliotek | The Royal Library
> Dansk Center for Musikudgivelse | Danish Centre for Music Publication
> P.O. Box 2149 | DK-1016 København K
> tel +45 3347 4706 | Fax +45 3393 2218 | atge at kb.dk | www.kb.dk
> 
> Besøgsadresse | Visiting address | Søren Kierkegaards Plads 1
> Leveringsadresse | Delivery address | Christians Brygge 8 | 1219 København K
> 
> EAN 5798 000 79 52 97 | Bank 0216 4069032583 | CVR 28 98 88 42
> IBAN DK2002164069032583 | Swiftcode DABADKKK
>  
>  
> _______________________________________________
> mei-l mailing list
> mei-l at lists.uni-paderborn.de
> https://lists.uni-paderborn.de/mailman/listinfo/mei-l