Live Coding Exercise: TEI Metadata
Scenario
You are preparing metadata for the poem “Praise Song for Oceania” by Craig Santos Perez, a Chamoru poet from Guåhan (Guam). The poem is available through the Poetry Foundation but is not in the public domain. Your task is to create a <teiHeader> for this poem as if you were preparing it for a digital archive or scholarly repository while respecting the author’s rights.
You will not encode the poem itself — only its metadata.
Goals
You will write a valid TEI <teiHeader> that:
- Describes the poem’s title and author
- Identifies the source and digital publisher
- Acknowledges the rights and limitations
- Demonstrates best practices in ethical metadata for contemporary and Indigenous works
TEI Elements
Include the following within a <fileDesc> element:
<titleStmt><title>— the poem title<author>— the poet’s name<respStmt>— your name and role as encoder
<publicationStmt><publisher>— Poetry Foundation<date>— publication or access date (e.g., "Accessed May 28, 2025")<availability>— note that the text is not in the public domain
<sourceDesc>
Validation
You can validate your metadata using the “Check Metadata” button. Note that this exercise uses a custom-built editor with manual validation. When you click “Check Metadata,” the tool checks for:
- Missing required elements
- Placeholder values that haven’t been replaced
- Basic XML structure errors
However, it does not provide real-time TEI Guidelines validation like Oxygen XML Editor. Be sure to double-check tag nesting and tag names, and feel free to test your file in a TEI-aware tool if you want stricter validation.
A Note on Intellectual Property
This exercise is for educational purposes only. The poem “Praise Song for Oceania” is not in the public domain. You are practicing metadata creation only. A full TEI edition of this text may not be created or shared without the poet’s explicit permission. This exercise models ethical engagement with living authors and Indigenous literature.
Live Coding Practice
Use the live editor below to build your <teiHeader>:
Live Coding Exercise: Praise-metadata
<TEI>
<teiHeader>
<fileDesc>
<titleStmt>
<title>Praise Song for Oceania</title>
<author>Craig Santos Perez</author>
<respStmt>
<name>Jane Doe</name> <resp>encoded the metadata</resp>
</respStmt>
</titleStmt>
<publicationStmt>
<publisher>Poetry Foundation</publisher>
<date>Accessed May 28, 2025</date>
<availability>
<p>This text is not in the public domain and is used for educational purposes only. No full edition may be published without the author's permission.</p>
</availability>
</publicationStmt>
<sourceDesc>
<bibl>
Craig Santos Perez. "Praise Song for Oceania." <title>Poetry Foundation</title>. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/154774/praise-song-for-oceania
</bibl>
</sourceDesc>
</fileDesc>
</teiHeader>
<TEI>
Reflection
- Why is it important to consider permission and authorship when encoding contemporary or Indigenous works?
- What would you need to do differently if preparing this for public release?
- What considerations might be involved in seeking permission to create a TEI edition of a living author’s work, especially when the work engages Indigenous themes or relational knowledge?