Text File

From: lou@vax.oxford.ac.uk Newsgroups: alt.etext Subject: Oxford Text Archive FAQ Message-ID: <1993Feb11.131248.11928@vax.oxford.ac.uk> Date: 11 Feb 93 13:12:48 GMT Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620 Lines: 359

In case you chaps haven't already seen it, there follows a copy of the Oxford Text Archive's standard information file. We're only just getting into the wonderful world of Internet (give us time), but if we had a FAQ to give you, this would be it.

======================================================================== =This file (about 250 lines) contains general information about the = =Oxford Text Archive, about how to get copies of its catalogue, and how= =to get copies of the texts deposited there. = = Last update: 15 Aug 92 = ========================================================================

WHAT IS THE OXFORD TEXT ARCHIVE?

The Oxford Text Archive is a facility provided by Oxford University Computing Services. It has no connexion with Oxford University Press or any other commercial organisation and exists to serve the interests of the academic community by providing archival and dissemination facilities for electronic texts at low cost.

The Archive offers scholars long term storage and maintenance of their electronic texts free of charge. It manages non-commercial distribution of electronic texts and information about them on behalf of its depositors.

WHAT TEXTS DOES IT CONTAIN?

The Archive contains electronic versions of literary works by many major authors in Greek, Latin, English and a dozen or more other languages. It contains collections and corpora of unpublished materials prepared by field workers in linguistics. It contains electronic versions of some standard reference works. It has copies of texts and corpora prepared by individual scholars and major research projects worldwide. The total size of the Archive exceeds a gigabyte and there are about a thousand titles in its catalogue.

WHERE CAN I GET A CATALOGUE?

The Catalogue is available in paper form by post from the address below. New editions are published at least twice a year. It is also available in electronic form, either as a formatted file for display at a terminal or in a tagged form using SGML. These files are available from a number of different places under various names...

(1) on the Oxford VAX Cluster as OX:TEXTARCHIVE.LIST and OX:TEXTARCHIVE.SGML

(2) from various ListServers, e.g. LISTSERV@BROWNVM (send the mail message GET HUMANIST FILELIST for details)

(3) by anonymous FTP from Internet site black.ox.ac.uk (129.67.1.165) in the directory /ota

Wherever you are, you can send a note to ARCHIVE@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK specifying which form you want.

WHAT ARE THE TEXTS LIKE?

Because the texts come from so many different sources, they are held in many different formats. The texts also vary greatly in their accuracy and the features which have been encoded. Some have been proof read to a high standard, while others may have come straight from an optical scanner, Some have been extensively tagged with special purpose analytic codes, and others simply designed to mimic the appearance of the printed source. The Archive does not require texts to conform to any standard of formatting or accuracy.

HOW USABLE ARE THE TEXTS?

Most of the texts can be used with commonly available text indexing and concordancing software, or can easily be converted for that purpose. All texts are held as `plain ASCII' files on magnetic tape, with no special formatting codes. Documentation of the coding scheme used in each text is supplied with it, wherever possible.

WHAT ABOUT COPYRIGHT?

Many of the texts in the Archive are subject to some form of copyright restriction. The Archive's obligations to its depositors generally restrict use of the texts to private study and research. In some cases, depositors have also authorised use of the texts in teaching. In all cases, users of the texts must agree not to use the texts commercially and not to redistribute copies of them without consultation.

HOW DO I ACCESS THE TEXTS?

If you are a registered user of Oxford University Computing Services (i.e. you have an account on OXFORD.VAX or black), just send an e-mail message to the username ARCHIVE (on either machine) specifying which texts you want to use and for what purpose.

If you are not a registered OUCS user, you can access only texts in categories P, U and A as described further below.

P category texts are in the public domain. No formality is needed for these texts. They can be downloaded directly by anonymous FTP, from black.ox.ac.uk or from other sites offering this facility. At present, very few texts are in this category; subject to agreement with our depositors we hope to increase the number greatly in the future.

U and A texts are usually distributed on magnetic tape or cartridge, though smaller texts can be sent on diskette. We will also send copies to you via the network, if you send us the required information (i.e. a secure account-name and password), provided that this can be done with reasonable success. Where copies are made on disk or tape, we make a small distribution charge to cover media and postage which *must* be paid in advance.

WHAT DO THE CODES IN THE CATALOGUE MEAN?

Each title in the list is preceded by a code made of of a single letter indicating the availability of the text (U, A, P, or X), in some cases followed by a star, a number identifying the text and another single letter which gives some idea of the size of the text.

Availability codes:

X Available only to registered OUCS users. May not be copied U Freely available for scholarly use in private research. U* Freely available for scholarly use in private research and also for teaching purposes. A Available for scholarly use, but only with written authorisation from the depositor. P Public domain text. Available without formality to anyone.

Size codes: A Size less than 512 Kb B Size between 512 Kb and 1 Mb C Size between 1 and 2 Mb D Size between 2 and 5 Mb E Size greater than 5 Mb

Depending on format, a standard 600 foot magnetic tape will hold up to 50 texts of size category A. Most texts of size code A will fit on a standard double density floppy diskette; any text of size code A or B will fit on a standard high density diskette.

WHAT DO I DO TO ORDER A COPY OF A TEXT?

Texts with availability code P may be downloaded directly, either from our anonymous FTP server at black.ox.ac.uk [129.67.1.165] or from other FTP servers on the InterNet. For more information on using FTP, please contact your local computing service.

For all other texts, you must complete and return the following proforma. For texts with availability code U, the only authorisation needed is your signature on the Order Form. For A category texts, you must also provide written authorisation from the depositor of the text; you should therefore ask us for depositor details before ordering. All orders must be prepaid to the account of Oxford University Computing Service, in sterling or in US dollars. We cannot issue invoices, and any orders which are not prepaid or not submitted on the standard order form will be ignored.

====================================================================== Oxford Text Archive email ARCHIVE @ UK.Ac.Oxford.VAX OUCS, 13 Banbury Road voice +44 (865) 273 238 Oxford OX2 6NN, UK fax +44 (865) 273 275 ======================================================================

OXFORD TEXT ARCHIVE OFFICIAL ORDER FORM

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* * Hardcopy of this form must be returned, duly completed, to * * Oxford Text Archive * * 13 Banbury Road * * Oxford OX2 6NN * * UK * * NB The whole of this document must be returned IN HARDCOPY * * All relevant parts of the form must be completed * * Payment must accompany the order * * Forms returned electronically will be ignored * *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

SECTION ONE: User Declaration

Please sign the following, in the place indicated:

In consideration of The Oxford Archive agreeing to supply me certain texts in machine-readable form together with supporting documentation as listed in Part Two below, hereinafter called 'the texts', I hereby undertake:-

(1) To use the texts for purposes of private scholarly research only and not for profit (this shall not preclude the publication in a scholarly context of analyses or interpretations derived from the texts). To use and make available to others for educational purposes only texts specifically designated as `available for teaching purposes'. (2) To acknowledge in any work, published or unpublished, based in whole or in part on analyses made of the texts both the original depositors and the Archive. (3) Not to copy in whole or in part the text, except insofaras this may be necessary for security purposes or for my own personal use. Not to distribute the text to third parties, nor to publish or reproduce it in anyway, except for teaching purposes, where so permitted. Copyright of all machine-readable texts issued by the Archive is reserved to the Depositors. (4) To give access to the text only to persons directly associated with me or working under my control and to require of such persons signed undertakings neither to use the text except in connexion with my academic purposes nor to give access to the text to others; these signed undertakings to be made available to the Archive on request. (5) Not to hold the Archive liable for any errors of transcription which may be found in the texts, but to notify the Archive of such errors wherever possible. (6) To pay such charges as the Archive may determine from time to time to cover the cost of supplying the texts.

SIGNATURE : [ ]

DATE : [ ]

PART TWO: Texts Required

Please enter for each text the NUMBER and SHORT TITLE, as given in the current Archive Shortlist

number Short title

[ ][ ] [ ][ ]

[ ][ ]

[ ][ ]

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NOTE: Only texts with an availability code of P, U or A may be ordered. Texts with Availability Code of A may be included in this list only if authorisation from the depositor accompanies this form. Depositor details are available on demand.

[This page may be copied as necessary]

SECTION THREE: Order Details

-------------------------Return Address-------------------------

Name

Institution

Department

Street

Post town Post code

Country (if not UK)

Electronic mail address

---------------------Format Required-------------------------

Texts may be supplied on Magnetic Tape, Diskette or Data Cartridge. Texts may also be transferred over the network.

Pricing is different for each format. Use tape if you are ordering more than a megabyte or so of data.

Please complete ONE of the following sections A, B, C or D

A-------------------Texts required on TAPE-------------------------

For each heading below, please circle or tick ONE choice only

Tape density: 1600 or 6250

Tape format: ASCII or EBCDIC Labelled or Unlabelled Fixed or Variable length

Number of texts ordered [ ] @ 5 (pounds) Number of tapes required [ ] @ 15 (within Europe) [ ] @ 25 (outside Europe)

B-------------------Texts Required on Diskette------------------

DD (360/720 Kb) or HD (1.2/1.4 Mb) MS/DOS or Macintosh 3.5" or 5.25

Number of diskettes: [ ] @ 15 (pounds)

C-------------------Texts Required on Data Cartridge--------------

DC300, TAR format only

Number of cartridges: [ ] @ 30 (pounds)

D-------------------Texts Required via network--------------

Network: JANET InterNet (tick one)

Account-name:

Password:

This account is under my personal control. I undertake to ensure security of the text stored here, in particular to ensure that others do not have access to it.

Signature:

At present, there is no charge for texts supplied over the network. ---------------------------------------------------------------------

TOTAL SUM ENCLOSED [ ] (pounds)

Payments in US Dollars should be converted at $2 = 1 pound

--------------------For Text Archive Use Only-------------------

Order number [ ] Received [ ]

Processed [ ] Despatched [ ]

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* * Hardcopy of this form must be returned, duly completed, to * * Oxford Text Archive * * 13 Banbury Road * * Oxford OX2 6NN * * UK * * NB The whole of this document must be returned IN HARDCOPY * * All relevant parts of the form must be completed * * Payment must accompany the order * * Forms returned electronically will be ignored * * * *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*