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Build editions with ediarum by treating it as four cooperating parts: ediarum.BASE gives editors a configured oXygen XML Author environment, ediarum.DB stores your TEI and authority registers in eXist-db, and ediarum.WEB publishes the result. The workflow is: install and deploy the packages, adapt the TEI schema (ODD) to your texts, seed your person and place registers, encode in oXygen's visual Author mode with register dropdowns, then render through ediarum.WEB. Expect real setup time up front — ediarum is a framework you configure, not a turnkey product.
What is ediarum and who is it for?
ediarum is an open-source toolbox from the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (BBAW) for producing TEI-based scholarly editions. It suits teams who want editors working in a friendly visual interface while keeping a clean, validated TEI corpus and centrally managed authority registers. If you have non-technical editors and a technically capable lead, it fits well.
How do the components fit together?
text
oXygen XML Author --(ediarum.BASE: schema + buttons)--> edit TEI visually
|
v
eXist-db --(ediarum.DB: storage + registers)--> persons, places, works
|
v
ediarum.WEB --(XSLT/templates)--> published editionEditors touch the top of this stack; the technical lead owns the middle and bottom.
How do I set up ediarum, step by step?
- Install eXist-db (a stable release tested with your ediarum version) and start it.
- Deploy the ediarum packages (
ediarum.db, registers, and the web app) through the eXist package manager dashboard. - Install oXygen XML Editor and add the ediarum.BASE framework so Author mode shows the edition toolbar.
- Point oXygen at your eXist-db so editors open and save documents straight from the database.
- Adapt the ODD to constrain TEI to what your project actually uses, then generate the schema.
- Seed registers: create initial
listPerson,listPlaceandlistBibldocuments.
Do not let editors start before steps 5 and 6 — encoding against an unconstrained schema with empty registers produces inconsistent data you will have to clean later.
How does ediarum keep annotations consistent?
The registers are the heart of it. Persons and places live as TEI authority files in eXist-db:
xml
<person xml:id="goethe">
<persName>Johann Wolfgang von Goethe</persName>
<birth when="1749-08-28"/>
</person>While editing, an editor selects "Goethe" from a live dropdown and ediarum inserts the right ref="#goethe" automatically. No one retypes ids, so cross-references stay valid and the whole edition becomes linkable from day one.
What should editors actually do day to day?
In oXygen Author mode they work visually: select a span and click a button to mark a persName, a deletion, an addition, or a note. The toolbar maps each action to the correct TEI, and validation against your ODD runs live, flagging anything outside the agreed model. Editors rarely type raw tags.
| Task | Editor action | Result in TEI |
|---|---|---|
| Mark a person | Select text, click Person, pick from list | <persName ref="#id"> |
| Record a deletion | Select text, click Delete | <del> |
| Add a note | Click Note, type | <note> |
| Insert a page break | Click Pagebreak | <pb n=".."/> |
What are the common pitfalls?
The biggest is underestimating setup: ediarum is configurable, so plan a real installation and customisation phase. Others: skipping the ODD and letting the full TEI schema through (inconsistency follows); pinning incompatible eXist-db and ediarum versions; and leaving registers empty so editors invent ad hoc references. Address all four before encoding begins.
How do I publish with ediarum.WEB?
ediarum.WEB renders your TEI through XSLT and templates into a browsable edition with register-driven indexes of persons and places. Start from the supplied templates, adjust the stylesheets to your house style, and you have a working site that already exploits the authority links your editors created.
Key Takeaways
- ediarum is four parts: BASE (oXygen framework), DB (eXist-db + registers), WEB (publishing), plus the registers.
- It pairs a friendly visual editor for editors with clean validated TEI underneath.
- Adapt the ODD and seed registers before any editor starts encoding.
- Authority registers and dropdowns keep person/place references consistent and linkable.
- oXygen XML Editor (commercial) is the main dependency; ediarum itself is GPL.
- The chief pitfall is treating a configurable framework as a turnkey app.
- ediarum.WEB renders TEI to a browsable edition with register-driven indexes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is ediarum?
ediarum is an open-source edition toolbox developed at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (BBAW). It combines a configured oXygen XML Author authoring environment, an eXist-db backend for storage and registers, and web components for publishing TEI-based scholarly editions.
Do I need to know XML to use ediarum?
Editors work mostly in oXygen's Author visual mode with buttons and form controls, so day-to-day encoding needs little hand-written XML. Setting up and customising ediarum, however, requires TEI, ODD and some eXist-db and XSLT knowledge from at least one technical team member.
What are the main components of ediarum?
Four: ediarum.BASE (the oXygen framework and TEI schema), ediarum.DB (the eXist-db application with register management), ediarum.WEB (publishing layer), and the registers themselves for persons, places, works and bibliography stored as TEI in the database.
How does ediarum handle persons and places?
It keeps authority registers as TEI listPerson and listPlace documents in eXist-db. While editing, you pick an entity from a live dropdown and ediarum inserts the correct reference, keeping your annotations consistent and linkable.
Is ediarum free, and what is the licence?
Yes. ediarum is released as open source (GPL) by the BBAW. You still need a licensed copy of oXygen XML Editor for the authoring environment, which is the main commercial dependency.
What is the biggest pitfall when starting with ediarum?
Underestimating the initial setup. ediarum is a configurable framework, not a turnkey app, so budget time to install eXist-db, deploy the packages, adapt the ODD to your texts and seed your registers before editors can be productive.