[osis-users] Some more footnote questions - multiple references to a single footnote

[Chris Little]

On 2/21/2013 7:32 AM, Markku Pihlaja wrote:
> Hi again,
>
> Our on-off project with the Finnish translation is on again, now really
> focusing on the very last details (I hope!). Working on annotations
> (footnotes) now, and coming across a few special cases which I'd
> appreciate your advice with.
>
> Actually, I posted two questions about footnotes in December, but the
> remained unanswered. One of them did get its answer elsewhere, the other
> one is included here in these new questions.
>
>
> *Case 1) Several references to one footnote in a) one verse, b) two
> adjacent verses, c) two non-adjacent verses.*
>
>     a):
>     <verse sID="Job 42:14" osisID="Job.42.14" />Yhdelle tyttärelle hän
>     antoi nimeksi Jemima*, toiselle Kesia*ja kolmannelle
>     Keren-Puk*.<verse eID="Job 42:14" />
>
>     b):
>     <verse sID="4. Moos. 34:5" osisID="Num.34.5" />kääntyy sitten
>     Egyptin rajapuroa kohti ja jatkuu sitä pitkin mereen.*<verse eID="4.
>     Moos. 34:5" /></p>
>     <p><verse sID="4. Moos. 34:6" osisID="Num.34.6" />»Läntisenä rajana
>     on Suurimeri rantoineen.*Se on teidän rajanne lännen puolella.
>
>     c):
>     For example in Matt.18.24 and Matt.18.28.
>
>
> All three asterisks in a) refer to the same footnote that explains the
> meaning of each name. In b), both the asterisk in 34:5 and the asterisk
> in 34:6 refer to the same footnote, and in c), there is an
> asterisk both in verse 24 and verse 28, but one common footnote for both.
>
> Should I just place one note tag for example at the last or first
> asterisk? In a future implementation where you click on the asterisk to
> see the footnote, that would then leave the other asterisks unlinked and
> inactive. Duplicating the note would certainly not be good practice,
> would it?

(I'm going to break these up into separate responses for each question.)

My first reaction to a) is that these should really be three separate 
footnotes: one each for the three distinct names. Perhaps that's not an 
option, and it doesn't really address the problem, but that's how I 
would have written the document in the first place.

It is useful to remember that OSIS is heavily based on and influenced by 
TEI, so TEI documentation can often be helpful in figuring out how to 
encode something in OSIS 
(http://www.tei-c.org/release/doc/tei-p5-doc/en/html/). That said, I 
don't believe that either OSIS or TEI address this issue in a useful way.

You have, essentially, 3 options:
1) Include the note text with the first or last note marker and put 
blank notes or note markers in the other positions. (Your first option)
2) Include the note text with the first or last note marker and put 
notes that refer to that note in the other positions. E.g. <note>See 
above.</note>.
3) Include the full note text at all positions of the note marker. (Your 
last option.)

To my mind, the last option is best for an electronic Bible since it 
facilitates links to the note text (or hover popups). In the worst case, 
a printed Bible will have repeated notes, but at least no information is 
lost.

--Chris