Encoding Dates and Times

This document describes the protocol for encoding dates and times within transcriptions.

Note that you should only encode real dates and real times; in other words, we are interested in identifying specific points in time and not broad or general references to time.

Dates

Use the date element to encode dates; the date (in YYYY-MM-DD format) should be encoded using the when attribute:

I was in Switzerland in the year
<lb/><date when="1734">1734</date>.

Tag only the minimum information necessary for the date. For instance, in the following dateline, you would only encode the "Augt 18th, 1746" part of the date, even though there is additional information:

<dateline>
Upon Tower-hill, Monday, <date when="1746-08-18">Augt
<lb/>18th, 1746</date>. in the 58th year
<lb/>of his Age.</dateline>

For a date range, use the from and to attributes:

I travelled to Geneva from <date from="1746-08-18" to="1746-09-03">August 18, 1746 to September 3</date>

For uncertain date ranges, use the notBefore and notAfter attributes (NB: this isn't very common within text transcriptions, but is frequently necessary for person record when describing dates of birth or residence).

Times

Times follow similar rules to dates: encode the time using the time element.

Each time must contain a when attribute that specifies the time in the 24 hour clock in the format HH:MM:SS (i.e. 4:15pm would be encoded as 16:15:00). For example:

About <time when="11:00:00">eleven o’Clock</time> He ordered them
<lb/>to refresh themselves by Sleep

Each time must include hours, minutes, and seconds (even though it will be rare for seconds to be specified in the text).

When both a time and date are combined, use the date element to encode the entire phrase and tag the

<time

> within the date:

About <date when="1746-04-16"><time when="02:00:00">2 o’Clock of the <w>Morn<pc force="weak">-</pc>
<lb/>ing</w></time> of the 16<hi rendition="rnd:underlined">th</hi></date>