Mission

The goal of TAPAS is to provide publishing and repository services for TEI/XML data at low cost. We seek to support those who are using TEI in research or teaching, but lack institutional resources for TEI/XML publishing: faculty, students, librarians, archivists, teachers, and anyone else with TEI data who wants to store, share, and publish it. TAPAS seeks to achieve these goals in a collaborative, open, and community-driven way using open-source tools. For more information about the TEI Consortium, please visit the TEI site.

TAPAS Story

The TAPAS project emerged out of a conversation during a TEI workshop on the need for a tool to allow users of the TEI to visualize and store their markup. Out of this conversation, a group, made up of both learners and teachers of the TEI, got together to discuss and design what became TAPAS. Their primary goal was to develop a secure and affordable means for those without institutional support or technical means to publish, archive, research, and share TEI projects. The early beta development of TAPAS was made possible through IMLS and NEH grants and the support of Brown University and the TEI-C. In 2013, TAPAS moved to Northeastern University. Following extensive beta testing by a community of volunteer TEIrs (view a full list of TAPAS supporters here), TAPAS made its public launch in 2014.

TAPAS was originally planned as a benefit of membership in the TEI Consortium. In 2021, TAPAS moved to an entirely open-access model with full functionality freely available to all users.

Since its initial launch, TAPAS has focused on strengthening its support for pedagogical uses of TEI, with support from a Digital Humanities Advancement award from the National Endowment for the Humanities. TAPAS has developed TEI sample documents, templates, viewing options, and supporting materials to make it easier to use TAPAS in classroom and workshop settings. TAPAS is currently completing an overhaul and update of its core code base.