An Exploration of <object> using Antarctic Artifacts Suzanne Raybuck and Sarah Stanley Problem The recent inclusion of <object> to the TEI has been a long-awaited addition to the language that was adapted from the msdescription module. With this project, we set out to test the effectiveness of the <physDesc> element within <object> and the effectiveness of the current concept of describing general objects. Methodology To test the effectiveness of <physDesc>, we selected six objects from FSU Special Collections. These objects demonstrated a variety of physical characteristics we wanted to capture. We then described these objects in as much detail as possible through observation then took the resulting document and converted it into descriptive markup in the TEI. While marking up our descriptions, we paid special attention to which current child elements of <physDesc> were applicable to the object. We also tested how the current content model restricts accurate description and markup. Based on this markup we then created an ODD file to add elements that would address the observations and questions we had while initially describing the objects. Result and Discussion We produced six descriptions of our objects to test the utility of <physDesc> and its child elements <objectDesc>, <decoDesc>, and <typeDesc>. Each object presented a different challenge to describe and resulted in a number of questions about the current version of <physDesc>, such as: • What is the difference between <physDesc> and <objectDesc> when describing objects and not manuscripts? • Are the current child elements from the msdescription module still applicable to general objects? • How do we subdivide objects into parts that can be described within <physDesc>? Based on our observations, we decided to create two models for segmenting objects for description: one that was meant to segment the descriptions themselves, and another that segmented the objects and linked these segments to their descriptions. Figure 7. Model of a United States Navy Icebreaker. Figure 3. U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Plaque. Figure 1. Ceramic Penguin Figurine. Customization #1 – <objectSector> • Creates an <objectSector> element within <object> which lays out segments of the object • Assigns an @xml:id for linking to corresponding prose in <objectDesc> • Considers the segmentation of the object information about the object itself Figure 5. Navy Icebreaker description using <sectorDesc>. Customization #2 - <sectorDesc> • Creates a <sectorDesc> within <objectDesc> element • Provides the user a way of being more precise by segmenting the description of the object • Considers segmentation a feature of the description, rather than the object Both Customizations • Created subdivisions of objects for more nuanced description • Allow for the use of @place to segment the objects • Utilize custom att.3Dcoordinates which allows the user to define a box-like space that encloses the area being described. Ideally these coordinates will map onto some 3D model of the object Figure 4. Navy Icebreaker description using <objectSector>. Figure 6. Schema for our att.3dcoordinates attribute class. View all our files for this project in our GitHub repository at https://github.com/sraybuck/AntarcticObject Figure 2. Emergency Lantern.