This page documents how to create a GitHub issue for Syriaca.org. Common use cases include reporting errors in the dataset, requesting updates to a particular record, or noting other inaccuracies.

For more general documentation on using GitHub issues, see GitHub Issues Documentation.

Creating a New Issue

To report an error or request, please create a new issue in the Syriaca data repository: https://github.com/srophe/syriaca-data/issues/new.

Before opening this issue, please check whether an existing issue has been created by searching the Syriaca data issues list

The issue's title must include the following:

1. The URI of the record with the error or change request

• if multiple records are involved, instead use the entity type ("Persons", "Places", "Works", etc.)

2. Optionally, the English headword of the person (i.e., the English record title)

• This is not required by may be included to assist in searching

3. A very brief description of the problem or change request (see the below example)

Example: http://syriaca.org/person/13 Ephrem: Typo in person name "Ephriam"

The issue description should include the following:

1. A longer description of the error or change request, with contextual information such as bibliographic citations of correct information as needed
2. Optionally, a proposed solution to the error

• For users familiar with or trained in Syriaca's TEI XML data model, this can include a proposed change to the TEI XML data (see below on how to format code snippets)
• For other users, a prose description of what should be changed will suffice

In the "Labels" panel on the right, please select the community-submitted label and apply it to this issue. You may optionally apply additional labels if relevant (e.g., SBD for persons or TSG for places)

Finally, assign the issue to at minimum one of the Syriaca editors:

• davidamichelson
• dlschwartz
• jsaintlauren
• wlpotter

Issue Tracking

Once created as above, the Syriaca editors will review and respond in comments as availability permits. This will track publically the status and discussion surrounding the issue (i.e., if, when, and how it is resolved)

The editors may require additional information or documentation for the change. Once a change is approved and the records updated, the issue can be "Closed".

It is possible that the editors will decide to resolve the issue differently than what is proposed, that no change is needed, or that the issue is a duplicate of a previous one. The issue can be "Closed" for such cases as well.

Formatting for Issue Descriptions (OPTIONAL)

The following is optional syntax that helps format issue descriptions.

Issue descriptions use a text format called Markdown (see GitHub's Markdown Guide for more information). The editing menu for the description also provides formatting buttons; the below is a list of the most relevant features:

• Hyperlinks can be created by simply pasting in a URL, e.g. https://syriaca.org/index.html. Alternatively, a text description can be created using the syntax: [The Syriac Reference Portal](https://syriaca.org/index.html)
• GitHub users can be "mentioned" (meaning they will receive a notification) by using the @ symbol followed by the username, e.g. @wlpotter
• Bulletted lists are created with - at the beginning of the line (make sure to include the single white space)
• Numbered lists are created with 1.
• Code snippets, e.g. TEI XML, should be placed inside of backticks, "`", e.g. <persName>Ephriam</persName.
  • Multiple lines of code require the following: a line with three backticks (```), the lines with the code, followed by a line with three backticks (```). This creates a codeblock like the following:

<person>
  <persName>Ephrem</persName
</person>