Conference 20-23 March 2002 The electronic revolution of the last decade has transformed the nature and the potential of the public collection. It is now possible to envisage libraries, museums and art galleries which are accessible, in part or in whole, online. The publishing industry is in a state of turmoil as it makes the transition to electronic dissemination of its products; scholarly research has been revolutionsed by the resources of the internet including online publishing, email, scholarly lists, and the formation of new databases. E-commerce is in the process of transforming the retail book trade. What, in this context, is the future of the archive? Bringing together librarians, curators, archivists, publishers, booksellers and academics, the conference sought to address some of the central issues that arise from the rapidly forming new information order. Abstracts Conference details Old College, The University of Edinburgh March 20th – 23rd 2002 The electronic revolution of the last decade has transformed the nature and the potential of the public collection. It is now possible to envisage libraries, museums and art galleries which are accessible, in part or in whole, online. The publishing industry is in a state of turmoil as it makes the transition to electronic dissemination of its products; scholarly research has been revolutionised by the resources of the internet including online publishing, email, scholarly lists, and the formation of new databases. E-commerce is in the process of transforming the retail book trade. What, in this context, is the future of the archive? Bringing together librarians, curators, archivists, publishers, booksellers and academics, the conference sought to address some of the central issues that arise from the rapidly forming new information order: What pressures exist on the public domain in intellectual and aesthetic materials? To what extent does the privatisation of intellectual resources threaten their free availability? What new forms of licensing and networking are emerging in the transition to the electronic archive? What ethical questions are involved in the ceding of content to electronic publishers? What threats are posed by the emerging oligopolies in scholarly publishing, and how can they be met? What are the legal implications of the electronic archiving of newspapers and journals? Can a new framework for deposit of electronic materials be devised? What new possibilities of access are opened up by the development of electronic archives and databases, and what constraints exist on access? How is the relation between originals and copies changing in the new order of things? Which materials are reproducible, which are not, and who decides? What futures, both technological and social, are emerging for the book and the artwork? What is the future of the bookshop in an electronic world? Plenary speakers: The Shepherd & Wedderburn Lecture: James Boyle, Professor of Law, Duke University Tom Hickerson, Associate Librarian, Cornell University Paul Mosher, Director of Libraries, University of Pennsylvania Clive Field, Director of Scholarship and Collections, British Library Paul Ayris, Chair, Consortium of University Research Libraries Task Force on Scholarly Communications Michael Mabe, Director of Academic Relations, Elsevier Science Matthew Evans, Faber and Resource Josie Dixon, Palgrave Bruce Royan, SCRAN Richard Paterson, Head of Knowledge, British Film Institute Manfredi La Manna, Reader in Economics, University of St. Andrews Steven Harnad, Professor of Cognitive Science, University of Southampton Frederick Friend, Director Scholarly Communication, University College London Michael Ashburner, Professor of Genetics, University of Cambridge; Public Library of Science Gaetano Stucchi, European Broadcasting Union Conference Programme, including full papers where available. Wednesday, 20 March Playfair Library The Shepherd & Wedderburn Lecture Professor James Boyle (Law, Duke University): The Opposite of Property Chair: John Frow SESSION 1 Professor Bruce Royan (Chief Executive, SCRAN): Virtual Enlightenment, or Digital Dark Age? A view from the Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network SESSION 2A Eleanor Brown (National Archives of Canada): Web Access to the Original Archival Records – Challenging the Old Information Order? Nicola Mastidoro (IntraText Digital Library): The IntraText Project: lexical hypertextualization as a new model of access to digital textual resources J. Michael Stitt (University of Nevada, Las Vegas): The World Literature Hypermedia Project at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas SESSION 2B Maureen Burns (Australian Key Centre for Cultural & Media Policy): ABC Online as an Environment of Public Memory John Troyer (University of Minnesota): Archiving the Corpse: Embalming Technologies of the Past and Present SESSION 3A Orit Halpern (Harvard University): Archives and Race: Technologies of Difference Gary Hall (Middlesex University): The Politics and Ethics of Electronic Archiving Eduardo Urbina (Texas A&M University): Critical editing in the digital age: Informatics and Humanities Research SESSION 3B Craig Sinclair (University of Massachusetts, Amherst): Curating the World Wide Web Joseph Tennis (University of Washington): A new sense of motion: framing the idea of the archive in the new information order SESSION 4 Richard Paterson (Head of Knowledge, British Film Institute): The Value of the Past, the Relevance to the Present Gaetano Stucchi (European Broadcasting Union): The Audiovisual Heritage Giorgio Dimino (RAI – Research and Technological Innovation Centre): The Multimedia Catalogue: making the RAI audiovisual heritage accessible to the general public SESSION 5 Thomas Hickerson (Associate Librarian, Cornell University): Sociotechnical Change and the Transformation of Research Libraries and the Academic Information Environment SESSION 6 Clive Field (Director of Scholarship and Collections, British Library) The British Library, Digital Scholarship and the National Archive SESSION 7A Katherine Harris (CUNY Graduate Center): Fantasies of Containment: Digitally Archiving a Nineteenth Century British Literary Annual (the Forget-Me-Not) as a Textual Moment Robert Morris (University of Edinburgh): Back to Future: Methods, historical knowledge and practice and the implications of electronic data Ellis Weinberger (Cambridge University Library): Security in a digital repository SESSION 7B John MacColl (University of Edinburgh): Free Access to Research Publications? The Potential of the Open Archives Initiative Philip Leith (Queen’s University of Belfast): Legal, Cultural and Technical Obstacles to the use of Court-Based Information Paul Frosh (Hebrew University of Jerusalem): Picturing the Digital Info-Pixel: Photographic Archives and the Visual Content Industry SESSION 8 Matthew Evans (Faber and Resource) and Josie Dixon (Palgrave): Scholarly Publishing Online: Technologies and Markets, Partnerships and Communities SESSION 9 Round Table Discussion: Drivers of Change in Scholarly Communication Paul Ayris (Chair, Consortium of University Research Libraries’ Task Force on Scholarly Communications) Michael Mabe (Director of Academic Relations, Elsevier Science) Manfredi La Manna (University of St. Andrews) Stevan Harnad (University of Southampton) Frederick Friend (University College London; SPARC) Michael Ashburner (University of Cambridge; Public Library of Science) Chair: Ian Mowat 6 p.m. Conclusion 7.30 p.m. Conference Dinner – George Heriot’s School SESSION 10 Steve Bailey (Electronic Records Manager, Joint Information Systems Committee): Back to Basics: Reassessing archival priorities for the new information order Michal Kobialka (University of Minnesota): Can there be such a thing as a postmodern archive? Zachar Laskewicz (University of Ghent): Wondrous Textual Machines: new forms of textuality in a changing world Closing Session: Paul Mosher (Director of Libraries, University of Pennsylvania): The Perils of Pauline on the Internet. The Future of Knowledge in the Digital Age: Memory, Metaphor, Marketing This article was published on Thursday 8 August 2024
