[14165] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
FYI France EXTRA: the "text-e" e-conference
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jack Kessler)
Wed Oct 31 20:00:23 2001
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:39:25 -0800
From: Jack Kessler <kessler@WELL.COM>
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FYI France EXTRA: the "text-e" e-conference
An extraordinary online event -- of interest to anyone involved
in books, writing, libraries, digital text, ebooks, online video,
"information", econferencing, or the Internet or the Minitel or a
lot of other things -- is taking place right now and over the
next few months at,
http://www.text-e.org
Roger Chartier, Stephen Harnad, Theodore Zeldin, and many other
luminaries, discussing "texts" and various favorite subjects...
even Jason Epstein, talking about and discussing (with you!)
"Reading: The Digital Future"... and Umberto Eco, opining on
"Authors and Authority", and wondering, "Do intellectuals play
the role of a Web - filter?"...
And everything is free - of - charge. Participants / viewers /
you can download free ebooks, watch free videos, and take part in
open online discussions with other viewers and with the
"speakers": just think, Roger Chartier and Jason Epstein and
Umberto Eco, answering your questions and arguing with you about
"the decline of the book" and "etexts"...
The event is presented by the "BPI / Bibliothe`que publique
dŽinformation", the "Institut Jean Nicod (CNRS)", the "EURO-EDU /
Association Europe'enne pour le De'veloppement de lŽEnseignement
Supe'rieur et de la Recherche sur Internet", and "Giantchair, an
Ebook Distribution Company": the extraordinary program --
"Every two weeks a new topic is explored. The author's
text on the topic can be downloaded for free on this
site. To take part in the discussions, you will need to
sign up. Past discussions are open for viewing only."
* Readers and Readings in the Electronic Age
Monday, October 15 - Wednesday, October 31
How does one read on-screen? Does the change in the
support of texts mean that the contents of texts will
change as well? What are the texts that will still be
called 'books' once they are made available through the
unified medium of screens?
Speaker - Roger Chartier
* What the Internet tells us about the Real Nature of the
Book
Wednesday, October 31 - Wednesday, November 14
The philosopher may wonder: what is a book? This is an
ontological problem: the book is at once a physical and a
mental entity.
Speaker - Roberto Casati
* Skyreading / Writing in the Post-Gutenberg Galaxy
Wednesday, November 14 - Friday, November 30
In the Post-Gutenberg Galaxy, a profound dividing line
will emerge between so-called "non-give-away work" and
so-called "give-away work" such as scientific and
scholarly research papers.
Speaker - Stevan Harnad
* Digital Journalism: Virtual Journalism?
Friday, November 30 - Friday, December 14
What is the difference between a newspaper and an
Internet portal? Does an electronic newspaper have to
guarantee the same services as a portal?
Speaker - Bruno Patino
* Personal and Professional Conversation
Friday, December 14 - Monday, December 31
It is often suggested that conversations over the
Internet tend to be informal. But an e-mail etiquette is
already beginning to emerge. Is informal communication
really possible?
Speaker - Theodore Zeldin
* Reading: The Digital Future
Monday, December 31 - Monday, January 14
Various book supports will continue to coexist, while the
range of expertise needed for the publishing of texts and
the management of rights is already undergoing a radical
transformation.
Speaker - Jason Epstein
* Babel and the Vintage Selection: Libraries in the
Digital Age
Monday, January 14 - Thursday, January 31
What is a library in the numerical age? In an institution
which, traditionally, is devoted to the written word and
to its memory, the advent of unstable and potentially
infinite information could put in question the very
nature of the library.
Speaker - Equipe BPI
* Reading without Writing
Thursday, January 31 - Thursday, February 14
This contribution to the symposium will reflect on the
future of texts which will continue to be read but will
no longer be written.
Speaker - Dan Sperber
* The New Architecture of Information
Thursday, February 14 - Thursday, February 28
After having observed in our usability labs hundreds of
users interacting with websites and other electronic
media one fact is clear: users do not read more than four
lines of text on the screen. We will try to explain why.
Speakers - Stephana Broadbent, Francesco Cara
* Authors and Authority
Thursday, February 28 - Thursday, March 14
What is the role of the expert and of the intellectual at
a time when information is accessible to virtually
everyone? Do intellectuals play the role of a
"Web-filter"?
Speaker - Umberto Eco
Apologies for duplication to those with whom I already have been
discussing this "text-e" event, on a couple of econferences --
bears repeating, I figure, plus broadest possible dissemination.
And many thanks once again to Peter Graham, who first announced
this event to me and to many others on Exlibris.
A thought, as well, that anyone interested in econferencing and
"video conferencing" generally -- as who among us is not,
nowadays, as "face - to - face giant conferences held in big city
hotels and convention centers" now are "_so_ September 10..." --
we all might take a hard and systematic look at the structure
which these "text-e" people have assembled and mounted.
It is impressive. The "text-e" site offers:
* Home -- everything is in 3 languages, no less -- if "terrorism"
hasn't taught the US the virtues of _multilingualism_ now,
nothing ever will -- have a look in job recruiting sites at the
plaintive current cries from CIA, FBI, US Dept. of Defense, etc.:
"Anybody out there know Arabic?", "How about Pashtu?"...
* Sign up -- client - analysis and mailing lists! i.e. for going
further -- well - thought - out site, like I said
* Program -- see above, and there are bios of the "speakers" plus
all of the following very useful and free - of - charge options,
Download this text:
Adobe eBook (Mac/PC) | Microsoft Reader (for PC only)
Read this text online | Printable version
Read the archived debate
Videos (2 speeds)
-- some day, soon, someone will figure out how to incorporate
_interactive_ video / teleconferencing into one of these
econference events, manageably -- oh what "bandwidth" &
"filtering" & "information overload" fun we all will have then...
* Participants -- your name in lights, along with the "speakers"
and others among the most interesting people in the fields concerned
* Organizers -- details on and links to the BPI, and also to the
perhaps less familiar but no less interesting "Institut Jean
Nicod (CNRS)", "EURO-EDU / Association Europe'enne pour le
De'veloppement de lŽEnseignement Supe'rieur et de la Recherche
sur Internet", and "Giantchair, an Ebook Distribution Company"
* Discussion forum -- entry - point for participating in ongoing
discussion topics, related to the current "speaker" presentation,
or for initiating your own -- "argue 'books' with Epstein..."
* eBooks -- the etexts by Roger Chartier and Roberto Casati, so
far -- very easily downloaded and read, online or off
* Events -- just in case you can get to France non - "virtually"
"A series of events in the 'real' world are programmed to
accompany and enrich the ongoing symposium:
* Centre Georges Pompidou - Petite Salle
Monday, November 05 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Conference in French: Les-rendez vous de l'e'dition: Les
supports du texte e'lectronique : quelle technologie pour
quelle information? With: Franc,ois Chahuneau, Alain
Pierrot, Olivier Pujot, Johan Hufnagel. Chair : Daniel Garcia
* ENS- LSH, 15 parvis Rene' Descartes, 69007 Lyon
Thursday, November 08 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Conference in French: Les jeudis du nume'rique Vers un
nouveau mode`le industriel. Speaker: Eric Brousseau:
Fondements des Organisations et des Re'gulations de
l'Univers Marchand ISDN
* Centre Georges Pompidou - Petite Salle - Niveau - 1
Monday, November 26 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Conference in French: Les rendez-vous de l'e'dition:
L'e'dition en sciences humaines. With: Colette Becker,
Emmanuelle Garcia, Michel Prigent, Peter Stockinger.
Chair: Ge'rald Grunberg.
* Bibliography -- a very good list, assembled by Noga Arikha and
Gloria Origgi the principal "EURO-EDU" organizers of the event --
well worth checking over
* Contact Us -- the email address is info@text-e.org
* Press Reviews -- these people are pros -- so far,
Sunday, October 14
Domenica - Il Sole 24 Ore, Eco e Epstein sul libro in rete
Thursday, October 04
Liberation, En bref: Colloque virtuel
* Press Release -- a good summary, worth reading -- interesting
info. on the two principal organizers,
Noga Arikha has recently completed a doctorate at the
Warburg Institute, London. She is a historian of ideas
with an interest in the philosophy of mind, the cognitive
sciences and the history of life sciences. She is also
concerned with the establishment of dialogues between
disciplines, between the academic and the public spheres,
and between the sciences and the humanities.
Gloria Origgi is researcher in philosophy at the
University of Bologna, where she teaches philosophy and
cognitive science. In 2000 she founded the EURO-EDU
Association for developing Internet-based research
projects. She is author of essays in philosophy of mind
and epistemology. She is also in the faculty of the
Graduate School in Information and Communication
Technologies Almaweb, Bologna Italy.
and, last but not least,
* Search -- thank goodness -- always a sign of a "site which
cares..."
As long as so many of us are spending the week beneath the bed --
"waiting for the bomb to drop", or worse -- we might as well
econference. There _is_ still a world out there, after all, one
involving more than just cluster bombs and anthrax... even though
the US and Asian and Western European media for the last few
weeks might have led you to believe that there isn't. To the bed
- ensconced, then, how better to refresh the brain without
exposing the body than to get back in harness intellectually but
only virtually, online.
On the other hand, for the more daring and / or more foolish,
international air travel and hotel costs never have been lower:
supply and demand / no one's doing it -- $378 return, SFO to
Paris, and my son says student fares are a whole lot less. But I
never have liked standing in lines at all, myself, much less
standing in longer lines now supervised by a weekender National
Guardsman carrying a loaded gun. So, on to "text-e", and our
brave new video econferencing "virtual" world.
Besides, it'd probably be raining in Paris...
--oOo--
FYI France (sm)(tm) e-journal ISSN 1071 - 5916
*
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