The Electronic Stoa: The Future Potential (and
Problems) of On-line Publishing in Classics
Sponsored by the APA Committee on Computer Activities and
the AIA Computer Applications and Electronic Publication
Committee
Organized by Suzanne Bonefas, Associated Colleges
of the South, and Timothy E. Gregory, Ohio State
University
Organizers' Statement
Six panelists (3 archaeologists and 3 philologists),
all with extensive experience integrating technology and
scholarship, speak about what publication in classics
might look like in the near future and provide some
practical advice for those who want to begin thinking
about publication in the information age. The panel is
concerned not only with the mechanics and feasibility of
on-line publication, but also with how the Internet opens
our discipline to a much wider audience. It also
discusses the challenge of publishing our work in ways
that engage that audience in meaningful intellectual
experiences, thus creating a broadly-based learning
community of students of the ancient world.
While not all the panelists may agree with dire
predictions about the usurping of our roles as educators
by the likes of Microsoft, they do recognize the need for
the discipline to capitalize upon the promise of the
Internet and electronic media, and to do so responsibly.
In this panel, we want to share both information and
insights, in the hope of stimulating an on-going and
ever-expanding dialogue among all those interested in the
future of Classics and to allow those new to electronic
publication to avoid the pitfalls of the new media.
The first speaker, Nick
Eiteljorg, begins the discussion by providing an
overview of the kinds of electronic data that
archaeologists can profitably publish alongside or in
lieu of traditional print publications. Eitlejorg
addresses the practical issues involved in making these
kinds of materials available to a wide audience and
address the issue of whether the technology generally
available in the academic world is sufficiently advanced
enough for this kind of electronic publication to become
widespread.
The second speaker, Penny
Small, talks more specifically about the publication
of data in database rather than paper format, and how the
availability of "raw" data can radically alter the
traditional paradigm of what a publication is and what
can be done with it. Using the LIMC and the "Sibyl"
database as examples, Small will demonstrate new models
of research made possible by publication in database
format and the concept of a "dynamic" publication.
The third speaker, Ross
Scaife, describes a newly-formed consortium for
electronic publishing in the humanities called the Stoa.
This project is intended "to foster a new style of
refereed scholarly publications in the humanities not
only of interest to specialists but also (and just as
importantly) accessible by design and choice of medium to
wide public audiences." Scaife describes some current
publications sponsored by Stoa, and how these
publications will fundamentally change both how
classicists publish and for whom they publish. He also
outlines strategies for electronic publishing that
guarantee continued availability of a publication (one of
the most problematic aspects of the web today) as well as
"interoperability" among e-publications, so that users
will be able to look up information that may reside in
many different places with a single search.
The fourth speaker, Joseph
Farrell, another member of the Stoa consortium,
discusses a collaborative on-line text of the Aeneid that
represents a paradigm in which publication and teaching
are inextricably interwoven, rather than two distinct
facets of the academic profession. Farrell describes by
way of example some of the textual materials and
commentaries being published via the consortium, as well
as the Vergil Project: an on-line, interactive,
hypertextual, multi-authored text.
The fifth speaker, Elizabeth
Vandiver, is likewise involved in on-line
collaborations for the production of textual materials.
Vandiver discusses the Suda On-line Project, a
large-scale (and international) collaborative translation
of the Suda. This project is not only electronic in its
operation (i.e. electronic submission of translations, as
well as access to the finished product), but also was
originally conceived on-line, as the result of a
discussion that took place on the well-know Classics
e-mail list. It is thus an excellent example of the
potential of the Internet as a medium for all phases of a
collaborative e-publication.
Finally, the sixth speaker, Sebastian
Heath, discusses the archaeological side of Stoa
publication, by presenting his on-line "Registry of
Mediterranean Pottery" (RMP), "a preliminary effort to
make ceramic data accessible to both specialist and
non-specialist audiences in a manner that promotes
cross-project analyses of economic and cultural phenomena
in the ancient Mediterranean." Heath describes strategies
for establishing standards for database publication that
will enable linkages among different projects that are
not possible with traditional print media, and that
enable a new level of archaeological research.
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