SHARP News Volume 19 | Number 4 Article 1 Fall 2010 Volume 19, Number 4 Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/sharp_news Recommended Citation (2013) "Volume 19, Number 4," SHARP News: Vol. 19: No. 4. Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/sharp_news/vol19/iss4/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in SHARP News by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. et al.: Volume 19, Number 4 SOCIETY FOR THE HISTOR.Y QF AUTHQRSHIP, READ INC & SHARPNEWS PUBLI~HING Volume 19, Number 4 Autumn 2010 plenary presentation, 'What do Scholars literary anthologies are now supplemented Want?,' were concerned with how to confront with comprehensive online facsimiles that a technological shift that has left the academy challenge pre-conceived notions of strict in its wake. McGann argued that the 'ivory canonicity attributed to these common stu­ Technology, Textuality, and tower' status of academia has excluded schol­ dent texts. Jim Mussell similarly disturbed Transmission ars from conversations about the changing conceptions of digital genres by arguing that University of Edinburgh technological shape of the universal library. a hybrid digital project combining strict edito­ 16-18 JulY 2010 As a result, few solutions have been developed rial standards with practices of commercial for supporting digital scholarship at the insti­ archives (including large-scale digitization, The 2010 Material Cultures Conference, tutionallevel. McGann's own Ros.rettiArchi7)e is OCR, and data-mining) can aid in represent­ hosted by the Centre for the History of the faced with the possibility of a state of 'deep ing the diverse qualities of serial publications Book at the University of Edinburgh, exam­ preservation' because there are no financial online. In the panel, 'Going Digital,' Eleanor ined the troubled intersections between book means to sustain the operability of completed Shevlin demonstrated ways of researching history and the digital humanities. This topic projects. McGann pointed to the commercial book history that are unique to an online was carried through eight panels, a roundtable sector's development of technological inno­ environment, and David Buchanan intro­ discussion, aptly named, 'Gutenberg Again?' vation to explain the lack of support for the duced StreetPrint, an open-source software with participants Jerome McGann, Kathryn long-term sustainability of digital materials. tool for easily creating online collections, Sutherland, and Alan Galey, and plenary Although McGann proposed few solutions to which raises pressing questions about the talks by Roger Chartier, Peter Stallybrass, the problems facing academia and libraries in accessibility and usability of traditional web and Jerome McGann. Taken together, these the twenty-first century, perhaps his strongest archiving practices. discussions may well represent the most sus­ call was to bring the digital humanities into the Because digital archives are representa­ tained effort to examine the conjunctions of undergraduate classroom so that its import tions of material books, it seems indisputable these two fields. Recurring conference themes translates beyond scholarly circles. Similarly, that book history is involved in the develop­ included the sustainability of digital texts and Sutherland described the current moment as ment of the digital humanities as a discipline. archives, the need for new research methods the incunable age of digital media. She argued However, the Material Cultures Conference in book history to interpret such texts, and the that the humanities have waited too long, seri­ demonstrated the myriad ways that scholars inherent omissions within digital representa­ ously compromising their ability to intervene of the book are latecomers to these conver­ tions of print culture. in a conversation that is already underway. sations and also made a cogent case for the The most resounding note, however, was Many of the panels, including 'E-Text,' necessity of their future involvement. Peter Stallybrass's reintroduction of techno­ 'Electronic Text,' 'E-Books and Their Dis­ logical determinism as a subject for debate contents,' 'The Book Reloaded,' and 'Digital Jessica DeSpain in his plenary talk, 'Printing and the Inven­ Elisions,' pointed out this scholarly lag and J ollthern TlIinois UnilJersity Edlvardsr'ille tion of Manuscript.' Stallybrass argued that proposed methods, both on the part of dig­ printed forms, such as immigration forms, ital humanities and book history, for moving tax forms, and even personal checks are ways forward. Both Anne Steiner and John Sav­ in which print (and printing, a process which age addressed the dearth of tools available is itself a form) has shaped and limited pos­ for the book historian when attempting to sible human interactions within the nation interpret the electronic text or digital archive. MATERIAL CULTURES 2010 1 state. Underlying Stallybrass's claims was the Other panelists examined omissions in the SHARP 2.0 2 belief that technological change can take on material representations performed by these SHARP HELSINKI 2010 3 a perpetual and independent motion that archives. Whitney Trettien, for instance, used SHARP PRIZES 5 surpasses human intervention. The lagging the Houghton Bible's fore-edge paintings, SHARP 2011 6 human element, which as the conference missing in electronic versions of the text, to BOOK REVIEWS 7 unfolded became largely representative of the discuss how online archives can distort mate­ E-REsOURCES REVIEW 10 humanities scholar, underpinned many of the rial meaning. EXHIBITION REVIEWS 11 conference's discussions about technology's There were also several panels that cel­ CONFERENCE REVIEWS 14 long-term effects on human experience, re­ ebrated the possibilities of the digital medium ANNOUNCEMENTS 14 search, and the universal library. for book historians. In the 'Digital Editions' BIBLIOGRAPHY 15 Both the roundtable and Jerome McGann's panel, Stacy Erickson addressed how recent Published by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst, 2013 1 SHARP News, Vol. 19, No. 4 [2013], Art. 1 2 ~ AUTUMN 2010 SHARP NEWS VOL. 19, No.4 tuned in but we believe that, for each plenary, at least fifty people viewed at least part of the broadcast. Unfortunately, we were unable to record these broadcasts for posterity but hope EDITOR to do so at future SHARP events. Sydn€y S hep, Tl7ai-te-ata Press SHARP was conceived in the same month About a dozen delegates at Helsinki Victoria University of Wellington - August 1991 - that the World Wide Web were 'tweeting' - that is, commenting on the PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand project at CERN was made publicly available. plenary sessions, the paper sessions, or the [email protected] It was one of the earliest scholarly societies conference more generally - with many more to set up a website; SHARP-L was one of the EDITORIAL ASSISTANT - 19.4 following, and commenting on, tl10se post­ first listservs in the humanities. I'm happy to Angelique Tran Van ings. These tweets (all tagged with '#sharp10' report that SHARP is still keeping up with the Publication Assistant, Wai-te-ata Press or '#sharp2010') have been archived in pace of new technology: a new website, the chronological order at the following ad­ REvIEw EDITORS webcasting of conference events, and even dresses: <www.bit.ly/ c6eMfU> (#sharp 10) Fritz Lel!y, Book Reviews - Europe a SHARP Twitter account, all in the last few and <www.bit.ly/cft7j5> (#sharp201 0). University of Washington, WA, USA months. In June, the new SHARP website was If you're on Twitter, do think about [email protected] launched. This was the culmination of two following @sharporg. Alternatively, you years of hard work, involving both the previ­ Mzllie Jackson. Book Rel)ielVS - Americas can view recent tweets at <www.twitter. ous and current 'webmasters' (patrick Leary University of Alabama, AL, USA com/ sharporg> or via the home-page of the and Lee McLaird), our selected website de­ [email protected] SHARP website. Note:@x.'{xx(eg@iangadd) signer Matthew Young and his colleague Todd in bold is the 'name' of the tweeter posting Edwardson, Sydney Shep, George Williams Simone Mttrrqy, Book Rel)ieJvs - Asia/ Pacific the message (their icon is also shown); some and myself. Spanish and French translations Monash University, Melbourne, AUS tweets include another @xxx - this means have been provided by Benito Rial Costas and [email protected] they are replying to (or citing) that person. Julie Fredette. The new site aims to reflect (There is, I'm afraid, no easy way to recreate the key qualities of SHARP: its friendliness Lisa Pon. Exhibition Rel)ielVS the exchange from these lists); RT (=retweet) and accessibility, its scholarly strength and Southern Methodist University is when a user forwards another person's diversity, its international membership, and its Dallas, TX, USA tweet to their own followers. Many of the dynamism. It includes an up-to-date calendar [email protected] retweets were by people not at the confer­ of history of the book events, a searchable ence, including those tweeting on behalf of index of history of the book resources, and Katherine Harris, E-Resottrce RevieJPs Blackwell's bookshop, Ashgate publishers, a SHARP blog, which will host its first guest San Jose State University, CA, USA RBMS and Finnish libraries; anything with a posting