----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Forwarded from NINCH list - part 2.
Judy
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N I N C H
Networked Cultural Heritage Newsletter
No. 6
February 7, 1997
www-ninch.cni.org/news/news.html
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-- CONTINUED --
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GETTY PROVENANCE INDEX NOW AVAILABLE
Sixteen years in the making, the Getty Provenance Index CD-ROM
has recently been published. The Index's databases hold more than
330,000 records from auction catalogs and historical inventories of
some of Europe's most prominent collectors, from the 16th to the
19th centuries An invaluable research tool for art curators, scholars,
professors, dealers and collectors, it can be used by anyone who is
interested in the history of collecting, the evolution of artistic taste
and the art market. Gathering material for the Index was a
collaborative effort involving 13 partner organizations in eight
countries. Information: (800) 223-3431.
<http://www.gii.getty.edu/gii/prov.html>
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NEW DOMAIN NAMES
The International Ad Hoc Committee has announced the
availability of seven new top level domains on the Internet under
which users may register. They include:
.arts for entities emphasizing cultural and entertainment activities
.firm for businesses, or firms
.store for businesses offering goods to purchase
.web for entities emphasizing activities related to the WWW
.rec for entities emphasizing recreation/entertainment activities
.info for entities providing information services
.nom for those wishing individual or personal nomenclature.
For more information visit the web site of the International Ad Hoc
Committee <http://www.iahc.org/press-final.html>
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GLOBAL RESOURCES PROGRAM
The Global Resources Program of the Association of Research
Libraries (ARL) and the Association of American Universities
(AAU) will be expanded through a Mellon Foundation grant to
increase current access to foreign-language research materials. It will
do this by developing distributed collections and expanding
electronic document delivery. The program currently includes three
pilot areas (in Japan, Germany and Latin America) and will now
add Southeast Asia and Africa. The expanded program will also
identify "lead institutions" for acquisitions from particular regions
and electronic distribution of publications from each region;
establish a Web-based clearinghouse to disseminate information on
projects; create links between projects; and organize symposia for
faculty, both on-campus and at meetings of learned societies. For
further information on the program, contact Deborah Jakubs
(<[log in to unmask]>; 919/660-5846).
<http://arl.cni.org/arl/activities/aauarl.html#global>
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AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE PRESENTS
FULL-LENGTH MOVIES OVER INTERNET
Using a new form of compression technology developed by
VDOnet, the American Film Institute opened its new series, AFI
OnLine Cinema, in which it will broadcast a different classic
Hollywood movie each month over the Internet. The series was
launched January 22 with Charlie Chaplin's 1916 "The Rink."
February's feature will be Buster Keaton's "The Boat" (1921). AFI
OnLine Cinema can be found at <www.afionline.org/cinema>.
Viewers need to download free VDOnet software and the full-
length film is delivered on a small screen, with piano
accompaniment.
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UNICODE BABBLE
Unicode is a universal character encoding scheme for displaying
non-standard character sets for "just about every letter or glyph for
all known languages, alive and dead"--from Ahom and Akkadian
Cuneiform to Tircul and Ugaritic Cuneiform. Following discussion
about Unicode on the Humanist listserv, John Unsworth spoke of
the early version of software being developed at Virginia's Institute
for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities called Babble.
Once a UNIX prototype, Babble is now being developed as Java
software. Babble will display, search, and manipulate texts which
have already been created in Unicode. "Babble will provide linked
scrolling, linked searching, multiple text display, and some SGML
awareness." John offers pointers to programs one can use to create
Unicode texts in the first place and offers to keep anyone interested
apprised of Babble developments. Contact him at
<[log in to unmask]>.
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SOFTWARE FOR TEACHING OVER THE NET
VIRTUAL LEARNING SUPERIOR?
The Chronicle of Higher Education (January 24, p. A23) reported on
a British Columbia computer scientist's software tools called
WebCT (for Web Course Tools) that allows instructors to design
online courses, create Web sites, hold interactive discussions and
administer exams on the Internet. Instructors can enter their
material into pre-prepared forms, and the virtual classroom takes
shape. WebCT is currently being used in more than 70 courses at the
University of British Columbia, and the program is available for
testing to faculty members outside the university. After beta-testing,
there will be a fee for the programs.
<http://homebrew.cs.ubc.ca/webct/ >
Meanwhile Edupage (January 19) relays a report on News.Com that
Jerald Schutte, an applied statistics professor at the California State
University at Northridge, claims that students learning in a virtual
classroom (using text posted online, email, newsgroups, chat, and
electronic homework assignments) tested 20% better than their
students who learned the material in a traditional classroom.
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MOVEMENTS
Over the past few months too many significant movements have
occurred in the field to be ignored. Here are those that have come to
our attention.
Douglas Bennett, Vice President of the American Council of
Learned Societies will leave ACLS this June to become President of
Earlham College. Meanwhile the successor to Stan Katz, who will be
retiring this summer as President of ACLS after 11 years, will be
announced very shortly.
Peter Grenquist, executive director of the Association of American
University Presses, will be leaving that post this summer.
Susan Hockey, founding executive director of the Center for
Electronic Texts in the Humanities is taking up a new position as
Professor in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta. develop
a graduate program in humanities computing and direct a new
Institute for Research in Humanities Computing.
Roger Kennedy has resigned as Director of the National Park
Service. His resignation will not take effect until a successor has
been confirmed by the Senate.
Daniel Pitti, Librarian for Advanced Technologies Projects at the
University of California at Berkeley is moving to the University of
Virginia's Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities
(IATH) at the end of April.
Scott Stoner, Director of ArtsEdge and of Online Services at the
Kennedy Center is leaving after ten years.
Jennifer Trant, formerly Policies and Standards Manager for
Britain's Arts and Humanities Data Service, is now based in
Pittsburgh, working as a private consultant specializing in the
application of technology to museums, cultural heritage and the
arts and as managing editor of Archives & Museum Informatics: a
cultural heritage quarterly.
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PAUL EVAN PETERS MEMORIAL SERVICE
The memorial service for Paul Evan Peters will be held on February 18,
1997,February 18 at 4pm at Georgetown University's Dahlgren Chapel. A
reception will follow at 5 pm at the Georgetown University Conference
Center, salons D and E.
Duane Webster, Executive Director of the Association of Research Libraries,
will serve as convener. Stan Katz, President of the American Council of
Learned Societies, Eleanor Jo Rodger, President of the Urban Libraries
Council and Scott Armstrong, Executive Director of Information Trust will
share remarks about Peters.
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CONFERENCES
Conferences added to the NINCH Community Calendar
<http://www-ninch.cni.org/calendar.html> include:
February 23-26: The National Federation of Abstracting and
Information Services Annual Conference. "Publishing in the New
Millennium II: Managing the Transition. Speakers include: Dr.
Toni Carbo, Robert Massie, Clifford Lynch, and Harry Collier.
<http://www.pa.utulsa.edu/nfais_cnf97.html > Philadelphia.
March 1-2: Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR):
6th DIAC ("Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing")
conference. <http://www.scn.org/tech/diac-97>. The theme is
"Community Space and Cyberspace: What's the Connection?" and
the key-note speaker will be Howard Rheingold, author of "The
Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier."
University of Washington, Seattle,
March 16-19: Museums and the Web (full program now available
at <www.archimuse.com>. Los Angeles
March 21-22: Inter-operable Electronic Copyright Management
Systems (sponsored by COPEARMS, EVA, IESERV and
IMPRIMATUR). Florence, Italy
April 28-29: Electronic Commerce for Content II--A Forum on
Technology-Based Intellectual Property Management
<http://www.ima.org/ip-ga/forum.html> Bringing together
creator, industry, and user perspectives on requirements, standards,
and implementation. Deadline for papers: March 15, 1997. Library of
Congress, Washington, DC
July 3-6: ARLIS/UK and Ireland Annual Conference. "Art libraries
in the Cyber-Age." The latest issues in electronic library provision
including funding and digitization initiatives, problems of
copyright and archiving, electronic publishing of primary and
secondary sources, access to the Internet, navigational tools and
developing projects, netskills training and user perspectives.
Contact: Sonia French <[log in to unmask]>. University of
Canterbury, Kent, England
October 30-November 2: Society for Literature and Science.
Instructions for submitting abstracts and proposals are available at
<http://mickey.la.psu.edu/~hquamen/SLS_97.htm> Deadline:
February 28. Pittsburgh.
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PUBLICATIONS
* The latest issue of "Computers & Texts," the newsletter of Oxford
University's Center for Textual Studies is available at
<http://info.ox.ac.uk/ctitext/publish/comtxt/>. Among the articles
can be found "Using Hypertext to Teach the New Testament," a
description of "CommonSpace: A Collaborative Working
Environment," and "A Field Guide to 21st Century Writing."
Articles and reviews are invited on any aspect of the use of
computers in the teaching of literature in all languages, linguistics,
theology, classics, philosophy, film studies, theater arts and drama.
* The January issue of "D-Lib Magazine" is available at
<http://www.dlib.org>. Among the many articles are an account of
the September CNI/OCLC "Image Metadata" workshop held in
Dublin, Ohio, an "Intellectual Property Practitioner's Perspective"
on the JSTOR project and a report on the UCLA-NSF Workshop on
"Social Aspects of Digital Libraries".
* The January issue of "Access," newsletter of the new Institute of
Museum and Library Services is available at
<http://www.ims.fed.us/>.
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WEB RESOURCES
* LIBLICENSE
<http://www.library.yale.edu/~Llicense/index.shtml> is a new
Web resource for academic and research libraries as they attempt to
negotiate licenses with providers of digital information, both
networked and on CD. Currently, readers will see an annotated
resource presented as an actual electronic content license, with
samples of language and commentary on the suitability of that
language for libraries. This is in beta version with some links not
yet completed. Users comments are being solicited on the site,
which is provided by Yale University Library, with support from the
Commission on Preservation and Access and the Council on
Library Resources. For further information contact Ann Okerson at
<[log in to unmask]>.
* CELEBRATING DEMOCRACY
<http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/celeb/celeb.html>, a Web site doing
just that, was produced on the occasion of the recent Presidential
Inauguration by
The Library of Congress, The Smithsonian Institution, The
National Archives, The National Endowment for the Arts, and the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The site features
online presentations of presidential memorabilia, photographs and
documents from past inaugurations and inaugural balls, and
photographs of the 1997 inaugural festivities. The goal of the Web
site was to "encourage teachers, students, and lifelong learners to
connect current events with American history by tapping into the
vast resources now available online from Washington's national
cultural institutions."
* The Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies
<http://otal.umd.edu/~rccs> has been organized to "research, study,
teach, support, and create diverse and dynamic elements of
cyberculture." Currently presenting scholarly resources and listing
events, the Resource Center plans to foster conversations about
cyberculture and to showcase model projects and works-in-progress.
Contact: David Silver <[log in to unmask]>.
* ALN Web, dedicated to topics in the field of Asynchronous
Learning Networks, consists of a journal, a magazine, conference
proceedings and other resources, opened in late 1996 and is now
accepting papers for the magazine and journal.
<http://www.aln.org/>
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AWARDS
* NANCY DELAURIER WRITING AWARDS: The Visual
Resources Association announced the second annual Nancy
DeLaurier Writing Awards in honor of a VRA founding member.
Two $200 awards will be made; one each to a student and a
professional submitting a paper (in print or electronic form, 10-20
pages in length, on a topic significantly relevant to the field of
visual resources by May 15.
Papers might address the effects of new technologies on visual
resources; new methods of organization and accessing visual
information; historical overviews of early visual technology;
theoretical analysis of the Internet and web sites and their impact on
visual resources; critiques of controversial issues effecting visual
resource institutions; or issues effecting the profession. For further
information contact Leigh Gates, <[log in to unmask]>.
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