14.0576 interactive sites? e-journal extras? life to virus?

From: by way of Willard McCarty (willard@lists.village.Virginia.EDU)
Date: 12/29/00

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                   Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 14, No. 576.
           Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   <http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
                  <http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
    
       [1]   From:    Jan Christoph Meister <jan-c-meister@rrz.uni-       (28)
                     hamburg.de>
             Subject: Exemplary  interactive academic sites
    
       [2]   From:    Gerry McKiernan <gerrymck@IASTATE.EDU>              (39)
             Subject: E-Journal Extras
    
       [3]   From:    "Osher Doctorow" <osher@ix.netcom.com>              (31)
             Subject: Does life create a virus in terminal embarrassment?  -
                     Doctorow
    
    
    --[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2000 08:57:55 +0000
             From: Jan Christoph Meister <jan-c-meister@rrz.uni-hamburg.de>
             Subject: Exemplary  interactive academic sites
    
    Dear Colleagues,
    
    I wonder if anybody has recently compiled a "top ten"-list of
    exemplary academic websites, mainly - but not necessarily restricted
    to - the field of Literary Studies. By "exemplary" I mean
    
    - practical usefulness: i.e., well-organized systematized compilation
    of current links and pointers to discipline specific ressources;
    
    - identifiable and accountable structure for editorial content
    management, moderation and quality control(i.e.: must be supported by
    "real" people and/or editorial board, not just an anonymous webmaster
    hidden behind a link);
    
    - user-group and function specific differentiation (i.e., a "research"
    section, a "student" section, a "commercial" section carrying ads and
    reviews etc.);
    
       - reasonably innovative in technological terms (without
    going over board and carried away by the wild and wonderful gimmicks
    on offer) and interactive where it makes sense to be interactive.
    
    
    More particulary, I would be interested to find out whether any
    academic websites actively employ CMS (Content Management
    Systems)-technologies.
    
    Many thanks,
    
    Chris
    
    
    **************************
    
    Dr. Jan Christoph Meister
    Editor NarrNet / Arbeitsstelle zur Sozialgeschichte der Literatur
    Institut fr Germanistik II
    Universitt Hamburg
    E-Mail:  jan-c-meister@rrz.uni-hamburg.de
    NarrNet: www.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/narratologie
    
    
    
    
    --[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2000 09:02:32 +0000
             From: Gerry McKiernan <gerrymck@IASTATE.EDU>
             Subject: E-Journal Extras
    
                                _E-Journal Extras_
    
         I am greatly interested in identifying a variety of e-journal 'extras'
    for inclusion in my latest Web project, EJI.  EJI
    
              [ http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/EJI.htm ]
    
    is "a registry electronic journals or journal services that offer or provide
    innovative or novel access, organization, or navigation features and
    functionalities."
    
        Among the 'extras' I seek to identify in e-journals or  e-journal services
    are access to _relevant_:
    
             * Reference resources (e.g., dictionaries,
               encyclopedias, directories, manuals, etc.)
    
             * Dissertations, either abstracts and/or full-text,
               or links to such services as Dissertation
               Abstracts International (DAI) or relevant dissertations
               in the Contentville service
               [ http://www.contentville.com/content/dissertations.asp  ]
    
             * E-Books
    
             * Patents
    
             * Discussion Forums /  Electronic Discussion Lists (e-lists)
    
             * Polls and Surveys
    
             * Reader participation
    
             * Database Access (e.g. PubMed (Medline))
    
             * Article / Document Ordering
    
              * Any other type of 'extra' service not typical of the typical
    e-journal
    
            Access to such services may be offered free-of-charge, by
    subscription, or on a pay-per-view basis.
    
    [NOTE: I have identified *some* types of 'extra' services and have included
    these in a MUCH expanded EJI. If you have not yet visited EJI, it is well
    worth the visit this holiday season [:-)]
    
           As Always, Any and All contributions, suggestions, comments, queries,
    critiques, cosmic insights, etc., etc. etc. are Most Welcome.
    
            Regards,
    
    /Gerry McKiernan
    Extra Librarian
    Iowa State University
    Ames IA 50011
    
    gerrymck@iastate.edu
    
             "The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Invent It"
                                             Alan Kay
    
    --[3]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2000 09:00:10 +0000
             From: "Osher Doctorow" <osher@ix.netcom.com>
             Subject: Does life create a virus in terminal embarrassment?  - 
    Doctorow
    
    
    Does life create a virus in terminal embarrassment?   I suggest this
    question as the opening question in an informal
    humanist-medical-science-virus-internet discussion (which may be still-born,
    of course).  Humanities people are about as expert in embarrassment as
    anybody in psychology, with humanists' experience in literature, art,
    history, philosophy, drama, etc.  Does life itself recognize conditions
    under which it cannot answer questions and responds by something analogous
    to embarrassment leading to virus production?   I ask this because viral
    diseases often occur in embarrassing circumstances involving either the
    reproductive or the excretory systems (flu/dysentery, aids/HIV, etc.).
    Cancers also attack reproductive and excretory systems - it would be
    interesting to know if all cancers originate there except for those with
    obvious exposure to stressors such as smoking (lungs), sunburn (skin
    cancer), etc.  Speaking of stressors, are the reproductive and excretory
    systems stressed, and also why are we embarrassed in discussing them even in
    science and humanities?   We know that the eating habits of many people
    result in gross misuse of the digestive system, which have effects in the
    excretion system.  I suggest the possibility that the reproductive system
    was "intended by nature" to be used mostly for reproduction of the species
    rather than in the way that it is commonly used, and that this is both a
    stressor and a source of embarrassment because of our deep realization of
    problems concerning this.   It is true that the accumulation of tensions in
    the reproductive system need to be relieved (when we eliminate the "hype" of
    over-induced tensions generated by mass media sensationalization, etc.).
    However, did nature "intend" this relief to be more like excretion or more
    like an elaborate ritual prolonged as long as possible?   I suggest that we
    do not have to answer this question as much as life has to answer it - and
    that when it cannot answer it, it creates a type of non-life which is an
    analogue of a non-answer, and which we call a virus.  Both in reproduction
    and digestion/excretion habits, we have unexplored territory, and we have a
    mystery whose symptom may be "terminal embarrassment".
    
    Osher Doctorow
    



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