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Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing University of Victoria, June 2005 Collaborative frameworks The joint ALLC-ACH work group reported on progress to date and presented draft governance and conference protocols to the Committee meeting and AGM in Göteborg in June. The meetings approved the establishment of in interim Steering Committee for the umbrella organisation, and agreed that the main business of the ALLC Committee meeting in December 2004 should be further review and discussion of the draft protocols, with a view to ratification of the protocols at the June 2005 meetings in Victoria. The interim Steering Committee consisted of 4 voting members: John Unsworth (ACH, Chair), and Laszlo Hunyadi, Lisa Lena Opas-Hänninen, and Harold Short (all ALLC); plus a number of non-voting members: Jean Anderson (Treasurer), Marilyn Deegan (Editor, LLC), Julia Flanders (Conference co-ordination), Geoffrey Rockwell (Publications development). A mailing list was set up for this group, with Lorna Hughes (President, ACH) and Ray Siemens (Chair, COCH/COSH) as 'listeners'. The key tasks of the Steeering Committee, in collaboration with the Executive Committees of the two associations, were:
As a further gesture of solidarity and good will, following the decision by ACH to break its link with Kluser and CHum, the ALLC Committee decided at its December 2004 meeting to make a further grant to ACH to assist in the transition to ADHO, basing the grant as far as possible on the revenue-sharing principles proposed for ADHO. The December 2004 Committee meeting reviewed the draft ADHO Governance Protocol in great detail, and ended with a greatly revised draft for consideration by the ADHO Steering Committee and the ACH Council. After further consideration and review, the protocol will be presented for discussion and ratification at the June 2005 meetings. With the concentration on the the Governance Protocol, the December 2004 Committee meeting was not able to consider the draft Conference protocol, and this was left for review and discussion by email, but still with the intention of further discussion and ratification at the June 2005 meetings. It was agreed in Göteborg that the draft protocol would be used as far as possible for the 2005 conference. If ratified in June 2005, the revised Conference protocol will be used as the framework for the 2006 conference in Paris, which would be the first 'official' ADHO conference. Alongside this work, other members of the work group have developed further ideas on publications, conferences, activities and the multinational agenda to be taken forward by ALLC on its own account and as a contribution to ADHO. The ADHO Steering Committee has set up a provisional ADHO web site, at:
Communications The Committee meeting at Göteborg received presentations from both OUP and Blackwell. After detailed discussion, the Committee decided that the publication of Literary and Linguistic Computing should stay with OUP. Follow-up meetings were arranged with OUP, and a solicitor specialising in publication contracts was consulted. By the end of 2004 the ALLC solicitor had proposed a number of changes, and a response was awaited from the OUP solictor, although no significant problems were envisaged. Humanist continues to prosper and remains an important forum for discussion on a wide range of topics. Willard McCarty continued to edit the discussion group even though he was on sabbatical for the 2003-04 academic year, writing a book on humanities computing. Humanist is a 'natural' publication for ADHO, and future practical support for it will be most appropriately considered by the Publications Committee of ADHO. Geoffrey Rockwell has organised discussions about possible publication developments for ADHO. Some preliminary work has been done on how to go about developing an e-journal. John Unsworth has held discussions with the University of Illinois Press on publication of a series of volumes in Digital Humanities.
Conferences The preparations for the 2005 Conference at the University of Victoria appear to have gone very well, and we owe a debt of thanks to Alejandro Bia (Chair) and the other members of the Programme Committee, and to Peter Liddell and Ray Siemens (Local Organisers) and their colleagues at UVic. The other ALLC members of the Programme Commitee were Lisa Lena Opas-Hänninen, Simon Horobin, and Concha Sanz Miguel. The December 2004 Committee meeting received a proposal from Liliane Gallet-Blanchard to host the 2006 conference at the University of Paris Sorbonne. This was unanimously welcomed. As reported earlier, this conference will run as far as possible under the new ADHO conference protocol. Under this protocol, the ALLC Committee put forward three names for consideration as Chair of the Programme Committee by the ADHO Steering Committee. Lisa Lena Opas-Hänninen was appointed to this role. Other ALLC members of the PC include Paul Fortier, Elisabeth Burr, Alejandro Bia, and Edward Vanhoutte.
Association Activities & Initiatives The TEI Consortium is now well established, and a very successful Members meeting was held in Baltimore in November 2004. The level of membership subscriptions continues to be a cause for concern. Greater emphasis is now being given to the need and benefits of projects and departments joining the Consortium. One of the priorities for the TEI is to develop its tag-sets, documentation and training materials in multiple languages. At its December 2004 meeting, the Committee reiterated its willingness to receive a proposal from the TEI for developing a set of pilot materials, building on a certain amount of work already completed, particularly in Spanish and Italian. This could be funded under the ALLC Projects scheme, and would enable ALLC to provide practical support for important TEI work that also contributes to the ALLC's own multi-lingual, multi-cultural agenda. These developments should be of direct interest to the European Union, and if such a pilot project were successfully completed, it might form a practical basis for a much larger proposal to the EU. It may be an opportunity for us to demonstrate to the EU the importance and relevance of what we do, as well as helping to promote the TEI more specifically. No CLiP conference was held in 2004.
Acknowledgments I would like to record my appreciation for the work carried out for the Association by the Officers and the elected Committee members. Particular thanks are due to the members of the ADHOC work group, and to the Editor of the journal, who has had a great deal of work to do in managing the re-tendering process while at the same time maintaining both the quality and the publication schedule of the 2004 volume.
Harold Short |
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