Encyclopedia News, April 26

[Gaetan Charlebois]

Hello All

The redesign created by Canoe (launched over the weekend) is, to my mind,
terrific as it includes the alphabet on every page of the site which carries
the surfability within the site to the nth degree (or about where I would
have liked it in my most colourful dreams). However, as with anything this
huge (some 1700+ items) there will be bugs and I beg you to report them to
me should you find them.

We've also launched the search for the Ten Best Canadian Plays. Please check
out the site and participate.

Intense discussions, this week, sparked by my glib comment of last week:
"Apparently, academia is utterly delighted with the whole thing as no one
has spoken up." I have to confess that I made the glib comment as a way of
getting people to wake up and they certainly did that - with a roar.

A few things need to be cleared up. A profile is written based on several
sources. I've had years of experience as a journalist and researcher and
suspect that I can tell a good source from a bad one as well as anyone but
there is no doubt that some sources have wrong information (even some
so-called unimpeachable, academic  sources); so mistakes appear.  When the
mistakes are caught and drawn to my attention, I correct them and provide
the attribution at the end of the profile. If most of the profile has been
provided by a single person (even if what they did is send me a theatre
program bio) I put, at the end of the profile: "Information provided by..."
If corrections/updates have been provided I put "Additonal information
provided by..." If part of the profile has actually been written by a
correspondant, as was the case with David Belke's profile and Anne Nothof's
input, then I make it fairly clear what Anne provided and attribute
accordingly. If, some day, someone was to write a profile in its entirety
(except the profilee), then I would put "Profile by ..." at the end of it,
in bold face (as is the case with all other additions).

But no matter who provided what, mistakes still slip in. In one famous case,
it was the birthdate of Christopher Plummer where every source said one
thing but the man himself, in recent interview, said another. These are
mistakes that happen but they are part of discussions surrounding The
Encyclopedia: apparently, it has not been verified enough. Well, I agree and
await the input of anyone who cares. But what I can no longer respond to are
vague discussions of academic rigour with no specifics. I will tell you what
I wrote to one person this week: the only profile that can be true is an
unfinished one and that is why I set out on this web site project in the
first place. A site like this leaves space for error and correction. Printed
material only for error...errors that stay on library shelves for decades.
(One example is a book I recently used published by a University press that
was scandalously full of errors.)

So join me in making this project a living thing - but, too, remember that
the goal is that it be as vibrant as the art form it sets out to celebrate.

Now, some other little bits. CBC's Infoculture web site now links its
various articles to various profiles in the Encyclopedia.

Traffic has gone through the roof with over 4000 page views in a single
week.

Don't forget Heavenly Voices for your regional news.

New profiles:
Théâtre Le Clou (young people's company, Montreal)
McKellar, Don (Actor/producer/cinema practitioner)
Marleau, Louise (Actor)

Updates:
Thea-Tricks; Reviews; About Revisions; Heavenly Voices; Sources; Leger, V.;
Sutto, J.; de Andrea, G.; Plummer, C.; Casabonne, J.; "Anne of Green
Gables"; Ledoux, P.; Children's Theatre; Vermeulen, B.; Maison Theatre;
Schmidt, G.; Filiatrault, D.; Deschamps, Y.; Villeneuve, L.; "Le Temps des
lilas"; "The Collected Works of Billy the Kid"; Reid, F.; Laxdal, V.;
"Maggie and Pierre"; Griffiths, L.; McKim, A.; Parkes, G.; Droege, S.;
Stephenville Festival; Theatre Calgary; Theatre Network; "Thirteen Hands";
"Vigil"; Stickland, E.; Oligny, H.; Mazumdar, M.; "Being at Home With
Claude"; Nadon, G.; Bernard, D.; Beland, M.; Gagnon, H.; Guilbeault, L.; Le
Flaguais, V.; Gadouas, D.; Prefontaine, C.

Have a nice week, all.

Gaetan L. Charlebois (Editor, The Encyclopedia of Canadian Theatre on the
WWW) http://www.canadiantheatre.com or
http://cantheatre.canoe.ca
If you want to join the Encyclopedia's mailing list (and get information
before anyone else as well as the Monday Hint for the Thea-Tricks Doozey),
simply send an e-mail to charlebois at voir.ca with the subject heading
"Mailing list"