"The Electronic Archive" panel at ACTR, May 28th, Sunday, 9 a.m.

Thu May 18 14:51:11 EDT 2006

Dear Colleagues

Those of you who are planning to attend ACTR's "The Electronic Archive" panel presentation plus 45-minute Question and Answer period on Sunday, May  28th at 9 a.m. in Accolade East 004, might find it helpful to explore the websites that will be displayed, with aspects of them explained, before the conference.

Although the speakers will be presenting their websites in vivid technicolour, the larger object of the panel is to examine a number of research, pedagogical, and theoretical issues (see below).

**Daniel Fischlin, who is the Director of the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project at the University of Guelph, will be talking about "Virtual Archives: Re-Making Shakespeare in Canada and the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project." His website address is www.canadianshakespeares.ca

CASP is the first research project of its kind anywhere in the world.devoted to the systematic exploration and documentation of the ways in which Shakespeare has been adapted into a national, multicultural theatre practice. On the site you will find a wealth of learning, teaching, and research resources related to how Shakespeare has been adapted into (and out of) Canadian theatre. 

You might also wish to examine a related website, www.shakespearemadeincanada.com

It is about the planning for the Shakespeare--Made in Canada Festival Exhibit that the University of Guelph is sponsoring next year.  Over 30 community groups will be involved.

**Kate Barris is the President of the Board of Directors for Theatre Museum Canada / Musée Théâtre Canada. She will be talking about "Why is it Taking So Long?: The Winding Road to TheatreMuseumCanada.ca"  TMC's  website address is www.theatremuseum.canada.ca  Available in English and French, it has links to exhibitions (and from there to a virtual exhibit, "Divas of Design: Leading Ladies of operatic, set, and costume design"), collections, the legend library, news and events, supporting the TMC, and research links to, among other  sites and venues, theatre museums around the world and performing arts organisations in Canada.  As you know from the email that Michael Wallace, the Executive Director of the TMC, sent us on May 15th, the TMC site has just been launched and, as he asks, "please let us know what you think."

**Ed Mullaly is a retired 'Honorary Research Professor' at the University of New Brunswick.  He runs the Atlantic Canada Theatre Site which, despite its name, has information on theatre across Canada, not only in the Atlantic region. His topic is "Delivery language in a binary universe." ACTS's website address is www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/Theatre/index.html

Among its many features, this site includes the Ball-Plant bibliography, which is regularly updated; the electronic version of Theatre Research in Canada (and Theatre History in Canada), whose abstracts can be searched with a keyword function; 19th. C. theatre playbills; Canadian Texts from Victorian to Modern which, so far, includes "The Worlds of Herman Voaden" and "The Worlds of Patricia Joudry," both conceptualised, organised, and edited by Anton Wagner; a Chronology of Canadian Theatre during the 1800s with contributions from Patrick O'Neill, Richard Plant, Mary E. Smith, Kevin Longfield, Denyse Lynde, and Ches Skinner; a collection of Prologues and Epilogues as Performed on English Canadian Stages, edited by Patrick O'Neill; a 19th. Century performance calendar which is home to Patrick B. O'Neill's Halifax Newspaper Archives database of all references to theatre contained in the Halifax newspapers from 1759 until 1900 (and beyond); and links to the production histories of Theatre New Brunswick, Neptune Theatre, and the Confederation Centre in Charlottetown.

Each presenter will speak for 25 minutes.  This will leave us with a 45-minute Question and Answer period.  Some of the possible questions with preliminary answers might include: Why was the site set up? What are the structures and ideas that lie behind its public pages? How do the theories that inform it create meanings? How does it serve the needs of the scholarly community and other stakeholders? What advantages does it have over print media? Will it bring about the end of the book and the print journal or, as a commensurate technology, will it in fact enhance our preoccupation with books and other forms of print / visual culture? Does it change the ways both abstractly and concretely about how we think / perceive an "artefact"? What copyright / ethical issues does it raise? Should it be regularly peer-reviewed by a team of experts? What will the site be like in, say, ten years: will it have not only audio and video links, as many sites do now, but also talk-back and even olfactory features as many theorists are predicting they will? What does it mean, perceptually and conceptually, when we consider that the site is going to be used by a global 'readership'? And how will it change not only the empirical knowledge that we possess but the ways in which we think and perceive theatre / performance / indeed the world, past, present, and future?

I look forward to seeing you at this session.

--Denis Salter. 

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"In 2005, the world . . . pass[ed] the trillion-dollar mark in the expenditure, annually, on arms. We're fighting for $50 billion annually for foreign aid for Africa: the military total outstrips human need by 20 to 1. Can someone please explain to me our contemporary balance of values?"--Stephen Lewis.  
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"To celebrate this award, and the work it recognizes of those around the world, let me recall the words of Gandhi: 'My life is my message.' Also, plant a tree."  Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize for Peace.

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Denis Salter
Professor of Theatre
McGill University
853 Sherbrooke St. West
Montréal, QC
H3A 2T6
Tel (514) 487 7309
Regular Fax (514) 398 8146
Computer Fax (309) 294 0444
denis.salter at mcgill.ca
d.salter at videotron.ca
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