The following questions have been pre-circulated among participants in Conference 2005: UCSB Roundtables on Online Reading. To prepare for the project planning session that concludes the conference, each roundtable concludes on the same question (“How can reading online be improved? And what do we have to do to get there?”). Please feel free to write comments, answers, suggestions, links, etc., both before and after the date of the conference. (Also see Roundtable 3 Online Audience Experiment.)

Friday, June 17th, 11:00-12:30 (6020 HSSB)

Moderator: Alan Liu. Discussants: Anne Balsamo, Adrian Johns, Jerome J. McGann, J. Hillis Miller, Carol Braun Pasternack, Leah Price, Ronald E. Rice, Bob Stein, William B. Warner

1. “What is good reading today, and yesterday?”


2. “What is the difference between reading and searching, or browsing?”


3. “How can research into historical reading practices (and the history of the book) help us think about online reading today?”


4. “How can research into new media technologies and online reading practices help us better understand historical reading practices?”


5. “’How to take a good online text to bed’: What promising directions in human factors or interface research can mediate between past and present reading practices?”


6. “How can reading online be improved? (including the question: what might ‘improvement’ mean?) And what do we have to do to get there? (For example, what are the key problem areas in current research or technology?)”

(Discussion Map)

Friday, June 17th, 3:30-5:00 (6020 HSSB)

Moderator: Rita Raley. Discussants: Walter Bender, Nicholas Dames, N. Katherine Hayles, Yunte Huang, George Legrady, Tara McPherson, Lisa Parks, Christiane Paul, Warren Sack, Matthew Turk, Curtis Wong

1. “In what terms can we discuss the cultural significance, value, and function of reading in the age of new media and multimedia, a moment when multi-sensory immersive experience seems to be privileged??


2. “What is the contemporary role of text in relation to images and audio?”


3. “What will reading be like in the age of ‘ubicomp’ (ubiquitous computing)? How have different screen environments (CAVEs, cell phones, PDAs) and different modes of content delivery affected our notions of reading??


4. “To be ‘literate’ today, should students have some basic knowledge of code?”


5. “What promising directions in engineering, cognitive science, or artistic research can help reorient the act of reading in the world of new media?”


6. “What future role can be envisaged for translation technologies (natural language, voice recognition)??


7. “What about pleasure and affect? Is online reading enjoyable?”


8. “How can reading online be improved? And what do we have to do to get there?”

Please go to individual questions if you wish to post replies/comments. (Discussion Map)

Saturday, June 18th, 11:00-12:30 (6020 HSSB)

Moderator: Bruce Bimber. Discussants: Kevin Almeroth, John Seely Brown, Judith Green, Cynthia Lewis, Peter Lyman, John Mohr, Christopher Newfield, Schoenerwissen (Marcus Hauer & Anne Pascual), Brigitte Steinheider

1. “Who reads online? Do different people read online than offline? Is this good?”


2. “How do reading practices create or define community? Does this work better or worse online than off?”


3. “Is reading becoming more (or less) social, collective, or collaborative than in the past?”


4. “What do transitions from traditional computers to wireless technology mean for reading as a community or society?”


5. “Do teams read? Do CEO’s read? What is the current state of reading in the workplace?”


6. “’Is there a text in this classroom?’: How can a group in a single location read online together?”


7. “How can reading online be improved? And what do we have to do to get there?”

Online Audience Experiment: During this Roundtable, conference participants and members of the audience who have wireless-enabled laptops with them are invited to participate in an experiment in the social practice of conference-going by using the “comments” section of this page to post reflections, questions, or reactions in real time during the roundtable conversation. While these comments will not be displayed on the screen simultaneously with the roundtable conversation (because it would be distracting), they will be shown during the question-and-answer period. They will also remain on the conference site as a record of the audience’s engagement with the roundtable. If you wish to participate in this experiment, please ask the conference organizers during the conference for instructions on logging on to the conference wireless network and add your comments during Roundtable 3 to the current page.

(Discussion Map)

Saturday, June 18th, 3:30-5:00 (6020 HSSB)

Planning Session Moderator: Alan Liu
(Alan’s introductory outline of planning issues for the session)

This important planning session, which closes Conference 2005: UCSB Conversation Roundtables on Online Reading, will allow Transliteracies Project organizers to consult with conference participants in planning the specific goals, agenda, research participants, and funding strategy for the project.

As a basis for discussion, participants are asked to read the May 2, 2005 Transliteracies grant proposal for a UC Office of the President Multicampus Research Group (MRG) award. This first funding proposal contains an initial vision of the shape of the project, which will be open to discussion and revision at the planning session.

Download MRG proposal:
Transliteracies-MRG-Proposal-Abbrev.pdf

This MRG proposal (maximum grant: $35,000/year for five years from UC Office of the President, plus equivalent cost-sharing funds from UC Santa Barbara) is the first of an anticipated series of grant applications for the Transliteracies Project. For this particular proposal (see MRG proposal call), only University of California faculty are listed as project members—though in the future Transliteracies plans to recruit researchers from other institutions as well as possibly to affiliate with other research programs. Also, due to the nature of this proposal, the rationale statement emphasizes the perspective of, and benefits to, the humanities. Future grant applications—whether for overall implementation of the project’s intended technology initiative or for specific technological, social-science, or humanities aspects of the project—will expand upon other perspectives.

Participants in the 2005 Conference: UCSB Conversation Roundtables on Online Reading are asked to read this grant proposal before the event’s closing planning session. The proposal will serve as the basis of discussion and revision at the planning session.

Update, July 20, 2005: notes of the critiques and suggestions offered by conference participants and audience members during this planning session are now available. See notes.

Online comments relevant to the planning session follow below (please feel free to add to the comments).