On Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 12:16 PM, Sumant Srivathsan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
> > Very, very, very involved exercise. What you're talking about is to create > an online repository of multimedia content related to his book. While the > idea is not new at all, it's something that many publishers tend to avoid > doing because of the amount of work involved. It could take anything from a > couple of months to a year to put the stuff up the way you're describing > it. > OTOH, a PDF is a good starting point, but it will do precious little online > if the supporting material is not available as well. Hi Sumant, thanks for writing in. I completely take your point and in the last two weeks of conversation with Ashish, I have driven the point over and over again, that this is indeed going to be a very long term project. It took him five years to write the book (or rather the three volumes of books) and he understands that this might in fact take as much time, if not more. But it is something that he is ready to explore, in different iterations and over a period of time and I am also involved in it and ready to explore it... because it has been a long preoccupation with me about finding alternative ways of disseminating argumentative scholarship online - the essays, and articles, and blogs just don't seem to be able to do it. We are definitely going ahead with putting up the PDF online because it can serve as a resource for people who might also want to cite it, reference it, read it etc. But we want to basically go ahead and ask the question: He has this material. He made it into a book - which has its own conventions of writing, arranging and so forth. Now, if we were to make an e-object out of it (and not just something that is digital but something that is shaped using the conventions, possibilities and aesthetics of digital/internet technologies), how do we start? And hence, the scoping exercise in just asking for interesting things people might have to recommend to us. > > > For a scoping exercise, he is right now searching for 'interesting' forms > of > > documentation online to see if an existing form appeals to him. I am, on > his > > behalf, placing a request here... What are your favourite sites for > digital > > documentation? Do you have any ideas on what form academic work or > > scholarship can take if it does not have to simulate the printed book? > Have > > you come across (and hopefully saved) interesting spaces which you think > > helped the argument because of the form of the documentation and its > design? > > We'd be quite grateful if we could get some links to start with and see > if > > it might help in thinking about the form of online publishing that might > be > > most conducive to online dissemination and reading. > > > While not academic, I think the trend followed by various newspapers is a > healthy one to consider. When they were forced to move online, they simply > posted their articles and were done with it. It was only in the second half > of this decade that they realized that interactivity would enhance their > online readership, and suddenly one saw slideshows, audio, video, message > boards and blogs. It's not exactly what you're looking for, but it's an > analogy that transfers well into what you're trying to do. Academic > literature could do with some sexing up. :) > That is definitely an option we are exploring. But unfortunately, the problem with newspapers as a form is that they are meant for purely information dissemination than sustained argumentation or a longer philosophical inquiry. The multimedia form that they use is effective for the short lived news which can immediately be replaced by something else, but we are not sure if the 'everything at the same time and something of everything' design and model makes sense. We appreciate interactivity, but are now asking questions about what does interactivity mean? it is not as if the book, to stick to the object in hand, was any less interactive. The textuality of the book transcended enough to form interactive communities and public spheres. What does it mean to be interactive and how does interactivity shape the form of the object that we are trying to create? That is a question we are exploring. Incidentally, I hate all the Indian news sites that I have seen so far. I was wondering if anybody has examples or instances of favourite news sites they visit? Especially specialised discipline or area news sites which are also interested in archiving rather than just broadcast? I completely agree that academic literature could do with a lot of sexing up. Not to be bored is a fundamental right of the reader. And I stand up for it :) > > -- > Sumant Srivathsan > http://sumants.blogspot.com > Again, Thanks for beginning the conversation and getting me to spell out things that are in the head, more clearly. I apologise if this sounded like a conversation with myself... Nishant -- Nishant Shah Doctoral Candidate, CSCS, Bangalore. Director (Research), Centre for Internet and Society,( www.cis-india.org ) Asia Awards Fellow, 2008-09 # 0-9740074884
