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Re: [ARSCLIST] ARSC Awards 2009 -- Call for Nominations
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel Bresler" <joel.br@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Dear friends:
Thanks very much to the committee for its hard work recognizing important
research. I do want to comment on one element of the announcement:
"Eligible publications include any original ***printed*** work..."
(emphasis
mine.)
There is a substantial body of scholarly research online today and an
increasing amount of it has never been "in print" in a conventional
journal
or book, or liner note, etc. Also, at this stage there can be very little
doubt that the future of scholarly research is online. So I wanted to
raise
this issue about the Awards -- one I also brought up last year on the ARSC
listserv. I don't think it's fair or right that only print works are
eligible.
When we discussed it last year there were surely important reasons why
online research could not be considered -- it can change over time,
there's
a huge volume of it, and so on. But ultimately, this is looking backwards
instead of forwards. CD ROMs are over 25 years old. The World Wide Web
will
be 20 next year. At some point to be representative of "best of breed"
research, the ARSC awards will have to take into account electronic
research. I've seen expanded liner notes in data tracks on audio CDs (it's
a
big cost savings over printed booklets)...are these notes then ineligible
for the award because they are not printed? If someone published a work
this
year comparable in importance and scope to Dick Spottswood's "Ethnic Music
on Records" but happened to publish it online or on DVD, shouldn't it be
eligible for an award? The medium is not the message, in cases like this,
the content is.
I feel strongly that those of us whose work is published online and may
never, ever be "printed" on paper should, on principle, be eligible for
these awards or be eligible in a new category or categories.
Anyway, rant over! (A gentle rant, I hope...) I do realize the judging
must
be an enormous amount of work, and genuinely thank the committee. And
thanks
to the participants on this listserv for hearing me out again. I'll revive
the thread next year!
Keep in mind that digital "on-line" publications...IF posted in the proper
format...can be MUCH more useful than paper-based publications!
First, it is IMPOSSIBLE (except with mental/physical effort...?!) to
"search" a paper volume! Second, it is also impossible to re-sort a
printed "data file!"
I learned this back in 1989...when I spent $2,500.00 for my first
computer...an 80286 machine...and was given dBASE III+ by my
employer. I quickly learned that I could re-sort data files (then)
quickly(?)...or search them for song titles! I had been recording my
shellac holdings on paper 3x5 cards...which had to be re-sorted
PHYSICALLY, card by card!
Steven C. Barr