T r a n s c r i p t i o n s Project
NEH Interim Performance Report
Aug. 31, 1999
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(This report is online at http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/project/reports/NEH-progress-report-1999b.shtml Note: This URL and other addresses for project Web pages mentioned in this report are subject to change because the project is currently in transition to a new Web design (see below). All pages may be located through the project home page, which will remain unchanged at: http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/)

Contents:
Cover Page Grant Number: ED-20822-97
Project Title: Transcriptions: Literary History and the Culture of Information
Project Director: Alan Liu
Grantee Institution: University of California, Santa Barbara
Date Submitted: September 22, 1999

Narrative

During the period from Feb. 1 to July 31, 1999, the Transcriptions project concentrated on four main goals:

Development of the project during this period generally exceeded expectations. Especially notable was the stabilization of the project around a relaxed but efficient model of collaborative work (exemplified in the the series of successful colloquium workshops in Spring 1999 and the new "jam" sessions for developers started in summer 1999). (For a chronology of the main project activities from Feb. 1999 through Aug. 1999, see the online project log at http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/trans-test/project/logs/project-log.shtml).

1. Tasks Required by the Original Schedule

Transcriptions filed its original work schedule with the NEH in the document titled, "Revised Work Plan" of May 27, 1997. The discussion of progress below follows the order of the categories in that document relevant to the present interim period:

A. Workplan for Development and Maintenance of Computing Studio

Transcriptions expanded the capabilities of its computing studio (first placed in operation in Dec. 1998) through the installation of the following equipment and software:

A new conference table was also ordered for the room. With the present complement of six advanced workstations, server, and meeting table, the studio is ready for production-scale work on course Web pages as well as a full series of colloquia in 1999-2000. The studio may in the future add two or more workstations depending on need. For a fuller description of the studio, see http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/studio.shtml).

B. Workplan for Assignment of Student Assistant Positions

The recruitment and selection of graduate-student research assistants for summer 1999 and academic year 1999-2000 proceeded on schedule, though there was a month-long delay in the announcement of the positions (and some necessary adjustment of the roster of students) due to the need to synchronize with the announcement of other assistantships and fellowships at UCSB. The selection of undergraduate research assistants, delayed during the last reporting period (as mentioned in the prior interim report), now succeeded in a very satisfactory way with the hiring of a graphics and Web design specialist.

C. Workplan for Course Development (including Web pages for courses)

During Spring quarter 1999, Transcriptions fielded two prototype undergraduae courses to help develop the technology and instructional means for the project's first official courses in academic year 1999-2000. Alan Liu taught English 188, "Theory of Postmodernism" (undergraduate); and William Warner taught English 197, "Techno-Gothic." The courses' Web sites - not yet integrated into the new Transcriptions Web design - are at the following URLs:

http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/courses/liu/english188/default.htm
http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/courses/warner/english197/syllabus.html

These prototype courses developed a number of technologies and instructional methods, including most importantly:

The lessons learned from the prototype courses were applied in summer 1999 in the creation of the syllabus, Web site, assignment structure, and technology of the first official Transcriptions course to be given in Fall 1999: Alan Liu's English 165CI, "The Culture of Information." Additional technologies created in preparation for this course include a listserv with threaded Web archive and the Adobe Acrobat authoring program (to experiment with "paperless" grading and correcting of student papers). For the online site of the course, which is soon to start, see:

http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/courses/liu/english165/

Research and early Web-site develop continued through summer 1999 for Transcriptions courses scheduled for Winter and Spring quarters of academic year 1999-2000, including Carol Pasternack's "Scroll to Screen," William Warner's "Cultural Representations: Free Speech and Censorship," and Chris Schedler's "Native American Literature, Oral Tradition, and the Internet."

Transcriptions lost one course scheduled for academic year 1999-2000 due to the unforeseen leave of absence of one of its faculty. Christopher Newfield's "Business Culture" will not be taught this coming year and is now scheduled for the subsequent academic year. In general, Transcriptions is learning that it is difficult to field as many courses per year as it had originally planned due to constraints imposed by the following three factors: lack of sufficient funding for research and programming assistance (the project was forced to stretch its resources more thinly after its original NEH proposal was substantially scaled back), faculty leaves, and the smaller number of graduate seminars that can be taught each year (due to a reduced graduate student body during the job crunch in the humanities in recent years). The project is on track, however, to establishing a stable repertory of courses that will make it a candidate for the status of an "emphasis" in the English major as recently restructured by the UCSB English Dept.

D. Workplan for Development of the Project's Central Web Site

Intense work was done on the Transcriptions Web site during spring and summer of 1999. The hiring of a research assistant with specialized experience in graphic and Web design was instrumental. In addition, other research assistants and faculty in the project have become accomplished enough in the main software tools in the project's computing studio to move from a learning phase to a production phase.

In terms of Web design, Transcriptions has built the prototype pages and graphics for a new "look and feel" for its site. The site will have variant templates for its top-level pages, its course pages, and its theme-oriented "topics" pages. At the present time, the project is in transition between the Web pages it created at its origin last year and the new design, which is gradually being rolled out and will be in place by early fall 1999. The main project site is at:

http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/

The new design for the site is being readied behind the scenes. See, for example,

http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/trans-test/project.shtml

In terms of content, significant work has begun on course pages for the Transcriptions site (see above). Prototyping work has also been done on the "Topics" pages for the site. For an outline of possible future topics pages, see:

http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/TOC-Web-Site.html

For an example of a prototype topics page, see "Weaving Webs: Native American Literature, Oral Tradition, Internet" at:

http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/topics/weaving-webs/home.html

A series of online research and technical guides for students (and instructors) has also been prepared on such topics as "Teaching with Information Technology," "Evaluating and Citing Online Resources," "Online Research Resources," "Online Reference Resources," "Online Resources for Writing and Speaking," "Resources for Web Authoring," etc. These guides focus on providing a selective, high-quality, annotated survey of resources and approaches. For the guide pages, see:

http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/resources.shtml

2. Changes and Additions

The following categories of activity are new since the project's original NEH proposal. They have grown to become major components of Transcriptions:

  1. Colloquia: As forecast in the Feb. 28, 1999, Interim Report, Transcriptions started a series of workshops/colloquia in Spring 1999 on topics that bear both on the internal interests of the project and on the research interests of a broader audience. The colloquium series, which featured presenters from across the disciplines and from both inside and outside UCSB has been very successful. Particularly instructive has been its mix of theoretical and practical emphases. A full roster of approximately nine colloquia has now been planned for academic year 1999-2000, including the appearance of J. Hillis Miller as the first of the official evaluators of the Transcriptions Project. In addition, the Transcriptions colloquium series has been approved by the UCSB English Dept. as a one-credit colloquium course for graduate students. It will be an experiment in allowing graduate students to intermix with a variety of intramural and extramural faculty. For the schedule of colloquia, past and future, see:

    http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/colloquia.shtml

  2. "Jam Sessions": As a means to improve the coordination and oversight of research-assistant work in the project, Transcriptions initiated during summer 1999 the tradition of holding what it calls a "jam session" every few weeks in which faculty and research assistants (plus other interested parties) meet without a formal agenda to show each other what they have been doing and share problems/solutions in the areas of content and technical development. These sessions have been very successful in helping to create a model for collaborative work that allows humanists to emulate selectively the climate of work in other disciplines (e.g., in a science lab or art studio).
  3. Associates Program: Transcriptions has recently invited faculty and graduate students outside its group (primarily at UCSB but also elsewhere) to become Associates of the project. Associates have access to the project computing studio and take charge of one or more of the project's "topic" pages. There are currently two Associates of the project; emeritus research assistants are also Associates.
  4. Publicity and Cross-Project Initiative: In spring 1999, Transcriptions publicized itself and its approaching first year of courses to the undergraduates at UCSB. The project has also begun frequently to present its idea and work-in-progress to a variety of funding groups (see below) as well as other information-technology projects at UCSB and the U. California system. These latter cross-disciplinary projects, with which Transcriptions or its faculty may ally include: a proposed multi-campus research unit in the U. California system called "The Culture of Information" (to be headquartered at UCSB with William Warner of the Transcriptions project as Principal Investigator), the U. California system DARNet collective (an association of digital art faculty), the new UCSB Center for Information Technology and Society (on whose steering committee the PI of the Transcriptions project sits). Not all of these cross-project initiatives will come to fruition. But it appears that the Transcriptions project has started up just in time to give the humanities a place at the negotiating table. Transcriptions seems to be acting as a catalyst or leverage point for the entry of the humanities at UCSB into a wider network of information-technology related developments.
3. Report on Fundraising Activities to Meet Matching Grant

Transcriptions has stepped up its fund-raising activities, but so far with disappointing results. The project was presented in May 1999 to the UCSB Foundation with the assistance of the UCSB Chancellor, Dean of Humanities, and university development officers. The project was also presented to the UCSB Friends of the English Department group. These extramural funding initiatives, however, have as yet produced no result, though the project has been moderately successful at raising intramural support (which does not qualify for matching funds). Transcription's most successful efforts to date, as reported in the Feb. 28, 1999, Interim Report, have been solicitations to private alumni and other affiliates of the UCSB English Dept. Though initial results have been disappointing, the project will be continuing to explore funding opportunities in hopes that a cumulative argument can be made that the traditional humanities disciplines - including those that are text-oriented and focussed on training analytically-skilled and broadly knowledgeable students - are of value in the information age.

4. Appendices

Supporting material for this interim report consists of the Transcriptions Web site (which includes project-development documents). The URL for the site is http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/

This page created by Alan Liu for the Transcriptions Team, 9/21/99 (revised 9/22/99)