CFP: Society for Textual Studies

CALL FOR PAPERS
The Society for Textual Scholarship - Sixteenth Biennial International Interdisciplinary Conference - March 16-18, 2011; Penn State University

K E Y N O T E S P E A K E R S
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MORRIS EAVES, University of Rochester
LISA GITELMAN, New York University
WILL NOEL, Walters Art Museum
DAVID STORK, Ricoh Innovations
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Program Chair: Matthew Kirschenbaum, University of Maryland - Deadline for Proposals: October 31, 2010

After many years of successful meetings in New York City, the Society
for Textual Scholarship is inaugurating a new venue for its biennial
conference: Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania. This
new venue will accommodate the STS in a state of the art conference
center with up-to-date technology support and other amenities
, which will in turn
facilitate the introduction of several new session formats. The new
formats, new venue, and stellar line-up of confirmed keynote
speakers--addressing textual and media scholarship and theory,
conservation and archival practices, and relevant aspects of computer
science--promises to make the 2011 conference an especially
invigorating and important one for the STS.
Accordingly, the Program Chair invites submissions devoted to
interdisciplinary discussion of current research into particular
aspects of textual work: the discovery, enumeration, description,
bibliographical analysis, editing, annotation, and mark-up of texts in
disciplines such as literature, history, musicology, classical and
biblical studies, philosophy, art history, legal history, history of
science and technology, computer science, library and information
science, archives, lexicography, epigraphy, paleography, codicology,
cinema studies, new media studies, game studies, theater, linguistics,
and textual and literary theory.
As always, the conference is particularly open to considerations of
the role of digital tools and technologies in textual theory and
practice. Papers addressing newer developments such as forensic
computing, born-digital materials, stand-off markup, cloud computing,
and the sustainability of electronic scholarship are especially
encouraged. Papers addressing aspects of archival theory and practice
as they pertain to textual criticism and scholarly editing are also
especially welcome.
This year the conference is introducing several new formats.
Submissions may therefore take the following form:

1. Papers. Papers should be no more than 20 minutes in length. They
should offer the promise of substantial original critical or
analytical insight. Papers that are primarily reports or
demonstrations of tools or projects are discouraged.
2. Panels. Panels may consist of either three associated papers or
four to six roundtable speakers. Roundtables should address topics of
broad interest and scope, with the goal of fostering lively debate
between the panel and audience following brief opening remarks.
3. Seminars. Seminars should propose a specific topic, issue, or text
for intensive collective exploration. Accepted seminar proposals will
be announced on the conference Web site at
least two months prior to the conference and attendees will then be
required to enroll themselves with the posted seminar leader(s). The
seminar leader(s) will circulate readings and other preparatory
materials in advance of the conference. No papers shall be read at the
seminar session. Instead participants will engage with the circulated
material in a discussion under the guidance of the seminar leader(s).
All who enroll are expected to contribute to creating a mutually
enriching experience.
4. Workshops. Workshops should propose a specific problem, tool, or
skillset for which the workshop leader will provide expert guidance
and instruction. Examples might be an introduction to forensic
computing or paleography. Workshop proposals that are accepted will be
announced on the conference Web site and
attendees will be required to enroll with the workshop leader(s).
Workshop leaders should be prepared to offer well-defined learning
outcomes for attendees.
Proposals for all four formats should include a title, abstract (one
to two pages) of the proposed paper, panel, seminar, or workshop, as
well as the name, e-mail address, and institutional affiliation for
all participants. Format should be clearly indicated. Seminar and
workshop proposals in particular should take care to articulate the
imagined audience and any expectations of prior knowledge or
preparation. ***All abstracts should indicate what if any
technological support will be required.***

Inquiries and proposals should be submitted electronically, as plain text, to:
Professor Matthew Kirschenbaum; mkirschenbaum -at- gmail -dot- com

Additional contact information:
Department of English
2119 Tawes Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20740
Phone: 301-405-8505
Fax: 301-314-7111 (marked clearly to Kirschenbaum's attention)

All participants in the STS 2011 conference must be members of STS. For information about membership, please contact Secretary Meg Roland at or visit the Indiana University Press
Journals website and follow the links to the Society for Textual Scholarship membership page. For conference updates and information, see the STS website at http://www.textual.org.