Daily Archives: 12 February 2014

Networking Before the Net: Sharing Information in the Pre-Digital Age

The new exhibition on Pre-Internet ‘Social Media’ opening at the Rosenbach Museum and Library may interest members who will be visiting the US soon. Thanks to Anne Scott for forwarding me this information.

The Rosenbach is pleased to announce the upcoming opening of our newest exhibition—Networking Before the Net: Sharing Information in the Pre-Digital Age. Opening January 29, this exhibition explores the fascinating question of whether the internet has truly changed our social interaction with one another, through comparisons of current digital social media platforms to their analog precursors.

Displayed in two galleries in the Rosenbach brothers’ historic 1865 townhouse, Networking Before the Net offers a provocative opportunity to explore the convergence of the past and present through traditional exhibition and digital content sharing. The exhibition examines social media tenets such as image sharing, public commenting and messaging, and the role of the social network in our everyday lives. It explores the similarities between printed pamphlets and blogs, telegrams and text messages, and even shows visitors the 19th century’s version of Instagram.

Highlights include:

  • A 1780 broadside written by Benedict Arnold encouraging soldiers to abandon the Continental Army
  • An handwritten letter from Greta Garbo to Mercedes de Acosta
  • Political pamphlets written by Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe
  • An original 1776 Philadelphia printing of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense from the Free Library of Philadelphia collection

The exhibition will be on display until June 16.

Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association – Call For Papers

Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association (JAEMA)
Volume 10, 2014
Call for Papers
Deadline for submission: 1 May 2014

The Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association (JAEMA) is an annual refereed, peer-reviewed journal devoted to the early medieval period. Volume 10 will be published in late 2014, and submissions are invited now on any topic of early medieval studies (from late antiquity and the end of the Roman Empire to about the end of the eleventh century). JAEMA seeks engaging, original work that contributes to a collective understanding of the early medieval period. The journal welcomes papers on any theme, such as history, art history, archaeology, literature, linguistics, music and theology, and from any interpretive angle – memory, gender, historiography, medievalism, consilience and beyond.

Contributions to JAEMA 10 should be submitted to journal@aema.net.au by 1 May 2014. Articles must be written in English and between 6,000–12,000 words long, including footnotes and bibliography, and should follow the Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition). All submissions will be subject to double blind reviewing.

For any queries about submissions or the journal more generally, please contact journal@aema.net.au.