1998 trAce Writer's Conference: Writers & the Internet

The internet offers great opportunities for writers. There are fascinating new forms of writing to be discovered; interesting people to meet, and swathes of research material to be mined. But it also brings concerns. Authors are worried about copyright and intellectual property. They are wondering how they can earn money from working online. They fear that The Book may be dying. This conference brings together an international group of professional authors and educators with extensive experience of the internet to address some of these anxieties and provide informed opinion about the potential of the net for the artistic community.

Conference Programme

DALE SPENDER

Digital Arts: Breaking The Boundaries Through Online Authorship

Socrates framed one of the fundamental objections to writing; it was "one-way", it fixed ideas, it required readers simply to follow someone else's argument - which is why he would put nothing in writing. But even Socrates would change his mind if he could be an online author. For online writing is two way, it engages readers to forge their own meanings, and to become a new generation of writers in the process.

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MARK AMERIKA

Hypertext, Web Publishing and Virtual Narrativity

In this presentation, Mark Amerika will trace his most recent research and development focusing on the similarities and differences between novel writing, hypertext authoring, journal publishing and digital art curation. Discussing issues such as online networking, copyleftism, and pla(y)giarism, Amerika will showcase both his GRAMMATRON project and the Alt-X Online Network.

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CYNTHIA HAYNES & JAN RUNE HOLMEVIK

Reading with Others, Writing in Time

In recent years technology has enabled interactivity in exciting ways. At Lingua MOO writers can build a virtual space using only words, and work together in real time with others around the world. When texts are interactive, new modes of teaching and learning quickly evolve. Lingua MOO is also host to the online headquarters of the trAce International Online Writing Community.

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Panel: New Ways to Write

Authors who write on and about the net discuss the potential of this new creative form. Featuring journalist Liz Bailey; editor Keith Brooke, novelist Molly Brown and poet Peter Howard.

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Panel: Online Copyright

A panel discussion featuring Heather Rosenblatt, Legal Adviser for the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society plus authors Dale Spender and Mark Amerika.

Panel: Plenary

Summing up the day's discussions.

(Source: Conference website, trAce Archive)