ACO*HUM Policy Symposium - Invitation and Programme

Granada, November 1-2, 1997.

At its second meeting, the Steering Committee of the SOCRATES thematic network project on Advanced Computing in the Humanities (ACO*HUM) agreed on the organization of a policy symposium in the fall of 1997. The goal of the policy symposium is to bring the various working groups and Steering Committee together to work on the project's second year.

Participants

• Steering committee: Daniel Apollon (Bergen), Dino Buzzetti (Bologna), Harold Short (King's College London), Koenraad de Smedt (Bergen, chair), William Vaughan (Birkbeck College, London).
• Network administrator: Bente Opheim (Bergen).
• Working group on computational linguistics and language engineering: Bill Black (Manchester), Walter Daelemans (Tilburg and Antwerpen), Laurence Danlos (Paris), Brigitte Krenn (Saarbrücken), Joakim Nivre (Göteborg), Koenraad de Smedt (Bergen, chair), Felisa Verdejo (Madrid). Extended group: Paul Mc Kevitt (Ålborg), Torbjørn Nordgård (Trondheim), Andy Way (Dublin).
• Working group on textual scholarship and edition philology: Lou Burnard (Oxford), Stuard Lee (Oxford),  Lisa Lena Opas (Joensuu), Espen S. Ore (Bergen, chair), Thomas Rommel (Tübingen), Harold Short (London), and Andrea Tabarroni (Udine).
• Working group on history and historical informatics: Dino Buzzetti (Bologna), Ingo Kropac (Graz), Jan Oldervoll (Bergen, chair), Manfred Thaller (Bergen & Göttingen), and George Welling (Groningen).
• Working group on history of art and aesthetic disciplines: Trish Cashen (London), Hubertus Kohle (Köln), William Vaughan (London, chair).
• Invited for methodology: Tito Orlandi (Roma, CISADU).
• Invited for non-European languages: Joseph Bell (Bergen), Jacques Souillot (Paris), Maddalena Toscano (Napoli, chair).

Aims and themes

An important common aim consists of the redefinition of the network's working groups, including the formation of new working groups and the establishment of contacts between the working groups. The working groups will also have internal meetings to discuss topics and work out actions in the working groups' domains. Specific points to be addressed at the symposium include:

• curriculum work
• ODL tests
• toward a European agency for digital resources in the humanities?
• software development projects
• what is humanities in different countries?
• roles of working groups
• new working groups on methodology and non-European languages
• links with other organizations and projects
• survey results, follow-up surveys
• preparation of the 1998 conference

Preliminary schedule

Practical information

The symposium will take place at La Corrala de Santiago, a university residence in Granada. La Corrala is a recently rebuilt XVth century Arabic house in calle Santiago, barrio del Realejo, one of the older quarters of Granada, close to the Alhambra. The phone number is +34 58 224410. Due to space restrictions, some participants will stay in the nearby hotel Ana Capri (***, calle Joaquin Costa 7, Tel. +34 58 227477 Fax. +34 58 228909). Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served at La Corrala.

Where am I staying? Check here.

Travel:
Plane tickets have been sent to all participants (with a few exceptions, those who have booked travel themselves). Please check the list here.

It's about 15 km from the airport to Granada. There is a bus but it's very irregular and we recommend using a taxi which costs about 2,000 pts. If several people arrive on the same plane and share a taxi it will of course work out cheaper. Ask for "La Corrala de Santiago, calle Santiago (barrio del Realejo)".

Financial matters:
ACO*HUM will pay for air travel, for accommodation (except extra days) and for all meals on the 1st and 2nd of November. In contrast to earlier information, participants will not have to pay the hotel and get refunded afterwards; ACO*HUM will be billed directly through the U. of Granada.
The participants are expected to pay only for extra costs such as for telephone, local transportation, and for accomodation and meals on extra days.

Further information about Granada:
Granada has plenty to offer to every taste and is a charming city to relax in. It has all modern facilities and credit cards are accepted everywhere. Granada itself is quite a small city, with a population of about 250,000 plus 50,000 students. It is famous for the Alhambra, the royal Nasrid palace, VIII to XIII century. The Royal Chapel, attached to the XVI century cathedral, is where Fernando and Isabela are buried, the Catholic King and Queen who defeated the last Arab dynasty of the Kingdom of Granada and expelled them from Spain. There is also a XVI century Carthusian monastery of architectural interest. Granada is very much a city for strolling around in: the two oldest quarters, the Realejo (where the Corrala is) and the Albaizyn have many Arab houses, squares and ancient courtyards. Sitting having a glass of wine and a tapa inside or outside (depending on the weather) one of the many local bars is the favorite sport of the Granadinos.

The city is at 800 mt. high, close to the Sierra Nevada. The temperature will probably be around 15-20 C during the day and 5-10 C at night and it might rain. Anyway keep an eye on the weather forecast before you come.

The hotel is in the town centre, with all facilities close at hand. For a pleasant evening drink you have the Campo del Principe nearby, where you can also get all kinds of meals. Breakfast of coffee and toast in any of the hundreds of bars in the city is about 250 pts. For lunch there are different bars and trying the innumerable combinations of drink and tapa on offer. Dinner ranges from 2,000 pts. (quite adequate) to 5,000 pts. (very good).

Take care of yourself and your possessions. Don't walk around the streets of the old quarters with all your money on you. Don't carry cameras or handbags slung on one shoulder. Granada gypsies, both men and women, who accost you to read your fortune, clean your shoes, sell you flowers and so on are often cheats and thieves. Just ignore them; even answering them invites conversations and arguments. If they get pushy just walk away.