H-Net
and the European Social Science History Conference
by
Robert Cherny, President-Elect of H-Net
The
European Social Science History conference met in the Hague, the
Netherlands, on February 27 - March 2. H-Net was well represented.
On Friday, March 1, Gus Seligmann (H-Net president), Bob Cherny
(H-Net president-elect), Melanie Shell Weiss (H-Net Council member
and assistant director), and Antoinette Fauve-Chamoux (H-Net Council
member and chair of the International Committee) co-hosted a luncheon
for those H-Net editors who were in attendance. At the business
meeting, also on March 1, Gus made a presentation on behalf of H-Net,
offering to be of whatever assistance might be useful during the
planning for the next ESSH meeting, which will be held in Berlin
in 2004. Gus represented H-Net at the meeting of the technology
network, which agreed to include H-Net in its planning for the next
ESSH conference.
Other
H-Net participants included Leonid Borodkin, editor of H-AHC (Association
for History and Computing), who serves on the ESSH advisory board
and will help to plan the next two conferences, and Antoinette Fauve-Chamoux,
who served as one of the organizers for the family and demography
network and as a chair and discussant. Seth Wigderson, a former
member of the H-Net Council, presented a paper, as did Melanie Shell
Weiss; other H-Net editors and advisory board members were also
present and some presented papers or served as discussants.
For
more information on the conference, including photos, go to
http://www.iisg.nl/esshc/index.html.
On
the final day of the conference, March 2, Gus, Bob, Melanie, and
Antoinette offered a roundtable discussion on the topic, "Building
Global Networks of Scholars: The Benefits and Challenges of Internationalizing
H-Net." The session was well attended, and there was a lively
and useful discussion about ways to increase H-Net participation
by scholars outside the US.
Fauve-Chamoux
began with an overview of the work of the International Committee.
Cherny followed with some comments on the current extent of internationalization
of H-Net and some observations on the challenges that H-Net will
face in accomplishing further internationalization. Shell Weiss
spoke on H-Net's efforts to bridge the digital divide, focusing
on H-Net's African networks, other work in Africa, and H-Net's new
publication model. Seligmann summarized some of H-Net's efforts
at making online archives available to scholars at universities
that are not able to afford access to existing databases.
About
the Author
Robert
Cherny, President-Elect of H-Net, is at San Francisco State
University and is also List Editor for H-California, Advisory Board
Member for H-Labor, List Editor for H-SHGAPE, Advisory Board Member
for H-West.
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