EVENT:
When major research institutions like the University of California joined Google's effort to digitize books, some wondered what this meant for the future of books -- once universally defined as text on bound sheets of paper. The two-day conference "Text and Image: From Book History to 'The Book Is History'" will bring to UC Irvine national experts including Daniel J. Clancy, engineering director of the Google Book Search Project, and Mark Dimunation, director of the Library of Congress' Rare Books and Special Collections, to explore the dynamic history -- and future -- of books. Other authorities on new media such as Yahoo! Inc.'s social media guru and the content director for the California Digital Library also will be on hand to discuss the evolving relationship between text and images, from cave drawings to moving pictures and book illustrations to multimedia Web pages.

WHEN:
9 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1
9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2

WHERE:
Humanities Instructional Building, Room 135, (Thursday); and Calit2, Room 1100, (Friday). Map: www.uci.edu/campusmap

INFO:
Free and open to the public. Reservations recommended. Contact HumaniTech® at 949-824-3638 or epace@uci.edu. More: www.humanities.uci.edu/humanitech

BACKGROUND:
Participants:
Edward Ayers, dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia
Jean-Francois Blanchette, assistant professor of information studies, UCLA
Sharon Block, associate professor of history, UCI
Anne Burdick, acting chair of the Media Design Program, Art Center College of Design
Richard Burt, professor of English, University of Florida
Robin Chandler, director of built content, California Digital Library
Peter Cho, lecturer in design and media arts, UCLA
Daniel J. Clancy, engineering director, Google Book Search Project
Marc Davis, social media guru, Yahoo! Inc.
Mark Dimunation, director of rare books and special collections, Library of Congress
Jackie Dooley, head of special collections and university archives, UCI Libraries
Robert Folkenflik, professor of English, UCI
Donald Hoffman, professor of cognitive science, UCI
Ramesh Jain, Donald Bren Professor of Information and Computer Sciences, UCI
Peter Krapp, associate professor of film and media studies, UCI
Peter Lunenfeld, professor of media design, Art Center College of Design
Jane O. Newman, professor of comparative literature, UCI
David S.H. Rosenthal, Distinguished Engineer, Sun Microsystems, Stanford University
Samuel Weber, Avalon Foundation Professor of Humanities, Northwestern University

A reception will be held Thursday, Feb. 1, at UCI's Langson Library, featuring the exhibit "Picture This: Five
Centuries of Book Illustration." More: www.lib.uci.edu/libraries/new/exhibit_fall06.html

The conference is co-sponsored by HumaniTech®, the Ph.D. Program in Visual Studies, Network & Academic Computing Services, the Humanities Center, the International Center for Writing & Translation, and the departments of History and Comparative Literature.