Making Publics: The Past, Present & Future of Publication (RBS-Mellon Symposium)

Date: 24 October 2014
Time: 9:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
Location: Stanford Humanities Center, Stanford University
Presented by: The Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in Critical Bibliography at Rare Book School; the Stanford Humanities Center; the Departments of History, English, Religious Studies, Classics, and Communication; the Sohaib and Sara Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies; the Program in Modern Thought and Literature; the Program in History & Philosophy of Science; and the Stanford University Libraries

How are texts, images, and messages transmitted to their audiences? How does the material form of a message influence and control its reception? How have online and digital publishers used data to respond to and shape their audiences and consumers? “Making Publics: The Past, Present & Future of Publication” will bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars for a one-day conference to explore the materiality and meanings of texts, and how they have been, are, and will be published. The conference will be aimed at developing a longue durée narrative of the relationship between media and audiences in a global context.

Invited speakers include: Janice Radway (English, Northwestern University); Adrian Johns (History, University of Chicago); Arvind Rajagopal (Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University); Daniela Bleichmar (Art History and History, University of Southern California); Jinah Kim, (History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University); Stephanie Frampton (Classics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology); Brett Wilson, (Religious Studies, Macalester College); Simran Thadani (Pocket); Scott Dougall (Google); John Sack (Highwire Press).

Sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in Critical Bibliography at Rare Book School; the Stanford Humanities Center; the Departments of History, English, Religious Studies, Classics, and Communication; the Sohaib and Sara Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies; the Program in Modern Thought and Literature; the Program in History & Philosophy of Science; and the Stanford University Libraries.

See the event website for full schedule and additional details.