British Library, London
June 26-28, 2000
Additional Meetings: June 23-25
Workshops: June 29-30
The Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI) is an international research project [www.ecai.org] aimed at the creation of distributed, spatially referenced, GIS-style cultural databases which can be accessed across the Internet from a common front-end software.
The ECAI project (initiated in 1997 and headed by Professor Lewis Lancaster, East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of California at Berkeley), constitutes a new dimension in academic research, applications of digital and networked technologies and international collaboration. At present approximately 300 area specialists from ECAI Regional Teams* in conjunction with ECAI Technical Teams, are producing an interactive electronic atlas of the world from which selected data from regions, eras, and disciplines can be accessed.
ECAI is planning to extend its geographical focus into Europe. the Middle East and Africa. It has therefore asked the British Library to host its 2000 conference and, over the following months, experts in all fields in Britain will be approached to attend and form their own Regional Teams for all aspects of British, European, Middle Eastern and African history and culture.
ECAI 2000 at The British Library will be an exciting and important forum. There will be a reception on Monday 26 June 2000 to celebrate ECAI's aims and achievements, attended by the UK Government Minister for Arts and Libraries, Alan Howerth.
ECAI is an exemplar of international collaboration being used to harness expertise worldwide in order to increase public access to the world's culture and history via the Internet
*For current ECAI Regional teams, please see our website (www.ecai.org). For questions or for further information about ECAI, please email ecai@socrates.berkeley.edu or cari@uclink4.berkeley.edu.