Growing Multi-media Discursive Spaces for International Polylogue
Beginning in approximately 1984, in conjunction with the reorganization of LCHC we began to conduct an international, internet-mediated forum that has expanded along with the internet itself. Now using the acronym, XMCA , this discussion has grown into an interactive forum for a community of interdisciplinary scholars who share an interest in the study of human mind in its cultural and historical contexts. Our emphasis is on research that seeks to resolve methodological problems associated with the analysis of human socially embedded activity and theoretical approaches that place culture and activity at the center of attempts to understand human nature. Our participants come from all over the world and a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, cognitive science, education, linguistics, psychology and sociology. This forum has itself become the subject of research. Two earlier papers summarized features of the discourse archived there (Gack, Vanessa and Noah Finkelstein, 1992.
Unpublished manuscript; Eva Ekeblad (1998) Contact, Community and Multilogue: Electronic Communication in the Practice of Scholarship). At present we are waiting to hear from the MacArthur foundation about an effort to create a multi-media scholarly research facility by expanding the functionality of XMCA to link to relevant bibliographic references, web-accessible printed articles, and a growing collection of digital lectures and symposia.