A Society for Cinema Studies committee has been (slowly, casually) exploring ways in which the online world currently serves film/TV scholars. I've chaired this committee for two years now and I figure it's time to make some recommendations and possibly take some action. I would greatly appreciate the participation of SCREEN-Litarians in this effort. There are many corners of the Internet that I haven't peered into. Plus, a discussion of this nature might help make us all more aware of the resources out there. The outline I'm currently working with is divided into two parts: 1. The types of materials/services avaiLable online ("online" equals, principally, Internet resources, but might extend to commercial services or dial-up BBS's). 2. Modes of providing those materials/services. I'm open to suggestions in both areas: What is currently available online? What needs to be added to that? How are these materials/services provided? How could they be provided in the future? Seems like I recall someone putting together a guide to online film/TV resources. Does anyone know if this exists? So, here's what I've sketched out tonight: ONLINE MATERIALS/SERVICES--CURRENT E-mail discussion groups Databases of film credits Archive/library catalogs MOOs/MUDs/IRC for "real time" conferences ONLINE MATERIALS/SERVICES--POTENTIAL SCS materials Directory (available only to members?) Including *e-mail* addressesses Grad student directory, too Conference calls/info Conference papers/abstracts Reports of SCS committees E.g., archival materials committee Job listings Course syllabi--in collaboration with UFVA's "course files"? A FAQ for film/TV Internet resources Topics to cover from film/TV studies angle: Discussion groups Databases of film credits Online archival catalogs (e.g., Library of Congress) Commercial information services MOOs/MUDs/Internet Relay Chat Transferring files via the Internet (too many variables?) Scholarly use of e-mail (too rudimentary?) Print it in CINEMA JOURNAL initially, updates online Make updates available for FTP, LISTSERV and dial-up access Make it hypertext, allow folks to bounce to those resources Searchable databases SCS directory Scholarly databases POSSIBLE MODES OF PROVIDING THESE MATERIALS/SERVICES SCREEN-L discussion group and archive Services Discussion of film/TV studies Available currently through e-mail, Usenet, dial-up BBS Materials *Text* files, but not binary ones Retrievable via e-mail (thus accessible by commercial sources like CIS, AOL, Prodigy, etc.) Cost None Currently run on LISTSERV software on the U. of Al mainframe computer SCREEN-L II (?) Services Solely for announcements related to film/TV studies Moderated; low traffic Cost None, if co-sponsoring insitution found (e.g., UA s TCFnet) Gopher/WWW/FTP server Services Online searching of databases Hypertext access to resources Materials Text files Binary files--word processing, graphics, sound Cost Unix box and someone to create/run it Hang it on a co-sponsoring institution's 'Net connection? $10,000? Internet accessible (via Telnet) MOO/MUD/BBS Services Real-time, live discussions Materials Text files Cost See FTP/Gopher/WWW above Dial-up BBS Services Bulletin board-style discussion I.e., "posting" of messages Materials Text/binary files Cost $500-1,000 to buy some harddisk space Link to the Internet server's files? ===================================================================== Jeremy Butler [log in to unmask] Associate Professor [log in to unmask] Telecommunication & Film Dept. * University of Alabama * Tuscaloosa =====================================================================