<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'>Dear Bessie and Teun, well, thank you for thanking me for the CRITICS Netvibes site, but ;-), really, it hasn't been that difficult at all to set up. Those of you who haven't visited it yet may be a little lost with this explanation, but I'll try to summarize:<br><br>1) It of course does not and cannot substitute for the list for exchange of ideas. It is a site only for resources. There is a "Wall" option where people can post notes, post-its, but I haven't tried it yet.<br>2) It is VERY provisional; it's a pilot page, just to give an idea. I haven't done anything but organizing links, many taken from Teun's pages. So, Teun, your Critics Project description was linked only as a sample.<br>3) It would need one or two persons dedicated to it, let's call them manager(s). But one ain't gonna be me ;-), sorry. I am not reliable ;-) . I get tired of projects and get overwhelmed by even the smallest responsibility (I've reverted to an adolescent attitude). I can help whomever wants to take over at the beginning, to explain how it is managed. It is VERY easy. Well, almost very. If you know how to select a "widget" (module), place it where you want it, copy and paste links, and type a text, you know how to do it ;-). Those of you who have used Moodle for teaching, for example, know what I'm referring to. Now, Netvibes is EASIER than Moodle.<br>4) The role of the Netvibes manager would be to gather links, announcements, etc., both from the list, from the Internet, or from private email. So, yes, people could contribute things, but not directly by posting stuff to Netvibes. The LINGANTH website works like that: the site manager gets materials from the list discussions. It would seem that this means duplicating information, but not really: Lists, even the ones hosted in a place with a search engine, such as in LINGUIST, organize the material very differently. Netvibes is mostly visual.<br>5) Yes, it is possible to host profiles from CRITICS members, either by linking to external pages or by adding pages in Netvibes from scratch.<br>6) All work is done online, without having to install anything, from any computer with Internet access, just like a blog. A blog system could be used instead, but in my experience it is more complicated to manage: you have to type and modify lists of links, whereas the point of Netvibes is to quickly add resources individually. For example, Teun has a page with an enormous and enormously useful list of links to researchers' web pages, http://www.discourses.org/resources/furtherresources/. In Netvibes, each link is a module, a little box. They can be added independently by dragging-and-dropping the URL. So, maintaining and eliminating broken links is easier than editing the list file, reloading, etc.<br>7) Links (modules) can be copied from OTHER Netvibes sites. I haven't found any other specifically on discourse (perhaps one), but as more people join Netvibes and make their own resource pages, more resources may show up.<br>8) It is possible to "pass on" managing the site temporarily to someone in order to develop a specific section. For example, if someone has lots of Classroom Resources that would like to share (bookmarks, available materials on the Internet, etc.), instead of sending the links, s/he could organize them in the Netvibes site and then pass on the site to someone else. Credit could be given to whomever contributed those materials in the corresponding section.<br>9) Many potential sections are missing; for example, Educational Programs, Classroom Resources, Personal Websites, Technology Resources, Special Topics, etc. etc.<br><br>There are many possibilities. The main thing is that someone be willing to play around with the site for a while. I encourage you! Again, I will help, even by giving them a short "remote tutorial" (1-hour) through Skype, for example.<br><br>-celso<br><br><hr id="zwchr"><b>De: </b>"Teun A. van Dijk" <teun@DISCOURSES.ORG><br><b>Para: </b>CRITICS-L@NIC.SURFNET.NL<br><b>Enviadas: </b>Domingo, 14 de Novembro de 2010 12:44:29<br><b>Assunto: </b>Now it is my turn to say: Thank you Celso!<br><br>
<font face="Bookman Old Style"><br>
Dear friends,<br>
<br>
First of all, now it is my turn to express thanks: To Celso for
his extraordinary fast and extremely practical proposal for a
CRITICS netvibe! As usual, he is much too modest: As it is the
site is already very complete, with many useful links, and ready
to receive more content that may be useful to all of us - as well
as our students. ...<br>
<br>
Celso was so kind as to offer the whole setup for me to take over,
but as I mentioned earlier, I simply am overburdened with urgent
other work (the journals, various websites, PhDs, my own research
-- for which I have less and less time) and right now the setting
up of a new master program (in Spanish) for Spain and Latin
America, <i>Discurso, ComunicaciĆ³n, Sociedad, </i>whose very
detailed plan needs to be ready soon for national evaluation, so
that we can start in September 2012. <br>
<br>
So, I asked Celso to provisionally keep control of the site until
some of us declares her- or himself a candidate for that role. <br>
<br>
If the international CRITICS center I am now starting to (try to)
set up ever materializes here in Barcelona, and if we are able to
get secretarial and other assistance, we might be able to play a
more active role in the management of the CRITICS netvibe, a
website, a List and other activities mentioned in the document on
the CRITICS Foundation and activities kindly already posted on the
CRITICS netvibe by Celso. <br>
<br>
</font>
<blockquote><font face="Bookman Old Style">Incidentally this (old)
document would need another Postscript of 2010, saying that most
of the aims of the original CRITICS ideas and plans are still
relevant today, that (even tiny) CRITICS centers of a few
scholars and PhDs could and should be set up locally around the
world, each with its own website or netvibe, thus forming a
global network. Dramatically better than in 1991 (when I still
referred to sharing information with diskettes!!!), and even
better than in 2004, today the possibilities of the internet and
other new media are such that many of the earlier plans can now
much easier be realized.</font><br>
</blockquote>
<font face="Bookman Old Style"><br>
For instance, the new CRITICS netvibe may be extended by at least
three important resources:<br>
<br>
1. <b>Documentation of scholars in CDA/CDS, </b>each represented
by a standard (easily updatable) bio-bibliographical note, with
links to an online personal website and/or List of Publications.<br>
<br>
2. <b>Library of CDA/CDS papers. </b>List of links to (online)
papers in PDF format on various fields and topics of
sociopolitical (critical) research in language, discourse and
communication. Each member would be able to "drop" such links on
the appropriate place of the netvibe.<br>
<br>
3. <b>CDA/CDS Bibliography</b>. A CRITICS aim from the start. The
complete bibliography of CDA/CDS is of course much larger than
papers that are available on line, and also needs to include books
and many other references. Again, each member should be able to
add her or his references on CDA/CDS in a fixed format (e.g., APA)
to form a collective, searchable bibliography (ideally with
keywords for each reference to make searches independent of
titles). <br>
</font>
<blockquote><small><font face="Bookman Old Style">During the last
two decades I have built up a (plain text, APA format)
personal bibliography of language, discourse, communication,
cognition, society etc. of more than 600,000+ titles (many
with keywords), with thousands of titles in CDA/CDS, and which
I use to provide instant bibliographies for students,
colleagues and journal authors (using a small search program
that I had made for my personal use). I could make this
bibliography available for public access on the CRITICS
netvibe site, but I guess a useful bibliography should be in
the format of records with various fields (Author, Title,
etc.) and a standard bibliographical program for searches.</font></small>
<br>
</blockquote>
<font face="Bookman Old Style">There are already many useful content
categories on the netvibe presented by Celso, and I hope that you
all will contribute -- and especially also ask your students to
get engaged, propose contents and become active to make this site
a success. The site is especially also a very useful research for
students -- especially when locally there are not CDA/CDS
specialists to supervise their research.<br>
<br>
Warm regards<br>
<br>
<br>
Teun<br>
___________________________________________________<br>
Teun A. van Dijk<br>
Pompeu Fabra University <br>
Dept. of Translation and Language Sciences<br>
138, Roc Boronat<br>
08018 Barcelona, Spain<br>
E-mail: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:teun@discourses.org" target="_blank">teun@discourses.org</a><br>
Web: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.discourses.org" target="_blank">www.discourses.org</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</font>
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