The Access Grid in Collaborative Arts and Humanities Research

如果学者以一种反映现有的共享材料和加强讨论方法的方式使用AG，那么其结果不可避免地必然与其他形式的学术互动产生的结果相同。如果AG会议的结构像传统的研讨会，那么它产生的结果与一个好的研讨会相似也就不足为奇了。这在第一届谢菲尔德数字图像研讨会的组织方式上是显而易见的。大多数参与者只是简单地用ppt演示文稿，展示手稿和其他材料的图像。如上所述，Virtual Vellum软件包提供了比PowerPoint更强的交互性。然而，“虚拟牛皮纸”的概念在很大程度上仍然受到现有手稿数字图像展示方法的影响。用户一次从选择的缩略图中选择一个或两个图像。其结果仍然是PowerPoint中常见的那种“展示-讲述”方式。然而，总检察长的能力远不止于此。一面铺着瓷砖的墙，可能会同时显示整本手稿或印刷书籍，以各种不同的配置，参与者可以改变。这将使人们对手稿的结构和特征有一种全新的认识，即使有实际的手稿在场，也很难做到这一点。学者们在使用手稿、印刷材料甚至实物时经常遇到的一个问题是，它们的不同部分散落在不同的地方。将这些分散的收藏品和物体的图像重新组合起来的项目往往要求很高，复杂且昂贵。同样的结果能否在AG上更快、更有趣地实现？也许有人甚至可以设想手稿学者与丢失或分散的手稿的化身互动，就像舞者与虚拟舞伴互动一样。

If the AG is used by scholars in a way that reflects existing methods of sharing materials and enhancing discussion, then the results are inevitably bound to be the same as those produced by other forms of scholarly interaction. If an AG session is structured like a conventional seminar, it should be no surprise if it produces similar outcomes to a good seminar. This is apparent in the way in which the first Sheffield Workshop on Digital Images was organised. Most of the participants simply had PowerPoint presentations showing images of manuscripts and other materials. As noted above, the Virtual Vellum package offered greater interactivity than PowerPoint. However, the concept of Virtual Vellum as it stands is still very much shaped by existing methods of displaying digital images of manuscripts. Users select one or two images at a time from a selection of thumbnails. The result remains the kind of 'show-and-tell' approach familiar from PowerPoint. Yet the AG is capable of much more. A tiled wall, could potentially display an entire manuscript or printed book at once, in various configurations which participants in the session could alter. This would give a completely new perception of the structure and character of the manuscript, one which it would be difficult to achieve even with the actual manuscript physically present. A constant problem for scholars using manuscripts, printed materials and even physical objects is that different parts of them are scattered in different places. Projects to reunite images of these dispersed collections and objects tend to be demanding, complex and expensive. Could the same results be achieved more quickly and interestingly on the AG? Perhaps one might even envisage manuscript scholars interacting with the avatar of a lost or dispersed manuscript in the same way that a dancer can interact with a virtual partner.