"Paula R. Curtis" <prcu...@umich.edu>: Sep 19 04:41PM -0700
Dear all,
Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for the PMJS Open Houses. We
were delighted to see so many familiar friends and colleagues as well as
new faces! The first open house had approximately 27 attendees and the
second approximately 24. Below is a brief summary of what was discussed for
those who were unable to make it, including the presentations by PMJS
members.
Our first order of business was to briefly introduce the history of PMJS.
PMJS was founded in 1999 and consisted of only 17 members! Today we boast
over 1,500 subscribers, though the exact number of current members is hard
to determine since this includes holders of multiple email accounts and
some addresses which may no longer be active. It is clear, however, that we
have gained more than 200 new subscribers over the past two years.
Christina and I then explained the structure, responsibilities, and
activities of our current Moderation Team and Steering Committee Members
(see attached images), as well as the reasons for creating these structures
of accountability and support. The work of the Steering Committee has
included reviewing and developing our Terms of Use and member guides and
offering guidance on thorny issues encountered by the Moderation Team.
PMJS members may be interested in what happens after you click send a post
and what role the Moderation Team plays.
1. A member sends an email to pm...@googlegroups.com.
2. The email enters moderation, meaning it awaits approval or rejection
by a moderator.
3. Moderators receive an email informing them of a pending PMJS message.
They visit the webpage and review the email.
4. If there are no issues with the email, one of the moderators clicks
"approve" and it arrives in your inbox! This is why there will always be
some delay before your post is received by PMJS subscribers.
5. If there is an issue with the message (perhaps you meant it to be a
private reply, perhaps you didn't sign your name and we don't know who you
are, perhaps it violates the Terms of Use), then the Moderation Team will
email one another and consult regarding the email content.
6. If the content is a simple error like an accidental “reply all,”
moderators will usually email you via mod...@pmjs.org to confirm you
were not emailing all subscribers and then reject the message.
7. If the content requires editing, this requires the message poster to
edit and resend. The platform we use for PMJS (Google Groups) does not
enable the Moderation Team to edit any messages. If edits are needed, the
Mod Team rejects the email and contacts the person who posted the message,
requesting changes so the new message may be reviewed.
8. The poster sends the email again and the process starts over!
We're deeply appreciative of the moderation efforts of David Eason, Nadia
Kanagawa, Christina Laffin, and Hanna McGaughey for keeping things running
smoothly. As a team, we try to ensure moderators are based primarily in
different timezones so that messages can be checked and sent in a timely
manner.
Presentations
At each of the events we also heard short presentations on recent
work/projects from PMJS members.
Joseph T. Sorensen (University of California, Davis) informed us that he
has completed a translation of Mumyōzōshi (The Untitled Book), which he is
now preparing to submit for publication. An essential commentary on court
life, tale literature, and much more, authored by Shunzei no Musume (ca.
1171–ca. 1252), the work encompasses 94 poems which have received renewed
attention through this new translation.
Chris Kern (Auburn University) introduced his Wikipedia-based translation
project <https://jchristopherkern.com/Wiki/Main_Page> on the Gosenshū (Gosen
wakashu) from the late 10th century. He seeks member advice regarding
whether the current Wiki-based platform is the best fit for such a project
and how these translations might be made more useful to the field at large
in digital or analog formats.
Jonathan Lopez-Vera (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona) reports that he
recently published Toyotomi Hideyoshi y los europeos: Portugueses y
castellanos en el Japón samurái
<https://www.amazon.com/Toyotomi-Hideyoshi-los-europeos-Portugueses/dp/8491687599/>
on the relationship between Hideyoshi and Europeans in the 16th century. He
would love to hear any recommendations from list members about getting his
book published in English to share his work more broadly. His previous
book, A History of the Samurai: Legendary Warriors of Japan
<https://www.amazon.com/History-Samurai-Legendary-Warriors-Japan/dp/4805315350>
was published in English by Tuttle.
Pia Jolliffe (University of Oxford) is embarking on a new project related
to the history of children and emotion, particularly in the later medieval
period (though she's interested in others with similar approaches in and
beyond the premodern. She is presently using diaries and other historical
sources for her explorations. Those with an interest in this topic should
get in touch with her.
Simone Müller (University of Zurich) introduced the Time in Medieval Japan
<https://www.timej.uzh.ch/en.html> project on symbolic and sociocultural
interpretations of time. The project includes many different collaborators
<https://www.timej.uzh.ch/en/team/researchers.html> and has resulted in
numerous publications and conferences. Current collaborators are interested
in further exploring methods related to chronography, chronopoetics,
chronopolicy, and more. Do check out their site.
At the end of each session I also provided a short presentation on
premodern Japan-related hiring data from this past year, with some
reflections on three-year trends. Because this is already a long email I'll
summarize that information in a separate post soon.
Thank you again to everyone who took part and we encourage you to reach out
to those who shared with us!
Best,
Paula
--
Paula R. Curtis
Yanai Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer
Department of Asian Languages & Cultures
University of California, Los Angeles
http://prcurtis.com/
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