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ROUNDTABLE DESCRIPTION: Making it real: intellectual exchange, virtual space, and the public sphere At the plenary session of the American Historical Association's 2004 Meeting, five prominent historians of Modern Germany joined in a panel to discuss their thoughts on "war in a democratic age," a topic of obvious political, social, and cultural relevance for both the United States and the World. As members of the audience gradually left even before the question and answer session, the moderator remarked, "I can see we've conducted a war of attrition." Even more pointedly, the following Sunday's _Washington Post_ noted that the panel "had been a classic academic combination of insight and obscurity, thoughtful analysis and mind-numbing delivery." And, a few paragraphs later: "If they can't even hold the attention of their colleagues on such an innately compelling subject, how can they expect ordinary humans to absorb what they have to say?"[1] In a world of ever-growing sources of information, academics and intellectuals necessarily struggle to make their nuanced arguments resonate above the general babble. Yet, if we--rightly--assert that our ideas _matter_, it behooves us to find effective ways to introduce those thoughts into a more general, public discourse. While the opportunities available for public intellectual work in Germany may be more expansive than in the United States (the presence alone of _Die Zeit_ creates a potent venue that has no comparison this side of the Atlantic), financial and political strains on universities, research institutes, and publishing houses suggest that the "market" for academic production is under broad, international pressure. The History Channel's recent decision to base a new documentary on conspiracy theories that even their proponent admits are fictional projections makes one wonder whether media executives now believe that even the most popular, popular history now needs to be "sexed up" to garner ratings successes.[2] In the midst of these changing conditions, the dramatic social and technological transformations wrought by the Internet and other connective technologies have powerfully touched the ways that academics work. E-mail promotes international interaction and collaboration that would have been impossible only ten years ago. Online discussion networks provide virtual forums for intellectual exchange, reviews, and publication, expanding the options available to today's scholars. But even here, the suggestive possibilities have seen their luster dimmed somewhat. If subscribers to H-Net discussion lists in 1995 or 1996 perhaps exulted in the wonders of this new connective technology, today's list members shudder at the dozens of e-mails that appear in their inboxes each time they log on. As list managers' discussions turn more and more to questions of revenue streams and economic sustainability, the Internet agora that seemed to offer so much promise as a space to revitalize an intellectual public sphere now seems equally part of a more insidious global marketplace. This roundtable proposes to explore how the increasingly peripheral nature of academic discourse and the changing "language" of discussion within the academy can shed light on each other. Drawing on expertise from a variety of institutional settings on both sides of the Atlantic and from scholars at various stages of their academic careers, the participants propose to explore what seems to be a fundamental tension in contemporary academic life: how to produce a discourse that is at once nuanced and yet has broad reach. Notes: [1] Bob Thompson, "Lessons we may be doomed to repeat: American Historians talk about war, but is anyone listening?" _Washington Post_ (11 January 2004), p. D1. (accessed on 19 January 2004 via <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6885-2004Jan10.html>). [2] See "History without the sizzle," _New York Times_ (13 February 2004), editorial page (accessed on 14 February 2004 via <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/13/opinion/13FRI3.html>).
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