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[split] University of Vienna Voynich Manuscript seminar
- [split] University of Vienna Voynich Manuscript seminar
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RE: General chat thread
merrimacga > 05-10-2023, 06:30 AM
(04-10-2023, 02:24 PM)bi3mw Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Dr. Pippal has replied to my inquiry by eMail as follows (translated into English):
Quote:I am very grateful for your reference to the website. Whether we (my seminar participants and I) publish something depends on whether we get something clever out of it. My approach is in any case an art- resp. cultural-historical one, so we will have to leave many questions aside. Next week we will start once, let's see if our swarm intelligence leads to something ...
... if that is the case, I will be very happy to come to you
So it seems that something is definitely possible.
Well, you inspired me to go a step further. I had previously posted about the University of Memphis VM course being taught by Dr. Leah Windsor (click You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. for the post and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. for the item in the calendar) but hadn't yet reached out to her to see if she and her students would be interested in sharing their final presentations. But tonight I emailed her and we will see what she says as well.
In the meantime, I noticed these posts have been moved to their own thread so I updated the links to it in University of Vienna item in the site calendar as well. -
RE: [split] University of Vienna Voynich Manuscript seminar
bi3mw > 05-10-2023, 08:58 AM
(05-10-2023, 02:27 AM)asteckley Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
(03-10-2023, 04:15 PM)bi3mw Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The presentations could be posted on Youtube.
Is that a "hope" or something the professor plans to do?
That was my suggestion. I was talking about "common media channels", e.g. Youtube ( in the email ).
(05-10-2023, 06:30 AM)merrimacga Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.In the meantime, I noticed these posts have been moved to their own thread so I updated the links to it in University of Vienna item in the site calendar as well.
Thanks for updating the calendar. -
RE: [split] University of Vienna Voynich Manuscript seminar
Koen G > 05-10-2023, 10:07 AM
Side thought: whenever an academic does something like this, I always pray that they won't get flooded with correspondence from Voynich theorists. I don't mean like you guys, you show enthusiasm and interest in what they are doing, which can only be a positive thing. But there are others... -
RE: [split] University of Vienna Voynich Manuscript seminar
merrimacga > 05-10-2023, 10:28 AM
(05-10-2023, 10:07 AM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Side thought: whenever an academic does something like this, I always pray that they won't get flooded with correspondence from Voynich theorists. I don't mean like you guys, you show enthusiasm and interest in what they are doing, which can only be a positive thing. But there are others...
I had that thought as well as I started creating items in the calendar. Although anyone probably could find these events online, just having the direct link to them posted here, whether in a thread or the calendar, would certainly make it easier for spammers to find. I think it is better to post these events than not but perhaps in some circumstances, it may be a good idea, like I did before I posted about You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., to give the lecturer or instructor a heads up first and ask permission. Sometimes, it may be okay to post without asking permission but then include in the post verbiage to the effect that the person posting will run point in communicating with the lecturer or instructor so they aren't flooded with emails about the event. In the case of an event page link only being available with no direct contact to an individual provided, those should be okay without such precautions taken. This won't stop everyone, especially not the "others" Koen mentions, but it may be a good compromise. -
RE: [split] University of Vienna Voynich Manuscript seminar
bi3mw > 05-10-2023, 10:30 AM
(05-10-2023, 10:07 AM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Side thought: whenever an academic does something like this, I always pray that they won't get flooded with correspondence from Voynich theorists. I don't mean like you guys, you show enthusiasm and interest in what they are doing, which can only be a positive thing. But there are others...
This brings me to the following question: Pippal's students are supposed to explicitly contact experts ( "Presentation: Slides, integrated: an interview with an expert" ). But how can a novice judge if he / she is really dealing with someone who could be called an expert ? There are a lot of "experts" out there who only follow one theory, their own, and don't care much about background knowledge of the VMS. A student could easily fall for such people. -
RE: [split] University of Vienna Voynich Manuscript seminar
merrimacga > 05-10-2023, 10:57 AM
(05-10-2023, 10:30 AM)bi3mw Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.This brings me to the following question: Pippal's students are supposed to explicitly contact experts ( "Presentation: Slides, integrated: an interview with an expert" ). But how can a novice judge if he / she is really dealing with someone who could be called an expert ? There are a lot of "experts" out there who only follow one theory, their own, and don't care much about background knowledge of the VMS. A student could easily fall for such people.
I saw that too but I would hope that Dr. Pippal plans to cover that with her students when she provides them the reading list during the semester, as she notes at the bottom of her course outline. And now she also has you as a resource for a list of experts in case she isn't providing them one and they ask.
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RE: [split] University of Vienna Voynich Manuscript seminar
bi3mw > 05-10-2023, 11:07 AM
@merrimacga: I did, of course, refer to this forum as a useful resource in my email to Pippal
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RE: [split] University of Vienna Voynich Manuscript seminar
merrimacga > 05-10-2023, 11:11 AM
(05-10-2023, 11:07 AM)bi3mw Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I did, of course, refer to this forum as a useful resource in my email to Pippal
As did I when I reached out to Dr. Windsor at the University of Memphis.
Shameless plug...shameless plug...shameless plug...
I can see Koen shaking his head at us now. -
RE: [split] University of Vienna Voynich Manuscript seminar
Koen G > 05-10-2023, 11:54 AM
The 'expert' matter can certainly be a valuable learning experience for students.
By coincidence I was just listening to a presentation by Bart Ehrman where this topic was touched upon in one of the audience questions afterwards. His response may have some relevance here.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
"There are responsible historians and there are people who are not responsible historians ... How do you know the difference? One thing you do, is you look at credentials. Where do these people teach? Do they teach? Where did they get their degrees? Do they have degrees? Or are they independent researchers? ... They might be telling the truth, but where did they get their information from? Look at their footnotes and see if they tell you where they got their information from. And then read scholars who teach in reputable institutions, who have reputable degrees, and whose books go through the kind of vetting process that is typical in scholarship, which is [...] Scholarly publishers publish books that have gone though a scholarly process of evaluation and that's the kind of book you want to read if you want an authoritative account."
The question Ehrman is talking about is not exactly the same, but it is sobering for us nonetheless: nobody here on the forum is the kind of expert these students may want to contact. Even someone like Rene, who is without a doubt one of the foremost experts on the manuscript, does not have a background in art history. He could give them some pointers maybe and point out things that have been said before, but he cannot speak authoritatively about the art history aspect of the manuscript. I myself have published a peer-reviewed paper about the manuscript's images and have written some things on my blog that are kind of well regarded, but still I am by no means a qualified art historian.
I hope that if any of the students contact any Voynich researcher, this is at least as part of their research process, and the actual interviews with experts will be with professional art historians.