Today's three links, randomly drawn from VoS ( )

Welcome to the new VoS. Started in 1994 as a suite of static Web pages, VoS has now been rebuilt as a database that serves content dynamically on the Web. Users gain greater flexibility in viewing and searching, while editors are able to work more efficiently and flexibly. We've tried to maintain most of the original structure of the site, which models the way the humanities are organized for research and teaching as well as the way they are adapting to social, cultural, and technological changes. But some shifts in organization and navigation are necessary for technical reasons. (Navigating and Bookmarking VoS) Important: the new VoS is still a work in progress, but we have turned it on because it is already more functional than the original site. There are still some mis-orderings of categories and author names that we are fixing as we convert our legacy resources. We've also temporarily removed as many of the broken links as we could find and will restore them when we can (or find substitutes). Some categories have thus been temporarily decimated. If Michel Foucault wrote about The Order of Things, then VoS may be said to be about "the ordering of things"—the ceaseless reconfiguration of humanities knowledge assisted by the new technologies of dynamic information.

•  VoS on Forbes "Best of Web": Forbes magazine lists VoS in its Summer 2002 Best of the Web directory (in the category for Academic Research).  •  Google's "Glossary": Experimental new feature on the Google search site. Searching for "words, phrases, and acronyms" yields definitions and links to originating glossary or definition sites. Try searching on string theory or Gothic.  •  Sign up for free VoS accounts that allow you to suggest links for specific pages on the site (how to contribute links). Suggestions appear right away under "Unvetted Submissions" (and later on the regular pages after being reviewed by VoS editors). [Our apologies: due to changes on our server, the sign up process is currently disabled. We hope to have it back up soon.]

Currently, the site is best viewed in Internet Explorer 5+ and Netscape 6+. We are still working on full compatability with Netscape 4.x. Other interface and usability improvements will be introduced in the future.

In a later implementation phase of the new VoS, users who have signed up for accounts will have additional editorial privileges allowing them to maintain/revise links that they have contributed. There will also be group accounts that enable classes, organizations, conferences, etc. to build subsets of VoS resources that will appear both on the regular VoS pages and on a special page set aside for the group (e.g., the "English 130," "History 186," or "Conference 2001" VoS Resources Page). VoS will thus be an open platform serving the needs of both general and specific communities of users. (Contributions will be subject to editorial review by Alan Liu and VoS editorial assistants to maintain overall quality, consistency, and sense of context.)

VoS is woven by Alan Liu of the U. California, Santa Barbara, English Department with a team of department graduate students and others. Robert Adlington and Jeremy Douglass developed the SQL Server database and ASP and VB code for the site (their creative ideas were instrumental to the project). Brian Reynolds built the server machine for the database, integrated it with the separate Web server, and oversaw networking. Bo Kinloch took the lead in graphic design. And Andrea Fontenot, Christien Hoffpauir, and Jennifer Jones assisted with editing and other tasks during the migration to the new format.

Navigating & Bookmarking  |  Searching VoS Accounts on VoS | Contributing Links  |  Helping Edit VoS About VoS  |  Technical Specs  |  Credits What the Title of VoS Means