Soc. Archit. Hist. Initiative with UC Press and JSTOR

[Rachel Lee <rachel.lee@ucpress.edu>]

*apologies for cross posting*

Society of Architectural Historians Launches Bold Electronic 
Initiative in Partnership with University of California Press and 
JSTOR

Chicago, IL -- March 16, 2010

The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) is proud to 
announce the launch of the Journal of the Society of 
Architectural Historians Online (JSAH Online). Developed in 
partnership with University of California Press and JSTOR, and 
using software from Atypon Systems, JSAH Online offers access to 
JSAH from the first volume published in 1941 through the present. 
The current issues provide leading research articles and reviews 
about the built environment accompanied by extensive multimedia 
content including images, videos, and GIS-driven visualizations.

JSAH Online is the first online journal devoted to the arts and 
humanities that incorporates cutting-edge multimedia features and 
heralds the launch of the next generation of scholarly 
communication. Such features in the inaugural issue include 
recreated music from an ancient Roman funeral, a zoomable image 
of a 37-foot-long Panorama of Constantinople from 1559, and a 3D 
model of the Roman Forum and environs overlaid on a Google Earth 
map.

"JSAH Online is an incredibly significant communications 
initiative -- not only for SAH but broadly for scholarly 
publishing in the arts and humanities," says Pauline Saliga, SAH 
Executive Director. "The features and functionality in JSAH 
Online allow scholars and the public more immediate and deeper 
understanding of leading-edge work being produced in 
architectural history."

Rebecca Simon, Associate Director, University of California Press 
and Director of the Journals + Digital Publishing Division, 
echoes this sentiment: "This launch realizes a bold and exciting 
vision for integrating multimedia features to enhance the study 
and understanding of the built environment. We are honored to 
partner with the Society in this endeavor and excited about the 
opportunities the new digital environment creates not only for 
JSAH but for other disciplines as well."

JSAH Online is the culmination of several years of collaborative 
work among its partners.  Funded by an initial planning grant 
from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and followed by an 
additional Mellon foundation grant, JSAH Online was conceived 
from the outset to take full advantage of the latest developments 
in online publishing.   Professor Hilary Ballon of New York 
University, who conceived of and spearheaded the project as 
Editor of JSAH, collaborated with scholars at SAH and computer 
programmers at ARTstor, the New York-based online digital 
library, to develop an initial prototype for JSAH Online.   "We 
knew that our vision had incredible potential for the wider 
scholarly community," said Professor Ballon.  "We also knew that 
to fully realize that potential, we needed to align ourselves 
with partners best positioned to help bring JSAH Online into 
being."

JSAH Online's inaugural issue, which was released on March 1, 
2010, was developed by current JSAH Editor David Brownlee, 
Professor of the History of Art at the University of 
Pennsylvania.

Articles in the first issue were subjected to the rigorous peer 
review process, and in addition were particularly groomed to 
utilize the innovative multimedia platform. "The integration of 
multimedia elements in these pieces dramatically increases the 
depth and breadth of the communication between authors and 
readers," says Professor Brownlee. "Victor Hugo judged that the 
publication revolution of the Renaissance (moveable type 
printing) had annihilated the art of Gothic architecture. 
Happily, we can report that the digital publication revolution of 
our time is marvelously supportive of the study, appreciation, 
and creation of the built environment."

SAH selected University of California Press as its partner in 
publishing JSAH in early 2009.  That decision was followed 
quickly by announcement of a new effort called the Current 
Scholarship Program, initiated by University of California Press 
and JSTOR. JSAH Online is the first journal to be launched online 
as part of the Current Scholarship Program.

"The Current Scholarship Program has come to life with JSAH 
Online," commented Michael Spinella, JSTOR Managing Director. 
"From the beginning, we have shared a vision with University of 
California Press and SAH for this effort to be a catalyst to help 
many publishers create new opportunities for their authors to 
publish media-rich scholarly works and for their readers to 
engage their arguments in novel and compelling ways. We are on 
our way."

JSAH Online will be available exclusively to SAH members during 
2010. Beginning in 2011, all JSAH content, features, and 
functionality will be incorporated into a new JSTOR platform 
where it will be available to SAH members as well as to 
non-member faculty, researchers, and students working at 
subscribing institutions around the world.

For more information about JSAH Online and to view a freely 
available multimedia article, see http://jsah.ucpress.jstor.org/. 
Media interested in full site access should request access 
through the SAH office at membership@sah.org.  Please include 
your name, publication name, mailing address, telephone and email 
address.  Your user name and password will be emailed to you.

--END

Society of Architectural Historians
The Society of Architectural Historians is the leading 
international learned society that promotes the study, 
interpretation and preservation of the built environment 
worldwide. With seventy years of service to the field of 
architectural history and its related disciplines, the Society's 
membership of approximately 2,500 individuals includes professors 
of architectural and art history, architects and other design 
professionals, preservationists, museum curators, students, and 
others united in their passionate interest in architectural 
history. Institutional members include other learned societies, 
university libraries, art and historical museums, and 
preservation organizations around the world.
http://www.sah.org

University of California Press:  Founded in 1893, University of 
California Press is one of the largest and most distinguished of 
American university presses, publishing books and journals in the 
humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. The Press 
publishes nearly 200 new books and 40 journals each year, 
representing a broad spectrum of acclaimed works from innovative 
first works by young academics to in-depth articles presenting 
the results of the research and creative thinking of many of the 
world's foremost scholars. A major publisher of scholarly 
journals, the Journals + Digital Publishing Division has 
extensive experience providing traditional and digital publishing 
services for more than 20 client scholarly societies and 
associations.
http://www.ucpressjournals.com
http://www.ucpress.edu

JSTOR: JSTOR is a preservation archive and research platform for 
the academic community.  Through JSTOR, faculty, researchers, and 
students are able to discover, use, and build upon a wide range 
of content in a trusted digital archive of over 1,000 academic 
journals, as well as conference proceedings, monographs, and 
other scholarly content. More than 6,000 libraries and cultural 
heritage institutions and hundreds of the world's leading 
publishers of scholarly literature participate in and support 
JSTOR.  JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization 
helping the academic community use digital technologies to 
advance scholarship and teaching in sustainable ways. ITHAKA also 
includes two additional services -- Ithaka S+R and Portico.
http://www.jstor.org
http://www.ithaka.org


--
Rachel Lee
Library Relations Manager
University of California Press
Journals + Digital Publishing