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Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 3, No. 118. Wednesday, 3 June 1992.
 
From: 		Ken Steele <ksteele@epas.utoronto.ca>
Date: 		Wednesday, June 3, 1992, 13:00:41 -0400
Subject: 	A New Editor for SHAKSPER
 
Dear Fellow SHAKSPEReans;
 
SHAKSPER and I embarked on the voyage of Shakespearean scholarship almost
simultaneously, at the 1990 Shakespeare Association conference in
Philadelphia.  I was exhilarated to find so many of the world's leading
Shakespeareans gathered together in one place and to experience the
rapid-fire exchange of ideas, in both formal seminars and informal
conversation, at all hours of the day and night.  To me, it seemed
vital to perpetuate this newfound sense of worldwide scholarly community,
and I could not wait twelve months for the next opportunity.  Three months
later, in July 1990, the SHAKSPER Electronic Conference was up and running.
 
Now, almost two years later, I am delighted to see how far SHAKSPER has come.
From six members in Canada and the United States, SHAKSPER has grown to
involve all two hundred and ninety-three of you in more than a dozen
countries around the globe!  The Fileserver, which started primarily as a
repository for the biographies and the SHAKSPER Guide, now also offers public
domain text files, conference papers, articles, and much more, thanks to
contributions by you all.  Daily conversation, which used to require my
constant prodding and consisted more of administrivia than discussion, has
become so overwhelming that at times I've even considered going to an
unmoderated list.  My dream has become reality: the network now brings
together many of the world's leading Shakespeareans, all year round, in
stimulating conversation which really does go on at all hours of the day
and night!
 
These reflections are really just prologue to an envoi, and a farewell at
least as difficult as those made in Philadelphia two years ago.  Next year,
I will be taking a leave of absence from my doctoral programme in order to
pursue another, older dream of mine, in the rather different realm of computer
graphics and consulting.  I know I won't be able to give SHAKSPER the
attention it deserves, or the time and energy it needs for continued growth
and prosperity, so I am relieved that so capable and indefatigable an editor
as Hardy Cook has volunteered to take on the challenge.
 
In the few months that Hardy has been co-editor, he has repeatedly amazed me
by the speed with which he has learned the sometimes archaic and seldom user-
friendly syntax of Listserv and network addressing, and still more by the
efficiency with which he has performed tasks like bringing the Fileserver (and
most of the files on it) up to date, processing member inquiries and new
memberships, and (most recently) producing the daily digests and forwarding
them to you all.  Doubtless many of you have noticed the decreasing time lag
in these areas, as Hardy has taken on the responsibilities one by one.
(I'm convinced that he must have a high-speed direct line open 24 hours
a day!)
 
I have no doubt that Hardy's remarkable dedication and abilities will
continue to serve SHAKSPEReans well into the future, and look forward to
seeing his vision also become real.  Unlike Prospero, I can't quite bring
myself to "drown my books" -- I'll remain a subscriber to SHAKSPER at my
new electronic mail address, ken.steele@canrem.com.
 
Thank-you all for your patience, your contributions, and most of all for
your friendship. Remember that, when all is said and done, *you* are SHAKSPER,
and *you* have always determined its success.
 
Ken Steele
 
ksteele@epas.utoronto.ca
ken.steele@canrem.com

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