Why TOC is an Idea Much Bigger than O'Reilly

Andrew Savikas
May 1, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

One of the reasons we at O'Reilly believe so strongly in what we're doing with TOC is that we see it as something much bigger than ourselves. While we of course value the opportunity to create a context for conversation (whether that's in person, online, or in print), the real payoff is seeing what others do after spending time thinking in that context.

This great note just came over the transom from Richard E. Miller, English Department Chair at Rutgers, who wanted to share what he'd worked on following February's TOC Conference:

The conference that my collaborator, Paul Hammond, and I attended in New York this winter was transformative for us. We returned to the university with a very clear sense of what we needed to be doing to bring the humanities to the table for discussions about the future of higher education.

That led to a Web publishing venture, which had a near immediate impact on our efforts to bring attention to the New Humanities project. We are continuing to work with and off the presentations we attended, matching our best efforts with the efforts that were on display at the conference. We've got a three minute account of this up now:

Mostly, though, we wanted to thank you for putting together such a compelling and thought-producing event.

Richard E. Miller
Chair, Department of English
Executive Director, Plangere Writing Center

Save the date and plan to join the conversation at TOC 2009, Feb. 9-11, again at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. Sign up for the conference newsletter to catch updates about registration, speakers, the program and more.