Tedeschi Compiles First On-Line Text in Cell Physiology
By Suzanne M. Grudzinski
When World Wide Web users type in www.cellphysiology.com as their address, they are greeted by an animated little textbook wearing large spectacles and a concentrated expression as it runs repeatedly across the screen on legs too thin to hold it up.
This character depicts � literally and figuratively � an on-line running textbook. Here, subscribers are immersed in a virtual realm of cell physiology in textbook form created by Henry Tedeschi of the University�s Department of Biological Sciences.
Tedeschi, a research professor who recently retired after 33 years at the University, says that various scientific sites are currently available on-line but, to the best of his knowledge, Cell Physiology: Molecular Dynamics is the first complete textbook to ever appear on-line.
"Creating an on-line textbook has been a significant challenge and at times it has been almost painful," said Tedeschi, who began the work three years ago while teaching a course on cell physiology. "It is painful encountering, making sense of, and organizing what first starts out as chaos and only slowly turns into a sophisticated on-line text. The end result, however, has been very satisfying and has given me a tremendous sense of accomplishment. I have learned more in the past two years, creating this text, than I have in a lifetime."
The on-line book became a reality through the help of the University�s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. The center took the time to advise Tedeschi on the different options available to him in terms of on-line publishing and gave him the support necessary to get started in producing a version available to his undergraduate class.
Tedeschi�s intent was to use the on-line text in his classes as a supplement to more traditional teaching methods. Other educational institutions, such as the School of Medicine of the University of North Dakota, the University of Wisconsin, Hershey Medical Center at Pennsylvania State University, and Newcastle University in England are seeing the value in this and are using Tedeschi�s text in their own classes.
The text, which first came out in April, has gained a significant following in the U.S., not only in New York, but also in Pennsylvania, Montana, Texas, and California. This on-line text has also become internationally known reaching countries as far as Korea, Brazil, Ethiopia, Japan, Portugal, Germany, and France. Last month, the site was accessed 2,600 times over a two-week interval.
An on-line textbook "only makes sense for a field that is as fast changing as cell physiology," said Tedeschi. A virtual medium lacks the rigidity imposed by a hard copy and is significantly easier to update and revise as the field reworks itself, he explained. Tedeschi says that he updates the text daily in response to a continuous flow of new information that makes its way into journals and articles.
An on-line medium also makes sense because an advanced book in cell physiology has limited demand, which makes finding a publisher difficult. By publishing through the computer, this ceases to be an issue. To promote his on-line book, Tedeschi has targeted and sent information to about 5,000 people that specialize in cell physiology. He will also have a booth at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cell Biology, which will be held in San Francisco on Dec. 12-16 and will be attended by approximately 10,000 people.
Thomas Cohen
The University�s new chair of the Department of English, Thomas Cohen, has recently published a new book through the Cambridge University Press. Ideology and Inscription: �Cultural Studies� after Benjamin, de Man, and Bakhtin questions the ways in which traditional literary theory weaves its way into areas of contemporary cultural studies such as popular culture and the media. Cohen says that the important idea of the book is that it tries to make us think in new ways and that "it refuses to accept a division between literary studies and cultural studies."
Avital Ronell, a professor at New York University who has done pioneering studies in the relations between technology and feminism, said, "This book presents the most comprehensive and brilliant study of critical theory in our day. Thomas Cohen writes in lucid, unrelenting prose of the repressed traumas that pervade most forms of contemporary thought."
Audrey F. Kupferberg
Audrey E. Kupferberg, an adjunct lecturer in the University�s Department of Art, has recently written seven essays for a new book, Women Filmmakers & Their Films. The book is an encyclopedia with an international scope that spotlights women film directors, editors, scenarists, and their films. It is published by St. James Press and edited by Amy L. Unterburger.