1st International Egodocumental Network Conference
Vilnius University, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, the University of Lodz, and the Egodocumental Research Group (https://egodocuments.umk.pl) organise an international conference focusing on research, development, and changing perceptions of egodocuments in the twenty-first century. The conference aims to bring together scholars from different disciplines to share their insights and to encourage interdisciplinary studies of egodocuments.
The conference will also be the first meeting of the International Egodocumental Network established in December 2023 by the Egodocumental Research Group (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and the University of Lodz) to unite scholars from different disciplines working on egodocuments. It provides a platform for discussion, collaboration, and exchange of information between the participants, as well as online research seminars organized twice a year. In this dimension, our conference continues two editions of the Scientific Symposium "Egodocuments, Life-Writing and Autobiographical Texts..." organized at NCU in Toruń in 2022 and 2024.
Keynote speakers
Dr. Nataliia Voloshkova
Kazimierz Wielki University and Oxford Brookes University
Prof. Leona Toker
Hebrew University and Shalem Academic College
Prof. François-Joseph Ruggiu
Sorbonne Université, CNRS and Oxford University
Robert Riter
University of Alabama
Authoring Egodocuments: Letter-Writing Manuals and Documentary Creativity
This paper is not about generative AI, but is informed by reflections on AI tools and the questions they present regarding originality, the creativity, and the authorship of personal documentation. Contemporary generative technologies are the most recent expression of tools created by humans to assist in their analysis and creation of documentation, including personal documentation.
In this essay, I examine how letter-writing manuals have operated as a similar generative technology. Templates and documentation served as an initial data set which authors used in creating personal documentation intended to communicate individual thoughts, feelings, ideas, and sentiments. Through interactions with these tools, writers/records creators transformed impersonal language into documentation imbued with very personal meaning. This examination of 19th-century American letter-writing manuals provides a context for examining definitions regarding authorship, originality, individuality, and how these traits come to be expressed in egodocuments.
It is important to avoid overly simplistic comparisons. There are distinct differences between generative AI applications and letter-writing manuals. However, I argue that they can be viewed as being part of the same genealogy, and that an examination of earlier expressions of tools intended to support documentation creation merits examination as a topic in book and archival history, and in helping to contextualize questions presented by our contemporary technologies.
