We are glad to announce the launch of the "Arabic Papyrology School" at
http://www.ori.unizh.ch/aps

1. The basic idea of the "Arabic Papyrology School"

The "Arabic Papyrology School" is an interactive e-learning school which
uses the World Wide Web to promote Arabic papyrology. Students of Arabic
and Oriental studies will acquire the skills of recognizing specific
scripts, formulas and vocabulary. Professionals in history, Arabic or
Oriental studies may enlarge their knowledge of palaeography, phraseology
and vocabulary. If you are just curious to know what the "Arabic
Papyrology School" is about, please feel welcome as well!

Special stress has been put on easy access. There  is no special software
required on the part of the users. All the instructions are in English.


2. The "Arabic Papyrology School" at the Granada conference

The "Arabic Papyrology School" will be presented at the second conference
of the International Society for Arabic Papyrology, which will be hosted
by the Escuela de Estudios Arabes in Granada, Spain, 24-27 March 2004.
Further information on the conference may be found under
"http://www.princeton.edu/~petras/isap/granada/program.html".


3. Reviewing the "Arabic Papyrology School"

We would never have been able to realise the "Arabic Papyrology School"
project without the help and support of a wide community of scholars,
e-learning specialists, papyri archivists and institutions funding us.
This collaboration will also be essential in the future.

We are very grateful for comments on and support for our enterprise to use
the new media to promote Arabic papyrology.

Journal editors are kindly requested to include the "Arabic Papyrology
School" in their reviewing program


4. Using the "Arabic Papyrology School" in face to face teaching

The "Arabic Papyrology School" can take over a number of functions of face
to face teaching, especially training in palaeography, formulas and
vocabulary. It is meant to support traditional teaching, not to replace
it.

We have designed the "Arabic Papyrology School" to fit it into the
European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), the credit point system most
European universities will have to adopt in the near future. The "Arabic
Papyrology School" will enable institutions of Arabic and Islamic studies
to offer their students an additional course.

Faculty members are kindly asked to contact us on how to use the "Arabic
Papyrology School" in combination with the courses taught in their
institutions.


5. Links to the "Arabic Papyrology School"

Webmasters are kindly requested to put a link to the "Arabic Papyrology
School" on their websites.


Thank you for your interest in our project.

Andreas Kaplony, Johannes Thomann, David Arn

--------------------------

Arabic Papyrology School: an interactive introduction to the reading
of Arabic documents (http://www.ori.unizh.ch/aps)

PD Dr. Andreas Kaplony, Dr. Johannes Thomann, lic. David Arn, Institute of
Oriental Studies, Wiesenstrasse 9, CH-8008 Zurich, Switzerland, phone
0(041)1 634 07 36, fax 0(041)1 634 36 92, [log in to unmask],
http://www.ori.unizh.ch/aps